Sennheiser Ambeo Mini: Two-minute review

The Sennheiser Ambeo Mini arrives as the smallest, most affordable member of what is now a three-strong family of Sennheiser Ambeo soundbars. What it lacks in stature, though, it makes up for in asking price – this is not an especially budget-conscious option, especially when you consider how much the best of its size-comparable rivals cost.

The Sennheiser Ambeo Mini goes a long way to justifying its asking price even before you hear it, though. Its six-driver speaker array is powered by 250 watts, has the grunt to reach down to a claimed 43Hz at the bottom of the frequency range without a subwoofer, and is subject to some very thorough virtualization technology in an effort to extract a true sense of Dolby Atmos spatial audio from a soundbar with no dedicated upfiring drivers. And all this is concealed inside a discreet, well-made cabinet that’s never going to draw attention to itself.

And there’s the choice of control options. Between the Smart Control app, the full-size remote control handset, built-in Amazon Alexa voice-control and some integrated touch controls, you’re not short of options here – and they’re all beautifully realized and eminently usable in a way that not all of the best soundbars manage.

Performance, though, is where a product like this lives or dies – and in almost every respect, the Sennheiser Ambeo Mini is alive and kicking. Literally kicking where bass response is concerned; the amount of drive and punch it can summon is remarkable given the compact proportions of its cabinet. It creates a big, open soundstage, piles on the details at every point, and is able to project dialogue to the front without it ever sounding remote or estranged. 

It’s even pretty adept at generating an impression of spatial audio from 5.1 or even two-channel movie content when Dolby Atmos isn't available, although trying to pretend a stereo music file consists of 12 channels proves a bridge too far.

Only the rather modest sensation of true "height" to its soundstage prevents the Sennheiser Ambeo Mini waltzing off with full marks. Or, rather, it’s the combination of this slight reticence along with pricing that suggests it should nail every area that holds it back just a little. If it sounded just a little taller, or if it were just a little less expensive, the Ambeo Mini would be approaching "no-brainer" status. As it is, if you have a TV of 40 inches to 55 inches, and the budget, it should be a seriously tempting option.

As it is, you've got an interesting choice of small subwoofer-free soundbars between this, the Sonos Beam Gen 2 if you want great fidelity for a lower price (and an even less wide size), or the Bose Smart Soundbar 600 if you want real Dolby Atmos height from a small soundbar, though without the bass of the Ambeo. 

Sennheiser Ambeo Mini review: Price & release date

• Release date: 1 September 2023
• Price: $799 / £699 / AU$1,299

The Sennheiser Ambeo Mini is on sale across the world from 1st September 2023. In the United Kingdom it sells for £699, while in the United States the going rate is $799. Customers in Australia will need to part with AU$1299 to acquire one.

Yes, this is the most affordable of Sennheiser’s three-strong Ambeo range of soundbars – but that’s not the same thing as being fully affordable, not really. This pricing puts the Ambeo Mini notably above the likes of the compact Sonos Beam Gen 2 or Bose Smart Soundbar 600, and pushes it nearly into competition with the likes of the Sonos Arc, which is much bigger and even better equipped for spatial sound. But if you wanted big, you probably wouldn't be looking at the Mini, right?

Sennheiser Ambeo Mini review: Specs

Sennheiser Ambeo Mini review: Features

• 250 watts, 43Hz - 20kHz frequency response
• 7.1.4-channel virtualized sound
• Only one HDMI port

It’s not, strictly speaking, a feature but more of an ambition: the Sennheiser Ambeo Mini intends to create an impression of 7.1.4 -channel spatial audio using just six speaker drivers and a whole lot of complicated virtualization technology developed in conjunction with Fraunhofer. And that means every worthwhile spatial audio standard out there, too – the Ambeo Mini is compatible with Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, MPEG-H and 360 Reality Audio.

Two of the six drivers are upward-facing 102mm (four-inch) bass drivers that offer low-frequency extension down to a claimed 43Hz. The other four are 38mm (1.5-inch) full-range affairs – there is one at either end of the chassis, positioned to create some sonic width, and two more fire forwards. All six drivers are made of cellulose, and all six contribute to the virtualized "top" effects that ought to allow the Ambeo Mini to create a sensation of height to its presentation. 

Class D amplification supplies the power, and there’s a total of 250 watts on tap. Sennheiser isn’t saying exactly how it’s divided, but then again, Sonos doesn’t even like to say how much power is on board its soundbars, so I guess we should be grateful for any information that Sennheiser supplies…

As far as connectivity is concerned, the Ambeo Mini has ample wireless options, and just the essentials as far as physical connections go. An HDMI eARC and a USB-A slot sit alongside a power socket, a ‘reset’ button and a ‘setup’ button in a recess on the rear of the chassis – and that's it in terms of the physical stuff. The lack of HDMI passthrough may conceivably be a deal-breaker for some people, especially as quite a few similarly priced alternatives include it – and the kinds of smaller TV that this is aimed at are more likely to have fewer HDMI ports.

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0 (with SBC and AAC codec compatibility) cover off the bulk of the wireless stuff, and there is compatibility with UPnP, the Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, Apple AirPlay 2 and Google Chromecast. The last couple mean that the Ambeo Mini can easily become part of a multi-room audio system.

• Features score: 4.5/5

Sennheiser Ambeo Mini review: Audio performance

• Remarkable low-frequency presence and control
• Sound is far bigger than the product’s physical dimensions
• Not the most spatial of spatial audio presentations

The Ambeo Mini wastes no time in calibrating itself to your specific environment, and once it’s done so there are numerous positives about the way it goes about churning out the sound of movies and music alike.

It goes without saying that the best results come from the best sources – and when given the Dolby Atmos soundtrack to a UHD 4K Blu-ray disc of Dune to deal with, you’ll quite quickly forget the "mini" aspect of the Ambeo Mini and concentrate on the mightiness of its presentation.

Most immediately, its low-frequency punch and presence is almost startling. 43Hz is deep, sure – but the bass the Sennheiser generates is so solid, so controlled and so full of variation that it sounds even deeper, somehow. Sennheiser is pleased with the fact that you can connect as many as four optional wireless Ambeo subwoofers to the Mini (and in our experience with the Sennheiser Ambeo Plus, using three subs can be an amazing time), but unless you are setting up your soundbar in a big, vaulted space I’d seriously question whether you need even one, let alone four.

Mid-range fidelity is impressive – the center channel of audio information is always the most critical, and the Ambeo Mini delivers it with authority, packing voices with detail and character. It projects well, even when the low end is strutting its stuff, and is able to retain plenty of information about tone and texture even when the soundtrack is at its most bullish. And despite the lack of dedicated tweeters here, the Sennheiser has ample bite and brilliance at the top of the frequency range, along with the requisite levels of detail. 

The whole of the frequency range hands together well and, although the Ambeo Mini is undoubtedly working its socks off to create what says is a facsimile of 12 channels of information using just six drivers, there’s a coherence to the way it delivers the Dolby Atmos soundtrack. The soundstage it creates is way bigger than the soundbar from which it emanates, and long-travel effects move around the stage in pretty convincing fashion.

What there isn’t a huge amount of, though, is sonic height to the sound. Yes, the Sennheiser can put sound upwards with reasonable success – but even when accompanying a 48-inch OLED TV (for which the Ambeo Mini is the perfect size to fit between its feet), sound never really gets above the television’s top bezel. This slight lack of upward projection will be familiar to anyone who’s heard the (similarly sized, much more affordable) Sonos Beam Gen 2.

In every other respect, though, the Ambeo Mini has the better of the size-comparable Sonos. It’s more dynamic, and able to make you jump when the hissed exposition switches suddenly to almighty action sequence. It’s more open, able to create greater width across the front of the soundstage and position effects more precisely. And it’s more punchy, too. Quite a lot more punchy.

Watching soccer highlights over streaming, Sennheiser’s Ambeo virtualization technology does impressive work in hacking even a mild sensation of spatial audio from a stereo source. The stage is still big, detail levels are still high, and the "smack" as boot addresses ball is profound. Switch off the Ambeo processing and the sensation of scale pretty much disappears – although this is still a fuller and more enjoyable sound than most TVs have a hope of delivering by themselves.

Using Tidal Connect to stream a Dolby Atmos file of You Ain’t No Celebrity by Jungle featuring Roots Manuva lets the Ambeo Mini once again demonstrate its powers of resolution, of even-handed frequency response, of prodigious low-end presence and control, and of simple scale. The sound is open and well-separated, but unified and focused at the same time – and the virtualization technology does good work in summoning up authentic width and a degree of height to the sound. 

Use Bluetooth to stream a two-channel file of Grouper’s Alien Observer and the Ambeo technology can’t prevent a little vagueness creeping into the presentation as it attempts to open the recording up and out as much as possible. Ultimately, it’s better – or, more accurately, more convincing – to leave stereo music unvirtualized. You miss out on sheer size, but the sound has greater accuracy. 

• Sound quality score: 4.5/5

Sennheiser Ambeo Mini review: Design

• Mostly plastic and cloth construction
• Slightly wider than Sonos Beam
• Suitable for TVs of 40 inches and up

If you’re even remotely familiar with Sennheiser’s recent Ambeo Plus soundbar or the Sonos Beam Gen 2, you already have a good idea of what the Ambeo Mini is like in terms of design.

In its cloth-wrapped plastic construction and its slanted top panel, the Ambeo Mini looks just like – hey! – a miniature version of the Ambeo Plus. And its dimensions are very similar to those of the Sonos Gen 2, though it's slightly wider and slightly shorter, both of which are fine in our book.

As you might imagine, the quality of build and finish here is basically impeccable. Everything is put together flawlessly, and the Ambeo Mini is made from materials that are durable and even quite tactile. There’s nothing luxurious about the Ambeo Mini, and it’s hard to make a product as functional as a soundbar stand out in design terms… but nevertheless there’s something quite appealing about its combination of discretion and purposefulness. 

Some may wish for more than one choice of finish, of course – but Sennheiser has long been of the opinion that Henry "any color you like as long as it’s black" Ford was onto something.

• Design score: 4.5/5

Sennheiser Ambeo Mini review: Setup & usability

• Automatic room calibration
• Voice, app and remote control 
• Numerous listening modes

Credit where credit is due: Sennheiser has made setting up the Ambeo Mini about as straightforward and painless as is realistically possible. 

Put the soundbar in position. Make your power connection and hook the HDMI eARC socket to the corresponding connection on your TV – and you’re all set. Then it’s simply a question of opening the Smart Control app and letting the automatic room calibration routine do its thing. A fairly brief selection of test tones plays while the app assures you that all is well, and then the Ambeo Mini is optimized for the position in which it finds itself. And it’s easy to recalibrate should the need arise.

Once the Ambeo Mini is set up, controlling it is equally straightforward no matter which of the numerous interaction options you prefer. The control app itself is typically Sennheiser, in as much as it’s flawlessly realized, clear and logical, and covers every realistic eventuality. 

As well as the ability to switch the Ambeo virtualization technology on or off, there are six EQ settings (from "adaptive" to "neutral" via "music" and "movie"), a "night mode" that squashes dynamic response and "voice enhancement" that pushes the center channel information forward. Input selection, software updates and all the rest are available here too.

There’s a brief selection of capacitive touch controls on the slanted top of the soundbar which cover most major functions – and there’s a mute button to disable the four in-built mics. As well as calibration, these mics handle voice control, so if you want to use your Ambeo Mini simply by talking to it, Amazon Alexa is built in and Google Assistant is also available if you’ve appropriate speakers on a common network.

Or you may prefer the old-school charms of a remote-control handset. The wand supplied with the Ambeo Mini is tactile and angular, and covers more-or-less everything in terms of day-to-day control of the soundbar. Its labels could be larger, sure, and some backlighting wouldn’t go amiss… but it’s fair to say that some more expensive soundbars are supplied with much less satisfactory remote controls. 

• Setup & usability: 5/5

Sennheiser Ambeo Mini review: Value

• Big, authoritative sound with no need for a subwoofer
• Exemplary build and finish, great control options
• Cannot help but seem just a little too expensive

The Sennheiser Ambeo Mini seems just a little expensive. A small part of that is down to the sheer size of the product – because for all that it is beautifully built and finished from materials that seem durable, and has several well-realized control options, perceived wisdom is that soundbars this small don’t cost this much money and/or soundbars costing this much money are bigger than this. 

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with paying a premium price for a more manageably sized soundbar, especially if you don’t have that big a room to fill with sound and if you don't want a separate subwoofer – but it still needs to outperform more affordable alternatives in every department. 

As it is, though, the Sennheiser Ambeo Mini outperforms its more affordable alternatives in almost every department – if it could just summon a little more sonic height when it's doing its Ambeo thing, the value for money here would be excellent. Instead, it's merely good value – which is not a problem at all, if it's within your budget.

• Value score: 4/5

Should I buy the Sennheiser Ambeo Mini?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Sennheiser Ambeo Mini review: Also consider

How I tested the Sennheiser Ambeo Mini

• Tested for over a week
• Tested with Blu-ray and streaming
• Reviewed in a standard living space

The Sennheiser Ambeo Mini has been positioned between the feet of a 48-inchin Philips OLED TV for over a week, and it’s been used for at least a few hours every day – some of that is critical listening, some is simply sitting down in front of the TV to unwind. The room is open-plan, which means side boundaries are fairly distant, but the ceiling is not especially high – so the fact the Ambeo Mini can create plenty of sonic width is particularly commendable, while the relative lack of sonic height isn’t. 

Content of all kinds has been through the Sennheiser, from native uncompressed Dolby Atmos tracks via a UHD 4K Blu-ray player, to more compressed Atmos from Netflix and Disney Plus. Music has come in high-end form from Tidal Connect, and I've watched broadcast TV or streaming services for standard stereo viewing.

• Read TechRadar's review guarantee
• First reviewed August 2023

Bang & Olufsen Beosound Theatre: One-minute review

Bang & Olufsen clearly set out to make a statement with the Beosound Theatre Dolby Atmos soundbar. It’s gloriously over-engineered, with a level of design finesse the category hasn’t seen before. It’s also a formidable performer. The driver array includes a sublime coaxial center, two oversized woofers, and side and height drivers that build an immense wall of sound.

We think the Beosound Theatre sets a new audio benchmark for the soundbar category, pushing past what any of the best soundbars we've heard so far can do from a single unit. It’s related to B&O's Beosound Stage soundbar, but when it comes to power and profundity, this is a much bigger brother. 

However, it’s quite the commitment. Both in terms of price – it'll set you back an eye-watering $6,890 / £5,590 / AU$11,860 – and weight, at a huge 18kg. The design is unmistakably B&O. The iconic Scandinavian design, which on our review sample includes a dramatic slatted wooden grille (there’s also a less expensive fabric grille option available), and slick glass touch panel, which illuminates when you approach.

With 12 power amplifiers onboard, it has quite the sonic arsenal at its disposal. As a standalone music speaker, it’s surprisingly effective, and when it comes to movie blockbusters it delivers action hard and fast. But it can't deliver rear sound without adding extra separate speakers (and extra expense).

If you want the biggest, clearest sound from a single-unit soundbar, nothing else does it quite this well, as you'd hope for the price. But if you need a one-box soundbar with Dolby Atmos for a more affordable price, consider the Sonos Arc, Sony HT-A7000 or Devialet Dione (in ascending price order), all of which still deliver big sound. Just not quite as big.

Bang & Olufsen Beosound Theatre review: Price and release date

• Costs from $6,890 / £5,590 / AU$11,860
• Released October 2022

The price you’ll pay for the Bang & Olufsen Beosound Theatre varies according to the finish you opt for. In its most inexpensive guise, with a fabric grille, you can expect to pay $6,890 / £5,590 / AU$11,860. However, upgrade the finish to Silver Oak or Gold Tone, and the price escalates to $7,990 / £6,390 / AU$13,650.

We don't need to tell you that's incredibly expensive, even by the standards of other premium soundbars. For example, the Samsung HW-Q990B, one of our top, high-end soundbar picks cost $1,899 / £1,599 / AU$2,199 at launch. Sure the Beosound Theatre may outperform it in some ways, but it's still an incredible ask for boosting the sound on your TV.

Bang & Olufsen Beosound Theatre review: Features

• Upgradable design
• Dolby Atmos sand HDMI 2.1 support
• Auto-calibration microphone

There’s no dedicated remote control supplied in the box with the Beosound Theatre. Instead, you’re directed to the accompanying app. Some people are bound to love the fact you don't need to mess about with a remote, others might feel shortchanged for the price – this is the same deal as you get with Sonos soundbars, and we have no issue with it.

The app has a variety of sound presets to choose from, including TV, Music, Movie, Game and (dynamically compressed) Night. It also facilitates Spotify Connect, Chromecast and Apple AirPlay 2 support.

One key feature of the Beosound Theatre is its modular design. Longevity was a key requirement in its design, and virtually any part of the soundbar can be swapped out for a replacement or upgrade. This includes the processor and the HDMI interface board, so any changes to broadcast specs or standards can theoretically be accommodated.

It’s compatible with Dolby Atmos, TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus 7.1, and 7.1 PCM sources, but not DTS:X. It seems a little ridiculous to miss the latter off at this price, but here we are.

Connectivity on the rear comprises four HDMI ports – one of which is the eARC port that connects to the TV. Frustratingly, this is also the only one that supports 4K 120Hz, meaning that you can't actually pass-through 4K 120Hz from the other three HDMI ports. But you do get regular 4K HDR passthrough, at least.

There’s also the provision to connect the Theatre to other Beosound speakers. Indeed, as many as 16 can be connected: eight using Wireless Powerlink, and eight Powerlink.

There are four Ethernet sockets towards this purpose, although one is specifically for connecting to LG TVs and controlling the whole setup using the B&O app.

The soundbar comes with a calibration microphone to help tune the sound for your room – and it's not limited to just one 'sweet spot', usefully. You can tune for a whole seating area, which is not something you tend to get from soundbars.

• Features score: 4/5

Bang & Olufsen Beosound Theatre review: Sound quality

• Wide spatial soundstage
• Incredible dynamics
• A high performer with both movies and music

The Beosound Theatre provides a hugely entertaining listen. High frequencies are detail rich, there’s a smooth, fulsome mid-range and underpinning both is a bass attack capable of flattening your recliner. The speaker array is classified as 7.1.4, but take that with a pinch of salt. 

Despite the price tag, this is not a replacement for a high-end AV receiver system. It’s something altogether different. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the Theatre is its bass handling. This all-in-one slams like a battalion of subwoofers. It can drop seriously deep, and is capable of quite startling dynamics. Those two forward facing  6.5-inch woofers know how to pressure load a room.

But the bar is also capable of remarkable mid-range clarity. That center-mounted coaxial driver is beautifully articulate, not just with movie dialogue, which is always easy to follow no matter how busy the soundstage, but also music.

Stereo music sources can be upmixed to make full use of the expansive driver array, which is worth doing. With all cones at play, the soundstage is preternaturally wide and spacious. Significantly there’s no overt sweet spot – you won’t have to commandeer the prime spot on the sofa every time you want to listen to Tidal streams. Volume is prodigious too. There’s more than enough power on tap to pump the volume in a large listening space.

Of course, movies are the Beosound Theatre’s raison d'etre, and it doesn’t disappoint when the lights dim. The bar has a ball with Bond’s pirouetting Aston Martin from No Time to Die. The machine-gun headlights sound fast and fierce.

But blockbusters in particular reveal an Achilles' heel. The Beosound Theatre doesn’t offer a full 360 degree soundstage from Dolby Atmos sources. Even with those angled side speakers, there’s no sense of Dolby Atmos in the round. For that, you’ll really need to add additional rear speakers.

This isn’t a criticism particular to this B&O as all soundbars need to use additional speakers to convincingly deliver a full surround experience, and we're not knocking the B&O for not being able to break the laws of physics. We're judging it here as a one-box soundbar, not a surround system. But it still means that if you want this, you'd need to add more B&O speakers to your package.

What you're presented with from the bar alone, though, is a masterful sonic canvas that looms before you for games and music.

However, we found a curious issue with the accuracy of sound placement in games – they don't match what's on-screen as well as in movies. This will only really be an issue for serious shooter fans, and odds are those people will use a headset (or different screen) anyway, so we don't think it holds the Theatre back for 99% of its buyers.

• Sound Quality score: 5/5

Bang & Olufsen Beosound Theatre review: Design

• Iconic Scandi-style design
• Multiple stand options
• Weighs 18kg

It seems entirely appropriate that a flagship soundbar should take its design cues from a ship. B&O describes the soundbar’s shiny exterior as a hull, which rather cleverly disguises some of the bulk. Another cute design trick is the central TV mounting plate. This allows virtually any TV to be secured to the bar, effectively obscuring the rear 50 per cent of the build.

The Theatre can be partnered with any screen brand or size, most typically 55, 65 or 77 inches. Bang & Olufsen works closely with LG, and stylistically, that would be the TV of choice – perhaps the new lighterweight LG C3. The aluminium wings – which fix left and right, and can be changed to accommodate different screen sizes – are an inspired element.

The top of the bar is wrapped in acoustic fabric. The cheapest (!) finish extends this to the front grille. The Beosound Theatre soundbar I tested features a slatted oak wood grille. 

Behind the grille are 12 speaker drivers: two 6.5-inch woofers and that coaxial centre, which comprises a 1-inch tweeter mounted in front of a 5.25-inch midranger. There’s also two 3-inch mid-range drivers, four 2.5-inch drivers and two 1-inch tweeters. The total power output for this array is 800W; 100 watts power the two bass drivers, with 60W going to each of the remaining 10 drivers.

One unintended consequence of the touch glass control up top is that it’s highly reflective, and always reflects what’s on the screen above. Depending on your angle, this could be a small frustration.

• Design score: 4.5/5

Bang & Olufsen Beosound Theatre review: Value

• Impeccable build quality
• High-end performance
• Lacking some (niche) features

There’s no dodging that huge price tag, particularly if you go for the full Scandi finish. That said, the Beosound Theatre is a remarkable piece of kit that sounds fantastic.

Does it deliver a performance commensurate with its price? That’s more difficult to say. What you’re buying here is so much more than the noise it makes.

Industrial design is outstanding. There’s not a millimeter of spare space beneath the hood (which goes some way to explaining its weight), yet an insistence on modular construction means it can always be repaired or upgraded. This isn’t so much a soundbar as an heirloom, if B&O lives up to the promise there.

It also uniquely dovetails with the larger B&O ecosystem. Which means if you’ve already bought into the brand, there’s more aspects of control and integration that can be unlocked.

But it's disappointing that it lacks DTS:X, and that none of the three input ports for passthrough to the TV are HDMI 2.1 compliant – for this price, we don't expect to want for any established soundbar features.

• Value score: 3.5/5

Bang & Olufsen Beosound Theatre review: Should I buy it?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Bang & Olufsen Beosound Theatre review: Also consider

• First reviewed: Jan 2023
• How we test: explore TechRadar's review guarantee