Am I a soundbar expert? That title always fills me with a huge sense of impostor syndrome. What I can say is that I’ve reviewed a lot of them over the past five years — from the simple Amazon Fire TV soundbar to the giant LG S95QR multispeaker home theater replacement — and that gives me a pretty good sense of what’s out there. , what else is worth buying. This Black Friday, if I had to choose just one among the many excellent soundbar deals, I would buy the Dolby Atmos-enabled Sennheiser Ambio Soundbar Plus.
To me, a great Black Friday deal means getting the chance to purchase a product that was previously financially out of reach even though it was at regular price. Considering that the Sennheiser Ambio Soundbar Plus is normally $1,500, I’m guessing it’s generally too expensive for a lot of people. However, on Black Friday, it drops to $1,000 (33% off). And while it’s still a serious investment in sound, it’s as good as anything I’ve ever seen before.
Of the many soundbars that came into my home for testing, the Sennheiser Ambio Soundbar Plus is one of the few Dolby Atmos soundbars capable of giving my Dolby Atmos home theater system a serious run for its money. I still believe that if you want to buy a single speaker – just a soundbar, with no subwoofer and no additional surround speakers – the Sennheiser Ambio Soundbar Plus is the best you can get.
Sennheiser’s virtualization (clever software that makes it seem as if you have speakers all around the room) is incredibly impressive. Dolby Atmos is housed under a sound dome, allowing your ears to hear the sounds of gunfire and helicopters roaring overhead. This is generally only possible with installed ceiling speakers and at least one set of nearby satellites. The Sennheiser Ambio Soundbar Plus manages to accomplish these Atmos audio acrobatics without any peripherals.
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You can add a subwoofer if you want (your choice of wired or wireless), and it will certainly add to the effect, but you don’t have to do that – the Sennheiser Ambio Soundbar Plus has its own built-in subwoofers and they’re very Perform well Well, all by itself.
Unlike many other soundbars at this price, the Sennheiser Ambio Soundbar Plus has multiple HDMI inputs – and even a few analog inputs – which means you can essentially hook up an AV receiver, as well as speakers Are changing. Its Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity gives it impeccable streaming credentials which gets even better with Apple AirPlay and Chromecast compatibility.
There’s only one caveat with the Sennheiser Ambio Soundbar Plus: Sennheiser doesn’t make wireless surround for this speaker, so consider it a one-time purchase. A subwoofer is the only way to expand its capacity (but you can add two of them if it makes you feel better).
