AMBEO Soundbar Mini

Overview

AMBEO Soundbar Mini is the smallest Sennheiser AMBEO soundbar, announced in August 2023 (model SB02S). It is 700 mm wide, 69 mm high and 101 mm deep (including feet), weighs about 3.56 kg according to the manual and can be wall-mounted.

Sennheiser lists six drivers, six class D amplifiers and 250 W RMS of total power: two 4-inch woofers and four 1.6-inch (40 mm) full-range drivers on the front and sides. Four built-in far-field microphones handle room calibration and voice control.

The TV connects over HDMI eARC, which is the only wired audio input; the USB port only powers accessories and takes updates. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0 handle streaming, with AirPlay 2, Chromecast built-in (Google Cast), Spotify Connect and TIDAL Connect. Amazon Alexa is built in; Google Assistant works through a separate Google-enabled device, not the soundbar's microphones. The box includes a premium high-speed HDMI cable, a remote control with its battery, the power cable and the guides.

You control it with the buttons on the bar, the included remote, or the Sennheiser Smart Control app for iOS and Android; a web interface is also available.

What the specs mean

• 7.1.4 speaker setup: seven main channels, one subwoofer channel and four height channels. Sennheiser says its AMBEO virtualization, developed with the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS, positions seven virtual speakers around you and four overhead from the single bar. Sennheiser says it also upmixes stereo content.
• HDMI eARC: the enhanced Audio Return Channel sends the TV's sound to the soundbar over one HDMI cable, including high-bitrate formats such as Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Atmos and uncompressed multichannel audio.
• No HDMI passthrough: the Mini has no HDMI input, so a console or streaming box connects to the TV, and the TV sends the sound on over HDMI eARC.
• Audio formats: Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Digital, DTS:X, DTS-HD Master Audio, DTS-HD High Resolution Audio, DTS 96/24, DTS-ES, DTS, MPEG-H 3D Audio, Sony 360 Reality Audio, DSD, LPCM 2ch and multichannel PCM.
• Room correction: Sennheiser's self-calibration uses the built-in microphones to learn the room's acoustics and adapt the sound to it.
• Expandability: the AMBEO Sub connects wirelessly; Sennheiser says the Mini can connect to up to four AMBEO Subs.