Audio Video News

Sennheiser Atmos Soundbar: $2,500

At $2,500, the Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar is not cheap but it is fully capable of delivering clean, natural sound with a solid low end and convincing surround sound from a serious 50-inch-wide enclosure. The German company known for killer headphones has put its Ambeo 3D processing technology to work in a one-box system with 13 drivers — including two upward-firing drivers and six woofers — that performs superbly with music and movies. As reviewer Leslie Shapiro put it: “With its own calibration algorithm in a proper room, it can deliver all the benefits of Dolby Atmos or DTS:X without the hassles of a true surround system.”

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Convincing immersive sound
Powerful bass
Chromecast built-in for music streaming
Minus
Heavy and large
Expensive

Full Review Here

Naim Audio Mu-so 2 One-Box Wireless Music System: $1,599

Though not designed to reproduce movie soundtracks, we’ve included Naim Audio’s Mus-so 2 system in this roundup because it is one of the best all-in-one music systems money can buy, bringing audiophile sensibilities to an impeccably built rectangular enclosure that’s only 25 inches wide. You won’t believe your ears when you hear the balls-to-the-walls dynamics this svelte system delivers. As reviewer Rob Sabin put it, “There is a special kind of musicality and transparency and authority that the best audiophile components bring — it's that magical thing that happens when all the pieces come together to make an amplifier or speaker or whatever "high end." The Mu-so 2's got that in spades.”

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Stupendous build quality
Dead-waking dynamics from a single box
Balanced, audiophile-quality sound
Minus
Limited bass extension
Pricey

Full Review Here

To browse all Sound & Vision-recommended AV gear, broken out by category, visit our Top Picks page.