To put it nicely, the soundbar market is flooded. Everyone has some kind of solution for virtual 3D speakers. Sennheiser did it the German way, using technology from Frauenhofer – you know, they invented the MP3 format.
Sennheiser comes in several versions, but here we’re looking at the D06612cc7719e463481151fa887d2f5e887d2f5e8 version, which, as the name suggests, isn’t very big, measuring in at 70cm wide, making it one of the smallest soundbars we’ve tested. So when Sennheiser calls it “compact,” they mean it.
For £700, which is what it costs most places, you get a relatively compact device that delivers sound at “cinema and audiophile levels”. Here I have to assume that the person writing this article has probably never been to a good home theater, or been to a movie theater at all, or has never listened to a stereo reference system, because no matter how much witchcraft there is in these soundbars Poison cults and witchcraft, it’s 500 light years away from anything remotely close to the real thing. You can write about it as close as you can get with a small, compact unit, but anyone can tell you that the massive reduction in space and price means the experience isn’t the same – in any way imaginable Way.
The marketing materials also talk about “4” subwoofers” – mentioning such a small midrange unit makes the product description very unreliable, and it’s no better when you refer to the device as a “7.1.4 home theater system” Where to go – As far as I know this term applies to physical equipment, having one speaker that artificially tries to create the same feeling is not the same as having 11 physical speakers and a subwoofer. The word “virtual” is sorely lacking.
Here is an ad:
But on the soundbar itself and the installation. I don’t quite understand why they want people to install another app – there are too many of them already. But acid people also have to realize that the fact that you can fine-tune it after the room calibration is complete is actually smart enough. Luckily, there’s also a remote control hidden in the packaging. On the other hand, I don’t understand why you can only expand the system with a subwoofer, but it’s not possible to buy additional physical rear speakers, even though almost all competitors offer it, and in my opinion the price is very high. And the wall mount isn’t included – you’ll have to buy it extra…
There are six drivers, each with its own small Class D amplifier, four 1.6-inch full-range drivers, and two 4-inch woofers – I refuse to call them subwoofers. There’s a lot of goodies built in, Chromecast, AirPlay 2, Tidal Connect, Spotify Connect and anything that supports uPnP. There’s HDMI 2.1, USB-A for power, Bluetooth 5.2 and WIFI 6. No light input. It’s designed so that you connect your device to your TV, then the TV’s eARC HDMI output connects to the soundbar, and then everything else needs to be connected to the TV. I’m not sure how many people will need the extra optical input, or if it doesn’t really matter and in this price range I might expect HDMI passthrough without optical.
But the most important thing is the sound. It’s pretty good, although I don’t really care for the virtual surround sound, and the height channel in particular is a bit lackluster. The sound is very rich, and the bass from this little unit is impressive, but you don’t have to own a lot of subwoofers or floor-standing speakers to know that it’s far from reference – but when it comes to soundbars, rich and bassy sound is definitely good Unfortunately, many soundbars tend to be not only slim, but also noticeably light due to a lack of bass, especially when tuned. But I also have to be honest and say that the price means that for the same money you can get a non-mini soundbar which undoubtedly takes up more space but is also significantly heavier as a result and in this case also has More and better bass reproduction. The soundbar is fine for regular series and presentations, and the same goes for most movies without actual action, but if you want to watch movies and have the cinematic experience Sennheiser thinks it can deliver, and you need a subwoofer, then a 4-inch unit won’t suffice , and here we end up with a system that costs over £1,000.
Here is an ad:
So, for its size, it sounds pretty good, but for movies you need to buy a subwoofer to get real bass, and you don’t get the associated rear channels, plus the price is pretty high, I’m a bit surprised they didn’t analyze the market better when pricing the product, as a better price, compact size and otherwise reasonable sound would mean there would be a huge audience for the unit.
