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Sennheiser AMBEO Smart Headset Headphones Review

Tested using Methodology v1.3.1
Reviewed May 15, 2018 at 11:55 am
Latest change: Test bench update Nov 21, 2019 at 11:25 am
Sennheiser AMBEO Smart Headset Picture
6.9
Mixed Usage
6.8
Neutral Sound
7.2
Commute/Travel
7.1
Sports/Fitness
7.0
Office
5.7
Wireless Gaming
7.2
Wired Gaming
6.6
Phone Call

The Sennheiser Ambeo Smart Headset are decent, wired in-ears for mixed usage, with a unique feature for recording 3D audio using binaural mics. They have a fairly common in-ear design, with ear-hooks that makes them stable enough for sports. They're also noise-canceling headphones that isolate sufficiently well for commuting. Unfortunately, they do not have the most comfortable fit and you can only use them with iOS devices since they have a lightning connector and do not come with an adapter.

Our Verdict

6.9 Mixed Usage

Decent for mixed usage. The Sennheiser AMBEO Smart headset is a versatile option for most use cases thanks to their decent isolation and sound performance. These headphones are compact with a stable ear hook design and they do not require a battery. Unfortunately, they do not block as much noise as some of the other noise canceling in-ears we've tested so they will not be the ideal choice for commuting. Their sound quality is decent but they are not the most durable headphones. They're also limited to iOS since they have a lightning connector and do not come with an adapter.

Pros
  • Decent and customizable sound.
  • Above-average isolation.
  • Stable in-ear fit.
Cons
  • Restrictive lightning connector.
  • Slightly uncomfortable ear-hooks.
6.8 Neutral Sound

Average for neutral listening. They have a decently balanced sound that tends to sound a bit sharp on already bright tracks. They pack a good amount of bass but have a slight bump in high-bass/low-mid which may make them sound a bit boomy and cluttered. Also since they are small closed back in-ear headphones, they can't create a soundstage as spacious as most open neutral listening headphones. Overall, they should sound good enough for most, but they won't be the ideal choice for more neutral listeners.

7.2 Commute/Travel

Average for commuting. They block a good amount of noise, they have an easy-to-use and efficient control scheme, and they're compact enough to fit in a jacket pocket. Unfortunately, their noise isolation is not as strong as some of the other in-ears we've tested like the QC 20, so you will hear a bit of ambient chatter when on public transit unless you play your audio at higher volumes.

7.1 Sports/Fitness

Above-average for sports use. They have a decently stable ear-hook design that won't fall while exercising. They also have a good control scheme and they are fairly lightweight. Unfortunately, they are not as compact as most in-ears, so you may not be able to carry them on you at all times. They're also wired with a pretty cumbersome dongle that will sway a lot while running and working out.

7.0 Office

Above-average for office use. They don’t leak much and have enough isolation to block the ambient noise of a moderately lively office. However, you will still hear what's going on around you if you're not playing any music and they're not the most comfortable headphones to wear for long periods of time. They also have a lightning connector and do not come with an adapter so they may not be compatible with all your devices.

5.7 Wireless Gaming

Average at best for gaming. The Sennheiser Ambeo sound decently well balanced and have practically no latency when gaming on your iPhone or iPad. They also have a customizable app, but unfortunately, they default to using the binaural mics in most cases except calls which are not ideal for speech/ chat when gaming. They also have a lightning connector which won't work with your consoles or PC

7.2 Wired Gaming
  • 6.9 Mixed Usage
  • 6.8 Neutral Sound
  • 7.2 Commute/Travel
  • 7.1 Sports/Fitness
  • 7.0 Office
  • 5.7 Wireless Gaming
  • 7.2 Wired Gaming
  • 6.6 Phone Call
  1. Updated Nov 21, 2019: Converted to Test Bench 1.3.1.
  2. Updated Nov 21, 2019: Converted to Test Bench 1.3.
  3. Updated May 15, 2018: Review published.
  4. Updated May 13, 2018: Our testers have started testing this product.
  5. Updated May 11, 2018: The product has arrived in our lab, and our testers will start evaluating it soon.
  6. Updated May 11, 2018: We've purchased the product and are waiting for it to arrive in our lab.

Compared To Other Headphones

Comparison picture

The Sennheiser AMBEO are a fairly average performing in-ears with a unique 3D feature thanks to their binaural mics. They have a decent design and build quality, with ear hooks that make them stable enough for most activities. They're also noise-canceling headphones that block sufficient noise for commuting. Unfortunately, they have a lightning connector which severely limits their use if you do not have a fairly recent iOS device. Overall, they're an okay choice for most use cases if you have an iPhone or iPad but unless you fully utilize their 3D feature, their price to performance ratio is not as good as some of the in-ears compared below. See our recommendations for the best noise cancelling earbuds.

Test Results

Design
Design
Style
Type In-ear
Enclosure Closed-Back
Wireless No
Transducer Dynamic

The Sennheiser Ambeo Smart headset has a wired ear-hook design and a typical in-ear fit. These headphones are a bit bulkier than most in-ears due to their control module and ear-hook design. The ear buds are decently dense with a grill covering the binaural microphones, and their hook design is thicker than most of the other in-ears with hooks that we've tested. This makes them look somewhat more premium and high-end although the thin audio cables connected to the earbuds do not quite reflect their price range. They come in two color schemes; black or white and overall, their understated design will work for most.

6.5
Design
Comfort
Weight 0.1 lbs
Clamping Force
0 lbs

The Sennheiser Ambeo Smart headset has a fairly typical in-ear fit with an ear-hook design. These headphones are very lightweight and easy to carry around on your person but compared to more straightforward in-ears, they are a bit heavier due to their control module. The ear hooks are also quite thick and bend at sharp angles that might dig into the back of your ears, unlike some of the more comfortable ear-hook designs we've tested like the Westone W40.

8.2
Design
Controls
OS Compatibility
iOS
Ease Of Use Okay
Feedback Okay
Call/Music Control Yes
Volume Control Yes
Microphone Control Yes
Channel Mixing
N/A
Noise Cancelling Control Yes
Talk-Through
Adjustable
Additional Buttons N/A

The Sennheiser AMBEO Smart Headset has a good button layout that delivers a lot of control and functionality. They provide the basics, call/music, track skipping and volume controls, as well as a rocker that lets you adjust the level of talk through (transparency) on the control module. They also have a mappable switch that you can set to the enable or disable noise canceling via their app. The buttons are fairly easy to use and provide decent feedback, although some buttons can be a bit mushy.

8.7
Design
Breathability
Avg.Temp.Difference 1.4 °C

These headphones, like most in-ears, are very breathable. They have an ear hook design, so they have more points of contact with your ears than simple in-ear headphones. However, the overall difference in temperature to your ear is negligible since they do not obstruct airflow like the closed back over-ears. They are breathable enough for sports.

8.0
Design
Portability
L 4.5"
W 3"
H 0.9"
Volume 12 in³
Transmitter Required N/A

The Sennheiser AMBEO are a bit bulkier than most straightforward in-ears due to their control module and ear-hook design. They're still fairly easy to carry on your person and will easily fit into most jacket pockets, but unfortunately, they may be a bit too bulky to fit into your jeans. They also come with a simple pouch instead of a hard case which is not ideal considering their price range.

5.5
Design
Case
Type Pouch
L N/A
W N/A
H N/A
Volume N/A

They come with a soft pouch that doesn't add much bulk but won't protect the headphones from impacts and drops. It's a little disappointing for their price range, especially since cheaper headphones like the Sennheiser Momentum In-Ear and the Bose QuietComfort 20 come with a good case.

7.0
Design
Build Quality

The Sennheiser AMBEO Smart Headset has a decent build quality but does not feel as durable as some of the other in-ears we've reviewed like the Shure SE425 or the Westone W40. The ear buds and control module are decently dense but the audio cables leading to the ear buds are not as thick as that of the Bose QC20. The cables are also not replaceable like the Shures or the Westones and you can see the machine finish on the control module which makes them look and feel a bit cheaper than their price would suggest.

7.5
Design
Stability
Design
Headshots 1
Design
Headshots 2
Design
Top
Design
In The Box

  • Sennheiser AMBEO Smart Headset Headphones
  • Earbud tips (x3 sizes)
  • Carrying pouch
  • Manuals

Sound
Sound
Sound Profile
Bass Amount
0.24 dB
Treble Amount
-1.62 dB
9.6
Sound
Frequency Response Consistency
Avg. Std. Deviation
0.08 dB

The Sennheiser AMBEO have excellent frequency response consistency. If the user is able to achieve a proper fit and an air-tight seal using the assortment of tips that come with the headphones, they should be able to get consistent bass and treble delivery every time they use the headphones. But, if the user fails to achieved a proper and air-tight seal, they could experience a drop in bass.

Sound
Raw Frequency Response
7.8
Sound
Bass Accuracy
Std. Err.
3.01 dB
Low-Frequency Extension
23.78 Hz
Low-Bass
-0.93 dB
Mid-Bass
2.21 dB
High-Bass
4.93 dB

The bass is very good. Their LFE (low-frequency extension) is at 24Hz, which is great. Low-bass, responsible for the thump and rumble common to bass-heavy genres is within 1dB of our neutral target. However, mid-bass, responsible for punch, and high-bass, responsible for warmth, are overemphasized by 2dB and 5dB respectively. This makes the overall bass of the Sennheiser deep, but noticeably boomy.

8.2
Sound
Mid Accuracy
Std. Err.
2.36 dB
Low-Mid
2.76 dB
Mid-Mid
-2 dB
High-Mid
-1.15 dB

The mid-range performance is very good. The overemphasis in low-mid is actually the continuation of the high-bass overemphasis. This thickens vocals a bit, and makes the overall mix a little cluttered and muddy. Conversely, mid-mid and high-mid are under our target by about 1.5dB, which nudges vocals and lead instruments towards the back of the mix by giving more emphasis to the lower frequencies.

6.6
Sound
Treble Accuracy
Std. Err.
4.63 dB
Low-Treble
-4.11 dB
Mid-Treble
2 dB
High-Treble
-1.99 dB

The Sennheiser AMBEO Smart Headset has an average treble. Low-treble is lacking by around 4dB which reduces the detail and presence of vocals and lead instruments a little. The 15dB peak around 10KHz means that this headphone could sound noticeably sharp and piercing on sibilances (S and Ts common to vocals and cymbals), especially on overly bright tracks.

6.3
Sound
Peaks/Dips
Peaks
2.68 dB
Dips
1.46 dB
8.4
Sound
Imaging
Weighted Group Delay
0.66
Weighted Amplitude Mismatch
0.79
Weighted Frequency Mismatch
1.31
Weighted Phase Mismatch
3.61

The imaging performance is great. Weighted group delay is at 0.66, which is above-average. The GD graph also shows that the group delay response crosses the audibility threshold in the bass range, but not by much. So although in theory this results in a bass that is slightly loose and late, it'll be so subtle that the majority of users won't be able to notice it. Additionally, the L/R drivers of our test unit were very well-matched. This is important for the accurate localization and placement of objects (voices, instruments, video game effects) in the stereo image.

0.7
Sound
Soundstage
PRTF Accuracy (Std. Dev.)
N/A
PRTF Size (Avg.)
N/A
PRTF Distance
N/A
Openness
2.6
Acoustic Space Excitation
1.0

Like most other in-ears, the soundstage of the AMBEO is poor. This is because in-ears bypass the pinna (outer ear) and don't interact with it, while activating the resonances of the pinna is one of the key factors in creating a speaker-like and out-of-head soundstage. Also, due to the closed-back and ANC design of these in-ears, their soundstage won't be perceived as open sounding as that of open-back earbuds like the Apple EarPods, Apple AirPods (1st generation) Truly Wireless, the Bose SoundSport Free Truly Wireless, or the Bose SoundSport In-Ear.

7.9
Sound
Weighted Harmonic Distortion
WHD @ 90
0.264
WHD @ 100
0.099
Isolation
7.4
Isolation
Noise Isolation
Isolation Audio
Overall Attenuation
-20.21 dB
Noise Cancelling Yes
Bass
-9.73 dB
Mid
-18.11 dB
Treble
-33.51 dB

The isolation performance is above-average. With ANC (active noise cancellation) enabled, these in-ears achieve about 10dB of isolation in the bass range, which is decent. This means they will be able to cancel out the rumble of airplane and bus engines to a useful degree. In the mid-range, important for blocking out speech, they achieve 18dB of isolation, which is good. In the treble range, occupied by sharp sounds like S and Ts, they isolate by more than 33dB, which is also good.

9.2
Isolation
Leakage
Leakage Audio
Overall Leakage @ 1ft
26.25 dB

The leakage performance of the AMBEO Smart Headset is excellent. The significant portion of the leakage is concentrated in the treble range, meaning the leakage will sound quite thin and mostly consist of S and Ts. The overall level of the leakage is very quiet too. With the music at 100dB SPL, the leakage at foot away averages at about 26dB SPL and peaks at around 36dB SPL, which is way below the noise floor of most offices.

Microphone
Microphone
Microphone Style
Integrated
Yes
In-line
Yes
Boom
No
Detachable Boom
N/A
Mic Yes

The binaural microphone of the Sennheiser AMBEO Smart Headset is decent for making calls and recording speech. In quiet environments, speech recorded with this mic will sound a bit thin and lacking some brightness, but it will be easily understandable. In noisy situations, they will struggle to fully separate speech from background noise even in moderately loud places, like a busy street.

However, the binaural mics perform quite well for recording binaural ambient sounds, which is what they are made for. The headphones also come with an in-line microphone for making calls, but we could not connect to it using our test software.

7.2
Microphone
Recording Quality
Recorded Speech
LFE
246.75 Hz
FR Std. Dev.
3.29 dB
HFE
3,517.32 Hz
Weighted THD
0.144
Gain
24.21 dB

The speech recording quality of the AMBEO's binaural microphone is above-average. The bumps in the bass range indicates that these microphones are prone to pops and rumbling noises, and the dip around 150Hz, means that speech recorded with these mics could sound a bit thin. The roll-off in the treble range means that speech recorded with these mics will lack a bit of brightness and airiness, but it will still be easily understandable. This is because speech intelligibility is mostly dependent on the 500Hz-4KHz range.

It should be noted that the binaural microphones are not meant for making phone calls, and the headphones come with an in-line mic that is activated when making calls. However, since we could not connect to the in-line mic using our test software, we performed the tests on the binaural mic. In our listening tests, the binaural mics, when used for recording binaural ambient sounds, actually perform quite well.

The recorded speech example was also done with the binaural mics and is in stereo.

Here is a binaural recording done with the Sennheiser AMBEO, and for comparison, here is a binaural recording done with the HeadAcoustics HMS. For the best 3D effect listen with in-ears.

6.0
Microphone
Noise Handling
Speech + Pink Noise
Speech + Subway Noise
SpNR
12.6 dB

The noise handling of the binaural microphone is mediocre. In our SpNR test, they achieved a speech-to-noise ratio of about 13dB, indicating that these headphones are not good at fully separating speech from background noise in loud or even moderately loud environments.

However, it should be noted that the AMBEO Smart Headset does come with an in-line microphone for making calls, but since we were not able to connect to the in-line mic with our test software, we performed the test on the binaural mics. Chances are that the in-line mic would perform slightly better, since it is positioned closer to the mouth.

The recording examples were also done with the binaural mics, and therefore, are in stereo.

Active Features
10
Active Features
Battery
Battery Type
N/A
Continuous Battery Life
N/A
Additional Charges
N/A
Total Battery Life
N/A
Charge Time
N/A
Power Saving Feature
N/A
Audio While Charging
N/A
Passive Playback
Yes
Charging Port N/A

The Sennheiser Ambeo headphones do not have a battery. They connect to iOS devices via their lightning port which provides enough power for their active features and noise cancellation.

7.0
Active Features
App Support
App Name Sennheiser Cap Tune
iOS Yes
Android N/A
macOS No
Windows No
Equalizer
Graphic + Presets
ANC Control
Adjustable
Mic Control Yes
Room effects
No
Playback Control
No
Button Mapping Yes
Surround Sound Yes

These headphones have a dedicated app that gives them a lot more options than typical wired headsets. The app has a graphic equalizer with presets, hear through modes and button mapping for the switch on the control module. You can also change the level of noise-canceling. Overall, it's a useful app that adds customization options not common for most wired headphones.

Connectivity
0
Connectivity
Bluetooth
Bluetooth Version
N/A
Multi-Device Pairing
N/A
NFC Pairing
N/A
Line of Sight Range
N/A
Default Latency
N/A
aptX Latency
N/A
aptX(LL) Latency
N/A

These are wired headsets with no Bluetooth capabilities. If you want a good and versatile Bluetooth headset, check out the Sennheiser PXC 550 wireless or the HD 4.50.

The Sennheiser Ambeo headphones have practically no latency since they are wired. They connect via a lightning port for data and power which adds a bit of latency but it's very negligible and won't be noticeable when watching movies or gaming.

0
Connectivity
Non-Bluetooth Wireless
Non-BT Line of Sight Range
N/A
Non-BT Latency
N/A
8.8
Connectivity
Wired
Analog Audio
No
USB Audio
Yes
Detachable No
Length 3.8 ft
Connection Lightning
Wired Latency
5 ms

Update 06/13/2019: We previously had listed the AMBEO to have analog audio, but since it is a lightning port, we consider it more to be audio over USB. The review and score have been updated. The AMBEO Smart Headset has a lightning port connector for iOS devices. It will not work with your PS4, Xbox One or PC/Mac.

Connectivity
PC / PS4 Compatibility
PC / PS4 Analog
No
PC / PS4 Wired USB
No
PC / PS4 Non-BT Wireless
No
Connectivity
Xbox One Compatibility
Xbox One Analog
No
Xbox One Wired USB
No
Xbox One Wireless
No
0
Connectivity
Base/Dock
Type
N/A
USB Input
N/A
Line In
N/A
Line Out
N/A
Optical Input
N/A
RCA Input
N/A
Dock Charging
N/A
Power Supply
N/A

These headphones do not have a base station or a dock. If you want a noise canceling headphone with a dock, then try the Turtle Beach Elite 800.