The Sennheiser Ambeo Mini is ideal in many ways. It’s usefully small, but sounds much bigger than it looks. It has punch to go with its sonic precision, it has a full suite of excellent control options, and it looks and feels like a quality item. It’s even pretty good at opening up non-spatial audio soundtracks. If it just sounded a little taller, or cost a little less, it could be ‘ideal’ full stop.

The Sennheiser Ambeo Mini has plenty to recommend it. It sounds way bigger than it looks, it punches harder and more precisely than seems likely, it has a stack of excellent control options, and it’s built up to the asking price. It’s quite good at putting some space and scale into non-spatial soundtracks, too. Increase the sonic height and/or reduce the asking price and it would be approaching ‘ideal’.

The Sennheiser Ambeo Mini is compromised, of course – but this small, expensive, and high-achieving soundbar will nevertheless prove just the ticket for any number of people.

This is a brilliant compact soundbar that doesn't come cheap but sounds simply excellent. It's a fantastic upgrade for your TV but will also be a massive asset for music lovers and serial party hosts.

In isolation the Ambeo Mini is an excellent soundbar - and it remains excellent in many ways even when put into context. But there’s just a slight disconnect between the way it performs and the money it will cost you.

Sennheiser's Ambeo mini is one-third of the price of the company's own Ambeo Max and half the Ambeo Plus – so you have three options across price tiers, ensuring that the company can offer something to fit most budgets. The mini is still slightly pricier than most of the soundbar competition in this class, but not so much that it feels unreasonable. It's certainly worth stretching for, even without the subwoofer, and you can always make that upgrade further down the road for that little cherry on top.

Sennheiser’s Ambeo range has set high expectations, but the Mini fails to meet them

Probably the biggest small soundbar you can buy