Category: Sennheiser

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Sennheiser and Magic Leap Reveal AMBEO AR One Spatial Audio Headphones

In September, audio equipment company Sennheiser announced it was working with mixed reality (MR) company Magic Leap to bring spatial audio to the Magic Leap headset. Now the two companies have revealed the first product to come from this partnership – the AMBEO AR One in-ear headphones.

Sennheiser’s AMBEO technology I said to work like an audio version of augmented reality (AR) in that it allows real-world sounds to be blended in to the sound from the headphones, a development that Sennheiser refers to as ‘Transparent Hearing’.

The blending of virtual 3D sound with real-world acoustics is made possible as a configurable extension of Sennheiser’s existing active noise cancellation technology, which is usually used in headphones to eliminate outside noise.

The new in-ear headphones are described as: “The first spatial listening accessory to receive official certification by Magic Leap.” indicating that the headphones have been specifically designed to complement the mixed reality experiences available on the Magic Leap One headset.

The headphones are also said to feature deep bass, and offering a complete seal provided by Sennheiser’s ‘Comply’ ear tips. The headphones interface with the Magic Leap One via standard 3.5mm audio jack.

Developers are said to be able to specify how much outside sound will be mixed into the user’s experience. External sound is captured by the headset built-in microphones, and then blends in to the spatial audio experience.

Sennheiser logo

Sennheiser is also launching a companion app, called AMBEO Augment Audio Lab, which is designed to provide users will control over the audio experience, described the by the company as providing: “Full control over their sound world, [empowering] developers and creators to craft powerful spatial computing experiences in which real sounds seamlessly blend with virtual audio.”

The AMBEO AR One is planned to be available for sale sometime during November, 2018 through the Magic Leap website in the USA, priced at $250 (USD). For future coverage on Magic Leap and Sennheiser AR audio, keep checking back with VRFocus.

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Sennheiser & Magic Leap Unveil AMBEO AR One Spatial Audio Headphones

Sennheiser and Magic Leap today unveiled the AMBEO AR One in-ear headphones, an external headphone the companies couch as “the first spatial listening accessory to receive official certification by Magic Leap.”

The AMBEO AR One is said to offer users a unique blending of virtual 3D sound with your real acoustic world; the result of Sennheiser’s latest development, ‘Transparent Hearing’, which filters out specific noises in your environment while letting in others—a configurable extension of the company’s noise cancellation technology.

The headphones are also said to feature deep bass, and a complete seal via the company’s ‘Comply’ ear tips. The headphones plug into Magic Leap One’s standard 3.5mm jack.

AMBEO AR One will be available starting sometime next month through Magic Leap in the US, priced at $250.

Image courtesy Sennheiser

According to a press statement, developers will be able to choose how much of the outside world’s sound, captured by the headset’s built-in microphones, blends into their spatial audio experience.

The company is also launching a companion app, dubbed ‘AMBEO Augmented Audio Lab’, which provides users with “full control over their sound world, [empowering] developers and creators to craft powerful spatial computing experiences in which real sounds seamlessly blend with virtual audio.”

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Users will also be able to record environmental sounds in the app and loop and mix them with loop banks. Several loop banks will be provided for users to get started, including one by beatboxer and music producer SK Shlomo (seen below). Pulsing orbs can be placed around your playspace, providing positional audio and a visual cue of what loops you have around you.

You can find out more by going to Sennheiser’s AMBEO site.

The post Sennheiser & Magic Leap Unveil AMBEO AR One Spatial Audio Headphones appeared first on Road to VR.

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Sennheiser Partner With Magic Leap for Spatial Audio

Though often overlooked, clever use of audio can hugely elevate an immersive experience into something good into something amazing. In an attempt to provide this experience to its augmented reality (AR) system, Magic Leap are partnering with audio company Sennheiser to bring spatial audio technology to the company.

Sennheiser will be bringing its AMBEO technology to Magic Leap in order to improve the immersion of AR. The AMBEO  technology uses a process called ‘transparent audio’ which allows sound from the real world to be mixed in with sound from a user’s headphones, making it like an audio version of AR.

While Sennheiser did not confirm what product the new technology would be applied to, according to Venture Beat the company did mention that it would be discussing further news at the LEAP developers conference in October.

“Our spatial computing platform is uniquely designed in how it blends the digital world seamlessly and respectfully with the physical world,” Magic Leap product chief Omar Khan said. “The spatial soundfield is an integral part of the spatial sensory experience. This is why we partnered with Sennheiser … to help explore and enhance our spatial audio accessory solutions.”

“As we enter a new era of spatial computing … it thrills us to bring our AMBEO spatial audio expertise to drive forward this emerging field,” Sennheiser Ambeo boss Veronique Larcher said. “[We also plan on] working closely with the creative community.”

Some analysts say that by using the Sennheiser technology to handle audio, Magic Leap is more free to focus on the visual experience, and the technology might also help developers built better sound into AR experiences.

Magic Leap One Reveal

Magic Leap has started to ship its first product, the Magic Leap One Creator Edition. The response has been somewhat lacklustre, with many people criticising the quality of the AR experience, including Oculus founder Palmer Luckey.

For further coverage on Magic Leap and spatial sound, keep checking back with VRFocus.

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Sennheiser and Sphericam Join Forces To Produce New VR Camera

Sennheiser are one of the most well-known and popular producers of headphones and audio equipment in the world. The company have recently announced a partnership with 360-degree camera manufacturers Sphericam to create a new high-end virtual reality (VR) video and audio capture system.

Sphericam and Sennheiser have been working together from some months to produce a system called AMBEO for VR, a purpose built high-end VR video and audio capture system that can capture 4 x 4K video at 60fps along with high fidelity 3D audio. The unit will have on-camera controls and instant HD preview capability.

“Our goal is to deliver the highest quality 360º video capture on the market and in Sennheiser we found a partner who shares our values in the audio space. We are thrilled to bring the best of both worlds together to help production groups offer the highest fidelity immersion to their audiences” says Jeffrey Martin, CEO of Sphericam.

“The future of audio is in immersive sound experience, and perhaps this is nowhere more apparent than in the field of VR,” said Véronique Larcher, co-director AMBEO at Sennheiser. “With the launch of the AMBEO VR Mic last year we have provided an easy-to-use tool for 3D audio productions, while our AMBEO Blueprints website provides ample information on recording and mixing 3D audio. Now our new partnership program helps content creators to design the full VR experience with ease.”

A price point and release date for the product has not yet been confirmed.

VRFocus will bring you further news on the AMBEO for VR project as it becomes available.

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Up Close With Sennheiser’s $1,700 VR Microphone

Here’s a close look at Sennheiser’s new AMBEO VR microphone in all its glory as demonstrated at last week’s CES 2017 in Las Vegas. It’s the company’s first step into VR audio and it’s just received wide release for a cool $1700.

One of the most respected audio companies worldwide, Sennheiser is best known for its high-end headphones and microphones, which it’s been producing now for over 70 years. So when a company like Sennheiser launches a product for for the immersive media and VR space, people tend to take notice.

sennheiser-logoThe AMBEO VR Mic is the company’s first foray into 3D audio and is an effort by Sennheiser to make the recording device as transparent as possible – that is, present the user with a convincing reproduction of a 3D soundscape.

The device was actually unveiled at last year’s CES, but only became widely available last November, for the princely sum of $1700. For that you get the AMBEO VR Mic itself, a set of balanced XLR cables, Rycote suspension mount, Foam wind shield and access to the company’s proprietary A-B format encoder. It’s this last item which gives a peek at how Sennheiser’s VR audio ambitions are not ending at just the hardware. “For us, Ambeo is the umbrella … for different types of immersive audio configurations,” Sennheiser Co-CEO Dr. Andreas Sennheiser told Digital Trends at CES last year. “And that is from the recording side, to the processing side, to the playback side. There’s playback in 9.1, there’s playback over headphones, there’s recording with VR mics which capture the sound from the signal source, and there’s recordings which capture the sphere differently. Ambeo is a stream of different technologies and configurations which, in the end, should do nothing less than raise the hairs on your back.”

Below is a close up look at what $1700 buys you and you can check out the technical specification of the mic of after the gallery.

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Sennheiser AMBEO VR Mic Specs

Dimensions 215 x 49/25 mm (L x D)
Frequency response 20 Hz to 20 kHz
Max. sound pressure level 130 dB(A) for 1 kHz
Transducer principle Pre-polarized condenser microphone
Weight 400 g
Microphone connector DIN12M, use enclosed adapter cable to convert to 4x XLR3M Polarity: Pin1 (GND), Pin2 (+), Pin3 (-)
Pick-up pattern 4x cardioid, in A-format arrangement (1: front-left-up [FLU], 2: front-right-down [FRD], 3: back-left-down [BLD], 4: back-right-up [BRU])
Nominal impedance Approx. 200 O
Min. terminating impedance 1000 O
Equivalent noise level 18 dB-A as per IEC 61672-1 / 27 dB CCIR as per CCIR 468-3
Power supply 4x phantom powering (P48) as per IEC 61938 (48 ± 4 V), 7 mA each
Sensitivity 31 mV/Pa (-30 dBV)
Matrix reference Center of the capsule holder
Mixing to B-format W = FLU + FRD + BLD + BRU / X = FLU + FRD – BLD – BRU / Y = FLU – FRD + BLD – BRU / Z = FLU – FRD – BLD + BRU

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