Sennheiser has announced another reason to consider its five-star Ambeo Soundbar: Sony 360 Reality Audio support.

A new firmware update, available today, means Ambeo owners can enjoy 360 Reality Audio tracks via Google Chromecast. Live concert streaming service nugs.net is the first to work, with “additional services and content expected to follow”. Hopefully, this means Deezer, Tidal and Amazon Music HD are just around the corner, given all of these boast a number of tracks available in 360 Reality Audio.

For the uninitiated, Sony’s object-based ‘360 Spatial Sound’ technology aims to put the listener smack bang in the middle of an immersive 360-degree music listening experience. The Ambeo Soundbar already has 3D movie sound covered thanks to its Dolby Atmos, DTS:X and MPEG-H support, so it’s great to see that expand to music.

Sony offers a handful of homegrown 360 Reality Audio-compatible speakers including the recently-launched SRS-RA3000 and SRS-RA5000. The Japanese giant’s homegrown audio format is also supported by a smattering of third-party products including the Amazon Echo Studio smart speaker, McIntosh’s MX123 AV processor, and now, Sennheiser’s high-end soundbar.

Commenting on today’s news, Maximilian Voigt, Product Manager at Sennheiser, said: “Our customers can now stream music and enjoy exceptional spatial audio by simply downloading the latest firmware update without the need to purchase any additional equipment.”

Sony is keen to expand the number of compatible 360 Reality Audio devices, and to help it achieve this, the company recently announced that customers in the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain can enjoy 360 Reality Audio content on Sony’s premium home wireless speakers via Amazon Music HD.

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