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.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • jj

    Oh, look at that, an expensive additional product that should have been incorporated in the original product….
    ML is the biggest scam to hit AR
    This product is the biggest joke ever i.e.

    “real sounds seamlessly blend with virtual audio.” so you mean they’re just NOT noise canceling… If we act like its new tech, we can slap $100 more onto the price tag to make up for the sales we are never going to get with the ML.

    These headphones have more tech in them then general 3.5 headphones, but they’re still glorified tech, that is nothing new or worth $250.
    SCAM

    • over-man

      Have you personally tried the headphones? I have, they’re not a scam, and they most definitely don’t work by simply not having noise cancelling…each ear has a microphone, and this signal is filtered through hardware in the cable, then blended with the in-game audio. There are two modes, one of which boosts outside ambience, while the other is more “natural.” The illusion of objects being above or behind me was stronger than any HRTF decoder I’ve heard, even on 3rd order ambisonic audio, likely a combination of the headphones themselves, plus the spatial audio processing designed by the Magic Leap audio team.

  • Andrew Jakobs

    Damn I keep confusing them with LeapMotion.. I thought it was LeapMotion who partnered up with SennHeiser..

  • Meow Smith

    I wish Sennheiser and other headset makers would make gamer headsets with ir 5 style headtracking built in.

  • it is a bit expensive, but I guess this is for professional use