Feel the ULT: Sony's new headphones and speakers are all about the bass

Sony has announced a new range of speakers and headphones, sitting within its For the Music sub-brand, and marking a new direction in terms of sound and audience for the company. The ULT range incorporates three speakers – the ULT Tower 10, ULT Field 7 and the ULT Field 1, along with a pair of headphones – the ULT Wear – and all feature an ULT button that delivers extra bass when pressed.

Wondering what ULT stands for? I was too when I saw the new range in London this week, but I was told there isn’t a strict definition. It is said to have come from words like ‘ultimate’ and ‘ultra’, with the overarching idea that this range is targeting the hip-hop lover and baseline obsessives.

What are the Sony ULT Wear headphones like?

I’m going to start with the headphones as these were the most exciting to me. The ULT Wear aren’t the first headphones Sony has added a bass button so these headphones are somewhat of a spiritual successor to the XB910s.

They look like Sony headphones, are comfortable to wear with soft and cushioned earcups and they come in three colours comprising Forest Grey, Black and Off White. I’m all about the Forest Grey over here – it’s basically a grey green – but I suspect it will be the black that will sell the most.

IMAGE CREDIT: THE DISCONNEKT

The ULT button on the ULT Wear headphones offers two bass modes – Deep Bass and Attack Bass, which you cycle through easily, much like you would transfer between noise-cancelling and transparency modes on noise-cancelling cans. There is a difference in the modes – my preference was the Deep Bass mode – but your preferred mode will of course depend on how much you love low frequencies.

Inside, the ULT Wear use the same processor as Sony’s impressive WX1000M5 headphones, and they offer noise-cancelling too – though the X1000M5 are still the more premium offering. It’s also possible to connect two Bluetooth devices simultaneously to the ULT Wear, like your laptop and phone (Android or iPhone), while Swift Pair and Fast Pair are also available for quick connection to Android and Windows devices.

Battery life is claimed to be 30 hours with noise cancelling on, or 50 hours if you turn it off and you’ll get 1.5 hours of listening time with a 3 minute charge.

ULT Field 1, Field 7 and Tower 10 speakers

Moving on to the speakers and you’ve got the ULT Field 1 at the bottom of the range, competing with the likes of the Sonos Roam and JBL. In the flesh, it’s a little larger than the Roam and around the same size as the JBL Charge 5. It comes with a helpful carrying strap that you can also use to hook the Field 1 onto something like a tent or bathroom door, for example.

IP67 water and dust resistance is on board, along with shock resistance so this little speaker isn’t messing around. Like the ULT Wear, it has the ULT button, but rather than two bass modes, there’s only one on offer here, sitting in between the Deep Bass and Attack Bass in a sort of happy bassy comprise.

Its battery life is set at 12 hours non-stop playing, and it offers Quick Pair, with Bluetooth 5.2. There are four colours available, including the same three as the ULT Wear, along with an Orange option.

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Like the ULT Wear, it has the ULT button, but rather than two bass modes, there’s only one on offer here, sitting in between the Deep Bass and Attack Bass in a sort of happy bassy comprise.

The ULT Field 7 sits in the middle of the ULT speaker range and while it is described as portable, you won’t be bringing anything else to the park if you are carrying this speaker. It is an absolute unit. Inside, it packs a punch with two X-Balanced Speakers on front, two tweeters and two passive radiators, while outside, you’ll find LED lighting that syncs with the music. It is IP67 rated like the Field 1, but there’s no shock resistance here.

What you lose in shock resistance, you gain in battery life however with a promise of 30 hours, and 3 hours of use with 10 minutes of charge. The ULT button on this speaker works in the same way as the ULT Wear headphones, with two models of Deep Bass and Attack Bass.

IMAGE CREDIT: THE DISCONNEKT

At the top of the range is the ULT Tower 10, which is a huge party Bluetooth speaker sitting on caster wheels to allow you to cart it around. There is 360-degree lighting, a wireless microphone included with a place to store it for when you stop being an MC for the night, and it offers 360-degree sound too.

Four tweeters sit within the ULT Tower 10, alongside two mid-range speakers for vocals, drums and melodic instruments, while one X-Balanced speaker is also on board, designed to increase the surface area so the driver has less distance to move and reduces the chance of distortion. The ULT Tower 10, like the ULT Field 7 and the ULT Wear has two ULT bass modes when you push the button. Both the Field 7 and Tower 10 support stereo pairing, but you will need two of the same speaker, and they also offer Party Connect. The ULT Tower 10 also offers a TV Booster Mode and you can use it as a subwoofer for your TV.