Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker Review: My New Multi-Room Music Starting Point |

introduction

Rather than living in its own walled garden, Bose has made a concerted effort to open its latest wireless speakers to everyone. As the entry point in a new interior-friendly lineup that also includes a soundbar and subwoofer, the Lifestyle Ultra speaker has both multiroom and home theater ambitions, but is first and foremost a standalone unit, with wide streaming support and a three-driver setup that promises convincing spatial sound.

Launching at $299/£299, Bose has placed its Lifestyle Ultra speaker directly between the Sonos Era 100 and Era 300. It also competes with other closed multiroom rivals like the Denon Home 200 and open alternatives like WiiM Sound. Would that be the best choice for someone who isn’t yet committed to a particular system?

Design and build: sand where birds can sing

With its impressively slim dimensions, the Lifestyle Ultra speaker can be placed almost anywhere in your home within reach of a power socket. However, you’ll want to avoid enclosed spaces for the high-pitched drivers to do their job, and leave some wall clearance for the uniquely angled Quietport bass ports.

My review unit took up little shelf space, and its rounded shape blended into my home much better than Bose’s previous, more boxy speakers. The soft-touch plastic adds a premium feel, and the activity LED is very subtle.

The one I tested was the White Smoke model, with a wraparound grille made of textured knit fabric that’s more of a light gray. This is perfect for neutral decor, while the black version leans more towards traditional hi-fi. There is also a special Driftwood edition with an authentic look, featuring earthy tones on the chassis and base made of natural oak. However, you’ll have to be a huge fan to get your hands on this one over the regular model, as the asking price is $50/£50 more.

The grill is not removable by the user, so it should be kept out of reach of curious (and clingy) young people. Bose’s official wall and floor mounts could be a great way to do just that. The latter is very smoothly integrated and has a groove that almost completely hides the power cable. If you want to use a third party route, there is a thread at the base.

This is a wired speaker strictly for indoor use and has no built-in battery or ingress protection.

Feature: Connect

All controls are located at the top, with a number of capacitive buttons handling playback, changing sources, pairing new Bluetooth devices, and muting the onboard microphone. I like that you can tap the volume wheel to make small adjustments, or rotate your finger to make larger changes.

Wireless connectivity is excellent, with Google Cast, Apple AirPlay 2, and Spotify Connect all working properly. Tidal Connect is not yet supported, but it looks like it will be supported in a later firmware update. Bluetooth 5.3 also now allows direct connectivity to other technologies, although support for AAC and SBC codecs is somewhat basic. I would have liked to have seen LDAC or aptX for higher quality local streaming.

While the focus may be on wireless connectivity, it’s nice to see Bose include analog lines on the back to connect the Lifestyle Ultra speakers to turntables and other wired sources. Hold the play button on your device to switch inputs, so you don’t have to reach for the companion app.

Activate Alexa+ with another button. The Lifestyle Ultra Speaker is the first smart speaker outside of Amazon’s own lineup to support virtual assistants. You’ll also hear voice prompts, but you can also press to mute the built-in microphone if you’re not a fan. Alexa generally worked well in my tests, picking up my voice from across the room and responding as quickly as a native Echo device, but the conversational part of Alexa+ hadn’t yet been rolled out in the UK. I’ve seen it in action, at least during the initial briefing session, where it responded in more natural language and understood multi-step questions that would have stumped traditional Alexa. I think we’ll be here soon.

Smarts are also exclusive to Amazon. The Lifestyle Ultra Speaker has AirPlay and Google Cast, but it also lacks Siri or Gemini. It also doesn’t have temperature or presence sensors, so don’t think of this as a direct replacement for an Echo smart speaker for working from home.

Interface: very basic

After Sonos’ app redesign drew near-universal disgust, I wasn’t surprised to see Bose restart development on the Lifestyle Ultra Speaker. What shocked me was that beyond the initial setup (which has to be one of the easiest setups I’ve ever used on a connected audio kit), I didn’t really have to reach for it at all.

Once connected to Wi-Fi, logged into Amazon, and enabled Alexa+, the only feature of note for solo speaker users was the three-band equalizer (and an additional slider to adjust the height). It’s basic, and there’s currently no room correction feature that the speaker automatically adjusts for, but I didn’t need to tweak it much. The default tune is really pretty good. More details are provided in the sections below.

You’ll need this app to run two Lifestyle Ultra Speakers as a stereo pair, place them further into a Bose-controlled multiroom system, or create a home theater with the Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar. I’m sure Bose would love to do this, but otherwise playback is only handled through the music app you’re already familiar with. When you open Spotify, your speakers will be listed as a source. Google Cast and Apple Airplay let you stream directly from YouTube Music and Apple Music.

The big advantage here is that you can simultaneously stream to connected speakers from Bose and other brands, independent of the app. Using Google Home to create a group with WiiM sounds worked perfectly with no noticeable timing issues. If you haven’t yet invested in a specific multi-room ecosystem, this is a great choice. However, if you’re used to one app being your hub for all your music, this could be a drawback.

Sound quality: new heights

Bose hasn’t revealed the speaker’s amplification ratio, but the single 3-inch main driver, 1-inch tweeter, and 1.5-inch upward-facing mid- and high-frequency driver should have plenty of power. The Lifestyle Ultra speakers are capable of delivering rich, engaging sound in such a compact size, and can be loud enough to fill surprisingly large spaces without first being used as a stereo pair.

The height channel is something you won’t find on the Sonos Era 100. As a result, the Bose produces a noticeably higher-pitched sound, often making it feel like vocals are coming from above the speakers rather than coming directly from them. Lana Del Rey’s soft singing voice on the cover doin time Although it was disconnected from the instrument, it still felt natural.

Even with Bose’s TrueSpatial audio processing, the soundstage isn’t as wide as some rivals. A lot of work goes on behind the scenes to split the signal between the front-facing and upward-facing drivers. For the best sense of width, you’ll need a stereo pair. Although I only had one speaker for this review, I had previously heard the stereo pair at a pre-launch briefing and was impressed by the excellent separation and how the two speakers worked together to balance the height element.

Bose has delivered midrange and high-end frequency delivery with true clarity and precision. Luude’s hi-hat down under It had just enough bite without being aggressive or overly sharp, but nothing but Thieves’ Welcome to DCC It had a punch as well. The all-round clarity is truly amazing.

As mentioned above, the bass port can sound a little booby if the speakers are too close to the wall. Moving it out into the open creates a more balanced low end, which again has more impact than you’d expect from something this small. Wu-Tang’s cream It had all the jolt I was looking for.

It’s only when you go looking for a serious sub-bass that the limitations of the Lifestyle Ultra speakers become apparent. Bhima’s go down There’s no distinction between baseline and sub-bass that larger, more expensive wireless speakers can manage. The bass is also toned down by the DSP at maximum volume, but I rarely heard it above 70%. A value closer to 50% was ideal for my home office.

Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker Verdict

Anyone building a multi-room setup from scratch should consider the Lifestyle Ultra speakers as a new starting point. The open approach Bose has taken is a breath of fresh air compared to the walled gardens of rivals, and allows you to keep using the streaming apps you’re most familiar with.

Whether you use it alone or as part of a larger installation, it’s very easy to set up and the sound quality is great for the price. Although Dolby Atmos isn’t available, this treble driver really delivers room-filling performance, which I rate better than Sonos’ Era 100. Adding a second speaker makes it even better. This could also help convince people, especially those who can afford it, to consider a full 7.1.4 home cinema setup.

Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker technical specifications