This past Spring Bose revealed its Lifestyle Collection which included a soundbar, subwoofer, and most eye catching of all its Ultra Speaker. This speaker was designed to stand out on its own or be paired up with those others in the collection. Does it sound as good as it looks?
Style
The Lifestyle Ultra Speaker is oval shaped with curving all around. First thing you will recognize is its knitted fabric grill on the front with the Bose logo at the bottom. The rest of the speaker is compromised of mostly plastic with a rubber base on the bottom. We were provided with the Black model by Bose, but there is also White Smoke, and Driftwood Sand. All are two-tone colored.
That Driftwood Sand version does have a nice wooden base and is considered more limited and requires a significant price increase. Aesthetics wise any of these speakers are designed to fit in your home décor and look good whether on your kitchen counter, bookshelf, or desk.
On the top of the speaker is play controls which can be tapped on or if you do a circular motion to control the volume. There is also a Bluetooth Button, Action Button and Mic Button. On the back is a bass escape port and an AC port to plug in an electronic outlet.
Setup / Features
Getting this speaker started up only took a matter of minutes. With it being a wired Wi-Fi device all, you need to do is plug it in the outlet, open the Bose app, and set it up with a Bose account if you don’t have one. After getting that all settled you can prep it with other associated Lifestyle Collection devices, change the Audio Source, and even adjust the Audio via the EQ settings (Treble, Mids, Bass) and Sound Levels (Height).
Of course, if you have a song playing it will show up on the app as well and which source it pulled from. This speaker works best with Apple AirPlay, Spotify Connect, and Google Cast.
Sound / Experience
I been amazed at how room filling this one speaker can be. It is packed with three drivers with a Woofer, Tweeter, and Twiddler. I mostly had it in my living room and no matter where I stood the sound was clean and full of detail. On Spotify I was playing The Jacksons and SWV while on YouTube it was Tevin Campbell and Raekwon. Also gave a nice amount of bass that wasn’t too heavy or got distorted. I never had to crank this speaker’s volume up too much either.
Verdict
Bose’s Lifestyle Ultra Speaker is a nice addition to their speaker portfolio. Bringing a refreshing design and giving off big, detailed sound coming from its not so big profile. It works instantly with the various music apps I tried jumping from one to the other.
If the Lifestyle Ultra Speaker does catch your eye it comes in at $299($349 for Driftwood Sand), and I have seen it go as low as $299.99 at times.
