Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker
professionals and cons
- Nice sound
- Native Android and iOS casting
- Smooth, fashionable design
- Pricier than some rivals
- Favors Bose’s in-house spatial audio over Atmos
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The latest from Bose is the Life-style Extremely household, which features a soundbar, a subwoofer, and a sensible speaker, and I discover the good speaker to be probably the most fascinating product within the lineup. Good audio system for the house are growing in recognition, and extra customers are interested by whole-home audio merchandise with good house options — Bose is correct on time.
Additionally: Sonos Play review: This portable Wi-Fi speaker may be Sonos’ greatest hit yet
I spent per week with the Lifestyle Ultra Speaker, and although it is $50 to $100+ greater than its counterparts from Apple, Sonos, and Amazon, it has one appreciable enhance over the remaining. Let’s dive in.
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Out with the outdated, in with the brand new
The Life-style Extremely Speaker is the neatest speaker in Bose’s present catalog, promising Wi-Fi streaming, Bluetooth connectivity, AirPlay and Google Forged compatibility, Alexa built-in, and stereo pairing, wrapped in a smooth, fashionable design.
As a real Wi-Fi good speaker, the Life-style Extremely Speaker requires connection to an influence supply, so it is not moveable. With a three-speaker configuration, together with two front-facing and one upfiring speaker, the Life-style Extremely Speaker will get a lot loud. The upfiring speaker is not a devoted Atmos top channel, and a single speaker is not Atmos-compatible.
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As an alternative, the speaker makes use of Bose’s proprietary TrueSpatial know-how for added depth and house; I am detached about it. Happily, TrueSpatial does not sound as artificially upmixed as the corporate’s Immersive Audio in its headphones and earbuds, however a singular upfiring speaker is not sufficient for true immersion.
Nevertheless, with a further Life-style Extremely Speaker providing one other upfiring speaker and the Soundbar providing two extra, I am assured you’d get a fuller top expertise.
Nonetheless, even by itself as a single good speaker, there’s deep, punchy bass and noticeable highs and mids. At greater volumes, the bass can get muddy, however a fast EQ adjustment within the Bose companion app is a straightforward repair. General, the sound profile is similar to Sonos’s Period 100: an satisfying, vigorous, heat sound with the V-shaped audio profile most individuals favor.
Versatility for the win
The Life-style Extremely Speaker works nice by itself, not solely for its satisfying sound, but additionally for its ecosystem-agnostic design, which has at all times been considered one of Bose’s strengths. The corporate’s lack of an affinity for a single software program ecosystem means its units match simply into your present ecosystem. I contemplate {that a} main upside.
Alexa built-in, Google Forged, and Apple AirPlay are on deck, so when you’ve got a number of Wi-Fi audio system with Android and/or Apple-friendly casting, you may group them collectively. Whereas checking off duties on my after-work chores listing, I grouped my kitchen’s Sonos Period 100 and the Bose Life-style Extremely in my upstairs workplace for multi-room audio. It labored like a allure.
The Life-style Extremely additionally contains a 3.5mm aux-in port for wired connectivity with analog units, equivalent to a turntable. In a pair, two of those audio system behave equally to Sonos’s choices; you may rework them from standalone good audio system into rear audio system in a house theater configuration or use them as particular person left- and right-channel audio sources. Or, you may place a number of round the home for multi-room audio.
ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation
Bose’s merchandise are nice for individuals who need one thing that can work effectively proper out of the field, with an equal appreciation for simplicity and fashionable design. You need to use almost any model of cellphone, laptop computer, or pill with the Lifestyle Ultra Speaker, and it’ll simply combine into your property audio ecosystem, which is Bose’s biggest power.
Additionally: Sony vs. Bose: My buying advice after listening to flagship headphones from both brands
The Life-style Extremely Speaker is a strong good speaker for folks with mixed-device ecosystems, particularly those that aren’t enormous followers of voice assistants. Solely Alexa and Alexa+ can be found on the Life-style Extremely Speaker to US customers. Although an Apple HomePod or a Sonos Period 100 is cheaper, these audio system have a number of {hardware} and software program limitations and function inside closed ecosystems.
