Boses chic Lifestyle Ultra speaker works fantastically over Wi-Fi and with surprising height to the sound, which is why the vanilla Bluetooth support is a bit of a let down

Date:
Sat, 04 Jul 2026 04:00:00 +0000

Description:
The newest wireless speaker in the Bose line-up offers great audio over
Wi-Fi, which is why its non-Wi-Fi chops could be improved, at this point

FULL STORY ======================================================================Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker: Two-minute review It may not always be among the first brands to get a particular type of product to market, but you can usually rely on Bose to have done a proper job by the time it gets around to it. And on paper, that seems to be exactly whats happened with this new Lifestyle Ultra Speaker its priced and specified to meet the market-leaders head on, and has one or two points of difference to try and make its case
even stronger.

The looks, for instance, are just distinct enough from the usual cylinder of sound design to stand out in a showroom. The specification, which includes a 38mm mid/high driver angled to fire upwards through the top of the cabinet, promises authentic spatial audio performance where many a rival relies on digital sound processing in an effort to achieve the effect. And the appearance of Alexa+ as a voice assistant marks the first time a non- Amazon product is using the technology. One of the best wireless speakers around? Yes, in a word. In practice, the Lifestyle Ultra Speaker has an awful lot to recommend it and immediately becomes a real contender. There's Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, with Apple Airplay and Google Cast baked in too. Its also a punchy, detailed and respectably dynamic listen, can play very loudly indeed if you so desire, and has a definite and well-defined sensation of height to its sound. Youll need to be into the EQ settings to get treble response balanced out and calmed down, but overall this is an upfront, energetic but not remotely unsubtle performer that deserves a place on even very short shortlists. Latest Videos From Watch full video here: Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker (Black) at Selfridges for 299.95 Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker review: Price and release date Launched May 15, 2026 $299 / 299 / AU$499 in black or white (the 'sand' finish is pricier) The Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker is on sale now, and in the United Kingdom it costs 299. Or, at least, it does in either of the black or white smoke finishes. If you fancy the Bang & Olufsen-tastic sand finish with its natural oak base, youre
looking at 349.

In America it sells for $299 / $349, while in Australia (where the sand
finish does not seem to be available), the going rate is AU$499.

At this price, the Lifestyle Ultra Speakers' chief rival in the Bluetooth arena is probably the slightly more expensive (at its regular price, anyway) JBL Xtreme 5 . And that's a five-star speaker, so competition is tough. That said, the Bose you're reading about offers streaming over your home's Wi-Fi network too, so in that category, your easy comparison is the Sonos Play . (Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas) Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker review: Specs Swipe to scroll horizontally

Weight:

1.66 kg (3.6 lbs)

Dimensions:

18.5 x 12.1 x 16.8 cm

Battery life (quoted):

N/A (plug-in only)

Connectivity:

Bluetooth 5.3 with BLE; Wi-Fi (Google Cast; AirPlay; multi-room)

Drivers:

Two front-facing drivers ( 1x 3-inch woofer; 1x 1-inch tweeter), plus a 1.5-inch up-firing 'twiddler'

Aux-in:

Yes

Charger port:

USB-C

Microphone:

Yes; built-in array

Waterproof rating:

Not rated (Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas) Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker review: Features Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless connectivity Three-driver speaker array includes 38mm up-firing mid/high drive unit - 3.5mm analog
input In most respects, the feature-set of the Lifestyle Ultra Speaker is somewhere between very good and very good indeed the features we know about fall into one of those categories, anyway. This is Bose were dealing with, of course, which means there are no details whatsoever regarding some aspects of specification forthcoming. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from
us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

Im going to go ahead and guess the Lifestyle Ultra Speaker uses Class D amplification, and that theres an adequate amount of power on board (the
sound quality section will let you know how Ive come to this particular conclusion).

What I know for sure is that theres a three-driver array on board thats in receipt of this mysterious amplification a forward-facing 76mm mid/bass driver below a 25mm tweeter, with a 38mm mid/high driver angled up and out through the top of the cabinet.

As for what these drivers are made from, or the frequency response theyre capable of generating, well, your guess is as good as mine. Whatever the frequency response is, though, its bolstered by a rear-facing QuietPort bass reflex port at the rear of the cabinet.

The port is towards the bottom of the back of the cabinet, just above a 3.5mm line-level analog input that constitutes the Boses only physical
connectivity.

Wireless stuff is handled by dual-band wi-fi and Bluetooth the latter is version 5.3 but is only compatible with the bog-standard SBC and AAC codecs, which is a shame when you consider the number of alternatives that are
capable of local streaming to a higher standard. Still, Wi-Fi means Apple AirPlay 2, Google Cast and Spotify Connect are all available, with TIDAL Connect promised sooner rather than later. Features score: 4.5 / 5 (Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas) Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker review: Design 184 x 121 x 167mm (HxWxD) Choice of three finishes Fixed grille You make your own mind up when it comes to looks, of course, but for my money the shape of the Lifestyle Ultra Speaker makes a very pleasant change from all those cylindrical speakers that make up the bulk of the competition the Bose faces. The soft, rounded shape is miles ahead of the rather boxy stuff Bose has been turning out before now.

At 184 x 121 x 167mm (HxWxD) the proportions are pleasing, and the speaker is just about compact enough to work happily on a shelf (as long as theres space above it for the up-firing driver to do its thing, of course). The standard
of build and finish is basically impeccable, and theres even a suggestion of tactility to the plastics Bose has used here. No matter which of the three available finishes you choose (the black of my sample, the white smoke alternative that has more than a hint of grey about it, or the cost-option sand alternative), the Lifestyle Ultra Speaker looks and feels the part.

The looks are nicely enhanced by the wraparound grille that covers a good portion of the front of the speaker. The fact that its notably proud of the main body makes it look very much like it can be detached but it cant, so dont even try. No good can come of it. Design score: 5 / 5 (Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas) Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker review: Sound quality Spacious and punchy presentation Pronounced height element to sound A little more width and a little less high-end vigour wouldnt go amiss First things first: the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker makes good use of its up-firing
driver dial in some height in the control app, queue up a FLAC file of Idles Never Fight a Man with a Perm, let the TrueSpatial processing do its thing, and you get a presentation thats considerably taller than the cabinet from which its coming.

Theres nice even frequency response on display, too the Bose digs
respectably deep, hitting good and hard and the bottom of the frequency
range, and the transitions to the midrange and into the highest frequencies
is pretty smooth. While it goes out of way to ensure no part of the frequency range is over- or under-represented, the speaker does project the midrange just a little. The V shape that results is more of a bump than a spike, though. Control of the bottom end is pretty tight, so the speaker has no real issues in expressing rhythms confidently. Detail levels are high at every stage. The Lifestyle Ultra Speaker is quite an insightful listen, and pays good attention to the more minor details in a recording the fact that it presents quite a spacious and well-defined soundstage helps to make this obvious.

Theres a good sensation space to the overall sound, and certainly more than enough room for every participant in a recording to get the space in which to operate but the left/right width of the presentation is quite curtailed in comparison to the height element. The result is a slightly narrow, notably tall sound thats slightly counter-intuitive right until the moment you get used to it.

The tonal balance is, for the most part, pretty consistent; the Bose is a fairly neutral device in this respect. Theres a slight lack of substance to treble sounds compared to the rest of the frequency range, a tiny hint of toothiness thats rather at odds with the robust way the rest of the range is presented. Its nothing a moment or two examining your EQ options cant mitigate, though.

Add in a reasonable facility with dynamics the broad stuff about volume and intensity, and the more subtle dynamics of harmonic variation too and the Lifestyle Ultra Speaker makes a pretty convincing case for itself. Unless, of course, youre listening to content that simply doesnt enjoy being forced into a spatial audio presentation. You can minimise the effect of the height channel in the app, but you cant defeat the TrueSpatial processing and uncooperative recordings can sound just a touch vague where more compliant stuff is quite sharply focused. Sound quality: 4.5 / 5 (Image credit: Future
/ Simon Lucas) Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker review: setup & usability Alexa+ voice control Physical and app control too No auto-calibration feature As far as setup is concerned, the Bose is either mercifully straightforward or
rather underpowered it depends on your point of view. In order to get up and running, its simply a question of finding a suitable position for the speaker (Bose will sell you a wall-mount of a dedicated stand, and theres a thread in the base of the cabinet for use with third-party supports) and plugging it
in. Then its simply a question of logging into wi-fi and to Amazon in order
to activate the voice assistant. Theres no automatic room calibration routine available here (which is distinct from the Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar that launched at the same time), so any tweaks to the performance of the speaker will have to be made in the Bose control app.

The app itself is clean and logical, and as well as some EQ adjustment (plus
a slider to increase or decrease the sensation of sonic height) its where you can create a stereo pair with a second Lifestyle Ultra Speaker or incorporate your speaker into a home theatre system. Use the Google Home app, meanwhile, and a multiroom system using any and all compatible speakers can very easily be set up.There are some physical controls on the top of the speaker, too.

Capacitive buttons take care of play/pause, volume up/down, Bluetooth
pairing, input selection, and waking this voice assistant theres a button to defeat the mic too, in case you dont want Alexa+ to listen out for you.

This is the first non-Amazon product to take advantage of Alexa+ voice
control and, while Amazon has kept some smart features for itself, this version works very well indeed. Its alert to voice prompts, and is rapid in its responses to any questions or instructions you might have. Setup & usability: 4.5 / 5 Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker review: Value Obviously
theres no shortage of wireless speakers at this sort of money, and some of them are very good indeed. Spending your money with Bose rather than with, say, brands as credible as Apple, Denon, Sonos or WiiM (to name just a few) does have upsides, though.

Obviously theres the standard of build and finish, the very pleasant
aesthetic and the many positives about the way the Lifestyle Ultra Speaker sounds. But theres also the open and agnostic nature of its multiroom capability, as well as the welcome and well-implemented appearance of Alexa+ as a voice assistant to be factored in too. So while this is not your only choice, the value for money it offers means it should really be on your shortlist. Value score: 4.5 / 5 (Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas) Should I buy the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker? Buy it if

You have other Google Home-compatible wireless speakers The Bose plays
nicely with any number of products from third-party brands

You enjoy a bit of height to your sound That up-firing driver adds appreciably to the way your music is presented

You have plans for a home cinema system One more Lifestyle Ultra Speaker, plus the matching Soundbar, makes for a quite compelling surround-sound
set-up Dont buy it if

Your Bluetooth source has good codec compatibility Unfortunately, the Bose doesnt

Youve enjoyed the automatic room calibration some Bose products offer The Lifestyle Ultra Speaker leaves you to deal with things manually

Youve heard the width, as well as the height, available from alternative spatial audio speakers The Bose TrueSpatial processing doesnt, in ultimate terms, deliver the ideal impression of left/right Bose Lifestyle Ultra
Speaker review: Also consider

Sonos Play The Sonos Play is a portable, battery-powered speaker with all the logistical positives and negatives that implies when compared to the Bose
but given that it costs exactly the same amount of money, that its part of a well-established ecosystem, and that it delivers a big, chunky but quite deft sound, its currently the product to beat. Read our full Sonos Play review for more

JBL Xtreme 5 Want something fairly hefty that you can take outside in the rain, that isn't Wi-Fi enabled (only Bluetooth) but doesn't need to be
plugged in? OK, it's possibly a long shot since you came here to read about a Wi-Fi enabled speaker for your home. But just in case, the JBL is a great five-star option for a similar price tag Read our in-depth JBL Xtreme 5
review for more How I tested the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker I used the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker on a kitchen worktop, a bookshelf, and a dedicated speaker stand. I used an iPhone 15 Pro to stream to it using Bluetooth (given the lack of worthwhile codec compatibility, there didnt seem much point in getting anything better specified charged up), and I also used the iOS device to listen to Apple Music via AirPlay 2.

Read more about how we test First reviewed: July 2026 Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker: Price Comparison Low Stock 299 View 299 View 299.95 View bundle 299.95 View No price information Check Amazon We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices powered by



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/audio/wireless-bluetooth-speakers/bose-lifestyle-ult ra-speaker-review


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