Bose - Lifestyle Ultra 5.1 Channel Wireless Soundbar with Dolby Atmos - White Smoke

Verdict: The Bose Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar is as good as soundbars get, and when paired with other Bose Lifestyle units, it delivers the most impressive home theater performance we have ever experienced at home. Background. This review is only for the soundbar unit, but we installed several pieces to build a Bose home theater system. Initial impressions. Unboxing Bose equipment always conveys quality… It’s packed well, it’s heavy, and it looks amazing. This is a very long soundbar, and also quite wide; I recommend measuring where you plan to install it (just in case). It looks… fantastic! Sleek glass top, discreet and convenient controls, hidden speakers on all sides, and angled power and HDMI connectors. Setup. Initially, the app indicated that setup would take 45 minutes, but in the end, it was closer to 15 min, not bad at all! While mostly smooth, during setup, one or two screens stalled for a bit, for example, once it found the soundbar, there was no continuation arrow… It was just stuck there. I had to quit the app and relaunch, and from there I could proceed to add the other pieces. I love that you can press the “bell” icon to generate a sound on the speaker for testing. Once plugged-in, connect the HDMI cable through the ARC connections on both ends. If you have additional compatible Bose units, you can connect them wirelessly to the soundbar through the app. Of note, unless I missed it in the box… the system does not come with a physical remote; your smartphone serves as the remote. Performance. The sound bar design effectively distributes sound forwards, backwards, upwards, and to the sides, effectively simulating spatial sound. The soundbar is plenty loud, with decent bass, essentially better than the vast majority of soundbars, but not perfect. Beyond the bass, the sound is full and rich. While excellent on its own, when the soundbar is paired with the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Subwoofer and the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speakers, the experience exceeds ALL our expectations of quality, immersion, and power! Features. Custom Tune for the specific room you setup is fantastic. SpeechClarity is interesting, but I don’t plan to ever use it since we will primarily use it for movies and music. I love that it has airplay and google cast. App. The app is simple, so manage expectations. It doesn’t offer much more than digital remote and basic settings customization. In the end, it works well and does what it needs to do. Things I love: - Large and powerful soundbar - Excellent performance for movies and music - It looks great, with a sleek glass top and easy controls - Seamless integration with other Bose units to build an epic home theater system that you can grow over time - Alexa integration is very convenient Things I don’t love: - Did I miss the physical remote somewhere in the box?! A physical remote would be great, and should be included for something this high-end. I understand I can control from the app, but I am not the only person that uses the sound system. My wife is not interested to install and use yet another app. And when the kids, their friends, and other guests visit, they can’t turn the volume down without using Alexa or getting up to press the physical buttons. This doesn’t make sense! - The Alexa setup failed a few times. I logged out of the Alexa app and logged back in, and that seemed to solve it - I do wish there were physical back/skip buttons on the sound bar. Why not put +/- at the top and bottom of the circle, and back/skip on the left and right of the circle? Sure, I can remember to double-press or triple-press the play button, but other people will not know that… Better to just put the buttons since there is space on the touch controls Overall, I am thrilled with the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar, but most importantly, I LOVE the seamless integration with other Bose units to create an incredible and scalable home theater system. We most highly recommend the Bose Lifestyle line-up.

I've either owned or had experience (through friends/family) with many Bose products over the years. This started with a pair of 901's back in the 70's when I admired but could not afford such an extravagance. Luckily I had a friend with spendable cash. When the original Lifestyle surround system came on the market; I was working steadily, and that became my Christmas present to myself. What followed was CD Clock/Radio; outdoor speakers, smart soundbars, and headphones, both bud & noise cancelling styles. The new LS Ultra Soundbar follows in their tradition of beautifully designed and well engineered products. Upon unboxing, I was immediately impressed with the smooth plate glass top of the soundbar piece. The body of the unit is sleek, elegant, and at about 42" long, definitely not unassuming. A statement piece to be sure. The subwoofer for the LS is also topped with a thick slab of plate glass, and quite heavy relative to its size. By its heft alone, one could imagine the thunderous bass its body could produce. Rear satellite speakers also quite hefty for their size. If you'd be looking to wall shelve the set, I wouldn't be cheaping out on a drywall bracket. Mounting screw hole is provided on the bottom. Upon setup, I was prepared for an adventure with the Bose app. With my previously owned Smart Soundbar 600, I could never get the app to cooperate with the unit. Once I finally got it connected, it ended up dropping it, and wouldn't reconnect. I finally gave up and became satisfied using the remote. With the new LS Ultra, the experience was quite different. The app guided me through the process, first connecting the main soundbar, then subwoofer, and finally, the satellites. I'm sure many of you have had adventures making the TV connection - will it be recognized & configure properly? No adventure for me this time. Hooked the provided HDMI cable into the ARC input on the tv, and all was good. Both units turned on/off properly in sync with each other. The app also contains a function for self tuning/configuration to your room. A series of tones are emitted from the main unit, you take your phone to your favored seating position, and the unit calibrates. The first time around, it gave me a "didn't quite get that"; which was probably because I was holding the phone at the wrong angle. A second go-through went through with no issue. It then asked for a secondary seat position, and went through the process again; however, I don't see anything in the app that would allow you to select a primary/secondary function. The end result produced a beautifully rich and all encompassing sound. The imaging and soundstage are dead-on perfect. I did play with the app's adjustment sliders for bass/mid/treble, left/right, front/back, but came back to neutral, as it seemed the "tuning" function of the app had done its job. I do own other high end audio equipment, my vinyl record collection spans decades and several thousand records. Subjectively, I've always felt that Bose products had their own "color" or "flavor." As such, when listening to vinyl, I strive to keep things as neutral as possible to preserve the original intention of the artist and/or recording process. I've always chose amplifiers & speakers with those qualities, consequently, Bose has not been my choice in that situation. However, video applications are different. If you've ever heard soundtracks to shows or movies, they do have a different sound than if you were playing the tracks on your CD or vinyl system. They're tuned that way. This Bose LS system portrays the audio/video experience perfectly. The streaming I've seen on Netflix, Apple & especially Disney are the best I've experienced. My personal wishlist - I do wish they had included a remote with the system. For one thing, the glass top of the system is a dust collector, and the embedded controls are super sensitive. If my wife comes by to Swiffer the dust, the controls respond, I'd like to be able to have a remote button to control at least on/off. Yes, I do know we have Alexa/Google to control our lives, but I'm an old school guy. I miss buttons! That said, this Bose is quite the statement piece for your audio/video room - highly recommended.

I bought a new premium TV last year and had a pretty good home theatre system but I wanted to go premium with the sound as well and BOSE has a big reputation, and I wanted to go big and see if the hype was justified. I have the Quite comfort headphones and a stand alone speaker for road trips and they hit way above their wight class. I was hoping the same for the Home theater. Got the LIfesytle Ultra Soundbar, The Ultra Subwoofer and two Ultra speakers for the rear fight and left. Un boxing was easy and simple. I love that the only chords you need was a power chord for each of the units and an eArc/ARC cable…that’s it. The app makes the actual set up the easiest home theater set up I have ever done…NOTE: Your tv must be e/Arc because you have to control the Bose Ultras from your tv remote or app or by actually touching the sound bar. Set up was a few clicks and all the magic just happens. Power chords are the only chord and cable wrangling needed. The sound bar is beautiful and a little heavy. About 15 pounds. That’s something to consider because I plan to hang it under my Mantle mount pull down tv arm. My new tv was lighter than my old one and then I upgraded on the mantle mount to hold more weight but I might need to adjust tension on the pull down hydraulics. I got on BOSE website and ordered the wall mounting brackets and I will have to figure out the right combination of hanging accessories to make it work. The sound bar is clearly designed to be sitting on a shelf but I don’t want it that way so I must innovate a bit. Also if you plan to use a generic wall mount BOSE has a grove on the underneath so that must be taken into consideration as a generic one may not work. If I can hang it on a wall though… I should be able to mount it on my tv arm….We’ll see. So back to being designed for a shelf primarily… the unit has volume control and pause and play on a physical button on the top of the unit. Yes you actually can walk up to it and spin the virtual volume wheel to the left or right to turn up the sound or down. I like that…I think… but it seems very retro and I doubt I will use that very often if ever…. Who wants to walk up to their sound bar and push buttons in 2026??? The unit doesn’t even come with a remote….I know sound bar remotes seem archaic and sit in the sofa storage box 95% of the time but for a premium system… give us a bone and throw in a basic remote. It would be nice at a party if I could have that in my pocket and mute quickly…. To be fair, The BOSE app is very nice, quick and responsive and is better than a remote in so far as how easy it is and more functional that a remote…but I want both options. The subwoofer is heavy, well built and looks really good in my Livingroom. The base is so amazingly clean and balanced and powerful…You truly do feel it… even at scale…. Even when the volume is not high…you can still feel the base and it is proportional to the other sound profiles and just amazing! The Sub Looks like a small coffee table instead of some big open woofer. I like that. The rear speakers are larger than my other rears on my old system and that’s because BOSE has done something really unique and versatile with the Ultra speaker …. They can be a stand alone speaker unto themselves…. Really interesting and very cool. I absolutely love the concept of being able to just unplug my speaker and take it with me on a trip or better yet buy two more and have whole home audio. The Ultra speakers being a stand alone unit with stand alone audio features (mid’s, highs and base) bring a whole lot to the home theater experience. They hit so much harder than traditional supplemental rear speakers in other systems I have had. I was watching a show and charter walked in stage right and slammed a door on the screen, I jumped because I swore my main door of my house just slammed behind me….amazing….It literally tricked my brain with just how realist the sound profile was. So realistic and immersive… and that brings me to the overall sound quality. Bose is an investment in experiences for me and my spouse… from movies with the spouse, to concert quality sound from my streams …Apple, Spotifiy, Youtube, Netflix, HULU, Paramount…ect ect…My spouse and I are so busy that we only have a couple of hours to escape and relax and get lost in music or shows….BOSE delivers that experience on a silver plater with style and elegance. I don’t know how they are able to have such clear dialogue while still maintaining the lush and vibrant and sometimes loud audio soundscape of some of the movies and shows out there and the Base…BOSE knows BASE. The app has a dialog boost setting… 1, 2, and 3. I tired all three and I actually prefer and can hear quite fine the native setting of the system (No subtitles needed ever again!). You can easily use the app to increase base and mid ect…but I found that the sound profile out of the box is spot on….It uses your cell phone to gage and analyses the room!!! You actually set you phone on the unit and run a calibration.. then you sit in your spot on the couch and run the calibration again and do that two more times in sperate places you sit at and it generates the best sound for those location…insanely smart… and I could hear the difference…. The sound in so enveloping…It’s like it is everywhere all at once…You have to experience it to really have an appreciation of just how smart the tech is. It comes preloaded with the Alexa assistant …bummer… I hate Alexa. I wish it had a Google Gemini option but if you’re an Alexa family you good to go out of the gate. Also Gamers…. Amazing!!! I play mostly first person shooters (or at least till GTA 6 comes out)… but the bullets and music are next level. Despite the very minor gripes about no remote and Alexa…. Bose Ultra Lifestyle lives up to the hype for me. If you love sound…Sound loves BOSE and it shows! Can’t go wrong!

The new Bose Lifestyle Ultra Home Theater system has me going back to re-watch old movies because of how good it is. This Bose Lifestyle Ultra soundbar is part of a complete system that's paired with the Lifestyle Ultra subwoofer and the new Lifestyle Ultra speakers (setup as dedicated rear surrounds). I have to say, coming from another high-end soundbar, Bose certainly managed to impress me with theirs. At launch, I didn't know quite what to expect since pictures were scarce. I'm not a big fan of soundbars that have a full plastic enclosure; they just feel and look somewhat cheap to me. I was extremely pleased with the look and build quality of this new Bose Lifestyle Ultra soundbar. The entire middle portion and sides of the soundbar are enveloped in a rigid textured fabric that feels premium. The upper section of the soundbar features a gorgeous glass top. The capacitive touch-sensitive buttons also feel ultra premium. I love that you can quickly wind your finger around the large volume dial in a clockwise fashion, or counter-clockwise, to quickly increase or decrease the volume. The build quality is very top notch. Setup was an absolute breeze. After connecting the included HDMI cable to the soundbar's dedicated eARC port to my TV's eARC HDMI port, I was ready to enjoy audio from all of the sources connected to my TV. I downloaded the Bose app, I entered my requested Wi-Fi credentials (ensure it's a 2.4Ghz SSID otherwise the Bose app may not detect your devices), and the Bose app immediately detected my soundbar. Once I powered on my pair of Bose LS Ultra speakers, and LS Ultra subwoofer, the app immediately detected them as well. On the app homepage, there was an option to add the new devices as part of a home theater (i.e. "Build a Home Theater"). In this section you're able to designate your left/right surrounds as well as the subwoofer. I love the built in ping feature which allows you to individually ping each device to ensure the app has communication to each one. Also, to ensure they're in the desired locations in your room. Once I had everything verified on the app, I saved the configuration and was eager to test the cinematic experience. I quickly noticed that instead of having a physical remote, everything could be adjusted and fine tuned directly on the app itself. The EQ allowed me to adjust treble, mids, and bass. There's also additional adjustments that allowed me to fine tune the center channel, the height of the sound, and the surround sound channel. You're also able to quickly toggle off either the rear surrounds or subwoofer. This is one of my favorite features. During the week, if I catch myself watching a late night hockey or basketball game and feel that the powerful sub might annoy some neighbors, I can quickly turn it off. As someone who has always been a proponent of dedicated home theater amplifiers and passive speakers for the absolute best cinematic experience, I’ve been extremely impressed with what Bose was able to accomplish here. Let's face it, not all of us have the space, the ability to properly mount speakers and conceal speaker wires, or the desire to have bookshelf speakers and large center channels dominating the room. Some of us may not want to plunge down the home theater research rabbit hole. Don't get me wrong, the soundbar is good on it's own, but the system really comes to life with the subwoofer and rear speakers. If you'll be building it out piece by piece, I would recommend getting the soundbar and subwoofer first, and finally the rear speakers. The reason I recommend this order is because the soundbar already does an excellent job with it's spatial audio. Bose calls this proprietary technology, "PhaseGuide". I'm not one for marketing buzzwords, but let me tell you - IT DELIVERS! For context, I turned off my rear speakers because I wanted to see how the soundbar's PhaseGuide technology would handle Dolby Atmos content on it's own. I must preface this by saying that everyone's audio experience will differ based on room acoustics, furnishings, room size, layout, etc. For my living room, what really helped bring the virtual surround sound to life was the ability to increase the surround sound volume directly in the Bose app. With the surround sound volume turned up to 7+, watching the severe weather mountain climbing scene in Netflix's new movie "Apex" felt like I was in the theaters. I could hear the harsh winds whiz above me, behind me, and then quickly dart from left to right. I could hear crumbling rocks beginning to fall from above me. My previous high-end soundbar's virtual surround was good, but this was a noticeable improvement. The dialogue on this Bose LS Ultra soundbar is also the best I've heard on any soundbar. I constantly leave the AI voice enchancement "SpeechClarity" option on "Medium" as I really like how crisp, clear, and organic it makes voices sound. It accomplishes a very natural voice reproduction that I haven't heard on any soundbar. I also like that when watching sports, it emphasizes the commentators voice while slightly toning down the background noise. I didn't expect to like listening to music as much as I did on this soundbar when paired with the rear speakers and subwoofer. For reference, my main music listening setup consists of a dedicated 2-channel stereo Rega Brio Mk7 amplifier, Dynaudio Contour S1.4 speakers, and a Bluesound Node Icon. It would be extremely difficult for any soundbar to compete with that in regards to music. While I didn't get anywhere near the same level of musical detail, fullness, instrument separation, and soundstage as my Dynaudios, it still did a very good job of producing a decently wide soundstage with a very bright and pleasant sound signature. With a bit of mid and treble adjustments in the EQ, vocals sounded very clear and natural. My favorite music to listen to though, by far, was Dolby Atmos music from Tidal. Talk about an immersive 360-degree audio experience! Hearing different instruments coming from all around the room is something that has to be experienced, as words can't quite capture it. It's genuinely hard for me to think of any major cons, especially considering the level of performance Bose is delivering here from a fully wireless home theater system that also happens to be sleek and modern. And therein lies why I'm so impressed with this soundbar, matching LS subwoofer, and rear speakers. For a truly wireless home theater system that eliminates speaker cables, and the need for a dedicated home theater amplifier, I really couldn't be happier with the cinematic experience that Bose has brought into my home. I guess if I had to nitpick, I do wish that Bose would have included a small physical remote. Aside from that, well done Bose. Even the packaging was top notch!

This is my 2nd Bose soundbar , first was the smart 600 I believe. That little soundbar sounded great even without a sub. This new version of the Bose’s higher end sound bar is leaps and bounds above my older one. This soundbar produces such rich and clear sound from the highs to the bottom end. I’ve always loved Bose sound signature mainly because while they focus on every aspect of sound, they make sure to put an emphasis on center channel(vocal) clarity. You can’t compare any other brands because Bose has always nailed it. So for me vocal clarity is most important. But everything else sounds great as well from music to thunder and all those sounds you want to hear when watching movies. Treble is nice and clean without being overly sharp. Bass on just the soundbar is adequate but nothing to write home about. But it’s solid. Tho I do have and recommend a bose sub. Height channels work well. This the most balanced sound out of any bars that I have had. Adding the sub makes everything even better and if you want the full surround sound you should get a pair of Bose surrounds. I have the whole set up. And every single person I have giving a demo to, was amazed. It’s really the best set up you can get right now. But it is on the higher end of the retail spectrum but you pay for quality and sound. Plus the design is sleek and elegant, not to big or tall. Blends in nicely with the tv. You have Bluetooth and Apple AirPlay built in after you set up through the app and add everything together. There is no more remotes but it has an EARC so you can either control through your tv remote or the app. You can customize the sound to your liking. I pretty much leave it at default but you can adjust pretty much every setting. This does offer a dialogue enhancement but to me you don’t need it. changing that setting will introduce some weird and unnatural sounding voices. Again, if you know Bose you know it’s going to be great. I love it and this is my new favorite set up for enjoying a fun movie night with my wife and kids.