Bose - Lifestyle Ultra Home Speaker with TrueSpatial Audio, AirPlay, Google Cast & Bluetooth - Driftwood Sand

The connectivity was really easy via the bose app and pairs perfectly with the bose lifestyle ultra! It sounds amazing with games!

The system is easy to set up, the sound is great. The app is the only downside of this whole processor otherwise overall great speakers.

Sound is insane. Love the surround sound would highly recommend this system.

Reviewed as a system 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!

The Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker is a versatile compact speaker designed to be used either standalone, in a stereo pair, as part of a multi-room setup, or to provide surround sound in a home theater setup alongside the Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar and Lifestyle Ultra Subwoofer. I’m doing the latter, using two of the speakers as surrounds in my living room setup. Bose designed the speaker with a small woofer and tweeter alongside another small upward-firing speaker which allows it to fill the room in standalone mode or deliver Dolby Atmos effects in the home theater configuration. One thing I appreciate is how discreet they are. Traditional surround speakers can sometimes dominate a living room setup, but these are compact enough to blend into the background while still delivering impressive performance. They can also be wall mounted if you purchase a Bose LifeStyle wall bracket. The speakers connect wirelessly to the soundbar, which makes placement much easier than a traditional surround sound system. You still need power outlets nearby, but you don’t have to run long speaker wires. I placed mine directly to the left and right of my couch on the end tables and have had no issues with connection stability, lag, or audio dropouts. The top of the speaker has playback controls along with volume adjustment. In addition, there is a Bluetooth pairing button, an action button (for Alexa), and a microphone mute button. Unfortunately, when used in home theater mode, some of these controls become less useful. For example, turning off the mic on the speaker does NOT sync and disable the microphones on the other speaker or the soundbar. The play/pause and volume controls do work though, which is convenient since the speakers are right beside my couch. In the box is only the speaker, a small instruction sheet that directs you to the app, and the power cable. Like the other components in the system, setup is extremely straightforward through the Bose app. Once plugged in, the app immediately detected the speakers and guided me through pairing them with the soundbar. Firmware updates downloaded automatically, and shortly thereafter everything was fully connected and calibrated with Bose CustomTune, which uses your phone’s microphone to tune the entire setup for your specific room. Performance as surrounds is excellent. They instantly added a level of immersion to movies, TV shows, and games that I did not have before. With Bose’s TrueSpatial processing, the upward-firing speaker bounces convincing Dolby Atmos directional effects off my ceiling that make the entire system feel more cinematic. I immediately noticed the difference when watching an old favorite, The Truman Show. When Kristof talks to Truman, his voice echoed thunderously from directly above me as if he was in the heavens. Music playback also benefits from the surround setup. A lot of streaming services support spatial audio such as Apple Music. Playing a Dolby Atmos track brings the entire surround system to life and envelops you in the music. Bose has done an excellent job designing this entire line of products to work either individually or as a complete system. However, one downside is that the speaker is not compatible with anything other than the soundbar and subwoofer in the Lifestyle Ultra lineup. Those with older soundbars would need to upgrade. Pros: - Premium build quality - Compact design - Wireless and Bluetooth connectivity - AirPlay and Google Cast support - Multiroom functionality - Alexa and Alexa+ support - Easy setup through the Bose app - Excellent surround immersion - Works seamlessly with the companion soundbar and subwoofer - 3.5mm wired input Cons: - Only works as surrounds with the LifeStyle Ultra Soundbar Overall – The Lifestyle Ultra Speaker is an excellent addition to the Bose home theater ecosystem. While the soundbar alone already sounds fantastic, adding the surround speakers makes movies, games, and music feel dramatically more immersive. I highly recommend a pair of speakers if you already have the soundbar.