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!

PROS + Excellent sounding out of the box, with minimal tuning required + Can be used standalone, in a stereo pair, in a multi-room set-up, or as rear speakers in a home theater setup with the Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar + 3.5mm Aux input for devices like turntables + Supports Alexa+ for a better Alexa assistant experience + Bose app is largely consistent and easy to use + EQ controls in the app available to help dial speakers in + Work really well as rear speakers to complete a 7.1.4 set-up + Supports Airplay, Google Cast, and Spotify Connect CONS - No Dolby Atmos music support when used on their own, despite having an upward firing driver - Could use more low-end extension OTHER THINGS OF NOTE * Tidal Connect is not currently supported but should be coming later with a firmware update * Design kind of reminds me of a coffee mug when looking at them in person * Really benefits from adding the optional wireless subwoofer * Height effects and vertical spatialness doesn't extend all the way to my ceiling in my spaces, but still adds solid 3-dimensionality to the soundstage THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT If you are looking for high-quality wireless speakers to round out a home theater or just for standalone listening, the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speakers are a very strong contender that mostly hit the mark. They sound excellent right out of the box with a neutral profile that requires very little tuning, though you do have solid EQ controls in the app if you want to dial them in. I really appreciate the flexibility they offer; you can use them as a stereo pair, in a multi-room setup, or as rear channels to complete a full 7.1.4 Atmos system, which is how I primarily used them. They also include a 3.5mm aux input for turntables and support for AirPlay, Google Cast, and Spotify Connect, making them very versatile for modern setups. They compete well in the space, with Tidal Connect being the one bigger omission for me as a Tidal user, although it should be coming with a firmware update in the future. The Bose app remains consistent and responsive, and having Alexa+ support built-in is a nice touch for a better voice assistant experience, which is a big deal as I don’t think I have seen any other devices, beyond 1st-party amazon speakers, which support Alexa+, and is a game changer if you use Alexa in your house. Expanding on the sound quality a bit, I think the speakers sound largely flat from a tuning perspective, with a bit of a peak in the treble. You can EQ then, but vocal clarity in the mid-range was excellent, especially when used as a stereo pair. As a pair of rear speakers, which is how they were mostly used in my house, they were excellent, and provided a necessary addition to really fill out the Dolby Atmos bubble in my home. Excellent sound all around and definitely competitive in the space. However, there are a few quirks that keep these from being perfect. The most glaring omission is the lack of Dolby Atmos music support when the speakers are used standalone, which is strange given they have upward-firing drivers. You can use them as part of the home theater set-up which means Atmos music from a device like an Apply TV will play Atmos to the rear speakers, but you can’t decode Atmos on the speakers directly, which is a bit of an omission in my opinion, even if Atmos music isn’t always my preferred way of listening to tracks. Also, the only mark I would make on sound quality is that, on their own, they could also use a bit more low-end extension, though adding the optional wireless subwoofer solves this and really helps them sing. You can only do so much with how relatively compact they are. On the design front, I can’t help but feel they look a bit like a coffee mug in person, which isn’t bad, but once you see it, it is just kinda funny. It has to do with the textured cover only stretching the first half of the speaker, with the rear being uncovered, like the handle of a mug. On top of the speakers you get touch controls, which are nice if you don’t want to go into the app to mess with the audio settings for the speakers. Overall, these are great speakers that deliver a premium experience, and while they have a couple of limitations and a unique look, they are easy to recommend for anyone already in or looking to join the Bose ecosystem. If you have the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar, then I would go so far as to say they are a must add for a full Atmos experience.