Sony - ULT TOWER 5 Wireless Party Speaker with XLR/RCA Inputs - Black

This is the best purchase I have ever made! While I appreciate JBL products, this Sony speaker offers deep bass, clear and powerful sound, and new multi-color LED party lighting. You can always rely on Sony for excellent speakers.

I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to audio equipment. I'm a musician and so naturally I love to listen to music at loud volumes. But I don't want just a loud speaker, I want a speaker that lets me feel the music and sets the mood. I'm going to assume that Sony named this speaker "ULT" as in Ultimate and I'll go ahead and say right now from the get go that this is The Ultimate party speaker. I have a couple of speakers for listening to music and this is my new favorite. It had been a while since I owned a Sony speaker, I'd forgotten how good they can be at making speakers. This speaker has many connection ports in the back. You can plug in XLR cables, a microphone using the standard audio jack, USB - A and USB C for charging your mobile device. It also has the old school white and red RCA cable ports for analog stereo sound. The speaker has a cool and modern design. Simple yet elegant. There are no wheels on this speaker, but it does have handles built into it that make it easy to carry. It weighs almost 30 lbs so keep that in mind! The party light that encircles the speaker is a nice touch. It changes colors and can strobe or breathe along to the music you are playing. The big ULT button you see on the front is a volume knob and toggles the different presets for Bass. There is ULT 1 which has deep bass, ULT 2 which is simply described as "more power" and Flat. I preferred and enjoyed ULT 1 the most as it sounded and felt like it had the best bass settings. If you connect the speaker to the Sony Sound Connect app, you'll find an additional "Live" preset which is supposed to simulate the sound of being at a live concert. I didn't care for it, ULT 1 is the one to use. The sound connect also has DJ style sounds like air horns, phasers, flangers, drum pads and crowd cheers. You can also tweak and personalize the EQ to your liking and control the light as well within the app. This speaker is LOUD, I'm not sure on the wattage but it is really loud, and sounds amazing. This honestly is the best sounding party speaker of this size that Ive ever owned. I love it so much I'm thinking of buying a second one. At 35-40% volume it is loud enough for me to think my next door neighbor probably hears it through the walls. I imagine at 80% + it will be great and loud enough for outdoor parties or gatherings. I plan on hauling this with me outdoor gatherings. I think it will also be great for when I set up a projector outside for movie night. The speaker is weather resistant. I wouldn't say completely waterproof, but probably good enough to have outdoors and not worry about it. Battery life is excellent. Sony claims 20 hours of use before needing to charge. I would guess that it is an accurate expectation as Ive been using it for about an hour or two a day since I got it a week ago and I haven't had to plug it in to charge yet. The speaker charges with an included power cable. It is of the standard AC power cable type. Can't comment if the battery is easily removable and replaceable so keep that in mind. Sound quality like I mentioned earlier is amazing. It is Bass Heavy, which is what you want for party speakers. It'll set the mood, the groove and get people dancing. The bass can tend to overpower the Highs ( treble) in some of the songs I tested with it, but at an acceptable level. But I love bass in the music I listen to. I enjoy Rock, Metal, Electronic, cumbias, everything that has Bass! and Like I said before, you can always tweak the EQ settings to your liking. I almost forgot to mention that you can also use this with a microphone and karaoke with it! Would I recommend this speaker? Yeah buddy! This speaker is going to be a blast, and I think you'll love it.

Sound Quality; The ULT Tower 5 continues to impress me the more I use it. For its size, the sound is honestly next level, clean highs, strong mids, and a bass presence that feels bigger than the cabinet. It’s the kind of speaker you can drop into any situation: parties, karaoke nights, DJ sets, or just everyday listening at home. Inputs & Versatility; What really stands out is the versatility. The amount of inputs on the back is wild , XLR, RCA, USB, instrument input, mic input, Bluetooth, and multiple function modes. If you’re a DJ or you run karaoke, this thing basically replaces half the gear you’d normally bring. Everything you’d expect to run through a mixer is already built in, and the layout is clean and easy to navigate. ULT Button & Bass Modes; One of my favorite touches is the ULT button on the front. When you rotate it, it acts as your main volume dial, smooth, responsive, and predictable. Pressing it switches between the different ULT bass modes, letting you instantly jump from a balanced sound to a deeper, punchier low end. It’s one of those features that feels small until you start using it, and then you wonder why every speaker doesn’t do it this way. Dynamic Party Lighting; The dynamic party lighting adds a nice touch without being over the top. It’s a subtle, reactive glow that fits the vibe, especially in low light settings. Indoors or outdoors, it gives the speaker a warm atmosphere without trying to be a full club light show. Handles & Portability; I also have to mention the four handles. Sony absolutely nailed the design here. Having a handle on each side makes this big speaker surprisingly easy to move around. Whether you’re loading it into a car, shifting it across the room, or carrying it outside, the handles make a huge difference. It feels balanced and secure no matter how you grab it. Party Chain Capability; Another huge plus is the ability to party chain multiple speakers. If you want to expand your setup, link several ULT Tower units together. It’s perfect for larger events, outdoor gatherings, or when you just want to push more air and fill a bigger space. I wish I had another speaker to try it. Sound Connect App Control; The Sound Connect app takes the whole experience even further. You get full control of the speaker right from your phone, everything from the Party Pad, to the party lighting, to all the karaoke settings. It’s incredibly convenient when you’re hosting and don’t want to walk back to the speaker every time you need to tweak something. You can adjust sound profiles, change lighting effects, switch modes, and even power down the speaker directly from the app. That level of control makes the ULT Tower 5 feel even more polished and user friendly. The only trouble I had was adjusting the EQ sliders within the Party Pad. For some reason the slide to the right of my touch moved more often than the slide I had my finger on. Not a big deal and hopefully fixed on an app update. Battery Life & Connectivity; Battery life is solid. It easily lasts long enough for a full gathering, and the USB C charging is a welcome modern touch. Bluetooth pairing is smooth, and being able to connect multiple devices makes switching between music sources painless. Overall Impression; Overall, the ULT Tower 5 feels like a speaker built for real use cases. It’s powerful, flexible, and packed with features that actually matter. Between the inputs, the sound quality, the ULT bass control, the dynamic party lighting, the four handles, and the ability to party chain multiple units, it’s easily one of the most capable speakers I’ve used in this size category.

Sony's ULT Tower 5 Party Speaker is a portable tower speaker with lots of lights, a great selection of ports, a smaller size, and big sound. Design This speaker is heavy and solid! Thankfully, the handles on it are excellent! There's a large handle at every corner, making it easy for one person, or two, to carry. There's one large dial and button on the front in the top-left. There are three large buttons on top. The back has a bunch of buttons and a sealed door that opens to reveal the ports and a volume control for the mic input, as well as the connector for the AC power. There's a slot on the top for holding a smartphone or tablet. There are four rubberized, substantial feet on the bottom and the right hand side, so it can be up-right or you can lay it down if you need to. There's one large woofer with two tweeters above it, each angled a bit to the left and right side, respectively for each tweeter. I think there's something internal for the bass, and/or resonance in general, because there's a slot/opening on the bottom front as well as the left and right sides. Controls I found the controls very simple to use. The large dial and button on the front is the volume control and an EQ settings toggle. By default it switches between three different EQ settings. You can customize this. I turned on the fourth as well, but may cut it down to two. The dial is an excellent, easy to use volume control. As you turn it you will see the lighting go up and down on the sides of the speaker as you turn the volume up and down. The top has three buttons. One is "Power", one is "Bluetooth", and one is "Play/Pause". The Power and Bluetooth buttons both have an indicator light as well. There's also a separate "Charge" indicator to show when it's charging. The back has a number of buttons as well as a "Function" (input) select dial. The options are Bluetooth, Line 1, Line 2, USB-A, and USB-C. I'll talk about those more later, but make sure you see my included picture of the back, showing the inputs and buttons. I also have a picture showing the top buttons. I like the dial for the input select. It's very clear and easy to use. The input that it's set to is lit up, so you're not looking for a small mark on the dial or looking specifically at the dial. You just turn the dial and see the different options light up to select the one you want. They (the inputs on that dial) are all mutually exclusive. In addition to the ones on the dial, there's mic input that can be used along with any of the other inputs. The other buttons on the back include "Party Chain", for connecting other similar speakers, "Stereo Pair" for connecting a second identical speaker and making a left/right stereo pair, "Stamina" for changing the audio a bit to use less power, and a "Light" button to change the mode of operation for the lights around the front. There are also three buttons for Karaoke, "Echo" to that the Mic and the other two are a "Flat" and "Sharp" to lower or raise the pitch of the music you're listening to. This works very well! You just go up and down the scale using either button. A light lights up which ever side you're on - so if you press the Sharp button 3 times and the Flat button twice the Sharp button will still be lit and you will be one step Sharp of normal playback. The "Echo" button also works very well and you can add more Echo by pressing it more times. Inputs There are 5 "Functions" or inputs, plus a 1/4" mic input. Line 1 is a right and left RCA input. Line 2 is an XLR input. There's a USB A port for playing music from a USB Flash Drive. You use the app to play the songs and it works very well, loading a flash drive with hundreds, maybe thousands of directories and songs, very quickly and making it easy to go through the directory structure and play songs you want. There's a USB C input that let's you connect your phone by USB C cable. On my Android phone it showed up as headphones and the default output device. I was then able to play any music I wanted. I didn't even realize you could do this over USB but sure enough, it works very well! It also charged my phone while playing. The other inputs work great, as they should. I was impressed by how many there are. I connected a very old MP3 player to the RCA inputs and was able to play music from the MP3 player on the speaker. The mic input works great, and is the only one that you can use in combination with the other inputs, which makes sense, so you can sing along with audio from any of the other inputs. There is also an XLR output. Sound The sound is excellent - powerful, crisp, and clear. So far I've used it for a number of types of music and podcasts. Voices sound natural, strings and piano sound clear and crisp. I turned it up with some music that had two people harmonizing and a piano playing and it all sounded so clear and crisp. The bass is deep and solid too. Using the app there are four different default EQ settings you can use, Flat, ULT 1, ULT 2, and Live. So far, I think ULT 2 and Live are my favorite. ULT 2 is one that boosts the high and low, giving a stronger sound overall. I like Live because to me it sounds like a slightly wider and brighter sound field than the other options. For some music I preferred ULT 2 though. Flat doesn't change the audio. Ult 1 focuses on Bass. As mentioned before, you can select these EQ presets using the large volume dial/button on the front. I'll probably set it to just those two options. Right now I still have all four set to toggle through. The app lets you edit adjust the default EQ settings. You can also use the "Party Pad" in the app to create a Custom EQ. That Party Pad also has other effects like Isolator and Flanger as well as some sounds samples you can play like an Audience, Robot sounds, and a Reggae Horn. Make sure to check out the App (Sound Connect). It also has customization for the lights and more Karaoke settings. Battery Life After using lots of inputs, having the lights on most of the time and playing lots of music, it's down to 60% - which I think is excellent. They advertise it for 20 hours - but that's always hard with speakers because it depends on what volume your playing at, if the lights are on, and settings. This speaker has a "Stamina" button which will adjust the sound and lighting to save battery life. You can also enable "Battery Care" mode in the app. This will keep it from charging the whole way so that the battery cells last longer over time. So I thought the battery life was great and I love the options Sony gives you to make it last longer on the current charge (Stamina) and over time (Battery Care). Summary The ULT Tower 5 Party Speaker delivers lots of general sound and Karaoke features, supporting lots of inputs, and even an XLR output, in a very portable package. You may have a hard time finding a system this size that can deliver sound like this, I don't know, but I was impressed. I'd like to see more button on top rather than on back, but that's all I can think of to complain about. It's fairly heavy but I think that's because of all the battery life and other hardware in there - and they addressed that well with four, excellent, large, handles. Sony did an amazing job on this! If you're looking for a powerful and feature rich Bluetooth party speaker, check out the ULT Tower 5!

Some party speakers just get loud. This gets loud and brings all the goodies with it. The default sound setting is "ULT1", which is basically, "Extra Bass", and it's exactly that. And not just a little bit, but the extra bass you've always imagined having for your party. This speaker, thumps, booms and owns the space it's in. Even outdoors, the thump is there. Honestly, while playing with it after first unboxing, I gave myself a headache just trying to see how much bass it can produce. See, even with the UL1 extra bass mode, you can still adjust the Equalizer in the Sound Connect app (more on the app later). So, you can further crank up the bass, and if you want, turn down the highs, and this almost becomes a subwoofer (not that you would need or want to do that). But, since it has multiple inputs; of course Bluetooth, then stereo RCA, XLR, USB-A and USB-C, and Mic (for Karaoke); you can chain this with other speakers. If you get others of this ULT Tower 5 family, you can pair them wirelessly. This speaker will only wirelessly pair with other ULT Tower 5 speakers. The app lets you change the sound mode (ULT1 "extra bass", ULT2 "power", Flat, or Live), further adjust the equalizer, change inputs, adjust lighting options, or have some fun with some DJ-like scratchboards and modifiers. The only problems I have with the app is I don't think it's very intuitive, so sometimes finding the lighting settings is a bit difficult. Also, the app (at least on Android) always needs to reconnect to the speaker anytime I switch to another app and then switch back, which is pretty annoying. Also, surprisingly, this does have a battery, so it is completely portable. I was able to go 8-10 hours of music listening at comfortable volumes. If you have it cranking at party volumes I'm sure it'll be a little less, but it should still get you through a 4-hour party easily. Also, there is a conspicuous compartment in the back, which contains the 6000mAh battery. There is not anywhere to stash the power cord though, so make sure you don't lose it, so you can charge it when needed. To help with portability there is a sturdy handle on each corner of the speaker. The speaker can also stand vertically or horizontally. It is also IPX4 water resistant, meaning it will be fine if it's caught in the rain (but don't throw it in the pool!). Ultimately, this will be at every party I host, and I'm tempted to get a 2nd for proper stereo.