Bose Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar Review

Design

• ‘Lifestyle’ looks
• QuietPort for bass
• Choice of black or white

It’s not necessarily a change for the Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar, but the aesthetics are different from before. Previous efforts from Bose were all sleek, contoured lines, metal grilles and glass surfaces – good looking, but boxy and industrial-looking. The Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar is softer, curved and a bit more living room friendly.

It does have a glass top surface, which lends itself to getting a few marks but nothing yet that can be wiped off, and none of which are visible from a distance. The glass surface is, of course, reflective; so it may reflect what’s on the screen depending on what you’re watching. I like the look of it though.

The majority of the bar is taken up by a fabric (personally, the white version stands out more than the black); and there’s no display with a sole LED light that, quite frankly, you’ll barely notice the blinks of if you weren’t looking for it.

Like the Lifestyle Ultra Speaker, you can control it physically (there’s no remote, as such) through a panel on its right-hand side. To raise or lower volume, you can swipe your finger around the circle – an elegant way of control, though will you really get up from your couch to perform that motion? Other physical controls include playback, Bluetooth pairing, turning the built-in microphone off and bringing up the voice assistant.

At 67mm high it can duck beneath a TV without issue. Around the back you’ll find a recessed area for the connections, plus two bass ports (Bose’s QuietPort technology). With upfiring speakers at either side, you’ll want to put the Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar in a clear place without obstructions. If you’re thinking of wall-mounting, the soundbar supports that, but requires the Bose Soundbar Wall Bracket, which is sold separately.

Connectivity

• No HDMI pass-through
• Can add a wired subwoofer
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth streaming

Connectivity is HDMI eARC and there’s no HDMI pass-through, similar to the Sonos Arc Ultra, though the similarly priced Samsung HW-Q950H does have HDMI pass-through.

There’s no optical input and the USB-C input is service-only. There’s a ‘Data’ input and I’m checking with Bose as to what that is, and there’s an input should you want to add a wired subwoofer, though this soundbar does support Bose’s Lifestyle Ultra Subwoofer (which is wireless). You can add the Lifestyle Ultra Speaker through the app too, to create a 7.1.2 surround system.

Wireless connectivity includes Wi-Fi, which in turn includes AirPlay 2, Google Cast, Spotify Connect, and there’s also Bluetooth 5.3 (SBC, AAC).

Features

• No DTS support
• CustomTune to optimise sound
• SpeechClarity feature

First off, there’s no DTS support, so fans of physical media won’t be so much disappointed as resigned to the fact that Dolby Audio is the direction of travel for home cinema.

You do, of course, get Dolby Atmos; and the Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar features a 5.1.2 configuration with an array of left, centre, right channels; two upfiring speakers for height, with the .1 representing the bass channel.

Operation of the soundbar is done through the Bose app, which has received something of a re-do beneath the surface even though it looks much the same as it did before this soundbar launched. Like many Bose products, it’s not burdened with a huge amount of features, but the app obviously covers everything that Bose wants it to.

The app looks the same but Bose says it’s had a significant revision under the surface. There are far fewer quirks this time around – devices will auto-update at night rather than prompt you – and you can adjust certain features, whether it’s the EQ (bass, treble, midrange) or both height and width, switch sources (mainly from TV to Bluetooth) and set up wireless connectivity.

You can add the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Subwoofer and the Lifestyle Ultra Speakers if you want to create a surround sound system, and the process for adding the subwoofer is one I found to be super-duper easy and quick. It’s worth noting that while Google Cast is supported, you need to enable it through the app; otherwise, the likes of Tidal Connect and Qobuz Connect won’t show up when you’re trying to stream.

There’s also no more need to add a headset in the manner of X-Men’s Charles Xavier for the soundbar to optimise itself to your living space. The AdaptIQ is gone, and replaced by Bose’s CustomTune, though it has to be done manually, and I must admit, I’ve struggled to get it working.

Setting the soundbar initially proved tricky as it would not connect to the Wi-Fi (it took another smartphone for it to work); but getting the CustomTune going has been arduous. Several attempts – some taking as long as twenty minutes – and it’s failed each and every time.

Bose’s CustomTune initially requires that you place your smartphone on the soundbar to connect, then it measures the sound from three positions in the room while you’re holding the smartphone.

Sometimes it would think I’ve been in the same position twice, other times it seemed sensitive to a little noise (the hum of fridge freezer in our testing space), and other times it’s failed without giving a reason. It’s not been plain sailing for me, but others have managed to get it going without issue.

The SpeechClarity feature aims to make dialogue in films and TV series clearer without amping up background noise. Alexa is supported for voice control too.

Sound Quality

• Adjustable height and width
• Surprisingly good bass
• Clear dialogue

Big bass from a soundbar without distortion has always been a tricky feat to pull off. Soundbars are compact; there’s not much space for a bass drive unit, especially alongside other drive units. In most cases, the recommendation would be to get an external subwoofer, but not everyone has the space or the environment to let loose with the low frequencies.

Bose’s solution to this conundrum is its QuietPort technology, which channels the flow of air out of the speaker, minimising turbulence and (hopefully) reducing distortion. It’s a technology that has been present on other Bose devices, but, and I’m happy to be wrong on this, we’ve not seen it on a soundbar before.

To test out this low-frequency performance, I turn to Dune: Part One and right from the off, there’s good strength and weight to the bass with a decent amount of power and extension. For a single-bar effort, it’s a promising start.

The sound of a thumper as it punches into the ground; the low doesn’t extend quite as deep, but the bass delivery is clean and clear. There’s a hint of distortion creeping in in the scene where Lady Jessica is commanded by Paul to give the water, and in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story when the volume is cranked up, there’s some distortion, but across several films and TV series (Succession, Game of Thrones), the moments of distortion have been few.

Switching to Alien: Romulus, there’s genuine weight to the bass performance throughout the film, and the same is true with a watch of Blade Runner 2049 and The Housemaid. It’s not comparable to an external subwoofer in terms of size and scale, but there’s a good, warm, and firm presence to the lows.

Adding the Lifestyle Ultra Subwoofer steps up the performance – the integration with the soundbar is good, but despite all the power the Subwoofer has to offer, it never goes over the top and has been surprisingly balanced. It adds weight and punch where necessary but hasn’t exaggerated the low frequencies. The size of the sub is best for larger spaces, so consider that if you’re thinking of adding it.

Elsewhere, dialogue is delivered naturally and clearly, and the focus on dialogue has always been good enough that I’ve not felt the need to use the SpeechClarity feature. I did give it a go with an episode of Miss Maisel on Prime Video and it works well. It doesn’t make dialogue sound unnatural (just slightly sharp) and doesn’t highlight background noise either. It’s been the same performance in other films (it has zero problems with the Litany of Fear speech in Dune) and TV series, so if you feel you can’t hear dialogue well, use it with confidence.

Highs are clear, detailed and well defined – the soundbar as a whole sounds very natural and doesn’t seem to colour the sound. It offers punch and energy, as well as dynamism that ensures the jump scares in Alien: Romulus and The Housemaid have the intended effect.

If there’s an area where I’m not as confident, it’s the height and width of the soundstage. Out of the box, it’s fine but the height channels don’t really extend too far and width is the same as the TV (a 65-inch and 48-inch), that I’m watching on. Don’t get me wrong, the Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar is an open and spacious effort, but it doesn’t feel ‘big’.

Turn to the TrueSpatial feature, and that’s where you can ‘enlarge’ the soundstage. The placement of the spinner as it descends on Black Runner 2049 is taller and a bit more noticeable, the width extends from the sides of the TV – it’s the size of soundstage I’d have hoped was possible from the get-go; with the TrueSpatial simply adding more ‘dimension’ to that, though the further it stretches, the slightly less detailed and thin it becomes, like butter spread over too much bread.

I’d start playing with these settings as soon as the soundbar is set up, though CustomTune may also play a part in opening up the sound (CustomTune didn’t work properly for me).

The performance with games is the same as with film and TV, and its approach to music is similar to the Lifestyle Ultra Speaker. Highs and vocals are clear, bass is balanced, and midrange is smooth and detailed.

It’s perhaps not the most exciting delivery, and with Dolby Atmos tracks on Tidal, the same caveat applies as it does to films and TV series in that it’d be nice if the width and height were taller and wider from the get-go.

Bluetooth music performance is not far off Wi-Fi – just more detailed and clearer, but the overall tone is the same. The Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar is solid for music, though something like the Marshall Heston 120 delivers more punch and energy.

Should you buy it?