Sonos has a new rival in town. Bose’s new Lifestyle Collection includes a $299 Lifestyle Ultra Speaker, a $1,099 Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar, and the $899 Ultra Subwoofer, all of which are now available directly from Bose and third-party retailers like Amazon and Best Buy.
Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker
Where to Buy:
The $299 Lifestyle Ultra Speaker is essentially Bose’s version of the Sonos Era 100. It’s available in either black or white from Amazon, Best Buy, and Bose, as well as a $349 beige build that’s currently exclusive to Bose’s online storefront. Of all the new Lifestyle devices, my colleague John Higgins was particularly impressed with the smart speaker. It offers a front-firing woofer and tweeter, and, unlike the Era 100, an up-firing driver. In his brief hands-on time with it, he was surprised by how big it sounded for its size and by its crisp vocal clarity.
Like the Sonos Era 100, the Lifestyle Ultra Speaker supports both Apple AirPlay and Spotify Connect, though the addition of Google Cast provides yet another way to stream audio from supported apps. It can also be grouped with compatible non-Bose speakers via AirPlay and Google Cast if you want to play music in multiple rooms, and it’s the first third-party speaker to support Amazon’s generative AI-powered Alexa Plus.
For home theater fans, Bose also introduced the Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar, which supports Dolby Atmos and is now available from Amazon, Best Buy, and Bose. Dialogue came through clearly in our demo, and the speaker’s soundstage felt wide, even if the low end was somewhat lacking on its own. Bose’s new Ultra Subwoofer — also currently available in black and white from Amazon, Best Buy, and Bose — can help fill that gap, though. When paired with the soundbar, it noticeably filled out the missing bass and delivered fuller, more balanced sound.
