Bose’s Lifestyle Ultra speaker puts home audio in decor mode
Bose’s $299 Lifestyle Ultra wireless speaker is being sold at Best Buy with multiroom, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and home theater options.
By Poppy Nakagawa · Culture Writer
2 min read
Bose is giving the wireless speaker a living-room makeover with its Lifestyle Ultra, a $299 home audio speaker sold through Best Buy and designed to look less like a gadget and more like part of the furniture.
Rolling Stone’s Jonathan Zavaleta reports that the speaker is aimed at listeners who want flexible home sound without turning their space into a stack of black boxes. The Lifestyle Ultra can work on its own, as a pair, across multiple rooms or as rear speakers in a Bose home theater setup.
The speaker comes in black, white and driftwood sand, according to the report. Each unit has a textured fabric grille around a plastic body, with neutral finishes meant to blend into different rooms. Bose’s broader Lifestyle line also includes a matching soundbar and subwoofer.
Controls sit on the top of the speaker. Rolling Stone notes playback buttons, Bluetooth pairing controls and a physical volume dial. Around back, there is an aux input for anyone who wants to plug in instead of stream.
What it can do
The Lifestyle Ultra supports Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, according to the report. It also works with Spotify Connect, Google Cast and Apple AirPlay, and it is Alexa-enabled.
- Use one speaker for a single room.
- Pair two speakers for stereo listening.
- Build a multiroom setup around the house or apartment.
- Use the speakers as rear surrounds with Bose’s Lifestyle Ultra soundbar and subwoofer.
For record collectors, Rolling Stone says the speakers can be used as a stereo pair with a turntable, though there is a catch: the Lifestyle Ultra does not include RCA inputs, so an aux adapter is needed.
On sound, Zavaleta writes that the speaker produces room-filling audio, crediting its rear bass port and up-firing driver. He says that design gives the speaker a more immersive presentation than a traditional pair of bookshelf speakers.
The home theater angle is a major part of the pitch. Rolling Stone reports that the Lifestyle Ultra speakers can connect wirelessly as rear surrounds with Bose’s Lifestyle Ultra soundbar and subwoofer. The soundbar includes Dolby Atmos, and the report says it also has rear-firing bass ports for bass performance with or without the subwoofer.
The subwoofer can be connected to the soundbar either wired or wirelessly, according to the report.
Best Buy listings cited by Rolling Stone show the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker in black and White Smoke at $299. The publication also disclosed that it may earn an affiliate commission when readers buy independently reviewed products through links on its site.
This story draws on original reporting from Rolling Stone.