Sony ULT Wear Review: Kick(b)ass headphones with premium smarts!

Sony’s relationship with bass has been consistent and yet complicated. For a long time, the brand’s mainstream wireless headphones were known for their bass-friendly signatures, and the XB (for Extra Bass) was known for delivering really deep rumble. However, a couple of years ago, the brand tweaked its headphone audio signature a little, giving its bestselling WH-CH700 and WH-1000XM series a ‘cleaner’ sound. The XB series continued the bass-heavy trend, though, with devices like the WH-XB910 series, which, while being rich on bass, were slightly low on the smart features that marked out Sony’s flagship headphones.

Now Sony has come out with the ULT Wear range of headphones, which not only promise to deliver bass-rich audio but also bring along a number of flagship features. Mind you, they come with a price tag of $178/Rs 16,990, which places them slightly above the Extra Bass series (which some say they are replacing) but still well below the close to Rs 25,000 price tag that accompanies the WH-1000XM5. But do the new series of headphones have what it takes to build bridges between great bass and great features?

Sony ULT Wear design: Comfy, cushioned, and with shades of the XB range

The Sony ULT Wear (model name WH-ULT900N – the legacy of weird alphanumeric models is alive and well, alas) seem a little bulky at first glance, and that is because they have rather large earcups. The result is that they are rather prominent when worn. That said, they are very comfortable, thanks to lots of padding around the earcups and the headband. They are also not too heavy for their size – just about 255 grams, which is close to the weight of the flagship 1000XM5.

In terms of design, the Sony ULT Wear borrow more from the XB-910 than the WH-1000XM5. You get round earcups with flat, smooth backs and a headband connecting both earcups with Sony branding, where it connects to the earcups. The left earcup has a type-C port, a power/ connectivity button, a button for switching between ANC and transparency mode, and perhaps the most distinct design feature of all – a prominent shiny button with ‘ULT’ written on it. More on that later.

The headphones are largely made of plastic and have a matte finish, while the cushioning has memory foam and does not crease. Unlike the 1000XM5, the ULT Wear fold inwards, so they can literally be folded into a compact form and kept inside a bag. Speaking of which, the headphones come with a very well-built oval-shaped carrying case, which is handy for storing them on trips. It is a bit on the bulky side, though, so we ended up carrying the headphones without a case in our backpack – the matte finish meant they got no smudges, and they proved sturdy enough to survive without any damage at all.

As we said before, they are very comfortable to wear, and the ‘clamping force’ of the headband is not too high but is good enough to keep the headphones firmly on your head, as long as you do not jerk around your head too much. We wore them for 5-6 hours without any problems, although those large ear cups can get a little sweaty. We got the black variant of the Sony ULT Wear. You also get off-white and a rather different-looking forest gray (which seems more green than gray) variants. No matter which one you pick, you will get a smart-looking, if slightly large, pair of headphones that have solid, premium feels about them.

Sony ULT Wear set up, app, and UI: Gesture driven, with lots of premium features

Setting up the Sony ULT Wear is pretty simple. You just long press the power/connectivity button, and the headphones will show up on the Bluetooth devices on the phone or notebook you wish to connect them to. If pairing with a tablet or a smartphone, we would recommend doing the installation on the companion Sony Headphones. You can use the headphones without the app as well, but using it with them gives you access to a number of additional features, including ANC, equalizers, and so on.

The ULT Wear are largely gesture-driven, with the outer part of the right earcup serving as a touch panel. The command system, therefore, comprises a set of taps and swipes. A double tap pauses and plays audio or takes and ends a call; a swipe forward takes you to the next track while a swipe back takes you to the previous one; a swipe up increases volume, and a swipe down decreases it. The touch panel is sensitive enough, and although controlling the volume can be a trifle slow, the gestures work smoothly enough once you get the hang of them.

The ULT Wear also come packed with a number of smart features. Thanks to a sensor, they pause music when you take them off and resume playing when you put them back on. They also come with the V1 integrated processor that is also seen in the WF-1000 XM5 for better noise cancellation. The headphones also come with adaptive noise control, adjusting ANC levels depending on your location. You also get Quick Attention mode, where simply placing your palm over the right earcup will lower the volume of the audio being played, allowing you to hear sounds around you more easily. And then there is the matter of that shiny ULT button – it lets you pump up the bass further to two special levels, ULT1 and ULT2.

Sony ULT Wear sound: Bassy, and on hitting the ULT button, bombing booming bossy bassy!

In pure spec terms, the Sony ULT Wear come with 40mm drivers, which deliver impressive volume levels, although they are not the loudest we have heard (we actually felt the XB-910 had higher volumes). They also feature Sony’s Digital Sound Enhancement Engine (DSEE), which is supposed to make compressed audio sound even better. Does it work? Well, it is difficult to tell in all the bass, but the sound quality is certainly extremely consistent. There is also support for SBC, AAC, and Sony’s own high-quality LDAC codecs, with support for LC3 and LE Audio coming in the future through updates (and Sony is very sharp with updates). You also get support for head tracking, allowing the source of the sound to remain consistent even while you move your head, but this feature is available with a limited number of services at the time of writing. You cannot use head tracking with popular services like Spotify, YouTube Music, or Apple Music, which is a bummer.

The Sony ULT Wear are marketed for their bass, and they do deliver without being overwhelming. Until you hit the ULT button on them, that is. Their normal sound signature has a very distinct bass flavor, although it does not flood across other frequencies. This makes them terrific for hip-hop, electronic, and underground music. Put on Tiesto or DJ Snake, and these headphones come into their own, filling your ears with gently boosted bass. Clarity levels are reasonably impressive, and vocals and other instruments are also clear, although the sound does feel a little “closed” and a trifle thick. Do not expect a wide soundstage here (you do not get one with most bass-friendly headphones anyway). While ULT Wear lose a lot of their edge and sound, almost routine when handling jazz, rock, and country, they are very good for watching action films, with lots of rumbling sounds and explosions. Fast and Furious and Top Gun fans will love the rumble of engines that echoes through the ULT Wear.

Hit the ULT button once, and you will notice just a little more beat and rumble in your ears as the headphones go up the bass levels. And if that is not good enough for you (in other words, if you are a true bass head), then press the button once more to invoke the ULT2 level. You will see bass literally storm your ears, with the earcups almost seeming to vibrate with the impact – it is not Skullcandy Crusher levels, but close enough. And unlike some bass headphones with ANC, the ANC does not affect audio quality – it does not dip, and you do not get that “stuffed ears” feeling.

The ULT Wear are great headphones for content that has a bass edge to it. They are good for podcasts, too, with good clarity levels, but take them out of the bass territory, and they seem a little flat. Fortunately, you can tweak that with the equalizer in the Sony Headphones app, but all said and done, we would not say they are for casual listening (the CH720 are a much better option in that regard). In terms of bass, we would rank them well above the XB910N. Their default signature actually reminds us of the early Sony 1000 XM series, with a touch of bass rather than lots of it. For lots of bass, there is the ULT button, although we would advise using it only when you want to roll in the bass deeps, with highs forgotten.

Sony ULT Wear Other Features (ANC, calls, battery life): Super ANC and smarts, but the app needs work

They might come with the potential to deliver a truckload of bass, but we think that what makes the ULT Wear really special are the features they pack in. The headphones come with a number of premium-level smarts. The gesture control is more refined than in the past and is right up there with the 1000XM5 in terms of responsiveness (although we reiterate we prefer buttons!).

The ANC is easily the best we have heard in bass-rich headphones, comfortably eclipsing what the XB910N and even the Skullcandy Crusher ANC deliver. What is more, the ANC adjusts depending on your surroundings and noise levels – it could actually detect when we were sitting, in a cab, or jogging and change ANC accordingly. It is not quite as amazing as the 1000XM5, which is the gold standard of headphone ANC, but it comes impressively close. You can wear these in a noisy cafe or in a cab in traffic and kill a reasonable amount of external noise. Transparency mode is very good, too, letting one hear external noises with surprising clarity.

One of our favorite features is the Quick Attention mode, which automatically reduces music volume and brings a level of transparency, letting you pay attention to a sudden query or announcement. And while you can switch between ANC and Transparency mode using the dedicated button on the headphones, you can also tweak the same button to launch Spotify when you press it twice. Round that off with smooth virtual assistant connectivity (Google Assistant, Siri, and Alexa work brilliantly) and very good pause and play with ear detection, and the Sony ULT Wear starting giving you the feels of a 1000XM5 with extra bass!

It is not all roses, though. The call quality on the ULT Wear is not the greatest. It is good enough when your surroundings are relatively quiet, but people we called had problems hearing us when things were noisy. Sony says that the headphones come with a special wind noise reduction to ensure the wind does not interfere with calls and audio, but while the feature seemed to work well while listening to music, it was not quite as effective while making calls.

The Sony Headphones app is feature-rich and lets you unlock many features on the ULT Wear, but it needs an overhaul. It is not very intuitive and can seem a little dense – some of us struggled to figure out something as basic as how to switch between different equalizer settings (you need to swipe between them!). It would also have been convenient to be able to adjust the ULT1 and ULT2 settings, especially the latter (if we could, we could not figure out how).

Battery life is very good, with close to 25-30 hours with ANC turned on (and it is so good that we often kept it turned on). There is also a handy feature that gets you about 90 minutes of audio with three minutes of charging. Charging the headphones takes a little more than three hours (we used a 33W charger along with the supplied (slightly short) USB Type-C cable. You can also use the ULT Wear in wired mode using the 3.5 mm connection cable in the box – the audio remains good, but the ULT button stops working. There is no support for hearing over Type-C, which is a little disappointing given the prevalence of that port in many of our devices. You can also connect the ULT Wear wirelessly to two devices simultaneously, although you cannot use the high-quality LDAC codec in this mode. All said and done, the ULT Wear is a premium-level headphone in terms of smart features and their performance. And that is super rare in a bass boss!

Sony ULT Wear review verdict: Perfect for bassheads who want headphone smarts, too

At $178/Rs 16,990, the Sony ULT Wear have a price that is on the premium side. However, they are a rather unique proposition, being perhaps the only bass-rich headphones in the Indian market with flagship features. There are some excellent headphones in that price zone, such as the Bose QC45, the Sennheiser Accenture Plus, and the still-super Sony 1000XM4.

However, while they can match many of the smart features found on the ULT Wear, none of them can deliver the sort of bass that these headphones do. If you are one of the many who want a pair of premium headphones that deliver hefty bass, accompanied by smart features, then the Sony ULT Wear are pretty much the only headphones that can deliver on those twin parameters. The likes of the Skullcandy Crusher ANC might give you way more bass, but they lose out on the smart features and ANC performance. If Sony’s XB range and XM1000 range had a love child, it would be something like the ULT Wear. These headphones have not only bass but brains as well.

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