I was both impressed and overwhelmed when I first saw the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar, as it delivered mammoth sound and appeared to be a likely contender for the best soundbar throne. And after spending two weeks testing it for myself as the center of my home theater, I have to applaud Bose: This is an excellent soundbar.
Not only does this soundbar work with smart speakers in ways its rivals can’t but it uses Bose tech to make its audio more immersive, even content that wasn’t designed to be. But this member of Bose’s Lifestyle Collection has a second mission in addition to being great: toppling the popular Sonos Arc Ultra, the high-end model that earned the title of best splurge soundbar and is the same price. So, let’s find out where it wins and where it merely comes close.
Bose Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar
Support for synced audio with third-party speakers helps make the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar more than just an excellent piece of home theater audio equipment.
The Bose Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar has been a trusty main audio output for my LG C2 OLED TV for the last couple of weeks, consistently adding extra oomph to everything from Steven Spielberg’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” to multiple New York Knicks playoff games. I frequently appreciated that solid sound quality, especially when I heard announcer Mike Breen yell, “Bang!” with proper intonation and volume. The Lifestyle Ultra produced plenty of sound on the low-end, thanks to its CleanBass tech and the QuietPort output vents on the back. I didn’t need the included SpeechClarity setting to bring dialogue to the front during my testing, but I can confirm it functions as advertised, raising the vocals of various actors on “The Boys” as action around them swelled.
