After I was 14 years previous, I had an older good friend, Danny, who had a Volkswagen Scirocco. He was the eldest of our good friend group and the one one on the time who had a license and a automobile. He had one thing else none of us had on the time: a boomin’ system. Two 10-inch subwoofers in a fantastically crafted speaker field, full with amps, crossover, and another expertise the late 80’s needed to supply. The bass his twin tens put out was so aggressive when maxed that you could possibly nearly really feel it messing together with your coronary heart rhythms once you sat within the again seat. That isn’t hyperbole.
After I first donned the brand new Sony ULT Put on wi-fi noise-canceling headphones and pressed Play on my “Bass Check” playlist, I instantly began smiling just like the Cheshire Cat. The ridiculous (in a great way) bass response instantly evoked nostalgia for that late 80s and early 90s trunk-rattling increase bap. *In case your system was excessive caliber, your trunk didn’t rattle btw.
Bass like this isn’t for everybody, so it’s a superb factor that Sony put some thought into ULT Put on, making a pair of noise-canceling headphones that very possible will work for many listeners. Worry not bass curmudgeons, I’ll drop bars on why you continue to might need to take a pay attention.
Sony ULT WEAR: Worth and availability
Sony’s ULT Put on headphones are broadly accessible not solely on Sony.com but additionally on Amazon, B&H Picture, and brick-and-mortar shops like Greatest Purchase and Walmart. They price $200 and can be found in Black, Forest Grey, and Off-White. As a lover of all issues camo, the Forest Grey variant is asking my title!
Based on worth tracker camelcamelcamel.com, the previous-gen WH-XB910N headphones could possibly be bought for lower than MSRP fairly ceaselessly, so it’s a superb guess that the ULT Put on (WH-ULT900N) will quickly be accessible for lower than $200.
| Class | Sony ULT WEAR (WH-ULT900N) |
|---|---|
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 5.2, wired 3.5mm |
| Supported codecs | SBC, AAC, LDAC |
| Speaker kind/measurement | 40mm dynamic, neodymium magnet |
| Speaker frequency vary | 5Hz – 20kHz |
| Energetic noise cancellation | Sure, feedforward and suggestions mics |
| Battery | USB-C charging |
| Weight | 255g |
| App help | Headphones Join app for Android & iOS |
| Colours | Black, Forest Grey, Off-White |
Sony ULT Put on: What’s good
The place do I start? Thinkin’ of a grasp plan. With nothin’ however bass inside these cans.
Consuming fish, which is my favourite dish, I started my evaluate with a bass playlist!
Okay, sufficient riffing on Rakim and “Paid in Full,” which simply occurred to be one of many first songs I had banging by means of the specifically designed 40mm drivers on these closed-back over-ear headphones. What makes these headphones completely different from Sony’s venerable WH-1000XM5 is their concentrate on earth-shattering bass response, however in addition they share some options with the XM5, just like the V1 Processor chip. The mannequin for these headphones is WH-ULT900N, so technically, they’re the successor to and share some DNA with a product in Sony’s ExtraBass lineup, the WH-XB910N.
I’m glad Sony moved the main target away from a mannequin quantity and went with ULT, which is brief for “Final.” That makes remembering the title far more easy. To assist in giving you a memorable expertise, Sony packed the $200 ULT Put on with options. They’re operating Bluetooth 5.2, and together with Bluetooth audio codecs like SBC and AAC, you’ll get Sony’s LDAC codec carrying your tunes. If you wish to slip into one thing increased decision, you may join by way of aux cable to your audio supply, offered you might have the correct dongle or cell DAC.
The ULT Put on have energetic noise canceling onboard, which Sony says is improved over the earlier era. Just like the ULT modes, you may entry and alter ANC modes with a button on the left earcup. You will additionally discover the facility button and all ports there. The massive, thick, thermo-foam earpads on the ULTs are fairly snug and do an honest job offering passive noise cancellation. The companion app additionally has a function that can select your stage of noise cancellation based mostly in your location and exercise, which I discovered to be spot on in its changes to my atmosphere.
Caveat emptor: You’ll must be okay with giving Sony that stage of location-based entry to your life.
Along with noise-canceling, you additionally get an adjustable ambient sound mode so that you could keep your situational consciousness whereas listening if mandatory. I preserve all of it the way in which up as that gives a stage of amplification to my environment. Nevertheless, should you solely want transparency when speaking with somebody, Fast Consideration makes that potential by inserting your hand over the best earcup, which briefly prompts ambient sound mode on the fly till you take away your hand.
I haven’t absolutely vetted the battery life claims simply but as a result of these appear to go and go, however Sony says you’ll rise up to 30 hours of playback with ANC on and 50 with it off. Fast charging by way of USB-C provides you 1.5 hours of playback on a three-minute cost, whereas 10 minutes provides you 5 hours of playback.
Extremely bassy, with out being fundamental
With some specs out of the way in which, let’s discuss what makes these headphones the “ULTimate.” I used to be grinning ear-to-ear as I listened to LL Cool J’s “Going Again to Cali,” adopted by N.W.A. and “Dopeman.” Masta Ace’s “Born to Roll” remix was an anthem recognized for being bumped from high-octane sound methods again within the day, however I additionally wished some extra closely engineered sonics to sip from, so I loaded up Skrillex’s “Mumbai Energy” and The Roots’ “Do You Need Extra?!!!??!” For critical jeep-beat nostalgia, I even nodded my head to L’Trimm’s “Automobiles That Go Growth.”
What’s nice in regards to the ULT Put on is that none of those songs sounded muddy due to the hyped bass response. Enable me to qualify that assertion, although. Whereas not muddy, bass on ULT2 mode positively upstages the opposite frequencies, however that is form of the purpose right here. The rise in bass additionally had punchy mids, which helped deliver ahead vocals. Excessive frequencies weren’t washed out both, as I found whereas listening to “Mumbai Energy.”
The large function right here is the ULT button on the left aspect of the headphones, which supplies you three ranges of bass amplification: ULT Off, ULT1, and ULT2, however there’s extra customization available. You may fine-tune the bass response with the CLEAR BASS slider as you play with the varied EQ presets or create your customized preset utilizing the five-band EQ together with the ULT and CLEAR BASS settings.
Earlier than you do all of that, I like to recommend hitting the Discover Your Equalizer menu and tuning the general sound to your listening to. Choose a track with a superb stability of vocals and instrumentation, then play that whereas selecting from two screens of various EQ choices. In my testing, this made a distinction in how bass and mid-forward the general sound signature was.
With my customized EQ and ULT1 with CLEAR BASS set to +3, listening to different genres of music is satisfying. Artwork Blakey’s “Moanin’” is brilliant and pleasant, with a very stable sound separation within the stereo picture. Highs are restrained because the shrill horns on this observe weren’t a tad uncomfortable like they are often. Different tracks, like a remastered “Let’s Dance” by David Bowie, are immersive, and Paul Simon’s “Diamonds on the Souls of Her Footwear” continues to be ethereal, although a bit restrained in nuance as nicely.
To my level about customization, merely altering to the Treble Enhance preset, the place CLEAR BASS is ready to “0” and bass enhancement is ready to “ULT1,” restores some nuance again to the combo. Readability is added to your sound by activating Sony’s Digital Sound Enhancement Engine (DSEE) expertise, and I really feel it does a stable job of delivering simply that.
Whereas watching films and movies, there is no such thing as a latency with dialogue whereas related by way of Bluetooth. The EQ function set right here makes it simple to customise sound in order that these boomy bottoms do not hinder your enjoyment of movie scores and dialog. The taiko drum scene in episode two of “Blue Eye Samurai” is certainly “hotter” by means of the ULT Put on, however my EQ customization retains dialog and sword sounds brilliant and crisp.
Final, on the sound entrance, know that the upgraded microphone array within the ULT Put on can even provide you with a stable calling, Zoom, or Google Meet expertise. They do a high-quality job of canceling background noise for these you are talking to, and once you’re silent, they do a stable job of muting your atmosphere should you’re out right here on these streets.
Bass by wire
The Bluetooth LDAC expertise received’t depart you wanting, and the analog expertise with the three.5mm cable can be stable. Bonus factors for with the ability to use it once you run out of juice!
I related the ULT Put on to my Pixel 7 Pro utilizing the included aux cable hooked up to one of the best small DACs underneath $100, Fosi Audio’s mini DS2, and was not disillusioned. Listening to hi-res audio by means of this highly effective USB-C DAC offered brilliant, ethereal, and full-bodied music for closed-back $200 headphones. I listened to Tidal tracks, in addition to FLAC information, by means of VLC media participant. Simply so you understand, you’ll be capable of use the three.5mm aux with the headphones powered on or off, and also you’ll get two completely different sound signatures relying on that energy state. Powered on, you get the bass-heavy profile, however the sound is extra impartial when powered off.
One of many points with bass-heavy recordings revealed by the ULT is how nicely producers and engineers grasp tracks. Listening to some hip-hop tracks, I see that there’s a little bit of mud within the combine, whereas others have deep, resonant bass that’s tight with out muddying mids or highs. The Roots, Dr. Dre, Skrillex, and several other different producers of heavy bass and sub-bass tracks clearly present they know deliver the thump with out dulling the vibrance of the remainder of the picture. Others, not a lot. DSEE helps these tracks out a bit, however when actively listening, you study the distinction between high quality technical engineering and rough-around-the-edges compositions from completely different creatives.
Talking of high quality technical engineering, I’m not an enormous fan of contact controls on headphones, however the ULT WEAR’s controls are responsive and intuitive. Not solely that, however the proximity sensor, answerable for controlling the flexibility to pause music once you take away the headphones, was equally responsive. There’s a split-second latency when eradicating them, however they unpause play when positioned again in your head with no lag by any means.
Sony ULT Put on: What may use enchancment
Sony has executed a high-quality job engineering these heavy hitters, so there are solely a few issues I discovered that might use some enchancment. First off, there is no such thing as a USB-C audio help. You received’t get that on the pricier 1000XM5 both, so that actually is a Sony technical resolution I’d prefer to see it modified in its subsequent era of headphones. That stated, I do desire utilizing a cell DAC, in order that isn’t an enormous deal for me.
I attempted organising head-tracking optimization, however I couldn’t get it to work. It’s important to maintain the telephone stage in entrance of your face as you swivel your head up and down, not side-to-side, however I believe this superb beard is throwing that expertise off. One thing else that will get “thrown off” is the flexibility to make use of LDAC and multipoint on the similar time. I don’t know why that’s, contemplating that the WH-1000XM5 obtained an replace final yr, which made that potential.
Sony ULT Put on: Competitors
There aren’t many choices this heavy on options at $200. You may have a look at the JBL Reside 770NC, Sennheiser Accentum Plus, and even Beats Studio Pro, which initially retailed for $350 however can ceaselessly be discovered for underneath $200.
You must positively try our Sennheiser Accentum Plus review to see if these are a greater match for you. Having personally examined Beats Studio Professional, I’d say that you simply’ll should take a tough have a look at the 2 merchandise. With the ULT, you’ll get LDAC, EQ customization, and different options not discovered on the Studio Professional. Nonetheless, some customers will discover that Beats has a way more balanced, nuanced sound profile with out sacrificing satisfying bass response.
Sony ULT WEAR: Must you purchase it?
You should purchase Sony ULT Put on if…
- Bass is life.
- You need snug, long-wearing headphones
- You need loads of options for an honest worth.
You should not purchase Sony ULT WEAR if…
- Impartial sound is life.
- You want USB-C audio.
Although a bass lover’s responsible pleasure, Sony’s ULT Put on current a wider worth proposition at this worth level, which ought to attraction to fairly a number of individuals. The ANC is stable, the app is feature-packed, you may hearken to your music over the wire should you drain the battery, and you’ve got help for LDAC on board.
Sony packs loads of punch into this booming set of headphones, making them a tricky act to observe for the small pool of choices at or round $200.
ULTimate Growth Bap!
Hyper-bass is not for everybody, however Sony provides you the ULT button and a five-band EQ to make the sound profile extra palatable for many who desire a extra balanced combine. That together with the sturdy feature-set make the ULT WEAR a compelling pproduct.