Sony Ult Field 3 wireless speaker review: let's party

Sony's Ult lineup is maturing nicely. After launching the new sub-brand of speakers in 2024, Sony is adding more models all the time. One of the most attractive recent additions is the Ult Field 3, on review here. There are both bigger and smaller options in the Ult line, but I think this one might be the most sensible size for most people.

It's big enough to stand alone happily in big spaces, but small enough to remain portable – all with a classy and sleek design. How does it hold up to actual use, though, and is it one of the best Bluetooth speakers going? I carted it around for a couple of weeks to establish just that – so read on for my detailed thoughts.

Price & Availability

The Ult Field 3 is available now and can be picked up from a wide range of retailers. It comes in at £159 / $199.99 / €199, which makes it sit in roughly the mid-range where portable speakers are concerned. This isn't a super-compact speaker, so it isn't competing on getting the price down as low as possible.

Design & Features

Sony's Ult lineup has some chunkier, more 'shouty' speakers, but I think the Field 3 is one of, or perhaps the single nicest-looking speaker in the whole range. It's oblong in shape, with a mesh grille covering the majority of the body. There are small feet to keep it the right way up, too.

On each end of that oblong, you'll find large apertures for some of its drivers, while the top of the speaker holds the main controls. There's a power button, a couple of pairing buttons (one for Bluetooth, the other for connecting to other Ult speakers), play/pause, volume keys, and a large Ult button for boosted bass.

On either side of these controls, there's a small rubber flap you can lift to gain access to hooks that let you attach an included carrying strap. That process can be a little fiddly, but once they're on, they feel very secure.

The back of the speaker, meanwhile, hides another rubber flap with the USB-C charging port behind it, along with a battery button for maintenance use (I think – I couldn't find any evidence for what it does).

The whole thing is accented by a single, quite large Sony logo in reflective metal on he speaker's front, and makes for a really attractive picture overall. You can pick it up in black, green or off white, depending on your taste.

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The fabric is durable enough to leave me relaxed about handling it roughly – it's very similar to the outside of something like the UE Wonderboom 4.

That durability isn't just an appearance, either. The speaker has a water and dust resistance rating of IP67, which means it's impervious to dust, and resistant to water up to a metre of immersion for 30 minutes. That's more than enough to ensure this is a genuinely hardy speaker you can rely on in all weather.

Battery life is stated at up to 24 hours, and there's fast-charging to get a couple of hours from just 10 minutes plugged in. Those are impressive numbers, and should make it something you can take on camping trips or for all-day outings without any anxiety.

The 'Ult button' I mentioned earlier is the signature of the Ult range, and basically acts as a big boost to the bass levels in your tracks, balancing them for a punchier feeling that tends to perform better in outdoor situations. It's a handy shortcut, but Sony's app also lets you edit a seven-band equaliser (EQ) to your taste.

If you pick up two Ult Field 3 speakers, you can pair them for stereo sound, meanwhile, but you can also connect one to a range of other Ult speakers to more simply boost your output from more than one speaker at a time.

Performance & Battery Life

So, how does the speaker actually sound? Well, the answer is that it's perfectly impressive – boomingly loud for its size when pushed to the limits of its volume, with enough detail to ensure that you're not just listening to bass noise.

The speaker's Ult mode feels like a must to experiment with once you get it, especially if you're listening out of doors, where soundstages can be harder to establish even for great speakers. It adds some real oomph to the low-end, but thankfully doesn't blow things out of balance (which some other Ult speakers can suffer).

If you do crank the volume right to the top, though, you'll start to notice that detail deteriorate a little – which isn't anything uncommon for a portable speaker, but is worth bearing in mind.

One further wrinkle to all this, though, is that the Ult mode is so persuasive that it almost always needs to be on for this particular speaker. That slightly begs the question of whether it should even be a "mode" at all – shouldn't it just be the default tuning for the speaker? The fact that you can't tune the Ult mode at all (any EQ tweaks disable the mode) is a real shame, too.

Still, this size and weight (1.20kg) do feel pretty perfect for a chunky portable speaker, and the sound quality is easily good enough to make it a great pick for outdoor events where you want some fun tunes but don't need to drown out everyone's ability to speak to each other.

I found the Bluetooth connectivity to be rock-solid, while battery life lined up with Sony's claims. Those claims are impressive, though, so entire-day battery shouldn't be overlooked as an impressive boast. That said, if you use the aforementioned Ult mode, this does shrink the battery life down by around 10 hours, which is worth knowing about.

Sony Ult Field 3 review: Verdict

The Ult Field 3 is probably the Ult speaker I'd buy right now – chunkier and more powerful than the Ult Field 1, but not as off-puttingly large as the more expensive models in the range.

Still, it has some drawbacks at a pretty steep price. The sound quality is heavily dependent on that Ult mode, and reliance on it makes for a lack of customisation options at the level I'd like.

The Sony Ult Field 3 has got a great design, though, and for those looking to keep things simple it still stands as a good option.

Also consider

At this price, there's a lot of competition for the Ult Field 3 to deal with. If rugged portability is your priority, the slightly older JBL Charge 6 matches Sony on every level, and has a deservedly impressive reputation.

For those who've already got some Sonos speakers in their home, though, extending that system with a Roam 2 might be the smoothest option. It, too, comes in cheaper than Sony's speaker, underlining the fierce sector of the market we're in.