Bose's new soundbar brings back a lost 25-year-old Apple-like control feature

Bose has just introduced its latest champion flagship soundbar, the Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar, and it's a clear design upgrade on the Smart Ultra Soundbar that it replaces.

Straight out of the box, this nine-driver system is able to deliver a 5.0.2 output – so five speakers catering for the front soundstage, including virtual side output processing; while two handle up-firing overhead delivery – for true Dolby Atmos.

But there's a design flourish that's reminiscent of an all-time classic, for this latest soundbar has a circular touch-control wheel that's akin to a 2001-era Apple iPod – in the best of ways.

This tactile touch area, with tappable plus/minus volume controls, can be pressed and held to 'wheel' your around in a circular motion, making volume adjustments in this way instead.

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Design is a key part of Bose's appeal, especially when so many of the best soundbars on the market also offer stellar looks that will fit into many people's living rooms.

As part of a new product reveal, the US audio-maker has gone even more headstrong, in revealing an all-new Lifestyle Ultra Speaker product that can even be used as rear channel outputs when paired with this latest soundbar, for truer surround sound.

Bose describes the Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar as being the brand's "biggest acoustic overhaul in a decade", with a distinct design language and many proprietary technologies going on behind the scenes to boot.

As you can see in the gallery of photos above, the Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar is topped with a glass layer, providing a high-end finish to this system, whether you choose the Black or Smoke White finish options.

But it's not only a looker, there's a tactility to this design that'll keep the top Sonos, Marshall and Samsung soundbars on their toes, too. Within this acoustic body there have been engineering leaps to deliver greater audio enhancements.

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One of which is Bose's QuietPort tech, the open ports designed for bass to flow without sounding contracted, while eliminating distorted low-end that small-scale systems can otherwise experience.

The soundbar space is bustling right now, but not everyone wants a complex setup. That's part of the reason the Sonos Beam 2 has been such a successful model, befitting the typical 50-to-55-inch TV sizes in many people's possession.

Bose has tapped a similar path, as the Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar doesn't offer any HDMI passthrough. Instead it's an eARC-enabled soundbar only, with the single port there to pair with your TV and simplify upgraded audio output for all sources.

Bose is also leaning into other software- and AI-based technologies with this soundbar, including TrueSpatial for upmixed surround and SpeechClarity for real-time speech enhancement.

This latest soundbar is also one of the first products (in the USA, at least) to go on sale with Alexa+ integrated – meaning you can shout-out your soundbar and ask it complex queries by voice. However, you'll require a relevant Amazon subscription for this to function to its utmost.

The Bose Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar will go on sale from 15 May, priced at £999 ($1,099), while the optional Bose Lifestyle Ultra Subwoofer will also be available for an extra £/$899. An optional Lifestyle Ultra Speaker pair (£/$299ea) can be purchased in addition for a 7.1.4 full surround system.