I tried Bose's all-new speaker – this special trick sets it apart from the pack

Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker — (Image credit: Future / Mike Lowe)

Tucked away in a refurbished brownstone house on the east side of Manhattan, I was invited by Bose to check out an all-new product in the brand's audio repertoire – the Lifestyle Ultra Speaker.

Umpteen units were scattered among this demo home, showing off the new product's audio abilities, multi-room feature, and, crucially, its key special trick – an upfiring channel output that helps set it apart from the pack.

Brownstone houses are big, lofty structures. Indeed, the main floor-to-ceiling height stretches 14 feet – around 4.2 metres – so there's a lot of space to fill. And what better way to fill it than with sound?

For such a diminutive product – at roughly 12.2cm wide, 18.5cm tall and 16.8cm deep – the Lifestyle Ultra Speaker does a determined job in pushing its audio envelope. The tri-driver setup caters for stereo with an upfiring height channel, while a 3-inch sub handles bass duties.

Being a 'lifestyle' product – as so clearly stated in its name – I was drawn to the special-edition Driftwood Sand model the most, which features a solid white oak wooden base for additional visual flair. It costs an extra £/$50 for this model, though.

The other White Smoke and Black models, as pictured, are also easy on the eye – and fit with Bose's wider product portfolio. That includes the also-new Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar, with which two Ultra Speaker additions can be used for a full surround sound setup.

Speaking of pairing, the new speaker can be used solo or as a duo. For me, listening to the Lifestyle Ultra Speaker as a stereo pair hugely enhanced the audio – with a much wider soundstage, truer left-right separation, and a more cohesive experience.

But the distinctive feature of this product is that height channel, which helps to (quite literally) elevate the sound profile. Whether you're in a large brownstone or small apartment, this speaker is adaptive enough to wilfully fill the space.

Note, however, that it's Bose's proprietary processing that gets the utmost from that additional channel. This is not a Dolby Atmos setup by any means, with Bose's TrueSpatial technology upmixing source material to give the impression of greater dimensionality and space.

Sourcing media is simple: the Bose app controls the speaker's functions, such as equalisation (EQ) and source, whether that's Bluetooth or Wi-Fi; but you then pull a source using Spotify Connect, Apple AirPlay, Google Cast, via Bluetooth, or input to the 3.5mm AUX.

That means Bose isn't trying to rule your life by its app acting as an interface. If you use Spotify Connect, then you simply use that app or source as normal. I was also told that Tidal Connect is in the works for a future update.

If you're not by the app then on-product controls also feature. The simple play/pause and volume plus/minus are easy to tap – and as these aren't physical buttons there's no physical action.

However, you can also use the sunken 'wheel' to command the volume by rotating a finger around its edge – a feature which feels like using a 20-something-year-old iPod brought bang up to date (in the best of ways). There's consistency to this design, too, as the Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar also features a similar control wheel.

So just how much will a Lifestyle Ultra Speaker set you back? A single unit is priced at £299 in the UK and $299 in the USA. The Driftwood Sand edition adds a £/$50 supplement, marking it at £/$349 instead. Optional speaker stands can also be purchased, which are expected to be £/$149 apiece.

I suspect, therefore, that most people will be using the speaker as a solo output. That you can scale it up for a more 'installed' look is great, though, and I find the stereo pair output to really elevate the sound – also marking it as a great future upgrade option.

And if you're considering buying one of the best soundbars, Bose's Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar can also be enhanced with a Lifestyle Ultra Speaker pair, adding true rear channels. As a full suite, therefore, the multi-dimensional use-cases of this product are broader than first meets the eye.

Mike is T3's Tech Editor. He's been writing about consumer technology for 15 years and his beat covers phones – of which he's seen hundreds of handsets over the years – laptops, gaming, TV & audio, and more. There's little consumer tech he's not had a hand at trying, and with extensive commissioning and editing experience, he knows the industry inside out. As the former Reviews Editor at Pocket-lint for 10 years where he furthered his knowledge and expertise, whilst writing about literally thousands of products, he's also provided work for publications such as Wired, The Guardian, Metro, and more.