Bose Elevates Soundbar Design

Bose has significantly enhanced the visual appeal of soundbars with its Lifestyle Ultra model. The speaker, while maintaining an expected short and wide form factor, stands out with a textured, knit-fabric grille and a polished glass top, a departure from the usual plastic construction. These design choices, especially noticeable in the white colorway, contribute to a more premium aesthetic.

Innovative user interaction is a key feature, with a circular touch-enabled panel for intuitive volume adjustment and track control. Additional touch controls manage Bluetooth connectivity, microphone muting, and voice assistant activation, all conveniently located on the glass panel's edge.

Internally, the Lifestyle Ultra houses nine drivers, including up-firing and front-facing full-range units, a dedicated tweeter for dialogue clarity, and PhaseGuide drivers for horizontal sound dispersion. Bose's CustomTune technology further refines the audio experience by using a connected smartphone's microphone to analyze the listening environment and optimize sound output accordingly.

The soundbar offers a single HDMI eARC input, which is standard for many modern devices. However, users requiring HDMI 2.0 passthrough for gaming consoles should note its absence in this model.