Bass-boost that leaves you breathless! Sony Ult Wear review

The Sony WH-1OOOXM5 has been my favorite headphone lately. So I used to be naturally curious when the brand new Ult vary launched final month. Sony’s newest experiment with delivering bass-boosted sound profiles throughout this product vary bought my consideration. I attempted out the Ult Wear over-the-ear headphones, and right here’s my expertise as an audiophile.

Design

The Sony Ult Wear marries the Sony WH-1OOOXM-4 and XM-5 design language. With the portability of the XM-4 and the construct of the XM-5, it sports activities a semi-foldable design, making it straightforward to hold. The design varies with an open speaker grille across the prime of the ear cups, which has a extra useful function whereas the bass-boost mode is on.

The fake leather-based padding on the earcups was fairly snug regardless of donning it throughout Chennai summers.

The Ult button and Sony branding towards the aspect have a silver hologram end with good rainbow hues from totally different angles—a catchy visible component on an in any other case easy but sensible design. The color variant I reviewed was Forest Grey with a greenish-grey hue.

Performance

The 40 mm driver unit and Integrated Processor V1 assist refine the product on the {hardware} and digital sign processing degree and ship one of the best music listening expertise that I’ve had not too long ago.

Out of the field, the default sound signature is wealthy sufficient for individuals who need hassle-free listening. This mode delivers a balanced, nuanced sound signature with a transparent separation between the highs and lows of a track like Jyoti Nooran’s Paon Ki Jutti.

The Ult button has two modes, Ult1 and Ult2, which will be switched utilizing the devoted Ult button on the left earcup.

Each mode has totally different settings within the equaliser, and Ult-2 mode options ClearBass, which helps with the separation of bass at (+10)out of the field. This mode was one of the best for having fun with bass-heavy EDM.

Ult1 is my second favorite mode. It delivers simply the correct quantity of bass enhance and likewise catches the decrease frequencies of devices and vocals in tracks equivalent to Coldplay’s Something Like This with out distorting the audio on the greater quantity ranges.

I like to recommend steering away from the Ult2 mode except you’re a bass aficionado. Across all genres of music, this mode delivers sharp thumps that typically have a tendency to scrub out each the highs and lows of a track’s acoustic texture. It was like becoming a mini boombox on my ear, which left me disoriented after some time.

Noise Cancellation

The headphones’ energetic noise cancellation is nice. It digitally cancels out most exterior sounds, and the seal across the ear cups works nicely to chop out the remaining ambient sound. The pass-through appeared somewhat artificial to my liking, and I wasn’t in a position to cut back whirring or buzzing sounds from older electrical home equipment equivalent to followers and air conditioners. The name high quality on the Ult Wear was spectacular, with folks on the opposite finish listening to my voice clearly with out an excessive amount of ambient noise.

App Experience

The Sony Headphones Connect app is the easiest way to get one of the best out of Ult Wear, and it’s fairly useful with three totally different home windows – Headphones, Activity and Menu. It affords settings beneath Status, Sound, System and Services. Under Status, I might tweak the Adaptive Sound ranges, and verify linked units and the tracks presently enjoying. The Sound lets you customise the soundstage and set a customized equaliser. Under System, I might additionally flip multipoint connectivity on or off and activate the faucet gestures on the correct earcup as nicely.

Battery

The Sony Ult Wear simply bought by per week of utilization with over 40 per cent left, with each ANC and Ult mode on. I listened to music and edited some movies for about 28-30 hours earlier than I needed to plug it in for charging. It simply lives as much as the declare of delivering near 30 hours of playback with ANC on.

While the Ult Wear takes about three hours to cost, it’s comforting to know that the headphone has a fast cost mode, which permits as much as 90 minutes of playback with a 3-minute cost by the USB-C port. Additionally, a 10-minute cost can ship shut to three hours of battery backup when you want it most.

Verdict

The Sony Ult Wear is a well-rounded possibility for bass-heavy headphones. With a well-tuned audio profile, sturdy construct, nice sound high quality, and ample customisation, it carves an area for itself at an affordable worth level.

Price: ₹24,990

Pro: Good sound signature, sound customisations, good ANC and nice battery life.

Cons: Over-the-top bass in Ult2 mode, common ambient mode.