I Tested the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar — Here's Why It Might Be the Stylish Sonos Alternative You've Been Waiting For

When you consider soundbars, certain brands immediately spring to mind. Sonos, for one, has built a formidable reputation in this space, and its Arc Ultra is the soundbar that almost everything else at the £1,000 price is judged against.

Bose is well known for its headphones and Bluetooth speakers, but its soundbar pedigree has been spottier, with the Smart Ultra Soundbar — the Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar's predecessor — failing to truly threaten the Sonos Arc Ultra as the best soundbar.

But Bose's Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar is its most serious attempt yet to change that, and after spending a few weeks with this stylish soundbar, it’s an excellent one. The question is, can it knock Sonos off its throne?

First Impressions

Bose describes the Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar as the biggest acoustic overhaul to its soundbar portfolio in a decade. It arrives with a completely redesigned speaker array, a brand new control interface, and an aesthetic that suggests someone at Bose has finally realised that looking great in a living room matters just as much as sounding great in one.

The Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar is available in two colorways, Black and White Smoke, with the Black model sent to me for review. I’d have loved to see the Driftwood Sand variant of the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker available here too, but that wasn’t to be, sadly.

Still, the black and white models both look more interesting than most in the soundbar space (bar the retro Marshall Heston soundbar options), predominantly thanks to the reflective top and control panel, so that’s something to be celebrated.

Features

Underneath the fabric-and-glass exterior is a speaker system with heaps of ambition. The Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar offers a 5.0.2 configuration with a nine-driver architecture: six full-range drivers, a dedicated center tweeter for dialogue clarity, and two PhaseGuide drivers, which use proprietary processing to steer sound toward areas of the room where no speaker physically exists. Comparing Bose and Sonos again, it's the same principle that makes the Sonos Arc Ultra sound wider than you’d expect it to, and Bose applies it well here.

The '2' in that 5.0.2 count refers to two upfiring speakers, one at each end of the bar. Unlike some rivals that make a visual feature of their upward-firing ports, Bose has tucked these flush beneath the fabric so you wouldn't know they were there from the exterior. They fire sound vertically to add height to Dolby Atmos content, which means the Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar needs to be kept clear of closed shelving above it. A cabinet with a TV resting overhead could block those channels entirely, so it's something to keep in mind when you’re planning furniture and placement.

Bass is handled by Bose's CleanBass technology, which delivers low-frequency output with depth and clarity without a separate woofer. I’ll go into more detail on that in the Sound section below, but if you are after more serious low-end heft, you can add the Lifestyle Ultra Subwoofer, while the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speakers can also be added as surrounds for a more immersive experience.

On the connectivity front, you get HDMI eARC, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Apple AirPlay 2, Google Cast, Spotify Connect, and Bluetooth 5.3. Alexa is built in, too, so there’s a decent list here.

It’s worth flagging that the eARC-only setup means this soundbar won't work with older TVs that lack an ARC or eARC port and rely on optical instead, however, so do make sure you check your TV before buying this soundbar. DTS is not supported either, only Dolby Atmos, and there's also no HDMI passthrough, though the Sonos Arc Ultra has the same limitation.

Style

This is one of the nicest-looking soundbars I've had the pleasure of reviewing recently. Most are black rectangles with little to write home about. You place them beneath the TV and try not to think about them or the fact that they are ruining your carefully considered décor. I’d go as far as to say the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar is instead something you might actually want on display. The White Smoke colorway is worth considering if you have a lighter interior, as it is one of the few soundbars that would complement rather than contrast with a pale or neutral room. That said, the Black looks great too; it’s just more conventional.

At 111cm wide and just 6.7cm tall, the Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar sits with a low, assured profile that doesn't overpower the space around it, though I would advise using it with a TV no smaller than 55 inches, or it will dominate. The knit fabric that wraps the body feels premium to the touch and gives it warmth that matte plastic can't replicate. Stretching along the top is a glass panel that adds a sense of quality, while the circular touch-sensitive control wheel built into it is satisfying to use. Slide your finger clockwise to raise the volume, anti-clockwise to lower it, and tap to play or pause.

There are two design details worth flagging, though. First, that lovely glass top is highly reflective. With a bright TV screen above, you'll catch a mirror image of what's playing in the bar below, which can be distracting. Second, it really loves a fingerprint, and it enjoys dust too. If you regularly adjust the controls by hand rather than through the app or your TV remote, you'll find yourself wiping it down more than you’d probably like.

When it comes to TV wall mounting, it’s possible, as it is for the Sonos Arc Ultra, but the bracket is sold separately, so factor that into your budget. The bar is best positioned under your TV with at least 10cm clearance above, and Bose advises against mounting it above the screen.

Sound Quality

The Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar is not all looks and no function, though. Far from it, in fact. Fire up a Dolby Atmos film, and the soundstage really opens up, extending well beyond the physical edges of the bar and further than you might expect, with effects feeling well placed in the room. The upfiring speakers do good work here: there's actual height to the audio. Rain, aircraft, crumbling buildings, and anything that should sound like it's coming from above, seemingly does. That's not something every soundbar at this price can pull off convincingly.

It is worth doing the CustomTune room calibration, however. Like Sonos Trueplay, this uses your phone's microphone to measure your room's acoustics and adjust the soundbar's output accordingly, and without it, the Atmos presentation is noticeably flatter. Run it before you settle in for a serious movie session, and it will make a noticeable difference.

Dialogue is clear and consistently well anchored in the centre throughout. In busy scenes, it can be easy for voices to get lost in the mix, but the Lifestyle Ultra keeps speech intelligible without it feeling artificially boosted. The SpeechClarity mode in the app takes this further when you need it, using AI-driven, real-time processing to isolate vocals from background noise, lifting voices without simply raising the overall level. This was particularly useful for late-night viewing when you don't want to sacrifice atmosphere for the sake of a conversation.

The low end is impressive, too. Bass has decent punch and body without becoming muddy or overblown, with action sequences having good weight. I would say the Sonos Arc Ultra has more depth and is more impressive as a standalone soundbar, but for many, the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar will deliver more than enough.

Ease of Use

Setup is about as straightforward as it gets. Plug the included HDMI cable into your TV's eARC port, power it up, download the Bose app, and follow the simple steps. As I mentioned above, running the CustomTune calibration process at this stage is well worth the few extra minutes, and even with that factored in and any software updates, you should be up and running in under 30 minutes.

The Bose app has been significantly updated alongside the Lifestyle range, and it's now one of the better soundbar apps on the market. EQ is handled via simple bass/mid/treble sliders, but there's more available if you want it. You can independently adjust the centre channel level, the height mix, and the surround balance, which gives you good control over the presentation. Unlike Sonos, which has had a well-documented troubled relationship with its own app in recent years, the experience here is clean and a pleasure to use.

Day-to-day control is handled via the on-bar touch panel or your TV remote through HDMI CEC, which means the bar wakes and sleeps with the TV and responds to your normal volume buttons without additional setup. What you don’t get is a physical remote for the soundbar itself, and Bose doesn't sell one separately, either. The CEC integration means

Extras

What you do get with the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar, like Sonos, however, is the option to grow the system should you wish to. Out of the box, the Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar is a 5.0.2 system, but add the Lifestyle Ultra Subwoofer (£899.95) and you get a great bass foundation with wireless connectivity, so there are no cables across the floor. Bring in a pair of Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speakers as rear channels (£299.95 each), and you have a full 7.1.4 system for a more immersive experience than a single bar, no matter how good, can replicate.

It's a lot of money all in (close to £2,500 for the complete setup), but the modular approach means you can build toward it gradually rather than committing to everything at once. Sonos operates similarly with its Arc Ultra, Sub, and Era 300 surrounds, so this isn't unique to Bose, but it's well executed here. The two systems are close enough in price and approach that which one suits you will likely come down to ecosystem preference and which one you'd rather look at.

Is the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar Worth It?

At £999.95, the Lifestyle Ultra goes head-to-head with the Sonos Arc Ultra, which is an interesting contest. The Sonos has deeper bass as a standalone bar and the benefit of a more mature, extensive ecosystem. If you already have Sonos products elsewhere in your home, the Arc Ultra is the natural choice. But the Bose counters with better design, a more refined app, and sound quality that's certainly close. For anyone starting fresh or coming from older kit, I wouldn't automatically hand the Sonos the win.

There are some omissions: the missing remote, the lack of HDMI passthrough, the reflective and smudge-prone glass, and a wall bracket that really should be included at this price. But the Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar is the best soundbar Bose has made, and that alone makes it worth your attention.

If you've been looking at a Sonos Arc Ultra and wondering whether there's a viable alternative that also looks great in your living room, the answer is yes — it’s this.