Sony ULT Field 5 Review: A Mighty Bass-Forward Bluetooth Speaker Showpiece

There are Bluetooth speakers you can just pick up and throw in your backpack. They’ll work in a variety of environments, last through the occasion on a single charge, and can be your everyday companion. Then there is the Sony ULT Field 5. This is one gigantic Bluetooth speaker. It’s not at all meant to be tossed into your backpack. The ULT Field 5 is trying to be the do-it-all speaker. It’s got that sporty rugged look, along with a shoulder strap (and IP67 water and dust rating), and will be a statement-making piece of technology. It comes in at a whopping 3.3kg and costs Rs 24,999.

With the ULT Field 5, you’re getting a combination of loud volumes (seriously, this thing gets massively loud) and bass, along with a tiny bit of portability (thanks, Sony, for including the strap). Last but not least, the ULT Field 5 packs in party lights (with several different colours) and can connect to other Sony speakers for even more boombastic sound output.

The ULT Field 5 is just one of the latest Bluetooth speakers in the ULT Power Sound series. It’s got that all-so-familiar ULT button, ULT preset modes, and supports a number of codes like LDAC. It’s got mesh fabric on the outside along with a plastic frame and two passive bass radiators.

It’s mighty, it’s semi-portable, and it's a showpiece. Does it pass the all-important sound quality test, though? Let me tell you in detail.

Sound Quality: Bass-Powered, Mighty Speakers

There’s a 79mm by 107mm non-circular woofer that is paired with its tweeters. The massive speaker is capable of some impressive bass, whether indoors or outdoors, while there is a solid sound signature with songs that sound well-balanced, for the most part.

With the ULT Field 5, I was mostly surprised by how well the speaker carried itself outdoors. With no walls for the music to bounce off of, the ULT Field 5 threw its sound far and wide. At 70% volume, you can easily have a garden party, with music, despite multiple cars honking just beyond your garden boundary.

If you like your music to be punchier, then you’d be happy to know that there are not one, but two distinct ULT modes that you can toggle using the button on the speaker. It’s very clearly labelled. There’s ULT1, for the deeper, lower-frequency bass. ULT2 is for an overall punchier sound. For the latter, I fired up (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones and Metallica’s Enter Sandman, and both sounded punchier and tighter, and it truly felt like you were in the midst of a concert. For the former, I just switched to jazz to accentuate some of the instruments, and again, for the most part, it did benefit the songs.

The thing with the two modes is that you never know which one you’ve entered. It’s a lot of trial and error and figuring out. That’s a big downside to it.

ULT2 works for all the booming Indian (especially the newer Punjabi tunes) and electronic music (which, I have to admit, I’m not a fan of).

What wasn’t so good

I tried playing some songs from the likes of Stevie Wonder, The Beatles, and Fleetwood Mac. With the default EQ settings, something felt off. The vocals weren’t coming out clearly, and the growl from Joe Cocker on With A Little Help From My Friends didn’t come through. After tweaking the settings in the Sound Connect companion app (you can go wild with a custom 10-band EQ), the output was much better.

There’s an aux in port for wired connection, if that’s what you prefer. There’s also a USB-C port for in and out charging.

But something was missing in the flagship Bluetooth speaker: a mic for calling. You therefore cannot use the ULT Field 5 for any calls you may need to take.

Then there’s the fact that you must carefully position the ULT Field 5 (please don’t play music while you’re carrying it on your shoulder) because it’s very sensitive. Aim it where the bulk of the crowd is located, and you should be good to go. Also, do not play music with the volume set to 100 percent. It’ll just compress the bass frequencies, and there’ll be slight distortion. Somewhere around 70-80 percent will be the sweet spot when you’re outdoors. Lastly, ‘Room Correction’ is a feature in the app, but on a few listens, it didn’t do much to change and alter the sound for the better.

How’s the App and Battery Life?

The Sound Connect app is pretty good to have. There’s the graphic EQ, ULT sound modes, Sound Field Optimisation (which, like I said above, didn’t make much of a difference), Bluetooth codec selection, input selection, DJ sound effects and lighting settings. There are also some battery functions, including the ‘Stamina’ mode for extending the battery life, and ‘Battery Care’ limits, for longevity and lastly, the ‘Auto Standby’ function.

Sony rates the ULT Field 5 for 25 hours of battery life, and two hours of playback time with just a 10-minute quick charge. Basically, you’ll be going several days between having to charge the speaker. Using the lights and high volumes will eat into the battery life, but in my testing, it still came out close to the 25-hour mark, which is brilliant.

Should you buy the ULT Field 5?

Do you want:

- To make a statement

- Have bass-forward speakers

- To not have to charge it frequently

- Play around with some LED lights

- Have an all-weather Bluetooth speaker

- Be the star of the party

If those boxes are ticked, then the ULT Field 5, at Rs 24,999, should be at the top of your shopping list. It may not win any design awards, but it’ll surely steal the attention of your guests. It’s got that boombastic sound we know a room full of people would love. There’s good battery life, customisable EQ, and wired input.

The ULT Field 5 has a lot going for it. On the other hand, though, it isn’t very portable, and the price is quite high. Plus, you can’t use this Bluetooth speaker to make calls. Oh, and just for your information, there’s no voice assistant as well.

Still, with a bass-forward tuning and its epic volume, the ULT Field 5 is worth a look, especially as a party speaker.