Despite a new moniker, Sony’s $199.99 ULT Wear noise-cancelling headphones continue in the tradition of the company’s long-running XB (extra bass) series. They produce powerful, bass-forward sound that can be ramped up further with the touch of a button. In addition, they respond well to EQ changes, offer impressive active noise cancellation (ANC) for the price, and support hands-free Alexa voice control. If you love deep bass, these are the headphones to get. For everyone else, the Urbanista Los Angeles headphones cost the same amount, sound more balanced out of the box, and charge via solar power for practically unlimited battery life, earning them our Editors’ Choice award. We also like the Sennheiser Accentum Plus Wireless ($229.95) for more natural sound.Understated Looks and Useful AccessoriesAvailable in black, gray, or off-white, the ULT Wear headphones have a circumaural (over-ear) design. The exterior has a clean, matte look, while the Sony logo appears at the base of the headband on each side. Both the earpads and the underside of the headband feature generous cushioning with a faux leather lining. They fit securely and feel exceptionally comfortable even during long listening sessions. Internally, the earcups house 40mm dynamic drivers that deliver a frequency range of 5Hz to 20kHz.
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(Credit: Tim Gideon)
The headphones are compatible with Bluetooth 5.2, work with the AAC, LDAC, and SBC codecs, offer multipoint connectivity for up to two devices, and include the Google Fast Pair feature. Support for the LC3 codec should arrive with a future update.To operate the headphones, you use a set of physical buttons along with a touch panel. Power/Pairing, Noise Cancelling/Ambient, and ULT buttons all sit on the left earcup. In a nice design touch, the ULT button and the Sony logos sport a holographic, multicolor sheen. Pressing the Noise Cancelling/Ambient button toggles between the two modes by default, though you can add an option to turn them off via the app. Meanwhile, the ULT button changes between two bass-focused modes or lets you turn the function off.
A capacitive touch panel on the right earcup’s outer panel handles the rest of the controls. Tap twice to control playback and manage calls, swipe forward or backward to change tracks, and swipe up or down to adjust the volume. A tap-and-hold gesture launches your voice assistant or rejects an incoming call. The capacitive controls are easy to operate but not always graceful. For instance, it takes several downward swipes to appreciably lower the volume. Moreover, it’s easy to accidentally press the buttons when you adjust the headphones—I unintentionally switched the ANC mode several times in testing.The left earcup has a USB-C port and a 3.5mm headphone jack. A somewhat short USB-A-to-USB-C charging cable and a 3.5mm audio cable are both in the box. The headphones and accessories all fit tidily into a handsome zip-up hard case with a dark gray fabric exterior.
(Credit: Tim Gideon)
You can use the headphones in active or passive mode when you connect the 3.5mm cable, meaning you can listen with the ANC or Ambient modes on, or with both off.Sony estimates that the headphones can last roughly 30 hours per charge with ANC on and 50 hours with it off. Your results will vary depending on your typical volume level and codec choice. Sony claims that 10 minutes of charging will get you roughly 5 hours of playback, but it doesn’t provide an estimated time for a full recharge.App ExperienceThe Sony Headphones app (available for Android and iOS) has three sections: Headphones, Activity, and Menu. The main Headphones page shows the remaining battery life and the active codec. You can access various tutorials and view the firmware version in the upper right. Four sub-sections are below: Status, Sound, System, and Services. Status shows whether the Adaptive Sound Control feature is active (it tracks your movement and automatically adjusts the headphones for various locations) and the track that is playing. You get on-screen playback, track navigation, and volume controls here, too.The Sound section is by far the most useful. The first section, Ambient Sound Control, lets you switch between Noise Cancelling, Ambient Sound, and Off settings. Ambient Sound includes a fader and a Voice Passthrough option, which emphasizes the frequency range of conversations. Further down, the Equalizer tile lets you select from a wide range of adjustable presets or create a custom preset with five bands between 40Hz and 16kHz. Additionally, you can choose between the two ULT sound modes and tweak the lows via the Clear Bass fader. An optional Find Your Equalizer feature builds a custom sonic profile based on a series of tests. A Bluetooth Connection Quality section (for prioritizing sound quality or a stable connection) is also here, along with a toggle for DSEE, Sony’s digital audio processing technology.
(Credit: Sony)
The System section lets you manage multipoint connections, adjust Sidetone (how loud you hear your voice on calls), toggle the auto-pause feature, and enable automatic updates. You can also disable touch controls and, as mentioned, add an Off option to the Noise Cancelling/Ambient button cycle. Additionally, you can select Amazon Alexa as your voice assistant. Setting up this integration via the required Alexa app is easy, and you can use the service without hands. In testing, voice commands worked reliably. The Services section wasn’t fully functional during testing (I tried a prerelease version of the app).Rounding out the app is an account-based Activity section that offers to track your headphone usage and reward you with badges. The Menu section offers tips on how to use the headphones, a help section, and the option to back up your app settings and data (this requires a Sony account).Capable Noise CancellationThanks to Sony’s Integrated Processor V1 and an advanced set of mics, the ULT Wear headphones demonstrated high-quality noise cancellation in testing. They mostly dialed back powerful, low-frequency rumble from a test recording, though some rumble made it through. They also noticeably cut back the lows and mids from a sample of a busy restaurant. The highs in the latter test were a bit more of a challenge, though the secure seal of the thick earpads helped lessen their presence. These headphones are among the best over-ear performers I’ve tested at this price.Ambient Sound, Sony’s transparency mode, is excellent. At its maximum level, you hear a pretty close approximation of your surroundings with just a hint of additional brightness to improve conversational clarity. As mentioned, you can also enable the Voice Passthrough mode, which specifically focuses on the human voice while keeping all other surrounding noise at bay. Both modes work intuitively and I also like the mics’ effective wind noise reduction feature.Sound Quality: Plenty of Bass PowerBass lovers should pay attention to the ULT buttons, which push the bass response to astounding heights (or depths). In a fun touch, the headphones emit various audio prompts that seem to combine subwoofer-enhanced drum hits with shattering glass noises when you switch between the various modes. The ULT 1 mode considerably dials up the lows; for example, drums that don’t typically sound bass-heavy suddenly do. The ULT 2 setting boosts things to a fault—it adds extreme bass where it doesn’t exist and can easily overwhelm mixes. I think most people will prefer the first option since it doesn’t destroy all semblance of balance. The second option makes most music sound overly bass-heavy and muddy, though it might work for some electronic, hip-hop, and pop tracks.To evaluate the sound signature, I turned off all the sound enhancements. That said, I did enable the various options to understand how they affect the listening experience. On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the headphones deliver a powerful low-frequency response, even with none of the ULT modes active. The ULT 1 mode predictably boosts the sub-bass and adds a sense of rumble to the mix, all without overpowering the highs. The ULT 2 mode makes the song sound like how music does outside of a loud dance club—you hear mostly the bass thump and just some of the mids and highs.The headphones have no trouble reproducing the sub-bass at the 34-second mark of Kendrick Lamar’s “Loyalty.” Even with the ULT function off, the drivers deliver the deepest of the sub-bass notes with palpable rumble. The various vocal performances sound clear, too. The ULT 1 setting adds some serious body to the sub-bass elements as well as the drum loop, though it can bury the vocals a bit. Again, the ULT 2 option obliterates the balance.
(Credit: Tim Gideon)
The drums on Bill Callahan’s “Drover,” a track with far less deep bass, have an almost subtle presence with both ULT modes off. Vocals benefit from a blend of low-mid richness and high-mid clarity, while the acoustic strums have a reasonable amount of higher-frequency detail. This is the most accurate the headphones sound, but the tuning still emphasizes the lower frequencies. In ULT 1 mode, the drums get some additional thunder but don’t overpower the vocals and other elements. The ULT 2 mode renders the mix nearly unlistenable since the thumps overwhelm pretty much everything. Just remember that you can dial up the mids and highs in either case if you want to match the thunderous bass.On orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary, the drivers produce a somewhat balanced response in the Off and ULT 1 modes. The ULT 2 setting, however, tends to accentuate sounds that you aren’t meant to notice, such as incidental string and bow noises. Overall, you can make all three modes sound a bit more reasonable with the help of the EQ, but there’s equal potential to push the bass response to comical, skull-rattling levels.The voice mic array offers strong intelligibility. I could understand every word from a recording on my iPhone thanks to the signal’s above-average loudness and low-frequency presence.Booming Bass and Competent Noise CancellationWith rumbling bass, above-average noise cancellation, and a useful set of accessories, Sony’s ULT Wear headphones offer a lot to like for their $199.99 price. You can use the in-app EQ to restore a sense of balance to the sound signature, but the main appeal here is an extraordinary (though at times overwhelming) low-end prowess. You shouldn’t hesitate to pick these up if you enjoy thumping your eardrums, but the Urbanista Los Angeles headphones remain our Editors’ Choice winners in this price range since they produce more natural audio by default and support eco-friendly solar charging. For $30 more, Sennheiser’s Accentum Plus Wireless headphones are also appealing for their accurate sound signature.
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