Sony finally fixed my biggest problem with ULT mode

Sony finally fixed my biggest problem with ULT mode, making the company’s new party speakers much easier to enjoy.

ULT is Sony’s bass-boost setting, and the company has built an entire lineup of speakers and a set of over-ear headphones around it, right down to using ULT in the name. Basically, ULT 1 and ULT 2 offer different levels of bass strength, depending on the product.

When I reviewed the ULT FIELD 5 last year, I was happy with most of the ULT 2 settings. The problem was that I couldn’t fine-tune it. On Sony’s older ULT speakers, you have to choose between ULT mode and the custom EQ, and the custom EQ can’t match ULT 2’s bass strength. I ran into the same problem with the ULT TOWER 9.

That left me with two options. I could stick with ULT mode and give up the ability to fine-tune it, or use the custom EQ and give up some of the bass strength I liked in the first place.

With the new ULT TOWER MAX, TOWER 7, and TOWER 5, Sony finally stopped making me choose.

Sony’s old EQ was the problem

This wasn’t something I only ran into with the ULT FIELD 5. Sony used the same basic approach across speakers like the ULT FIELD 3 and ULT FIELD 7. If you liked what ULT mode was doing but wanted to change anything else, you were out of luck. You had to turn ULT off and start over with the custom EQ.

The ULT FIELD 3 was particularly frustrating. It only has one ULT mode, and while I enjoyed its bass strength, Sony’s 7-band custom EQ couldn’t provide the same amount. If I wanted to fine-tune anything, I had to sacrifice some of the bass strength I liked.

The ULT FIELD 5 gave me more options with ULT 1 and ULT 2, but the problem remained. Its 10-band EQ could get reasonably close to ULT 1, but even with the lower bands pushed up, I couldn’t recreate the bass strength of ULT 2. I didn’t need more sliders. I wanted to keep the ULT setting I already enjoyed and use those sliders to fix the parts I didn’t.

The new ULT TOWER speakers finally let me have both

Sony fixed the problem by allowing the new ULT TOWER speakers to use the 10-band EQ while ULT mode remains engaged. Instead of trying to recreate ULT 1 or ULT 2 from scratch, I can use either as my starting point and adjust from there.

After spending time with the TOWER MAX and TOWER 7, that’s exactly what I wanted. ULT 1 was my sweet spot on both speakers. It adds substantially more bass strength and punch, but there were still parts of the mix I wanted to adjust.

Foo Fighters’ “The Pretender” was a good example on the TOWER 7. The clean guitars in the intro start out with excellent clarity, but once the distorted guitars and drums kick in, they almost immediately begin to lose some presence. ULT 2 pushed them even further back in the mix, making them hard to hear.

With the TOWER 7, I could leave ULT 1 engaged and use the custom EQ to add more midrange strength, bringing those guitars forward without giving up the bass strength I wanted. It sounds like a small change, but it makes the EQ considerably more useful. Sony finally lets me adjust the parts of ULT mode I don’t like without throwing away the parts I do.

This is how ULT mode should have worked all along

If you’re spending hundreds of dollars on a speaker, or $1,500 in the case of the TOWER MAX, I think you should be able to adjust it to your liking. Everyone has different tastes, listens to different music, and uses their speakers in different spaces.

If you like ULT 1 or ULT 2 exactly as they are, hit the big glowing ULT button and get on with your night. But if Sony is going to give me a 10-band EQ, I want to use it without sacrificing the bass strength that made me choose ULT mode in the first place.

For now, this flexibility only applies to the new ULT TOWER speakers. The older ULT FIELD 3, FIELD 5, FIELD 7, and TOWER 9 still make you choose. Interestingly, the ULT WEAR headphones already let you adjust their ULT modes using a 7-band EQ and Clear Bass slider.

I hope Sony brings the same flexibility to the rest of its ULT speakers. After using ULT mode and the EQ together, I don’t want to go back.