Sony ULT Field 3 review: Big, beautiful Bluetooth bass, but…

Bottom Line: This is a powerful portable Bluetooth speaker that can deliver bass and volume.

When Sony announced its latest range of portable party speakers in the ULT family back in April, it was the big units that grabbed my attention. Who doesn’t want to test out a tower speaker with 360-degree lighting and tech to sync the light show across 100 compatible speakers?

But when the opportunity to test out the ULT 3 came along about a month ago, I couldn’t pass it up. The compact portable speaker offers a robust build quality with IP67 water and dust resistance, in a stylish body that comes with its own carry strap.

But the ULT button, which activates the speaker’s bass boost mode, is a bit of a mixed bag. With it switched off, the speaker sounds unbalanced and lacks power. With it on, the sound washes out at high volumes.

For a $329 RRP speaker, it’s arguably not balanced enough to recommend. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves too much, shall we?

What makes the Sony ULT Field 3 special?

Sony’s pitch for the ULT Field 3 is powerful bass in the palm of your hand in a body that is robustly built and designed to handle a bit of dust, sand, or water.

Like other models in Sony’s ULT lineup, it ultimately comes down to the ability to hit a button to really expand the bass playback of the speaker.

The truth is, the ULT button makes a massive difference to the quality of the music being played back.

Inside the speaker is a woofer measuring about 86 × 46 mm, along with a 20 mm tweeter. The speaker uses Sony's proprietary “Sound Field Optimisation” technology to adapt audio to its environment.

Geared towards younger users who want to get out and about with their speaker, the ULT Field 3 comes with a shoulder strap that lets you carry around the speaker on your body while playing music. This design horrifies me at my core, but I am a bit older than the demographic Sony is targeting here.

The ULT Field 3 is priced at $329 RRP, though already has decent discounts applied if you shop around. But it’s still pretty pricey compared to the likes of the Sonos Roam 2, JBL Charge 5 and Beats Pill, though.

Sony ULT Field 3 specs

Design and build quality

There’s no question as you pull the speaker out of the box that the ULT Field 3 is built well.

A fairly straightforward design, the ULT Field 3 is a rectangular box wrapped in a honeycomb-style fabric that comes in three colour options: off-white, black or forest green.

At either end of the speaker is a passive radiator that sits back from the edge of the speaker, and helps deliver the impressive bass levels in ULT mode.

The design means you can listen to the speaker standing on its side, as well as on the subtle feet on the bottom of the speaker.

The speaker is rated IP67 for dust and water resistance, though I honestly wonder how well those recessed radiators at the ends would handle being covered in sand at the beach. I didn’t test it, sorry.

Measuring in at about 25 cm wide and, 11 cm high and 8 cm deep, the speaker isn’t tiny, and at 1.2 kg it is still pretty heavy for travel.

But the included shoulder strap does make carrying the speaker around simple.

Controlling the speaker is straightforward, with seven buttons clearly marked on the top of the speaker. Alongside Power, Bluetooth, Play/Pause and volume controls, there’s a dedicated button to sync with other Sony party speakers (which I couldn’t test as I only had this speaker on hand), and the namesake ULT button.

The buttons are easily identified and give a good, solid tactile response when pressed.

Unlike some other speakers in the lineup, there’s no LED party lighting on this model. There are small LEDs above the power, Bluetooth and Connect buttons to indicate the speaker’s status, and the ULT button does light up. But it won’t entertain you with party lighting.

Sound quality

At lower volumes, delivering a bit of background sound with the ULT mode activated, the ULT Field 3 does a good job. I enjoyed sitting at my desk, listening to a spot of David Gray’s Dear Life album, with the warmth of his vocals and accompanying acoustic guitar.

But David Gray isn’t really a bass-heavy artist, and this is a speaker designed to pump out the jams.

To push the bass, I typically pop on Live’s Lakini’s Juice. And again, at low volumes, the speaker does a pretty good job of giving you a decent combination of bass and treble.

But switch off that ULT mode, and everything falls apart. The music sounds almost hollow, as if the core of the art has been taken out.

I tried listening to a heap of music, from bass-heavy rock, to acoustic singer-songwriters, from 90s hip-hop to more pop-style artists and the results were always the same. With ULT mode switched off, the speaker sounded, well, disappointing.

Listening to The Verve’s Bittersweet Symphony, the early part of the violin riff is almost inaudible, and Snap!’s Rhythm is a Dancer just seems like it was coming from an elevator.

ULT mode definitely helped music of all genres sound more complete, but wasn’t without issues.

As soon as you push the speaker up and beyond about 50% volume, the lower frequencies begin to distort, while the higher frequencies feel underwhelming.

Popping on Run-DMC vs. Jason Nevins’ It’s Like That and cranking it to 75% volume+ made the track almost unlistenable, with the high-end getting compressed and tinny while the bass gets muddy and distorted.

The ULT Field 3 does get loud, so in many situations you don't need to crank the volume up so high, which means this distortion won’t happen. With the speaker sitting next to me on my desk, for example, it got a bit too loud to comfortably listen to with ULT mode on while working at about 30%.

That’s probably not enough to offset the performance at louder volumes, though.

Wireless performance and connectivity

With Bluetooth 5.2 and a dedicated Bluetooth button, connecting the ULT Field 3 is a straightforward affair. You can pair two devices simultaneously, though you will need to do it through the Sony Sound Connect app.

If you get yourself two devices, you can set them up as a stereo pair via Bluetooth. A single speaker will only output mono audio, so this is one way to improve the audio quality, though I imagine it will still face the same playback quality challenges.

One of the Field 3’s other tricks is Sony’s Party Connect, which lets you connect up to 100 (!) different speakers in sync.

There’s a dedicate button for this, separate from the Bluetooth controls, which I imagine makes it easier to set up. But unfortunately, I couldn’t test it out.

I imagine if it works something like Sonos’ system of wireless speakers it could be a powerful option for home audio, but without testing out that feature, I won’t try to recommend it.

The Sound Connect app does give you the option to set a custom EQ, though it doesn’t offer a huge amount of functionality beyond that and setting up multipoint Bluetooth.

Battery life and charging

Sony promises up to 24 hours of battery life, though the reality is that volume and whether you use the ULT feature will make a big impact over that. Given the speaker underperforms without the ULT mode switched on, it’s safe to say you’ll probably never get a full 24 hours.

In my testing, I could listen through a full workday on the battery power.

The good news is that the Field 3 also offers fast charging, where 10 minutes on the charger will give you about two hours of playback.

There’s no battery indicator on the speaker itself, but Sony has a pretty convenient solve for that. If you want to check the current battery life, you either need to check via the app, or you can open up the panel on the back of the speaker (where the USB-C port for charging the speaker is located) and press the battery button.

When you do this, a voice will announce the speaker’s remaining battery level, so you can decide whether you need to charge it.

A long press of that button will activate “Battery Care mode”. This mode is like similar modes in smartphones, which limit the maximum charge to about 90% of capacity to help maintain the battery’s lifespan.

And if you do find yourself running low on juice in your phone or headphones, you can use the ULT Field 3 as a power bank by plugging your device in via the USB-C port.

Convenient.

Value and alternatives

Sony’s ULT Field 3 is not on the cheaper side of things for a portable Bluetooth speaker. At $329 RRP, it sits in the mid-range for a compact speaker, below the premium price of the likes of the Sonos Move 2 and the Bose SoundLink Max, but higher than the more accessible Ultimate Ears Miniroll or Beats Pill.

It’s closer in price to the UE Everboom, or the Sonos Roam 2 speaker. I haven’t tested either of those models, unfortunately, but I have tested the original Sonos Roam. Despite it not offering the same volume or bass as the Sony ULT Field 3, I feel it offered a superior, more balanced sound.

That said, if you’re looking for something to play into Sony’s ecosystem of 100 party speakers, then maybe consider the slight premium on the ULT Field 5. While it is pricier, reviews for the larger models argue the sound quality is more balanced.

Final Verdict

The Sony ULT Field 3 looks like it has all the components to be a top-shelf Bluetooth speaker. It’s compact and stylish, with an integrated shoulder strap that makes it ideal for parties or camping or taking to a (quiet, isolated) beach.

But I don’t think Sony nailed the audio quality. With ULT mode switched off, the speaker sounds hollow, lacking presence with the lower end. With ULT mode switched on, things sound much better at lower volumes, but once you crank it up things start to distort at the low end, and feel compressed up high.

Beyond the sound quality, battery life is solid, and the IP67 rating makes it a suitable option for all environments.

Buy the Sony ULT Field 3 if:

• Specific user profiles and scenarios
• Use case recommendations
• Budget considerations

Skip the Sony ULT Field 3 if:

• Better alternatives for specific needs
• Deal-breaker limitations
• Future model considerations

Where to buy

The Sony ULT Field 3 launched in May for an RRP of $329. It’s already been discounted to $279 across a range of retailers, which helps on the value front, though it could potentially drop even further during the upcoming Amazon Prime Big Deal Days or Black Friday sales.

You can buy the speaker from the following retailers:

• The Good Guys
• eBay
• MyDeal
• Sony
• JB Hi-Fi
• Harvey Norman
• Officeworks
• Appliances Online
• Myer
• Retravision
• Amazon

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