So this is the Sony ULT Field 5, and over the last few years, Sony has just been fixing and improving everything. And the Sony ULT Field 5 has some major improvements over both the Sony XG300, which was okay and the Sony XB43 which was a community favorite back in the day. So today we are going to checkout the Sony ULT Field 5 and im going to show you why its defneintly worth the upgrade.
Regarding pricing, in an environment where everything is just going up… the Sony ULT Field 5 actually has a price reduction and it retails for $330, not bad at all. Cause for comparison sake, both the Sony XG300 and XB43 had retail prices of $350 when they first came out. Nonetheless if you want to pick this speaker up it’ll be linked down below or you can always press on the YouTube shopping button, and if you want to further support the channel then you can always pick up some merch.
So first theres the design of this speaker… its very simple, its a rectangle. But more importantly this speaker is a little larger and a little heavier than both the XG300 and XB43. However this speaker is still a great option to consider if you’re liking for something durable and portable cause it has a mostly fabric wrapped so its going to be able to stand up to constant abuse from bumps and scrapes. And its rocking an IP67 rating, so water is not going to be an issue for this speaker. But more importantly, the ULT Field 5 now comes included with a shoulder strap, and I just want to say, I really like the look of this embedded shoulder strap. And attaching this shoulder strap to your speaker is very easy. The attachment points are cleverly hidden, so if you dont want the shoulder strap attached then you can have a clean look, and even when the shoulder strap is attached, you still manage to get a clean look. But overall the shoulder strap on the ULT Field 5 is a big deal cause it just makes it super easy to carry this speaker around, and this shoulder strap just works better and looks better than the carrying handle found on the XG300, and then theres the XB43 which just didn’t have either option.
But another thing that I do want to point out, durability wise is that the ports on this speaker are covered. And I feel that this is worth mentioning cause a lot of other speakers out there which are meant to be durable are now keeping their ports exposed. But the problem with this is, lets say you take your speaker to the beach, lake or pool and if it gets wet, before you can charge it back up you have to wait for the port to be dry. Where as that something that you dont have to worry about on the Filed 5. Now I know that this is a very niche scenario, but this is something that I have had to deal with in the past, and its also a cost cutting measure that other companies are doing.
But another upgrade on the Sony ULT Field 5 is the light feature. Now I was never the biggest fan of the light feature on the Sony XG300 cause it was so tucked away in the passive radiator… so it was just super hard to see. So it just wasn’t worth it. Where as with the ULT Field 5, this light feature now extends past the passive radiator so you can now see it from the front and back and this light feature also now floods the table that its on. So now its worth using the light feature on the ULT Field 5. And the color changing affect on the ULT Field 5 is a lot more dynamic than on the XG300. However, I will admit that I still prefer the light feature on the XB43 cause the drivers are illuminated as well, but the ULT Field 5 is a good middle ground and I wouldn’t be surprised to see illuminated drivers on the ULT Field 52. Nonetheless I really like the improvements of the light features on the ULT field 5 and I now think that its worth using. However if you do decide to use this light feature, that is going to take its toll on the battery life.
Now when it comes to battery life, the ULT Field 5 has an advertised battery life of 25 hours. However this advertised battery life of 25 hours is with the light feature turned off, but thats with the ULT Feature turned on, which is good cause you’re going to get more bass and more sound pressure out of this speaker. And with the light feature turned on and with the ULT Feature turned on as well and at max volume, Sony promises 2 and a half hours of playback time. Which is actually really good, cause max volume on this speaker is a lot louder than max volume on both the XG300 and XB43, and if you were to use this speaker with its light feature turned off, then you’ll be able to extend its battery life that way.
But real world use with this speaker playing 80% volume and with the light feature turned off and with ULT 2, for me this speaker has been good for about 12 hours of playback time. And real world use, im using this speaker with the light feature turned off cause if you were to take it to the beach, then you’ll probably just use it with the light feature turned off. and again, 80% volume on the Field 5 is louder than 80% volume on both the XG300 and XB43.
And then there are the fast charging number on this speaker, if you were to charge this speaker up for 10 minutes from a dead battery, you’re going to get 100 minutes of playback time. And like I mentioned earlier, this speaker charges via a USB C port, as it should. But the really cool thing is that you can also use this USB C port to charge your own devices, and this is something that you cant do with the USB C port on these older speakers.
However, you cant use this USB C port as a wired connection, but the ULT Field 5 still has an audio jack. The only thing that I dont like about the ULT Field 5 is that it doesn’t come included with a complete charging cable, it just comes included with a USB C cable, so you’re still going to have to use your own wall adaptor.
But when it comes to overall connectivity, just like before the ULT Field 5 can be connected to two devices at the same time so you and a friend can both be DJ, latency is not an issue for this speaker, so you can use it to watch videos with on your phone, and when it comes to audio codecs, it has support for SBC and AAC, but it doesn’t have LDAC anymore.
But with all of that out of the way, lets talk about sound. Regarding speaker set up, both the XB43 and XG300 have dual frontward firing woofers, dual frontward firing tweeter and dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides. Where as with the ULT Field 5, its has a single frontward firing woofer, dual frontward firing tweeters and dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides. And through Sony’s app you can adjust the EQ of this speaker. And more importantly, Sony is now consolidating their apps, thank goodness. So through the Sony Sound connect app, which is the same app that you would use for your headphones, you can adjust the EQ of this speaker or you can also change the light feature on this speaker and you can customize this light feature as well. But now were going to jump into the sound test. All of these speakers are playing at 75% volume, the XB43 has Extra bass turned on, the XG300 has Megabass turned on and the Ult Field 5 is set to ULT 2.
Soundtest
So there is a lot going on here. First off theres the volume of these speakers. Like I mentioned earlier, the ULT Field 5 just gets overall louder than both the XG300 and XB43. But then there’s also the clarity of these speakers. One of the main issues with the XG300 is that this speaker always leaned towards a warmer sound signature. And I feel that the XB43 sounded more open than the XG300… but the problem with the XB43 was that it just didn’t get as loud as id like it. But then theres the ULT Field 5, and in general sony has been improving the openness, instrument separation and balance on their speakers. And the ULT Field 5 is able to crank out a lot of bass all while still keeping mids and vocals well pronounced. Now in this soundtest we were using the ULT Field 5 while it was set to ULT 2 which is going to give you more sound pressure, and more bass. But then theres ULT 1 which is going to give you a warmer sound signature with more bass, and then you can also use this speaker with ULT turned off. But so that you can better hear what im talking about, we’re going to jump into a quick demo.
ULT Soundtest
So like you may have just heard, with ULT turned off, that is the lowest setting on the ULT Field 5. It still sounds good, but this is the setting that you’ll might want to use if you want to extend the battery life on this speaker. But when in ULT 1, yes this speaker gets a little louder, but theres going to be more emphasis on the bass. And then theres ULT 2 which is going to increase the sound pressure and bass on this speaker even more. So if you want to get the most out of this speaker you want to use it with ULT 2 and even with ULT 2 you’re still going to get very good battery life. But overall, the ULT Field 5 has much better clarity and gets a lot louder than its predecessors. And thanks to its new sound field optimization, the ULT Field 5 can calibrate itself to give you the best sound depending on the shape of your room or it can also tell if its inside or outside. And overall, the ULT Field 5 put out an impressive amount of bass for its size. But with the ULT 5, if you use it while its plugged in, you are going to get a slight performance boost out of it. Its going to get louder and its going to gave a little more bass. The only thing is, you are going to have to use a 20 watt wall adaptor… which is pretty standard now.
But finally lets talk about pair this speaker with other speaker. Now with the ULT Field 5, if you have two of the exact same speakers then you can wirelessly pair them up and get them to play in left and right stero mode. But also, the ULT Field 5 is using party connect. So you can pair it up to other Sony speakers that are also using Party connect like either… an ULT Field 7, XG500, XG330, XE300, XE200, XB43, XB33, XB23 or to another ULT Field 5 or ULT Field 3 and you can pair up to 100 speakers together and get them to play in sync.
But also, you can pair your smaller Sony speakers to any of Sony’s larger speakers that are also using Party connect like either an ULT Tower 10, ULT Tower 9, or XV800, XV500 or to an XP700 or XP500. The only unfortunate thing here is, you cant connect your ULT Field 1 to an ULT Field 5… and I really think that this is unfortunate cause this is my favorite small portable bluetooth speaker…
Now no, the ULT Field 5 isn’t using aura cast… so if you plan on growing your collection of speakers, you are going to have to stick inside of Sony’s eco system. But personally I dont really mind, I think its a small amount of people that plan on getting multiple speakers from multiple brands. But more importantly, I have noticed that Sony’s party connect is more stable and easier to use compared to aura cast. Cause for at least right now, I have noticed that echos form very regularly with my aurcast speakers.
But with all of that being said, the Sony ULT Field 5 just continues this trend from sony where they are fixing and improving everything. From a sound quality stand point the ULT Field 5 gets louder than both the XG300 and XB43… but more importantly it sounds a lot more open and a lot more balanced. And even at those higher volumes and with ULT 2, the ULT Field 5 is going to get you lots of play time on a single battery. I also really like that you can now charge your own devices with its USB C Port… and from a design stand point, I like that it comes with a shoulder strap and I like the redesigned light feature. Its actually worth using now.