I feel that the Sony ULT Field 5 is a great large portable bluetooth speaker to consider. It has very clean mids, it gets super loud, it has a lot bass, plus its very portable and it has a good looking light feature that I feel is actually worth using. And in general, Sony has really been improving their speakers over the last few years. So today we’re going to compare the Sony ULT Field 5 to the Sony ULT Field 7, which is another speaker that ive been heavily recommending for the last year and we’re also going to compare it to the JBL Boombox 3, lets see if its worth it to you to go with something bigger.
Regarding pricing, this can be a deciding factor for some people. Now both the JBL Boombox 3 and Sony ULT field 7 have a retail price of $500… however the JBL Boombox 3 does like to go on sale for $400 and the ULT Field 7 likes to go on sale for $350… and at that price I genuinely feel that that is a steal. You guys are still sleeping on this speaker. But then theres the Sony ULT field 5 which has a retail price of $330 and I do expect this speaker to eventually go on sale as well. Nonetheless if you want to pick any of these speakers up they’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 these speakers. Now obviously the Sony ULT Field 5 is way smaller than these other two speakers. With the Sony ULT Field 5, its going to be way easier for you to take this speaker on the go with you, plus it also comes included with a shoulder strap. Now these other two speakers are also very portable and they are both equally as durable cause all of these speakers are water proof and they both have mostly fabric wrapped bodies so they are going to stand up to bumps and scraps without any problems… but if you’re looking for something to constantly take it on the go with you, you’re life is going to be easier with the Sony ULT Field 5.
But also, both of Sony’s speakers have built in light features, but these light features are very different. Now the light feature on the ULT Field 7 is tucked away in its passive radiator… so its very heard to see and I personally feel that its not worth using. Where as with the ULT Field 5, this light feature now extends passed the passive radiators and it has a good flooding affect. Plus this light feature in more dynamic cause the colors have better transitions. So overall I do feel that the light feature on the Sony ULT field 5 is worth using. But just keep in mind, if you do decide to use the light feature on either of these two speakers, that is going to take its toll on the battery life.
Now when it comes to battery life, the Sony ULT Field 5 has an advertised battery life of 25 hours, but thats with it playing at 50% volume and with the light feature turned off, which I feel is fair, but with the ULT feature turned on. Where as the Sony ULT field 7 has an advertised battery life 30 hours, but thats with it playing at 32% volume and with the light feature turned off and with the ULT feature turned on. And finally theres the JBL Boombox 3 which has an advertised battery life of 24 hours and that’s with it playing at 50% volume.
But real world use with all of these speakers playing at 80%, and with their light features turned off… the Sony ULT Field 5 is good for about 12 hours of playback time, and both the Sony ULT Field 7 and JBL Boombox 3 are good for about 8 hours of playback time. But obviously, both the ULT 7 and Boombox 3 are loud than the ULT Field 5 at 80% volume and the ULT field 7 is a little louder than the Boombox 3 playing at 80% volume as well.
And to charge these speakers, both the Sony ULT Field 7 and JBL Boombox 3 charge via a double barrel AC port… now the good thing and that neither of these two speakers have an external power brick that you have to worry about, but with the Sony ULT Field 5, this speaker charges via a USB C port which is just a lot more conviente. Plus you can also use this USB C port to charge your own devices, which is super useful.
Now you can also use both the Sony ULT field 7 and JBL Boombox 3 to charge your own devices, but they are using USB A ports, which arent as conviente as just have a USB C port like on the Sony ULT field 5. But also with all of these speakers, if you were to use them while they are plugged in, you are going to get a performance boost out of them. They are going to get louder and you’re going to have more bass.
But something that is unique to the Sony ULT Field 7 here is that this speaker also has a quarter inch input so you can either plug in a microphone for kakroke or you can even plug in a guitar. And if you really want to do kakroke, than you can even get Sony’s ULT wireless microphones, so now you can get 2 microphones for karaoke going.
And finally all of these speakers still have an audio jack so you can use them with a wired connection… and when it comes to bluetooth connectivity all of these speakers 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 any of these speakers so you can use them to watch videos with on your phone. And when it comes to audio codecs, the JBL Boombox 3 only has support for SBC where as both of Sony’s speakers have support for SBC, AAC and LDAC.
But with all of that out of the way lets talk about sound, regarding speaker set up the Sony ULT Field 5 has a single frontward firing woofer, dual frontward firing tweeters and dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides. Where as the Sony ULT Field 7 has dual frontward firing woofers, dual fonrtward firing tweeter and dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides. And finally theres the JBL Boombox 3 which has a frontward firing subwoofer with dual frontward firing woofers, dual frontward firing tweeters that are stacked on top of the woofers and dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides. But now we’re going to jump into the soundtest, now both the Sony ULT Field 7 and JBL Boombox 3 are playing at 75% volume and the ULT 7 is playing with ULT 2… and the Sony ULT Field 5 is playing at max volume with ULT 2.
Sound test
So first theres max volume performance, obviously since both the Sony ULT Field 7 and JBL Boombox 3 are larger than the Sony ULT field 5, both of these speakers are going to get louder and they are both going to have more bass. And like I mentioned earlier, with all of these speakers, if you were to use them while they are plugged in, they are all going to get louder and they are all going to have more bass. But still both the Sony ULT Field 7 and JBL Boombox 3 are going to get louder then the Sony ULT field 5. Ultimately I feel the Sony ULT field 5 is good for like a 10 person get together, where as these larger speakers are good for like a 15 to 20 person party, but with a lot less bass.
But something that both of Sony’s speakers have in common is that they both do a really good job of giving you a lot of definition in the mids… so even when these speakers are playing at louder volumes, they still sound very full. Where as with the JBL Boombox 3, when this speaker is playing at those higher volumes… the mids arent as pronounced so as a result it does start to sound a little hollow at those higher volumes. Nonetheless all of these speakers sound a perform great, but obviously these larger speakers are going to get louder and therye going to have way more bass than the Sony ULT Field 5… but the ULT field 5 does a great job of still sounding very full even at max volume thanks to the strong mids and increased bass… and if you’re trying to choose between the Sony ULT Field 7 and JBL Boombox 3, personally I do prefer and recommend the Sony ULT Field 7.
But finally lets talk about pairing these speakers up with other speakers. Now with all of these speakers 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 stereo mode.
Now the JBL Boombox 3 is using party boost so you can pair it up to other JBL Partyboost speakers like either a JBL Boombox 3, a boombox 2, Xtreme 4, Xtreme 3, JBL pulse 5, pulse 4, a charge 5 or to a flip 5 or flip 6 and you can pair up to 100 speakers together and get them to play in sync.
However, since the JBL Boombox 3 is using party boost, you cant pair it up to any of JBL’s new speakers that are using aurcast like either a Charge 6, a Flip 7, clip 5 or go 4, or to any of JBL’s larger partyboxes which are using Aura cast like either a partybox encore 2, partybox 120, 320, 520 or partybox ultimate. The only exception here is the JBL Xtreme 4, which is using aura cast… but it can also be paired up to Partyboost speakers. Now as of May 2025, the Xtreme 4 is the only JBL speaker that can do this… and I dont know if any of these other speakers will be upgraded to do this.
But then there are the Sony ULT Field 5 and Sony ULT field 7 which are both using Partyconnect so you can pair them up to other Sony Party connect speakers 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 or ULT field 7 cause it doesn’t have Party Connect… and I really think that this is unfortunate cause this is my favorite small portable bluetooth speaker… I still like it more than the JBL Flip 7.
So with both of Sony’s speakers, I think these will be more future proof cause sony is still using Partycast even on their newest speakers… where as with the JBL Boombox 3, there is no gurantee that you’ll be able to pair this speaker with future JBL speakers. So it’s going to be less future proof.
But with all of that being said, I feel that the Sony ULT field 5 is a great large portable bluetooth speaker to consider. Its small enough and light enough, so its easy to take on the go with you, plus is also comes included with a high quality shoulder strap. But even though its small, it gets loud and it sounds really good even at max volume cause of the pronounced mids and lots of bass. Plus it has a light feature thats worth using, and it also charges via a USB C port and you can use its USB C port to charge your own devices.
But obviously, if you were to go with either the Sony ULT field 7 or JBL Boombox 3, both of these speakers are going to get louder and they are both going to have more bass. But personally I do think the Sony ULT Field 7 sounds better than the JBL Boombox 3. And overall I do feel the Sony ULT field 7 gives you more bang for you buck than the JBL Boombox 3 cause it does have the quarter inch input so you can use it for karaoke plus it does have the light feature… but the light feature on the ULT 7 doesn’t look as good as the one on the ULT 5.