Sony’s finally changed their headphone naming conventions with a newly-minted line of « ULT » gadgets, like the Sony Ult Wear — and they’re full of bass.
For some people, music is all about the bass. Those people need the thump to get them moving, and there is nothing wrong with that. Entire lines of headphones have been built on this premise. Sony is jumping into that particular fray with its next generation of audio products, which includes the Sony Ult Wear headphones.
Of course, in this line of headphones, Sony Ult Wear’s predecessor was « Sony WH-XB910. » So right off the bat, the alphabet soup naming convention is gone and we can be thankful for that. But these headphones also have a unique and dynamic sound that bass fans will love to rally around. Add to that the comfort, the longevity of the headphones, and really good active noise cancellation (ANC) and you have a great set of cans for that genre. This review was written after three weeks of testing a set of Sony Ult Wear headphones — provided by Sony specifically for this review.Familiar controls
The biggest change to the headphones comes in the name, which means a lot of the controls you’re familiar with are still here — with one notable exception. On the left ear cup, you’ll find the physical controls. There’s a power button, which is also used for Bluetooth pairing, an ANC button, a USB-C port for charging, and a 3.5mm headphone jack if you’re a wired kind of person.
The other button is the Ult button. « ULT » officially represents (according to Sony) the « ultimate step into the evolution of Sony’s portable electronics. » Functionally speaking, the Ult button is a bass boost, plain and simple. There are two levels of bass boost — thump, and rump shaker. Those are not the official names, but essentially, that’s what you’re getting with the Ult button.
Over on the right side, you have your touch controls. A double tap plays and pauses, a finger swipe forward and back scrubs your music/podcast, and a swipe up and down adjusts the volume accordingly. A single press and hold activates your phone’s assistant and covering the right cup completely reduces the volume of your media and trunks on pass-through, so you can talk to those around you. Most of these translate over from Sony’s other offerings.Comfortable and long-lasting
Each earcup is constructed of plastic with 40mm drivers on the inside. The ear cups are made of very comfortable foam with a large opening for your entire ear. The sides of the headband are hard plastic, but the top segment is flexible also with soft foam. Wearing the headphones for an entire workday will not be a problem.
The headphones come with a case — and the headphones neatly fold into them — but the earcups don’t rotate a full 180 degrees. If you don’t turn the earcups in the correct direction, they won’t sit flat, so the case won’t hold them. That’s not a big deal, but it can get annoying when you’re trying to tuck the headphones away quickly.
