Sony ULT WEAR review

Sony is famous for making fan-favorite headphones that seem to be named using the same system as gaming monitors. However, the company is trying to shed the past by debuting a range of personal audio products that are much easier to discuss: the ULT line. But are the new products — the Sony ULT WEAR headphones in particular— any good? Let’s take a listen.

Editor’s note: this is the first version of the article. Updates will follow as the market changes.

What’s it like to use Sony ULT WEAR?

The Sony ULT WEAR is a pretty bland-looking set of headphones, save for the holographic-shiny foil adorning the logos and the “ULT” button on the side of the ear cup. The ear cups are matte plastic outside, with a yoke that folds flat into recesses.

The 40mm wide ear pads accommodate more ear shapes, which is nice. I would have liked better-angled drivers but will take more room around my ears in headphones. The padding is ensconced in faux leather, which is pretty soft but traps heat like nobody’s business. It’s not so much a problem in the winter, but you probably want to avoid going running with these headphones. The Sony ULT WEAR should be able to take some sweat now and again, but there is no listed ingress protection rating.

You won’t notice any discomfort over a few hours of listening at your desk. However, this assumes you’re wearing the headphones correctly, as they can slide around a little if you don’t have a good fit. This will also affect the ANC and sound quality, so it’s essential to get it right.

For frequent travelers, the Sony ULT WEAR fold up and stow in their flat case. Inside the case are spaces for a 1.3m long 3.5mm jack cable and a USB cable for charging. However, there is no airplane adapter.

The band has a fair bit of clamping force but remains comfortable thanks to the well-padded area where it meets your skull. However, if you have longer hair, you might find your locks can get caught if you’re not careful.

How do you control the Sony ULT WEAR?

The Sony ULT WEAR is controlled by the touch controls on the right ear cup and a handful of buttons on the left ear cup. The power and ANC/Ambient mode buttons do exactly what you’d expect them to, and the touch controls of the Sony ULT WEAR are virtually identical to the touch gestures on the other Sony headphones with this layout.

Sony ULT WEAR touch controls:

However, new to the ULT line of products is a huge “ULT” button, inlaid with a holographic foil to catch your eye. Though debuting new branding is notoriously difficult to stick, I don’t see the ULT thing going very far when all it amounts to is adding a ton of bass that negatively impacts my music. Luckily, the button is far enough away from the more important control cluster so that you won’t be pressing it accidentally.

Should you use the Sony Headphones Connect app for the Sony ULT WEAR?

If you’d like to listen to Sony’s 360 Reality Audio content with head-tracking, EQ your headphones, adjust the ANC, or stay on top of firmware updates, you’ll need to install the Sony Headphones Connect app in the App Store or Play Store. Though, unfortunately, modern headphones need software support for their complete feature set, it’s one of those tradeoffs you must make. Even if sending personal data to another company makes you squeamish, you’ll need to open access to certain things like your camera (used to take photos of your ears for the 360 Reality Audio) if you want your headphones to be fully functional.

How do the Sony ULT WEAR connect?

The Sony ULT WEAR connects to your source via a Bluetooth 5.2 connection that supports SBC, AAC, LDAC, and (after a firmware update in the future) LC3. If you swap devices often, you’ll be happy to note that the Sony ULT WEAR supports Multipoint.

For wired audio enthusiasts, the headphones can also use an included cable with 3.5mm TRS connectors to pipe audio to your ears the analog way. Should you go this route, you will not need an external amp, as the headphones handle the amplification. Unfortunately, unlike many current headphones, the Sony ULT WEAR does not support audio over a USB-C connection. Though that’s not a deal-breaker for many, the USB-C connector is increasingly the main conduit for wired listening when necessary. While it may not be a big deal today, it may be in the future.

How long does the Sony ULT WEAR battery last?

In our standardized battery test, the Sony ULT WEAR lasted 32 hours and 35 minutes, playing back music peaking at 75dB. This is pretty good, and it will last you three weeks’ worth of commutes (assuming 2 hours per day) or four full workdays. Limiting how much you charge your headphones will keep them out of the landfill, so this is a respectable performance here.

How well do the Sony ULT WEAR cancel noise?

The Sony ULT WEAR do a decent job of noise attenuation. With a combination of active cancelation and isolation they consistently attenuate more than 25dB of noise at frequencies above 80Hz: nothing to sniff at. It’s not going to compete with the highest-end options, but it’s close enough that you won’t find much to complain about. These are a decent option for commutes or flights.

How do the Sony ULT WEAR sound?

The Sony ULT WEAR are bassy, and not in a good way — so I highly encourage you to play with the equalizer if you pick up these headphones.

Multi-Dimensional Audio Quality Scores (MDAQS)

The chart below shows how the sound of the Sony ULT WEAR was assessed by the Multi-Dimensional Audio Quality Score (MDAQS) algorithm from HEAD acoustics.

The Sony ULT WEAR are built for bass, and bass typically contributes towards high immersiveness scores. But even though MDAQS is very tolerant of heavy bass emphasis, there are limits to what our virtual panel of a few hundred listeners will tolerate, and the overall sound of the Sony ULT WEAR reflects this. A poorer Timbre score points to a default sound that is okay for most, even if it won’t win any audiophile praise.

Reviewer’s notes

Editor’s note: this review uses a hover-enabled glossary to describe sound quality based on a consensus vocabulary. You can read about it here.

Objective Measurements

Even with default settings, the bass and sub-bass are quite strongly emphasized over the highs — which are a little under-emphasized outside a peak near 8kHz. While this is a pretty expected result coming from a lineage of headphones branded “Xtra Bass,” there’s a point at which this needs to stop, and we’ve passed it. We’re not huge fans.

To a casual listener, the Sony ULT WEAR will sound bassy and a bit dull, lacking detail like guitar picking or snare attack. It’s a strange sound, but it was popular even ten years ago. Though you can address this to a limited degree with the app’s equalizer, there’s only so much you can do. I didn’t have much luck, as you can only adjust so far with a slider.

Can you use the Sony ULT WEAR for phone calls?

Sony borrowed some of the design decisions from the WH-1000XM5 to create a wind-screened beamforming mic array for the Sony ULT WEAR. But it’s always much better to hear how it works for yourself, so be sure to listen to all the samples below.

Sony ULT WEAR microphone demo (Ideal conditions):

Should you buy the Sony ULT WEAR?

Unless you like super-bassy headphones — and lots of people do — you shouldn’t buy the Sony ULT WEAR just yet. But you should definitely keep them on your radar. The headphones nail the build quality, features, and interface even if the sound isn’t where it needs to be, and these cans don’t quite make the sale at $200. They’re very comfortable and fully-featured, but could be a lot better with some software love.

Though they fell short in our sound quality testing, new firmware might improve matters. Even though we reviewed these headphones with firmware that made it to production (v1.0.8), it’s unlikely to be final — a typical risk when reviewing headphones that haven’t been released yet.

What should you get instead of the Sony ULT WEAR?

As far as direct competitors go, you’ll see a lot of ink spilled comparing the Sennheiser ACCENTUM Plus ($217.95 at Amazon) to the Sony ULT WEAR. And for good reason: these headphones are similarly priced, similarly performant (as far as ANC goes, at least), and equally featured. However, the Sennheiser headphones sound better than the Sony ULT WEAR. The Sony cans can’t use their USB-C for audio, whereas the Sennheisers can. Though the Sennheiser ACCENTUM Plus is $30 more than the Sony headphones, they represent a better value overall if you don’t care about spatial audio.

If you’d like to save yourself a couple of bucks, you could also look to the Sennheiser ACCENTUM Wireless ($179.95 at Amazon), as it’s $20 cheaper than the Sony ULT WEAR and very similar to it in many ways. However, it does have slightly poorer ANC and isn’t as bassy — though we posit that’s a good thing.

Frequently asked questions