Note: This review was first published on 8 July 2024.
The Sony ULT Wear.
Earlier this year, Sony announced the launch of ULT Power – their new sub-brand designed for bass heads and a younger audience. Their first line of products included tower speakers, wireless portable speakers, and a pair of wireless headphones called the ULT Wear.
The ULT Wear (officially called the WH-ULT900N) looks to offer the premium features of the flagship Sony WH-1000XM series for just S$299. To find out if the headphones were worth it, I tried them out for the past few weeks and here are my thoughts.
The TL;DR version:
The Sony ULT Wear is a Bluetooth wireless headphone that packs flagship-quality features, good sound, and great bass at a price that's hard to ignore.
Note: You can find the Sony ULT Wear on Amazon, Lazada, Shopee, and the official Sony online store
Design and comfort
The ULT Wear is made of cheap materials, but it certainly doesn't look that way at first glance.
At first glance, the headphones look like a simplified version of the flagship WH-1000XM5. Weighing at approximately 255g, the ULT Wear is made of recycled plastic with soft and plush ear cushions. Unlike the WH-1000XM5, the headband of the ULT Wear does not extend out down to the earcups but is still comfortable nonetheless when worn.
Beyond the plastic build and ear cushions, the earcups swivel to let the headphones lay down flat. More importantly, the headphones can also fold inwards to reduce its footprint and make it more transportable.
As for accessories, the headphones come with a carrying case to store the headphones, a 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable, and a USB-C charging cable.
Features and usability
More bass in the click of a button.
Similar to the Sony WH-1000XM5 and WH-1000XM4, the Sony ULT Wear features active noise cancellation (ANC), an ambient/transparency mode (AMB), and support for spatial audio.
One of its most distinguishing features is the "ULT" button. Situated on the lower left earcup, the ULT button lets you toggle between three user profiles: Off, ULT1, and ULT2. The two ULT modes offer different types of bass profiles and can be configured within the Sony headphones application (more on this later).
Besides the ULT button, there is also the dedicated ANC/AMB button and a power button which doubles up as a pairing button. Pairing is very straightforward. Press and hold the button until the LED flashes blue and it should be available for connection via Bluetooth on the device’s settings app. That said, I found connecting through the Sony headphones app to be much easier as the application would filter through any irrelevant Bluetooth devices and prompt a connection with the headphones.
Like most, if not all, wireless headphones, you can use the ULT Wear as a wired headphone with the provided 3.5mm. What's important to note when using it this way is that not all of the features will be available for use. The ULT button, as well as the swipe controls, will not work when listening via a wired connection. Thankfully, the ANC still works in this mode.
If you’re planning to use it wirelessly, the Sony ULT Wear has the accompanying Sony Headphones app. Unfortunately, if you want to unlock customisability, you are required to create an account with Sony. Once that is done, you'll find that the app is intuitive and simple enough to use.
Battery life, EQ, and playback controls are available.
Upon launch, you can see the current mode, battery life, connected devices, and more. Speaking of connected devices, the ULT Wear also supports multipoint connection. The headphones can pair to two devices simultaneously via Bluetooth 5.2.
When connected, the headphones switch between the source devices seamlessly, and as for codecs, the headphones offer SBC, LDAC, and AAC audio formats. Additionally, there is Sony’s Digital Sound Enhancement (DSEE) which is an upscaling technology that purports to enhance the quality of compressed low-quality audio files.
Beyond displaying the basic status of the ULT Wear, the Sony headphone app also unlocks a wide variety of customizability options for the headphones. Those who wish to tinker with the way the ULT Wear sounds will be happy to know that there's an equalizer function. The equalizer feature also comes with presets for those who don't need fine-grain control over the sound signature.
The right side of the headphones hosts the touch controls, which are mostly intuitive and simple to use. Unfortunately, the app doesn't allow you to change the gestures and their corresponding actions.
Here is a nifty table for the gestures you can do on the headphones.
Gesture | Action |
Swipe up/down | Volume up/down |
Swipe forward/backward | Track forward/back |
Double-tap | Pause/play |
Cup with hand | Passthrough(enables ambient mode) |
Long press | Voice assistant (Siri, Google Assistant) |
All-day listening
I personally prefer physical buttons, but the swipe controls are easy to use as well.
Sony claims that the ULT Wear offers up to 30 hours of listening with ANC on and 50 with it off. This is similar to what the Sennheiser Accentum Plus offers. Based on my usage, I got around 26 hours of on-and-off listening with ANC on, and about 45 hours with it off.
I mostly used the headphones during my commute to and from work, as well as when I game. Impressively, even during my longest of gaming sessions, which lasted up to seven hours, the battery only dipped to about 78% from a full charge. Either way, the battery life of the ULT Wear is great, though a full charge took me a rather lengthy three hours. The ULT Wear also has a quick-charge feature that gives users 90 minutes of playtime from just a quick three-minute charge.
Noise cancelling and ambient mode
For noise cancelling, the Sony ULT Wear uses Sony Integrated Processor V1 along with two microphones on each earcup to help block out the outside noise. The noise cancelling on the headphones does its job of removing unwanted noise, but it isn’t as good as the newer Sony WH-1000XM5 – which is to be expected given that the latter is Sony's flagship product and that it has the QN1 HD noise cancelling processor on top of the Integrated Processor V1.
That said, the ULT Wear's ANC function is fairly good. On a bus, I could still hear the faint drone of the engine. And while at home, I could still hear the rustle of wind and the whir of the motor of my fan. But even so, it does significantly reduce unwanted noise, allowing me to listen to my music in relative peace.
If you press the ANC/AMB button a second time, the headphones go from noise-cancelling to ambient sound mode. Like other Sony headphones with this feature, you can adjust the amount of noise that comes through on a scale of one to 20 using the app – one being the lowest and 20 being the highest. The ambient sound mode is slightly underwhelming because it sounds digitised and voice capture isn’t the best. That said, it is perfectly fine to use for a quick chat or whenever you need to be aware of your surroundings.
Sound quality
The headphones give a good seal when worn.
Simply put, the Sony ULT Wear sounds great. The headphones have a pleasant mid-range and good bass to accompany them. Powered by the V1 processor with specially designed 40mm drivers for deep bass, the ULT Wear has a decidedly warm tilt in the sound, with an emphasis on the mids and, of course, the bass.
One thing I noticed was the lack of treble present. Compared to the mids, where vocals and instruments sound detailed and clear, the treble on the other hand was rather lacklustre. Fortunately, this can be mitigated by adjusting the EQ in the app, so it’s not a huge deal.
ULT1 seems to be the mode that most users will have it set on.
The more cynical and sceptical ones reading this review will probably think the ULT mode is a gimmick, but I think bassheads will appreciate it. The ULT Wear has two ULT modes – ULT1 and ULT2. Essentially, these are customisable presets that adjust the headphones' bass output. By default, ULT1 is the milder of the two. However, there's a slider that users can adjust to their tastes. There are 20 levels in total. So the ULT1 and ULT2 presets really just let users dial in their preferred bass setting. That said, at close to maximum levels, you can hear some distortion in the bass, particularly on bass-heavy electronic tracks.
Compared to the WH-CH720N
The WH-CH720N has the same V1 Integrated processor
The ULT Wear is a clear step up from the WH-CH720N. While the latter is no slouch with features like ANC, DSEE, and long battery life, the ULT Wear takes things a step further with slightly better build quality, wear detection, and touch controls. The ULT Wear also sounds more exciting and bass lovers will certainly appreciate the ULT bass boost feature. However, this is to be expected considering the WH-CH720N is significantly cheaper at S$179. It's a good option for those on a tight budget, but if you can spare the extra cash, the ULT Wear is the more worthwhile option.
Final thoughts
Flagship qualities, in a familiar chassis, for an affordable price.
All things considered, Sony's new ULT Wear headphones offer a great middle ground between its more affordable offerings and its flagship WH-1000XM series headphones. Build quality isn't the best and the ambient mode could be better, but its feature set is almost irreproachable – it has most, if not all, of the key features that Sony's more expensive headphones have. Its ANC and sound quality are both very decent too. The ULT mode is also genuinely handy if you are a basshead who likes to turn the bass up or down for certain tracks. Battery life is good too. Overall, it's a great option for anyone looking to get solid wireless headphones that won't leave a huge hole in their pockets.
If you’re keen on getting a pair for yourself, the Sony ULT Wear headphones come in three colours: Dark Green, White, and Black. Mine was black. The headphones cost S$299 and are available for purchase from these retailers:
You can find the Sony ULT Wear at the following online shopping platforms:
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