Bose takes a swing at Sonos with its new home speakers
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A striking development has emerged in artificial intelligence. Tech Close Tech Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All Tech News Close News Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All News Bose Close Bose Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Follow Follow See All Bose Bose takes a swing at Sonos with its new home speakers The Lifestyle Ultra speakers have big sound, can group with non-Bose speakers, and don’t need the Bose app to stream. by John Higgins Close John Higgins Senior Reviewer, TVs & Audio Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All by John Higgins May 5, 2026, 12:00 PM UTC Link Share Gift The new Bose Ultra Speaker can be used individually, as a stereo pair, or as the rear speakers in an Atmos setup.
Technical Details
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Follow Follow See All Bose Bose takes a swing at Sonos with its new home speakers The Lifestyle Ultra speakers have big sound, can group with non-Bose speakers, and don’t need the Bose app to stream. by John Higgins Close John Higgins Senior Reviewer, TVs & Audio Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All by John Higgins May 5, 2026, 12:00 PM UTC Link Share Gift John Higgins Close John Higgins Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Follow Follow See All by John Higgins is a senior reviewer covering TVs and audio. He has over 20 years experience in AV, and has previously been on staff at Digital Trends and Reviewed. Last Thursday, in a staged home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, I sat on a couch that was a bit too low and a tad too deep in front of a small, beige-colored smart speaker sitting on the middle of a trio of arched midcentury storage cabinets.
Industry Implications
On either side of the smart speaker sat two tall curved white screens. The speaker was the new $299 Lifestyle Ultra, Bose’s answer to the Sonos Era 100. Alongside a $1,099 Ultra soundbar and $899 subwoofer, it’s one of three new home audio products the company announced today, all of which seem to be gunning directly for Sonos — hopefully minus that company’s recent missteps.
I heard all three at Bose’s New York event, and the speaker in particular impressed me. The $299 Ultra Speaker is the most interesting and most distinctive-looking of the bunch. It has a front-firing woofer and tweeter, an up-firing driver — unlike the Era 100 — and a bass port on the back.
This advance offers important signals about the future of the sector, and the tech world is watching closely.
