Sony ULT Field 7 review: Dance the night away

Dua Lipa’s Dance the Night Away from Barbie is the best way to describe Sony’s latest ULT Field 7 speaker. While I am inspired by the song’s title here, be rest assured that you could also dance your day away with the ULT Field 7. So, what is good about it, and can the ULT Field 7 be your “ultimate” party speaker, especially for an asking price of Rs 39,990?

This is an out-and-out party speaker to liven up your room, no problem if it is big enough to accommodate about 50 people. Since it belongs to the ULT range Sony launched in India recently, it caters to the kind of people who love bass in their music. In my review of another ULT series product, the ULT Wear, I said that ULT metaphorically stands for bass-heavy. That is what you get on the ULT Field 7, too.

Sony ULT Field 7 review in 3 points

1. Party speakers are mostly bulky and so is the ULT Field 7. While you may not want to carry it as often as most portable speakers, it can easily be placed inside your car’s boot space when on a trip. The ULT Field 7 weighs a little more than 6kg and is about 20 inches long, so ensure you keep it on a sturdy table or platform for house parties. It is cylindrical so the logical way to keep it is vertical. That is also how you can access the speaker’s buttons and myriad ports covered inside a rubber flap. Each end of the speaker is also rubberised, so it maintains a good grip on all surface types. At each end, there are LED lights that can glow in different patterns you can choose from the Sony Music Centre app. I felt while the lights give a fresh look to the speaker, especially at night, they do not change the mood of the room. You will eventually end up putting RGB lights in the room for a better party ambience. Because these ends have a cavity, they collect dust easily, but don’t you dare keep your beer cup on either as the bass membrane will immediately topple it. However, the beer or liquid spill is not a problem for the speakers, thanks to an IP67 rating.
   
2. The ULT Field 7 is one of the best party speakers I have used, all thanks to its powerful woofers and tweeters. Of course, I played party songs on the speaker like Dance the Night by Dua Lipa, Feels by Calvin Harris, and Starboy by The Weeknd. I grooved to the music instantly and enjoyed my time. More intricate tracks like I Wanna Be Yours by Arctic Monkeys, Radio by Lana Del Rey, and Apocalypse by Cigarettes After Sex sound good, but I felt the highs were not as clear because of the speaker’s heavy bass signature. I like retro Bollywood music but could not enjoy it on the speaker as the treble sounded washed out. Sony has equipped the ULT Field 7 with the three ULT modes that the ULT Wear also has. ULT 0 is the default equaliser for music, but still not meant for listening to classics. The ULT 1 and ULT 2 modes belt out bass-rich music, the latter being more powerful where you can feel the thump in your stomach at full volume. This mode is also perfect for watching movies with thrilling action sequences as the speaker fills the room with the sounds of thumping and swooshing. The speaker takes various inputs, such as Bluetooth, a 3.5mm jack, USB, and AUX among others. However, accessing them is a bit frustrating sometimes because the rubber flap takes some effort to open. Inside the flap, you have additional buttons like a knob to control the guitar input, a button to change lights, a battery indicator chime button, a key button to change the music pitch, and an echo button. I could not test them all, but they could be useful should you have particular needs like strumming a guitar at a party.
   
3. Even though it is not the perfect example of a portable speaker, the ULT Field can be carried along. Its battery can easily last the night on moderate volume, but the moment you crank it up to full, the backup comes down to about three hours. Depending on what features you use and the volume level, the battery life on a single charge changes. Sony claims a battery life of 30 hours if you keep the LEDs off and a volume at 16. There is a charging cable bundled in the box. The speaker also charges fast, so if you quickly need to listen to music, a 10-minute charge can fill enough battery to last three hours when the volume is set up to 50. I liked the battery backup of the speaker, but if you plan to use it outdoors, be mindful of the volume levels to make the speaker last long.

Sony ULT Field 7 review verdict

Except for a slightly less practical design that restricts adapting to different ways to keep it, the Sony ULT Field 7 is one of the best speakers money can buy. It is more expensive than most options, but the sound quality will assure you that your money did not go to waste. The ULT Field 7 can fill the room with thumps and oomphs and get everyone dancing, while those who love watching movies at home can have a theatre-like experience. It can connect to nearly every device using different input options so that you can let everyone play their music at the next party.