Introduction

What’s up, Internet? The new Sony ULT Field 7 Party Speaker is here and this thing looks sick, but does it sound as great as it looks? Let’s find out. Welcome to another post about all the new Bluetooth speakers. So yes, indeed, Sony has launched a new audio line with their ULT power sound line. Now with that having been said, let’s just dive right into it here, discussing what this party speaker is all about, starting things out with the Sony ULT Field 7 design and what the speaker is looking like on the outside and what’s going on on the inside.

First Impression

The Sony ULT Field 7 is a medium-sized Bluetooth speaker that could be used as a party speaker, with it being built to deliver loudness, big bass, and a party vibe with some built-in RGB lighting effects that we’ll talk about in just a few minutes. It’s got a cylindrical kind of design here. It’s just about 20 inches long, 8 inches high, and 8 inches deep, and it weighs just about 13 pounds. 

You also have the rubberized end caps on the corner, which have these built-in handles to allow this to be easily moved around. And the speaker could actually be listened to either vertically or horizontally, which we’ll touch on in just a few minutes. But if you do happen to listen horizontally, there are some rubberized feet here as well to keep the speaker from sliding around when you’re listening to music and so that it stays put.

Design

On either side of the speaker, you’re going to notice these passive radiators here, which are going to add to the overall lower frequency response, which is going to add to the base, but we’ll talk more about that in just a few minutes. You also have dedicated control buttons on top for power, pairing, track control, volume control, and, of course, the ULT mode button. The ULT mode button, by the way, is actually RGB backlit, matching the RGB lighting and the passive radiators that we’ll see a little bit later on, so that you can quickly just glance at the ULT mode button and know if you have ULT mode turned on. 

One thing I will say about the volume buttons here on the Sony ULT Field 7 is that even though they’re clicky, tactile, and responsive, the volume buttons seem to be incremented almost microscopically, and what I mean by this is that if I wanted to quickly change the volume of whatever music I was listening to, I had to press the volume down or the volume up button like 10 to 20 times before the volume actually started to get noticeably louder or quieter.

This is probably something that could be fixed in a future firmware update, but for right now, it’s just kind of annoying and tedious. But wrapping all this up in this device is going to be this mesh fabric finish that goes around the entire speaker itself, despite the fact that music is going to be projected in only one direction, which is going to be in the direction of that Sony logo.

Connectivity 

If you look at the back of the speaker, you actually have a sealed-off compartment, and when you open it up, you’ll notice a variety of inputs, outputs, and controls. You get your AC adapter plugin, you have a button for turning on or off the RGB light show, a button for checking the current battery percentage, a USB-A port for connecting audio sources through USB, as well as for charging external devices, an AUX port for hardwired listening, and a quarter-inch input jack for connecting either a guitar or a microphone.

The volume control will become active, allowing you to change the gain control. There’s also a dedicated guitar button that lets the speaker know you’ve connected the guitar, and an echo button, which allows you to actually apply one of three different echo reverb effects to whatever’s connected through that quarter-inch jack.

Another pretty cool feature is actually a key control system with flattening or sharpening buttons that allows you to actually change the key of the music that you’re listening to through Bluetooth in real time, up to six semitones in either direction, while maintaining the original tempo of the song.

Features 

Also with this overall design comes an IP67 dust and waterproof rating, which means that dust won’t be an issue and you can get this thing wet without any kind of problem. But no matter where you use the speaker, you do also get sound field optimization built in, which allows the speaker to literally listen to itself and make adjustments to its EQ settings on the fly, theoretically allowing the speaker to sound the best that it can, no matter what kind of environment you’re listening in.

Now, a quick note on the light show capabilities built in Sony ULT Field 7: you do have the ability to choose between several different light show effects from within the Sony Companion app, and the Sony ULT Field 7 is also compatible with the Sony Fiestable app, which gives you some DJ controls and some lighting controls. I honestly say that this is not a good app, but it is easy to use and it’s worth checking out.

This is compatible with the speaker, so I would recommend you do so. So overall, I like the Sony ULT Field 7 design. It’s super easy to move. I love the built-in handles. It may only be available in one color, which is obviously black, but that’s fine with me because that’s what I would pick anyway.

Sound Quality

Now let’s get into the nitty-gritty of what the Sony ULT Field 7 sound quality is like and you actually expect the Sony ULT Field 7 to live up to that party speaker expectation. The Sony ULT Field 7 uses Sony’s x-balance speaker unit design, which is supposed to provide more fullness, more richness, and overall fill the room more, wherever you’re listening to it. You do also get support for AAC, SBC, and LDAC audio codecs with stereo audio support and multi-point Bluetooth connections, so a lot of good things are going on there as it relates to connectivity.

But I know what you’re probably thinking—what’s the deal with this ULT thing? What does that ULT button even do? Well, there are actually two different ULT modes. There’s ULT one and ULT two, and both of them are a little bit different. ULT 1 is a more bass-focused audio experience, while ULT 2 is a more power-focused audio experience. You do actually also have the ability to customize your own EQ preset with a seven-band adjustment from within the Sony companion app.

Overall, I do find myself using ULT 2 more because, once you go from ULT 2 to ULT 1, ULT 1 actually sounds a little bit duller in comparison to Ult 2. I will quickly point out that both modes do put out a pretty good amount of subbass, by the way. It’s not a mind-blowing amount of subbass, but it’s there.

But with both ULT modes, I do think you have a really nice sound balance with a pretty good separation of instruments that you’ll likely be happy with and yes, obviously, it’s a party speaker, so this thing gets loud. But do bear in mind that if you’re listening at louder volumes, you will start to notice a little bit of compression taking place.

You’ll get a little bit of muddiness going on at those higher volumes and a quick note on that quarter-inch input jack for either your karaoke or your guitar sessions. I’ve personally tried both on this speaker. I have sang karaoke and I’ve also played my guitar through Sony ULT Field 7 and especially when using the guitar, I’m happy with the way it sounds. It’s like having a pretty good portable amp to bring with you, even if it is just kind of plug-and-play and you don’t have a whole heck of a lot of control over it.

I will say that if you plan on using this Sony ULT Field 7 speaker for musical performances that include guitar and singing, just know that you’re not going to be able to do that because you are limited to just one or the other with there being only one quarter-inch input jack on the speaker.

Something to definitely consider if you plan on using this speaker for your live performances, because if that’s the case, there are other party speakers on the market within the same price range that will give you additional quarter-inch inputs as well as some more control over reverb and EQ. Aside from that, you do also have the ability to connect two Sony ULT Field 7s together if you like, which is pretty cool.

Battery life

The Sony ULT Field 7 is also compatible with Sony’s Party Connect feature, which allows you to actually pair up to 100 Party Connect compatible Sony speakers together, in case you already own a couple of Sony Bluetooth speakers and want to use them all together for one truly massive listening experience.

But I know that with all this talk about bass and power and lights and karaoke, how long could you actually expect the Sony ULT Field 7 speaker to last? What’s the battery life looking like on the Sony Ult Field 7? Sony is promising up to 30 hours of audio playback with the lights turned on and in either of the two Ult modes, but that is going to be only when listening at volume 16, which equates to about 32% of the max volume, and it’s probably going to be considerably less than the volume level you’re usually listening to.

So on the other end of that, if you’re listening at volume level 50 out of 50, which is 100% max volume, With ULT mode turned on and with the lights turned on, you probably could only expect to get around three hours of battery life out of this thing. If you’re listening at 50% volume, which is usually where I’m listening, and if you have the lights turned on, and if you’re in either Ult 1 or Ult 2, you could probably expect to get around 12 hours of battery life. It really depends. Results will vary, but that’s what I’ve experienced. That’s what I’ve figured out.

Hopefully, those numbers are helpful to you. When it comes time to recharge your Sony ULT Field 7, you do get a quick charging feature. Just a quick 10-minute charge should yield around 3 hours of listening time, whereas going from 0% battery to 100% battery should take a total of around 5 hours. So recharging times are not all that bad.

Conclusion

With all that having been said, here are my final thoughts on the Sony ULT Field 7 Portable Party Speaker and whether or not it could actually be the life of the party. Simply put, I’m pretty happy with what Sony has done and what they’re doing with their new ULT power sound line. Sony’s just telling you how it is with these products. You know exactly what you’re getting. You know that there’s going to be ULT modes where the focus is neither bass nor power, so you know what to expect.

I like the sound quality of this Sony ULT Field 7party speaker. I think it’s a solid speaker offering. Is it the best party speaker at its price point? I’d hesitate to say yes. I do think there are some more enticing options that are going to sound a little bit better with some more higher-end features, but at the end of the day, all things considered, I’m happy with the Sony ULT Field 7, and it is still a Bluetooth party speaker that I plan on throwing into the Jeep this summer and taking with me, just because it’s fun and easy to lug around.

It sounds good it looks nice it sounds nice those ULT modes are awesome; the speaker bumps, it gets loud, and it really does make for a pretty powerful and loud party speaker. I think you’re going to enjoy it, especially if you already like Sony products, and as always, for the latest deals, prices, promos, and information for the Sony ULT Field 7 party speaker, you can, of course, always head to my affiliate link.

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