Bose brought back one of its most iconic product lines with the launch of the Lifestyle Collection on Tuesday. The trio of premium home audio devices — which put the brand squarely in competition with Apple’s HomePod 2 and Sonos’ popular lineup — are Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker ($299), Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar ($1,099) and Lifestyle Ultra Subwoofer ($899).
All three go on sale May 15 and are available for preorder now.
Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker, soundbar and woofer
Bose, maker of popular noise-canceling headphones as well as home audio sytems, designed the collection to work both independently and together. It can scale from a single smart speaker in a bedroom to a full 7.1.4-channel home theater system, the company said in a press release. And for Apple users, there’s a key headline feature right out of the gate: full AirPlay 2 support across every product in the lineup.
The star of the show: Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker
Photo: Bose
If there’s one product aimed directly at HomePod 2 owners — and anyone still sitting on the fence — it’s the $299 Lifestyle Ultra Speaker. Compact and elegantly designed with a textured knit fabric grille, it houses three drivers. Two front-facing and one up-firing driver provide the oomph. That configuration helps audio fill a room rather than project in a single direction. A proprietary QuietPort acoustic opening underpins Bose’s CleanBass technology. So it promises full-bodied low end without the distortion that plagues many small speakers.
Setup and daily use lean heavily on familiar Apple infrastructure. The Ultra Speaker supports AirPlay 2 natively. That means you can stream directly from any app on your iPhone, iPad or Mac without opening a separate app. It also supports Google Cast and Spotify Connect, and it works with Alexa+. For those who prefer a wired fallback, there’s a 3.5mm auxiliary jack. That’s a practical touch that Apple’s HomePod famously omits.
The speaker’s top features a radial volume slider and capacitive touch controls. And two units can be paired for a stereo setup. Perhaps most notably, because it uses Wi-Fi as its primary connection method (in addition to a Bluetooth option) you can group it with other AirPlay-compatible speakers for whole-home audio without being locked into the Bose ecosystem.
The Ultra Speaker comes in black, white smoke and a limited-edition driftwood sand finish with a solid white oak base. That third option carries a $50 premium, bringing it to $349.
This wireless home speaker feature can pair with other for stereo sound or work with soundbars and subwoofers. It features TrueSpatial Audio, CleanBass, AirPlay and Google Cast. Comes in black, white or, for $50 more, driftwood sand.
- Wi-Fi connectivity via AirPlay 2 or Google Cast
- Elegant design
- 3.5mm auxiliary jack
- Pairs with other speakers
- Spatial audio but not Dolby Atmos
- Single channel, so need 2 for stereo pair
A soundbar redesign a decade in the making
Photo: Bose
The $1,099 Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar is Bose’s most ambitious home theater product in years. It’s the company’s first major soundbar redesign in over a decade. It arrives at the exact same price as the Sonos Arc Ultra — a matchup that is clearly intentional.
Inside, the soundbar packs nine drivers: four front-facing full-range drivers, two up-firing drivers, a dedicated center tweeter for dialogue and two proprietary PhaseGuide drivers that use focused waveguides to project sound to the left and right. That creates width without the need for satellite speakers. The result is a 5.0.2 configuration that supports Dolby Atmos via HDMI eARC entirely on its own.
For content not already mixed in Dolby Atmos, TrueSpatial technology processes standard audio into something more immersive and room-filling. SpeechClarity — an evolution of Bose’s earlier AI Dialogue Mode — uses AI-driven processing to isolate and enhance voices. Three adjustable levels let you dial in how much dialogue boost you want.
CustomTune handles room calibration. It’s an updated version of Bose’s ADAPTiQ system that uses your smartphone’s microphone — no dedicated calibration headset required — to analyze your space and optimize audio output accordingly. Like the Ultra Speaker, the soundbar supports AirPlay 2 and Google Cast. And its glass-top construction with seamless touch controls gives it a refined, living room-friendly look that should sit comfortably beneath most TVs.
This Bose wireless soundbar for TV features Dolby Atmos for spatial audio plus surround sound.
- Packs 9 drivers
- Supports Dolby Atmos via HDMI eARC
- Room calibration
- Expensive
Completing the system: Lifestyle Ultra Subwoofer
Photo: Bose
Rounding out the trio is the $899 Lifestyle Ultra Subwoofer. The wireless bass module pairs with the soundbar and speakers to push the system into full home theater territory. Its 10.5-inch woofer is driven by the same CleanBass technology found across the collection. It delivers deep, controlled low-end that the company says remains clear at any volume.
When the subwoofer is added alongside two Ultra Speakers acting as wireless rear channels, the system scales up to a 7.1.4-channel configuration — serious performance for a fully wireless setup. Those who want a middle ground can pair just the soundbar and subwoofer for a 5.1.2 system. At $899, the sub is priced identically to the Sonos Sub 4, making the direct rivalry between these two lineups impossible to ignore.
Bose's wireless home subwoofer makes the most of home theater systems. It features a slew of premium features with easy setup and deep bass. Comes in black or white.
- Deep, controlled low end sound
- Pair it with Ultra speakers and/or soundbar
- Somewhat pricey
The bigger picture for Apple households
For Apple users, the Lifestyle Collection’s AirPlay 2 support is the thread that ties everything together. The HomePod 2 remains an excellent option within Apple’s own ecosystem. But it doesn’t offer the home theater ambitions or the modular flexibility of what Bose brings here. With the Lifestyle Collection, you could start with a single Ultra Speaker on your desk, add a soundbar and subwoofer to your living room, and wire them all together through AirPlay 2 — all without touching a Bose-specific app for day-to-day playback.
Bose has also made a deliberate choice to keep the collection open rather than walled off. The ability to group Lifestyle speakers with non-Bose AirPlay 2 devices means existing HomePod or third-party speaker owners can integrate without replacing everything they own.
All three products are available for preorder now at Bose.com or Amazon, with shipping beginning May 15.
David Snow, an expert on Apple hardware and software, writes on a variety of technological and cultural topics for Cult of Mac. They include Apple news, technology buying guides, and features about computer setups and Apple TV shows and movies.
With 30 years of experience covering technology and other subjects, he has written and edited for numerous print and online publications, including CMP Media, TechTV.com, CNET, Wired News, Red Herring magazine, Law.com, The National Law Journal and Law Technology News magazine. Among other roles, he served as executive editor of the Law.com network of websites and editorial director, technology, for ALM Media.
Snow graduated with a B.A. from Syracuse University with majors in magazine journalism and psychology. While there, he worked as a reporter for The Daily Orange newspaper and associate editor of Equal Time magazine.
Founder of the blog At the Waterline, he can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) via @atthewaterline and on Mastodon via @dsnow.
