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Bose Revives Lifestyle With Ultra Speaker, Soundbar and Subwoofer

The reboot shifts control to third-party streaming services to let buyers mix Bose with other brands.

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Bose's new Lifestyle Ultra speakers in all of their glory. © James Pero
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Overview

  • Bose relaunched its Lifestyle brand Tuesday with the Ultra Speaker ($299 or $349 limited edition), Ultra Soundbar ($1,099) and Ultra Subwoofer ($899), now on preorder for May 15 shipping.
  • The products stream over Apple AirPlay, Google Cast and Spotify Connect with Alexa+ voice control in the U.S., so users can group Bose with non-Bose speakers without relying on a Bose app.
  • The Ultra Speaker uses two front drivers and an up-firing driver with Bose TrueSpatial and CleanBass processing, and it can work solo, in a stereo pair or as wireless rears in a 7.1.4 home theater.
  • Bose replaced its ADAPTiQ headset with CustomTune room calibration that listens through a phone’s microphone, and the soundbar adds Dolby Atmos support plus AI-based SpeechClarity for clearer dialog.
  • Trade-offs include no backward compatibility with past Bose home-theater gear beyond a wired link to the Bass Module 700 and Auracast capability that stays off at launch, which may affect upgrade paths for existing owners.