Ult Tower 9 hands-on review: Sony's party speaker has me singing
The Ult Tower 9 replaces the XV900 as Sony's premier portable party speaker
Pros
✅ 🥳 Tricked-out Party speaker 360º room-filling sound
✅ 🚨 New LED lights have further reach to set the party vibe
✅ 🫨 Ult button pumps up the bass in two frequencies
✅ 🎤 New Ult mics for $149 seem like a good deal for karaoke
✅ 🔋 25-hour battery life makes this a portable beast
✅ 🛞 They see me rollin': 50% larger wheels in this unit
✅ 💰 No price increase vs the model from 2.5 years ago
Cons
❌ 💸 The XV900 from September 2022 is down to $600
The Sony Ult Tower 9 is the loudest portable party speaker I’ve tested – and it had me singing karaoke by the end of my first night with it. At maximum volume, it can shake up a party and literally shake your room. Sorry, neighbors. That was only 50%.
The Ult Tower 9 replaces Sony’s XV900 tower speaker I tested two-and-a-half years ago when I started The Shortcut (time flies), with bigger sound, bolder lighting, and larger wheels. Sony has opted for a much simpler naming scheme, too, like the Ult Wear headphones and many of its recent speaker refreshes over the last 12 months.
At $899, there’s been no price increase, although the XV900 has dropped down to $600 over the last 30 months. That said, the Ult Tower 9 remains cheaper than the wired Ult Tower 10, and it’s fully wireless with 25 hours of battery life. That’s just in case your party goes all day and night.
Ult Tower 9 sound
🥳 Big parties at all angles. The sound spread of this speaker has been improved with what Sony calls 360º party sound. With a total of four tweeters now on the front and back, your music will be heard evenly regardless of where people are standing. We got to see it tested by a DJ while we moved about a party venue and heard the 10-band EQ in action.
🔈 All about that Ult bass. In addition to the four tweeters, there are two midrange drivers and one powerful woofer for a deep bass sound. This bass kicks into override with a press of the Ult button, activating Ult 1 and 2 modes at different frequencies. It’s just like on the Field 3 and Field 5 speakers, but it’s more pronounced here.
Battery and charging
🔋 25-hour battery life. The reason to buy the Ult Tower 9 is that it’s powerful yet portable. This wireless speaker lasts up to 25 hours, meaning it can go more than a full day without needing to charge. Realistically, you’ll probably use it for a few hours at a time, meaning it can survive eight different three-hour parties.
⚡Quick-charge upgrade. More importantly, you won’t have a massive dead speaker on your hands for very long, even in the event that the battery life drops to 0%. Just 10 minutes after plugging in the Ult Tower 9 gives you 180 minutes of music. Contrast that with my Nintendo Switch 2 hands-on, where I complained that the new console lacks fast charging and takes 3 hours to fully charge. Sony gets it.
Ult Tower 9 design
🚨 Party LED vibes. Just like the sound, this speaker has colorful LED lighting that covers more floor space than its predecessor. The custom lighting effects make this party speaker a bit more flashy than the tower we tested two years ago.
🛞 50% larger wheels. Carting this tower speaker around is easier thanks to Sony’s big wheels – 50% larger than the wheel design of the XV900. After all, the world isn’t flat, and this speaker is portable, so the Ult Tower 9 can go from party to party easily.
New Sony Ult mics
🎤 New Ult Mic. Sony is selling two wireless mics and an adapter for $149. It feels like a good deal and a natural fit for Ult Tower 9 buyers who are also self-anointed karaoke stars (I may fit into this description).
👩🎤👨🎤 Duet Assist in the house. Sony’s mics have automatic sound balancing. When on, this kicks in if two singers are belting out a song at different volumes. Finally, your friend singing at the top of their lungs can be taken down a peg (you know who you are 🫵).
🌬️ Noise reduction. Hand, breath, and wind noises are compensated for with the new line of Ult mics – saving your audience from scratchy, loud noises we all dislike.
🎤🎤🎤🎤 Up to four mics. Each adapter powers two mics, and there are two 1/4-inch jacks on the Ult Tower 9. So, four mics can work with custom volume settings if you want one set to be background vocals. Cue Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody as my next song, please.
🎤⬇️ Drop-the-mic proof. I may have dropped the Sony Ult mics unintentionally, but that’s OK; they still worked. It’s almost like the Sony engineers have had awesome karaoke parties and knew this was needed in our lives.
🔌 Ports of entry. There are two 1/4-inch jacks at the top of the tower (it accepts two of the Sony Ult Mic adapters for up to four mics), but this also means it’s compatible with other mics or a guitar. There’s also a USB-A port on the back to pipe in other music or charge another device, and an optical-in port so that this speaker can act as a TV sound booster.
💰 $899 wireless, $749 wired version. Sony’s flagship Ult Tower 9 is $899. It’s wireless with that 25-hour battery I talked about. But there’s also another model, the Ult Tower 9AC, that’s $150 cheaper, in case you’re looking for a wired version and want to save some cash.