Sony ULT TOWER 5 Review: your neighbors will hate you, but you’ll love it

In recent years the concept of a Bluetooth speaker has changed quite a bit. We started with small speakers to stash in a backpack, designed mainly for listening to a bit of music on the beach or during an outdoor day, to reach products that now have very little to do with the classic “Bluetooth speaker”. And the Sony ULT TOWER 5 is probably one of the most evident examples of this evolution because, yes, it connects to the smartphone via Bluetooth, has an integrated battery and technically can be portable, but just looking at it in person and especially turning it on makes it immediately clear that Sony had something else in mind: parties, gardens, karaoke, small events and, more generally, all those situations in which you don’t simply need to hear the music well, but you need to make it heard loudly. Very loudly.

The Sony ULT TOWER 5 is the most compact model of the new ULT TOWER family and integrates a huge 230 mm circular woofer, two 60 mm tweeters and a system capable of reaching a declared maximum power of 300 watts. To all this Sony has added basically every feature you could want from a modern party speaker: built-in battery, LED lighting, bass-specific modes, karaoke, XLR and RCA inputs, USB-C, the ability to link multiple speakers via Auracast and even integration with DJ systems. All told, on paper there’s plenty, but after using it for a while the question I kept asking myself was mainly one: does it really make sense to spend 399 euros on a Sony ULT TOWER 5? Because at that price there are plenty of alternatives, and above all this is by no means a product for everyone.

Sony ULT TOWER 5 Review: features, price and technical specifications

Design and materials

Let’s start with one thing: calling the Sony ULT TOWER 5 a “portable” speaker is technically correct, but we need to agree on what the word means. It measures about 358 x 534 x 280 mm and weighs 12.7 kg, so it is certainly not the speaker you slip into your backpack before heading to the sea, and it isn’t something you’ll want to carry around on a walk. Let’s rather say it’s transportable, which is a fairly different thing. Sony has, however, worked well on this aspect, integrating four handles into the chassis that allow you to grab it practically from any position. For small moves you can even carry it with one hand, while for longer trips you’ll probably end up using two. Too bad for the lack of wheels, which considering size and especially weight would have been really handy: the bigger ULT TOWER 7 has them, while with the TOWER 5 you’ll have to rely on your arms.