Sony ULT FIELD 3 Speaker Review

The Sony ULT FIELD 3 has a rectangular, pencil-case shape with two bass radiators on either side. It features LEDs that light up to indicate it has been powered on or paired via Bluetooth. There's also a silver Sony logo embossed on the front corner. It comes in three color variants: 'Forest Gray,' 'Off White,' and 'Black.' 

It's a very portable speaker that's lightweight enough to be carried around in one hand. Like its smaller sibling, the Sony ULT FIELD 1, it comes with a strap to sling it over your shoulder. This strap can be a little finnicky to remove once it's attached though to the hooks, though, so it may take some time to detach it.

The Sony ULT FIELD 3 has amazing build quality, as we've come to expect from Sony's ULT Power Sound line of speakers. The body is constructed from a durable plastic, wrapped up in a mesh material that feels solid, but not as premium as the mesh on some JBL speakers.

There are some basic controls on the top panel. Flip it over, and there are two rubber feet that help stabilize it while standing upright. There's a USB-C port and battery indicator located on the back, which is sealed with a rubber flap. This, no doubt, contributes to its IP67 certification, which means the speaker can be submerged; plus, it'll even float on water. It's also impact resistant, and the manufacturer claims it can withstand drops from 1.22 m on plywood of 5 cm thickness, conforming to the MIL-STD 810 Standard. It comes with a carrying strap that's made from a tough, woven fabric that seems unlikely to rip. The two clips located on the ends of the strap are made of a durable metal and seem unlikely to break.

The Sony ULT FIELD 3 has a very good control scheme, as you can see in this controls overview. The controls are nicely textured and tactile, with clear labels for each function. It's nice to see dedicated buttons for pairing more speakers and for 'Party Mode,' along with the infamous 'ULT' button, which injects an extra dose of bass into the speaker's frequency response. Some of these buttons have secondary functions, though, which take a little getting used to. The 'Play/Pause' button can be pressed twice to skip forward and three times to skip back, for example. There are chimes for audible feedback when engaging most functions, too, like when you connect a device or enter 'Party Mode,' but there's no chime for maximum/minimum volume.

• Sony ULT FIELD 3 speaker
• USB-C charging cable (0.5 m/1.6 ft)
• Strap
• Warranty card
• Reference guide 

We tested the frequency response accuracy using the 'ULT Power Sound' preset and Sound Field Optimization (room correction) off, with the speaker set to a horizontal position. With these settings, the speaker produces a decently well-balanced sound, with a good amount of bass on tap for its size. As with the Sony ULT FIELD 1, there's a peak in the high-bass to compensate for the lack of low-bass, which injects some warmth into your mixes. The mid and treble ranges are relatively flat too, resulting in a detailed reproduction of vocals and lead instruments. The treble range rolls off at the very top of the range, but it's still a far cry from the veiled response of previous Sony speakers, like the Sony SRS-XE300.

In our case, we found that Sound Field Optimization didn't impact the frequency response, though we expect this will change depending on the acoustic environment. By contrast, the 'ULT Power' preset drastically alters the response, even boosting the SPL. Curiously, even when you max out the bass in the custom EQ, it's impossible to replicate the 'ULT Power' mode's bass response. Finally, we also tested the frequency response with the speaker in an upright position, which rolls off some of the mid-range.

The soundstage performance is sub-par. This speaker can't play back stereo content, downmixing to mono instead. Its front-facing design means that directivity is quite limited, and only those directly facing the speaker will experience a balanced sound.

The Sony ULT FIELD 3's dynamics performance is disappointing. In testing, we found that its max volume was comparable to the smaller Sony ULT FIELD 1, and there was a similar amount of compression at max volume, which hampers the dynamics of bass-range content.

This speaker's battery performance is outstanding. It clocks in at 14.5 hours on a full charge and the 'ULT Power Sound' preset enabled, though the manufacturer advertises up to 24 hours of playtime. We also tested using 'Stamina Mode,' which disables all EQ settings, and achieved an impressive 44.5 hours of battery life. You can also use the USB-C port to charge your other devices, though this will drain the battery quicker.

For users who want to preserve the speaker's battery over many uses, there's also a 'Battery Care' mode that can be toggled on the back panel or in the app. This limits charging to 90% of the maximum battery volume. There's even a power-saving auto-shutdown feature that shuts off the battery after 20 minutes with no connection. The speaker should also turn off after 15 minutes without media playback when the 'Auto-Standby' mode is enabled, but we found that this feature didn't work.

The Sony ULT FIELD 3 doesn't feature any built-in voice assistant compatibility, but there's support for Google Assistant and Siri if you own a compatible smartphone. The speaker does an excellent job of picking up your voice, even in crowded and noisy environments, which is very useful if you rely on hands-free control.

This speaker uses the Sony Sound Connect app, which gives you a greater level of control over the sound and features, as you can see in this walkthrough video. It lets you cycle through a number of EQ presets, and there's even scope to add a single custom EQ, using the 7-band EQ. The app gives you the ability to enable the Sound Field Optimization room correction feature, too, or activate 'Stamina Mode' to squeeze the most playtime out of the battery. You can also use the app to pair another ULT FIELD 3 speaker (for a stereo pair) or multiple speakers within the ULT Power Sound line with 'Party Mode.' The former requires a long press of the 'Bluetooth' button, while the latter requires you to single-press the 'Connect' button.

This speaker has a USB-C port, but it can only be used to charge the speaker or other devices.

The Sony ULT FIELD 3 has excellent Bluetooth connectivity. It can pair with up to two devices simultaneously, and it has an auto-detect feature that can identify when playback is initiated on another device, pausing it on the other. It also has a Bluetooth standby feature that you can use while connected to a charger. This feature allows a Bluetooth connection to be established, so that the speaker is already paired if you start playback or receive a call. The power button will light up with two light indicators instead of one when this mode is initiated.

While latency with iOS devices is excellent, it's a tad higher with Android devices, so you might notice some lip-sync issues if you use it to soundtrack movie night. Different apps and devices compensate for latency differently, though, so your experience may vary.