The $1,199.99 Sony ULT Tower 10 is by far the largest in Sony's Bluetooth speaker lineup, which includes the $129.99 ULT Field 1 and the $499.99 ULT Field 7. This party speaker delivers a massive 1,000W of power and can push high-quality sound into cavernous spaces at ear-splitting volumes. With multiple wired and wireless connectivity options, colorful LED effects, an included wireless mic, and support for a guitar, it covers all the backyard party basics, too. It's quite massive, however, and doesn't produce true stereo sound. You can save money and space with the $799.99 LG Xboom XL9T, but the ULT Tower 10 offers cleaner, deeper sound and more extras, so it earns our Editor's Choice award for party speakers.
Design: Furniture That's Fun
The Tower 10 is the spiritual successor to Sony's SRS-XV900 party speaker. It embodies the idea of "go big or go home." The unwieldy tower stands 43.3 by 16.5 by 16.9 inches (HWD) and weighs a whopping 63.9 pounds. Sony builds a handle into the top of the frame and embeds casters on the rear edge that allow you to wheel it around with relative ease. I found the wheels a little small—larger ones would make it easier to roll the speaker across door sills and uneven surfaces like grass or gravel. Sony recommends two people pick it up if wheeling it isn't an option. For comparison, the LG XL9T isn't much smaller or lighter at 38.9 by 20.6 by 18.9 inches and 60.6 pounds.
The design is utilitarian. Other than the lights, the entire thing is made of black plastic. There are no neon accents or design flourishes that sometimes bedeck other party speakers. A single frame stretches from the floor to the top surface with carve-outs at the top and bottom for the hidden LEDs. The sloped plastic in these areas provides a surface from which the light can bounce and reflect outward. In between, it's all about the speakers. Two small tweeters near the top are angled slightly outward, while two midrange drivers are deep within cavities below the tweeters. The humongous woofer is closer to the bottom, with ports along the bottom edge that fire forward. Sony doesn't provide the size of the tweeters or midrange drivers but notes that the square-shaped woofer measures 12.59 inches across. The whole system covers a frequency range of 20Hz to 20kHz and drives up to 1,000W of power. The XL9T has two 3-inch tweeters and two 8-inch woofers that also deliver a combined 1,000W.
The flat, squarish control panel on the top is the only part of the speaker that's resistant to water. It carries an IP67 rating against dirt and water ingress—and I can tell you why. At 43.3 inches, the top is basically the same height as a bar or a high-top table and is a natural place to want to set down a beverage. The XL9T's IPX4 rating, which protects the whole speaker from light splashes, seems more practical. If you need something that's fully protected from water, you have to downsize to the IP67-rated Sony ULT Field 7.
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The panel has most of the controls you need. A large power button sits in the front left corner, while an equally large Sony ULT button rests in the front right. Above these are two rows of light-up, capacitive buttons that handle playback and LED functions. The first row includes Bluetooth pairing, input, playback, and volume controls, while the second includes a toggle for the light show, as well as dedicated buttons for each color and a multicolor option. Otherwise, a pitch control tool is near the top to assist with karaoke, along with an Echo button that toggles a reverb effect.
These capacitive buttons might make for a smooth surface, but they don't work reliably when wet. I appreciate that there's a large slot on the top surface to accommodate phones or tablets. Last, there's a removable hatch that protects the quarter-inch guitar input jack, as well as a small volume knob to control its level.
Sony hides the rest of the inputs behind a rubber hatch on the back. These include a USB-A port for high-quality playback and external device charging, an optical port (a three-foot optical cable included), and a trusty 3.5mm stereo jack. You can plug almost any source into these inputs for the best possible audio quality.
As for wireless connectivity, the speaker supports Bluetooth 5.2 and the AAC, SBC, and LDAC codecs. You have to enable LDAC in the settings of your playback device to experience higher-quality playback. The speaker also offers Google Fast Pair and multipoint connections. You can pair it with a second ULT Tower 10 (via the app) if you want true stereo separation, too. The speaker does not support Wi-Fi. That's a notable omission for the price and means multi-room audio isn't possible.
Karaoke fans will love the included wireless mic. Once you pop the included batteries into it, the mic pairs seamlessly with the ULT Tower 10 and lets you sing along with your tunes. Sony built a pop-out mic holder on each side of the speaker to keep things in check.
You need to plug the Tower 10 into an AC outlet to run it. The included power cable is removable and inserts into a jack near the bottom of the rear panel. It's about five feet long; I wish it were a bit longer. The XL9T also requires an AC power connection, but the smaller Sony ULT Field 7 can run for up to 30 hours on battery.
App Experience: Not One, But Two
Apparently, one app is not enough to control the Sony ULT Tower 10—Sony has two. The first, Music Center, is a relatively simple app for managing the speaker itself, while the second, Fiestable, is all about partying it up. Both are available for Android and iOS devices.
The main screen in the Music Center app shows a picture of the speaker and its name, along with a list of connected devices and apps (the optical port and Spotify, for instance). It displays the current connection at the bottom of the screen.
The app breaks options down into five groups (Sound, Power Option, Illumination, System, and Management of Bluetooth Devices). The Sound screen allows you to select a preset sound signature, create a custom EQ profile with seven bands, apply the ULT1 or ULT2 effects, perform an optimization test, pair with a TV, select DJ effects, and set your Bluetooth connection quality. The DJ options consist of isolator and flanger effects for the mic. The Power Option section lets you control standby times and on/off sounds, while the Illumination section allows you to cycle between six preset lighting options (Light Off, Delightful, Rave, Chill, Strobe, and Gradation). I like that the app plays nice with Apple Music, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and other third-party music services, but the connection is somewhat slow. You're better off opening your favorite music app directly.
The appropriately named Fiestable app is where all the fun is. Not only is the app more fun to look at and use, it's what enables you to really take control over the speaker.
Fiestable has simple tabs for different actions (DJ Control, Illumination, Karaoke, Motion Control, Party Playlist, Party Light, and Voice Control). Each provides a graphical interface for interacting with different parts of the speaker. For example, the DJ Control tool lets you tap into sound effects like record scratches, control the mic and/or guitar, and manage a karaoke party. The Party Playlist is the most collaborative since it allows you to create a single playlist that your guests can contribute to (as long as they're on the same Wi-Fi network).
As for the LED lights, you have two options. You can simply let the speaker do its own thing by selecting one of the lighting presets (which are all multicolor) or choose a color on the speaker's control panel to keep things cohesive. Quite frankly, there's not much visual difference between the six included light presets in terms of color selection or effects. The Illumination tool in the Fiestable app is where things can really take off. It relies on a color wheel that applies changes in real time when you touch it. You can also apply blinking and strobing effects, among others. All of these options mean you can create a custom light show on the fly using just your finger.
Thankfully, you don't need either of these apps to use the speaker, and neither requires you to create an account. But they do add an element of fun to the experience.
Sound: Music That You Feel as Much as Hear
The last time you encountered a speaker this loud, you were likely at a club or a concert. To really gauge the ULT Tower 10's performance, I tested it in three different locations: inside my house, out in my backyard, and at a local football field. You're simply not prepared for how loud this thing can get.
Inside my 2,000-square-foot home, the volume can be utterly overwhelming (apologies to my cats). With the volume at a modest setting, every room vibrates intensely with the beat. Even if I were to fill my house with 100 people, the ULT Tower 10 would dominate the space at a high volume. My Apple Watch quickly alerted me to a sound level of 105dB (which is damaging to your hearing) when I turned it up halfway. If you want to dance all night, the Tower 10 delivers the beat with serious gusto.
The Tower 10 also gets far louder than I need to fill my backyard (about one-tenth of an acre). When I placed it on my deck and aimed it toward my property line, it pushed sound throughout the neighborhood. With the volume set to halfway, I could hear the speaker from two blocks away. If you have neighbors you wish to (really) annoy, this is the speaker to get.
Sony didn't design the Tower 10 to fill a football field with sound, but it did a fair job of it. With the volume about three-quarters of the way up (I dared not go any higher), the Tower 10 provided enough oomph for my ears from 100 yards away. It's not going to overpower a crowd in a space that large, though it still pushes plenty of sound at a respectable level for hundreds of feet. The ULT Tower 10 could easily be all a deejay needs to emcee a farmyard wedding.
Beyond merely the volume, the Tower 10 has a huge, full, bass-focused sound that still manages a sense of clarity. As mentioned, the app includes a seven-band EQ that's fantastic for shaping the sound. Otherwise, you can turn the ULT function off, select ULT1 (the default), or choose ULT2. Sony explains that ULT1 "enhances the deeper low-pass range" while ULT2 "has a sense of increased power." Since ULT1 is active by default, that's the setting I used for testing.
I listened to a wide variety of music to gauge the Tower 10's audio performance. In general, it emphasizes the bass in a way that's present but not overpowering. You can both hear and feel it. Switching to ULT2 pushes everything up a notch. Low tones and beats become much more palpable and intense (they hit you in the chest), the mids grab more attention, and the highs really stand out. Turning both ULT1 and ULT2 off flattens the sound considerably, though it still has some sense of sculpting. Of the three presets, ULT1 has the best overall mix.
Songs with deep sub-bass, like The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” showcase the speaker's impressive depth and reach. At a modest volume setting indoors, the speaker was loud enough to make the china in my cabinets rattle. At the same time, high mids and highs showcase the tweeters' ability to deliver a clean signal without any clipping.
The Tower had no problem rumbling through the sub-bass at the 34-second mark of Kendrick Lamar's "Loyalty." The progression radiates down into and across the floor without distorting or impacting the vocals, which are still crisp and clean.
Bill Callahan's "Drover," a song with minimal deep bass, still comes across with a strong low-end response that's not quite accurate. Callahan's warm, rich voice projects more powerfully through the Tower 10 than other speakers, but the mids are still present enough to keep things in check.
Orchestral music can really shine through the speaker. I tested some Bach organ music, as well as movie soundtracks from composers like John Williams, James Horner, and Hans Zimmer. I was pleased with how the mix treated scores from Star Wars (Ep. IV A New Hope), Braveheart, and Inception. Jazz from the likes of Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk had a warm, in-the-room feel that felt surprisingly intimate.
However, I did find that hard rock and heavy metal didn't sound quite as compelling. Tracks with lots of distorted guitars came across as lacking definition and not having enough low-end. It took a lot of sculpting with the custom EQ to find a mix that I liked for this type of music.
Verdict: Take Your Party to the Next Level
The Sony ULT Tower 10 is the ultimate party speaker, with features like an LED light show, a wireless mic for karaoke, app-based shareable playlists, and multiple wired and wireless inputs for high-quality listening. But it stands out most for its unparalleled power and enjoyable sound signature. If you need to fill a large backyard, barn, or local party hall with huge, beat-busting music, the Sony ULT Tower 10 is our Editor's Choice winner. Don't count out the smaller, lighter, and more affordable LG Xboom XL9T if your requirements are a bit less grand.
If you have the space and budget for it, Sony's ULT Tower 10 speaker can be the life of the party thanks to its enormous sound, multiple input options, wireless mic for karaoke, and customizable light show.
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