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Sony ULT Wear

Sony ULT Wear

Scored on 154 verified owner verdicts, from 1,820 comments read across 2 communities
TL;DR
Owners are split on the Sony ULT Wear: slightly under half recommend it, and about a third would steer buyers away. Owners who like it mostly point to the bass, which hits hard, along with noise canceling and comfort that many rate highly for the money. The main complaint is the plastic hinge, which dozens of owners say cracked or snapped during normal use, anywhere from three weeks to over a year in. A smaller group say their pair is still fine after a year or more, and some owners say Sony repaired or replaced broken pairs for free while others were turned away.

47% of 154 verified owners recommend the Sony ULT Wear, based on real owner verdicts aggregated from Reddit, enthusiast forums, and YouTube.

See the problems 56 owners report →

What 154 owners say
1,820 comments reviewed · scored on the 154 clearest verdicts
47%
Recommend
73 owners
17%
Neutral
25 owners
36%
Don't recommend
56 owners
Last 6 months:44% recommend(59 recent verdicts)→ holding steady vs older reviews
Source
Score
N
Counted in the score
Reddit
47%
154
Reviewed, but not counted — and why
YouTubeiowner comments
69%
152
No clear verdictiSetup, tips & quirks
—
132

The headline score reflects owners (Reddit, enthusiast forums), independent lab tests, blogs with no affiliate links, and YouTube owner-comments when they line up with owners. YouTube is shown for perspective but kept out here — hover the i for why.

What owners like

  • Big, punchy bass that owners who like heavy low end love
  • Noise canceling that owners rate highly
  • Strong value, with some owners saying it comes close to Sony's pricier XM models for much less
  • Comfortable fit, with deep, padded earcups that some owners wear for hours

Problems owners report

  • Plastic hinges that crack or snap, often during normal handling, anywhere from a few weeks to over a year after purchase; some owners had a second pair break the same way, while others say a replacement has held up
  • The sound splits owners: many say it needs EQ tweaks to sound right, some find the bass overblown or muddy, and a few expected more bass than they got
Who it's for
A great fit if
  • Bass lovers who want heavy, adjustable low end
  • Buyers who want strong noise canceling without paying flagship prices
  • Listeners willing to spend time tuning the EQ in the app
  • People with larger ears who want deep, padded earcups for long sessions
Look elsewhere if
  • Anyone who needs headphones to survive daily handling for years without hinge worries
  • Listeners who don't want to adjust any sound settings

Synthesized from what Sony ULT Wear owners say — not a spec sheet.

Top quotes, sourced

1,820 reviewed · 278 shown
Sentiment
Community
Sort
YouTube▲ recommend

“I recently purchased the Sony ULT Wear and I love it!”

YouTube— neutral

“when I bought these the bass is obviously weak compared to the evos, still overall I'm enjoying the sound quality I guess I've gotta adjust to the lower bass”

YouTube▼ don’t recommend

“To be fair, I didn't hear hardly any difference. The ULTs fit my head better, but they looked much chunkier on my ears as the phones stuck out way more. I've decided to keep the XM4s and return the ULTs.”

YouTube▲ recommend

“The bass is honestly pretty fun, sometimes I just wanna press a button and destroy the song I'm listening to.”

YouTube— neutral

“My ULTs survived a bit less than a year - the freaking swiveling hinge broke on the left ear. First time it happened after about 6 moths, but it just cracked a bit and I was able to place it back and glue the crack with a cyanocrylate glue. And I did not drop nor done any excessive damage to it. Just ordinary daily use. Bought a new pair of ULTs just a month ago in hopes this time they'll survive better. Price/sound quality of them is still the best.”

YouTube▼ don’t recommend

“The hinges are weak. Mine left hinge broke after 4 months. Avoid foldables!”

YouTube— neutral

“love them, broke in less than 6 months on left hinge..”

YouTube▲ recommend

“with a bit of fine tuning it’s absolutely insane and worth the money”

YouTube▼ don’t recommend

“I got these and ended up returning them. I use them for Gym everyday and maybe games occasionally, but I like my music loud. They are clear , crisp , bass is ok at best. The main thing is they aren’t loud enough. You’ll be finding yourself trying to turn them up.”

YouTube— neutral

“Hear me out, I have these and they’re great. But they don’t come close to my Soundcore life Q30s.”

YouTube▼ don’t recommend

“I had the ULT for like 5 months and they broke out of nowhere. I never used them for running or some outside activity, kept them in their case all the time and the broke really easily when I was trying to get them off me.”

YouTube▲ recommend

“I really love my bass to be clean and strong and the ULTs do just that and more.”

YouTube▼ don’t recommend

“I bought my Ult Wears 2 months ago. They've been into the licensed repair shop for a month now. Overall great headphones if you want to save your hearing due to not having the headphones”

YouTube▲ recommend

“I’ve had mine for about 2 weeks now and I absolutely love them, zero complaints…”

YouTube— neutral

“Just got mine at micro center with a amazon price match for $148 for solid for the price not the Sony mdrxb950bt killer still bass king”

YouTube▼ don’t recommend

“Ive had mine 1 month not sure why mine keeps randomly disconnecting every 30 minutes not sure how to fix it because its kinda frustrating”

YouTube▲ recommend

“Just purchased today and absolutely love the noise cancelling and the extra bass. It’s a winner for me.”

YouTube— neutral

“It works well overall, but they do need to fix the hinges. I had to replace mine and the ones I have now have lasted longer and I’m glad.”

YouTube▲ recommend

“Mine arrived last week. Comfortable, great bass, great battery life, elite noise cancelation. Winners.”

YouTube— neutral

“I bought these in june 2024 works really great except that the Swivel Hinge of the Right Cup snapped last night after work”

YouTube▼ don’t recommend

“I just bought them and returned them.. all these reviews make it seem like they have big deep bass.. but.. it’s more like middleweight bass rather than heavyweight..”

YouTube— neutral

“Actually I feel like they block voices better than the xm4, it’s the low end they don’t block as well which is a little disappointing. Overall I think the xm4s are better, but I couldn’t deal with the shallow ear cups. These have way deeper cups which can accomodate my largish ears.”

YouTube▲ recommend

“ive had my pair for about a month and they are great honestly 200usd is a steal”

YouTube▼ don’t recommend

“Got home tried both and eq both. Immediately returned the ULT’s.”

Showing 1–24 of 278

How it ranks among 20 over-ear headphones

Ranked by the share of owners who recommend each one.

  1. 1Sennheiser HD 60081% · 253 owners
  2. 2HiFiMan HE400se80% · 127 owners
  3. 3Sennheiser HD 65075% · 316 owners
  4. 4Beyerdynamic DT 900 Pro X71% · 234 owners
  5. 5Edition XS68% · 123 owners
  6. 6Beyerdynamic DT 700 PRO X68% · 63 owners
  7. 7ATH-R70xa65% · 26 owners
  8. 8Sennheiser HD 660S261% · 231 owners
  9. 9Sony WH-1000XM560% · 359 owners
  10. 10Grado SR80x60% · 55 owners
  11. 11Sennheiser HD 620S58% · 93 owners
  12. 12Audio-Technica ATH-M50x55% · 663 owners
  13. 13DT 770 Pro55% · 197 owners
  14. 14HiFiMan Sundara53% · 352 owners
  15. 15Apple AirPods Max 253% · 196 owners
  16. 16K712 Pro50% · 80 owners
  17. 17Sony ULT WearYou are here47% · 154 owners
  18. 18Momentum 4 Wireless45% · 469 owners
  19. 19Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen)36% · 434 owners
  20. 20Sony WH-1000XM635% · 571 owners

Common problems & things to know

Practical notes owners raise — setup, quirks, and issues to watch for. They don't say whether the person likes the product, so they're not counted in the score, but they inform the pros, cons, and who it's for.

r/SonyHeadphonesⓘ good to know

“Hi maybe too late but found your command via google. I managed to get it to auto connect by setting the device type in the iphone bluetooth settings. It was not configured and the iphone did not auto connect.”

r/SonyHeadphonesⓘ good to know

“They are amazing. The sound quality is very good; they have a lot of bass. And if you plan to use them with a cable, you still have to turn them on.”

r/SonyHeadphonesⓘ good to know

“Sony released a webpage to check if you unit is affected from the hinge issue. You need to enter you serial number to check. I did check mine and it said it was unaffected. I have been using it over a month for now.”

r/SonyHeadphonesⓘ good to know

“They brake pretty easily if you take them off your head in the wrong way. E.g pulling them slightly apart by pulling one ear cuff slightly harder than the other, rather than lifting them off your head from the center of the headband.”

r/SonyHeadphonesⓘ good to know

“Take it off your head with a hand on each cup Turn both cups toward you gently. Tuck the left earcup in towards the headband Tuck the right earcup in towards the left earcup. It should now fit in the case. After 2 or 3 times it's a natural sequence.”