I’ve been testing the Sony ULT Tower 7 party speaker — it delivers pounding bass, lasts up to 30 hours, and doesn’t cost a fortune

Tom's Guide Verdict The Sony ULT Tower 7 is an excellent mid-range party speaker for gigging musicians, DJs, karaoke enthusiasts, and everyone in between. It delivers Earth-shaking bass and boasts a wide soundstage. There are plenty of ports for instruments, mics and turntables, and the user-friendly companion app gives you extensive control over the speaker’s settings. Though it’s a little awkward to wheel around and 360° sound isn’t that immersive, the Tower 7 packs plenty of features that make up for those shortcomings. Pros +Tasteful LED lighting +420W power output for room-filling bass +Ports for instruments, mics and decks +Supremely useful companion app +Great value for money Cons -Treble can be overzealous (but it’s fixable) -Awkward to wheel around -360° sound isn’t that immersive Why you can trust Tom's Guide Our writers and editors spend hours analyzing and reviewing products, services, and apps to help find what's best for you. Find out more about how we test, analyze, and rate. Sony knows how to make a party speaker that doesn’t give you much to complain about — just look at how outstanding the ULT Tower 7 is. This is a fantastic speaker if you want to bring Earth-shaking sound to your next gathering without breaking the bank. The Tower 7 delivers room-filling bass, and packs 30 hours of runtime as well as lovely LED lighting.Extensive app control, a plethora of party features, and robust input options make the Tower 7 a dream for hosts, DJs, and karaoke lovers alike. But unlike its smaller sibling, the Tower 5, the Tower 7 has a couple of drawbacks. It’s a little awkward to wheel around, and the 360° sound isn’t that immersive. The treble is slightly overzealous too, but this is easily fixable via the app.Is this still one of the best Bluetooth speakers for you? Read my full Sony ULT Tower 7 review to find out.Latest Videos FromTom's GuideSony ULT Tower 7 review: Specs Swipe to scroll horizontally Price $648 / £499 Durability IPX4 Connectivity Bluetooth 5.3 with SBC, AAC and LDAC, RCA, USB-C, USB-A, 3.5mm, 6.3mm, 2x XLR Multi-speaker connectivity Yes Multipoint Yes Output power 420W, 1x 11-inch woofer, 2x 4.7-inch mid-range drivers, 2x 2-inch tweeters, 2x 2-inch rear tweeters Frequency response 20Hz-20KHz Range 30m / 98.4ft Battery life 30 hours Dimensions 27.95 x 16.57 x 13.66 inches Weight 50.26lbs Colors Black Sony ULT Tower 7 review: Price & availability An arrangement of Sony ULT Tower 5, Tower 7 and Tower Max speakers. (Image credit: Nikita Achanta / Tom's Guide)The Sony ULT Tower 7 is one of three speakers in the second generation of Sony’s party speakers — the Tower 5 ($448) and the Tower Max ($1,499) being the other two. All three speakers were announced in September 2026, and the Tower 7 is the mid-range choice, retailing for $648 / £499 at Amazon. As you’ll soon see, it offers excellent value for money.There’s no shortage of competition in the Tower 7’s price range. You’ve got heavy hitters like the Marshall Bromley 450 ($799) and the JBL PartyBox 330 ($629), and the Soundboks Mix ($799) is great for those after ground-shaking bass (though it has its flaws). The Tower 7 faces fierce competition from its cheaper sibling, the Tower 5, too, a portable party speaker I awarded 5/5 stars to. While the Tower 7 isn’t as good as the Tower 5, it’s still a standout choice for those after rumbling bass.Sony ULT Tower 7 review: Design (Image credit: Tom's Guide)All three speakers, the Tower 5, Tower 7 and Tower Max, share similar design philosophies. The Tower 7 looks like a taller, chunkier version of the Tower 5. It sports an all-black finish, a stripped-back top panel with basic controls, and sophisticated reactive lighting. The large front grille houses a circular ULT button, located in the top-left corner. One of the biggest visual (and acoustic) differences between the Tower 5 and the Tower 7 is the presence of two rear tweeters on the latter (more on that shortly).Just like the Tower 5 and Tower Max, the Tower 7 features an LED strip that runs along the length of the front grille, and it produces cyan, blue and purple gradients. It’s also highly customizable via the excellent Sony Sound Connect app, but I’ll discuss that in detail later. The LED lighting might not be to everyone’s taste as it isn’t as lovely to look at as the Marshall Bromley 450’s integrated stage lights, but it’s more tasteful than that on the JBL PartyBox 330.Tom's Guide: Direct to Your InboxGet instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. (Image credit: Tom's Guide)Like I said before, the Tower 7 is tall and chunky, measuring 27.95 x 16.57 x 13.66 inches, and at 50.26lbs, it weighs a lot more than the Tower 5 — almost double, in fact. To make it easier to transport the Tower 7, you’ll find four integrated handles on the top and bottom, and there are two wheels on the bottom, too.Annoyingly, though, you have to grasp the top edge above the slit on the rear side of the speaker, and it’s awkward and uncomfortable to roll the speaker around like this. I never managed to get a decent grip on the Tower 7, and neither did my coworkers. I wish Sony had a suitcase-style pull-out handle to make this easier, like on the Marshall Bromley 750 ($1,299).Weatherproofing (Image credit: Tom's Guide)Just like the Tower 5 and the JBL PartyBox 330, the Tower 7 is IPX4-rated, so it’s splash-proof but not protected against dust and dirt (that’s what the ‘X’ in IPX4 means). Also like the Tower 5, the IPX4 protection is active in the vertical position only, as the rear port cover is completely sealed but the sides aren’t. The Marshall Bromley 450 and Soundboks Mix feature better weatherproofing as they’re IP55- and IP65-rated respectively.Controls (Image credit: Tom's Guide)Controls on the Tower 7 are identical to those on the Tower 5. Located on the top are three (self-explanatory) buttons: power, Bluetooth, and playback. There’s a circular ULT button on the front grille — it’s quite big so you can’t miss it — and this lets you swap between EQ presets, or it can be rotated to adjust the volume. (Image credit: Tom's Guide)The rest of the buttons are located on the speaker’s rear panel, just under the backward-facing tweeters. These give you control over features like Party Chain (multi-speaker pairing), Light (lighting effects), Key Control (for swapping between flat and sharp keys), and more. Again, these are the same as on the Tower 5 and in that vein, it doesn't take long to get a hang of them.Connectivity (Image credit: Tom's Guide)Like the controls, connectivity options are the same on the Tower 7 and the Tower 5. For wireless playback, there’s Bluetooth 5.3 with support for SBC, AAC and LDAC codecs, and multipoint connectivity for pairing two devices simultaneously. Party Chain is available, too, which utilizes an Auracast broadcast to connect to 100 compatible Sony speakers. Having listened to 10 of the Tower speakers together, I’ve seen this happen at scale and can confirm this feature certainly works.There’s no shortage of ports on the Tower 7 either. All ports are protected by a rubber flap for protection against splashes. There’s a USB-C port for playing music directly from your smartphone or phone, and a USB-A port for playing from a USB stick. There’s a 6.3mm mic/instrument jack, RCA line input, and a balanced XLR input and an XLR output for a second device or PA system. That’s more than enough for connecting instruments, mics for karaoke, DJ turntables, and more. You’ll also find a similar level of connectivity on the Marshall Bromley 450.Sony ULT Tower 7 review: Sound quality (Image credit: Tom's Guide)The Sony ULT Tower 7 has a commendable acoustic configuration and on paper, it sounds like a beast. You get a total power output of 420W, an 11-inch woofer, two 4.7-inch mid-range drivers, and four 2-inch tweeters (two on the front, two on the back for 360° sound). You can use the ULT button to swap between ULT 1 (deep bass), ULT 2 (attack bass), Flat (neutral) and Live sound profiles, too, and there’s a 10-band equalizer available via the app if you want more control.But how does the speaker sound straight out of the box? I listened to some of my favorite tunes on Qobuz, the best music streaming service for audiophiles, to test it out. Bass is naturally the Tower 7’s forte as this is, first and foremost, a party speaker, and MGMT’s ‘Little Dark Age’ highlighted the strong, Earth-shaking low-end reproduction. The pulsing synth-bass had impressive weight and depth as the Tower 7’s large woofer gave each note a physical, room-filling quality. Each bass pluck was loud and clear even at the lowest (and highest) volume, and the lowest frequencies added a dark, resonant foundation. The groove felt visceral without completely swallowing the mid-range. (Image credit: Tom's Guide)‘Catch These Fists’ by Wet Leg felt expansive and physical through the Tower 7. The driving chunky bassline anchored the soundstage with weight, while the guitars spread across the room at an almost concert-like scale. The vocals remained distinct, whether they were quiet in the verses or loud in the chorus, and they didn't get drowned out by the rhythm section. The Tower 7’s rear-facing tweeters shone here, too, as they made the track sound wider than a conventional forward-firing speaker, like the Soundboks Mix.While most of the soundstage sounds great, I’ve been disappointed by the Tower 7’s treble. The fast-moving percussion layers, like the snares and claps, in the Afro-tech infused ‘Open Arms’ by Little Simz ft. DEELA sounded overzealous and a little too sharp. While the Tower 7’s multiple tweeters are designed to deliver crisp high frequencies, they make the treble feel edgy rather than smooth. (Image credit: Tom's Guide)This was prominent in ‘One Inch Punch’ by Yin Yin, too, where the cymbals felt pushed forward, dominating the soundstage a bit too much and taking away from the track’s otherwise relaxed character. You can salvage this by playing around with the 10-band equalizer, of course, but I wish the Tower 7 sounded just as well-rounded as the Tower 5, straight out of the box.The Tower 7 features 360° Party Sound, too, which, as the name suggests, is 360° surround sound that’s meant to make songs sound the same regardless of where you’re standing. In theory, this sounds great, but I didn’t find the 360° sound on the Tower 7 as convincing or immersive as on the Marshall Bromley 450. The Tower 7’s rear tweeters deliver clear sound but because there’s no rear woofer, the bass sounds a little thin. I guess Sony had to give you a compelling reason to splurge on the Tower Max which does feature an 11-inch rear woofer.Listen along to my review with the Sony ULT Tower 7 testing playlist:Sony ULT Tower 7 review: App Image 1 of 2 (Image credit: Sony / Tom's Guide) You’ll need to download the Sony Sound Connect app on either iOS or Android if you want to customize your Sony ULT Tower 7. The app is extremely easy to use and everything is signposted clearly. You get extensive control over the Tower 7’s LED lighting and 10-band equalizer, to name a couple.All three of Sony’s ULT Tower speakers, including the Tower 7, have a Party Pad function within the app. This lets you trigger live audio effects, like a flanger or sampler, while playing music, performing karaoke, or playing live. It lets you add DJ-style effects, like robot, drums, rhythm, audience voices, and more.The Sony Sound Connect app is much more impressive than the Marshall Bromley 450’s and the Soundboks Mix’s, as their companion apps don’t give you a lot of control of their settings and features.Sony ULT Tower 7 review: Battery life (Image credit: Tom's Guide)A compelling reason to buy the Sony ULT Tower 7 over the Tower 5 is the longer battery life. The Tower 7 runs on either a power supply from an AC outlet or on its built-in rechargeable battery, which is rated for up to 30 hours. That’s 10 more hours over the Tower 5. The Tower 7 trumps the JBL PartyBox 330 which is rated for just 18 hours, but it falls short of the Marshall Bromley 450’s and the Soundboks Mix’s 40-hour playback times.Of course, how much power the speaker consumes depends on the Tower 7’s settings and features, like the LED lighting, EQ presets and volume. I listened at varying volume levels with different presets toggled, and after four hours of testing, I had 80% battery left. Like on the Tower 5 and Tower Max, Stamina mode can be activated via the dedicated button at the back, and this disables power-hungry features to prolong battery life.Similar to the Tower 5, the Marshall Bromley 450 and the Soundboks Mix, you can use the Tower 7’s USB-C or USB-A ports to charge your smartphone, laptop or other devices.Sony ULT Tower 7 review: Verdict (Image credit: Tom's Guide)The Sony ULT Tower 7 is an absolute blast of a party speaker. Is it perfect? Not quite, as it’s awkward to wheel around and the 360° sound isn’t that immersive. But the ground-shaking bass, distortion-free sound at all volume levels, and massive audio scale make those minor grievances fade into the background.You also get 30 hours of battery life with the Tower 7, as well as extensive connectivity options for mics, instruments and DJ turntables. It’s a two-in-one karaoke machine and party speaker. For just under $650, the Tower 7 is on par with its pricier rivals, and in some cases, it even outshines a few of them, like the Soundboks Mix. If you want high-energy, impactful sound that keeps the party alive all weekend, the Tower 7 is a standout choice. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Alternatively, you can read our content on the Tom's Guide app available now for iOS and Android. Nikita is a Senior Writer on the Reviews team at Tom's Guide. She's a lifelong gaming and photography enthusiast, always on the lookout for the latest tech. Having worked as a Sub Editor and Writer for Canon EMEA, she has interviewed photographers from all over the world and working in different genres.When she’s not working, Nikita can usually be found sinking hours into RPGs on her PS5, flying a drone (she's a licensed drone pilot), at a concert, or watching F1. Her work has appeared in several publications including Motor Sport Magazine, NME, Marriott Bonvoy, The Independent, and Metro. You can follow her photography account on Instagram here. You must confirm your public display name before commenting Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.