It’s a normal Sunday afternoon, my family is playing WWE 2K24 on the PlayStation 5. Afternoon turns into evening and they’re still at it. And, before I know it the endless punches and knockouts and crowd cheer and jibes have gotten the best of me. I can no longer stand the electronic noise that drowned out all else in the living room, and in my brain, going by the way it feels! That’s when I remember I’ve got just the perfect gadget in my bag. The Sony BRAVIA Theater U, a wearable neckband unlike anything I’d tried so far. It promises personalised spatial audio without drowning out the world around you.
Design & Comfort
The form factor of the Sony BRAVIA Theater U is fairly unique. It’s U-shaped with speakers resting on the sides of your neck. The wireless neckband weighs about 271 grams and when I tried it for the first time, it felt a tad heavy. I must say this is a very subjective experience. I generally have a “sensitive” neck and feel the weight of accessories quite early into donning them. However, thankfully, I’m able to pry away the speakers on each end as they lay quite broadly on either side, away from my neckline and closer to my shoulders.
Controls
There are physical controls on both sides of the neckbands. On the right, there’s the power button, which also doubles up as the Bluetooth button for pairing devices. This is alongside a microphone off, which also doubles up for the “add a speaker” function. The raised tactile icons for each control make it easy to tweak volume and access other functions without having to look at the device.
Acoustics
The Sony BRAVIA Theater U wireless does manage to deliver immersive sound that is spatially-perceptible compared to earbuds and headphones, even the higher-end ones. I first paired it with my MacBook Pro to listen to some music while working. I streamed Marconi Union’s Weightless, which had a calming effect on me. The neckband is built with full-range speakers that direct sound upward towards the ears and two downward-facing openings that relay sound towards your shoulders.
With movies and TV shows, my experience was a bit of a mixed bag. On the plus side, I could watch shows with the volume really low, and other members in my household barely heard the audio. On the downside, I noticed that it doesn’t do justice to bass. It’s really good with dialogues and separating background sound effects, such as the crackle of a lightbulb in a horror movie or the rumble of a heavy wooden gate being opened.
A surprising use case for the Theater U was listening to calming instrumental tracks with a sitar or just the violin/flute. I also loved the fact that I could just leave it on my desk and continue listening to music, when I no longer felt like “wearing” it. The Theatre U gets brownie points for being able to connect to two devices simultaneously, and I generally had it connected to my laptop and the TV.
Battery
The brand promises about 12 hours of battery life on the Sony BRAVIA Theater U, and the device lives up to the claim. With the volume mostly hovering around the midway mark, it would go on for 3-4 days before I had to put it on charge again. The device also supports quick charging, providing 60 minutes of playtime with just a 10-minute charge but takes much longer to charge fully. It is also IPX4 rated, and thus fairly splashproof although you don’t want to take it underwater with you.
Verdict
The Sony BRAVIA Theater U is a fairly unique product — an increasing rarity in the consumer tech world. Hence, it’s also important to note that it has very specific use cases. The device is for you if you hate wearing earbuds or headphones for long hours. It’s also for people who can’t afford to tune out what’s happening at home — say, you have children or pets and you shouldn’t really be drowning out all noise for the sake of their safety, then this would be a great choice. If you’re someone who loved the closed-off experience of earbuds and headphones, this one may not be for you. As a product, the BRAVIA Theater U offers a tonne of positive experiences, given the limitations of its form factor. It does provide a fairly immersive acoustic experience, although it doesn’t necessarily do justice to bass. It also offers the flexibility to be as personal an experience you want it to be or a more shared experience as a speaker.
