Allow you If you’re someone who loves movies and values that movie theater experience, but your living arrangements don’t always to enjoy that movie theater type audio, Sony has something here that you’re definitely going to want to check out.
This article is going over the specs and features and talk about why these are a worthwhile addition to your home theater or even just your everyday life. The design is not new; we’ve seen systems like this from other brands. Sony even had a previous version as well, but these are improved over what we’ve seen in the past. They’re a crescent shape that fits around your neck, and the band that goes around the back can be molded to the neck of the person wearing them, so they fit a wide variety of sizes.
Underneath, they have a padded rubberized material that sits comfortably on your shoulders and never feels heavy or awkward, no matter how long you’re wearing them. On the inside of the system, you’ll find controls for power and Bluetooth, volume, and a play call button. On the outside, there’s a little cap that you can open to expose a USB-C port for charging the battery, which provides up to 12 hours of use. Alternatively, using the included adapter, you can hardwire these to an audio source for low latency listening.
These also work with the Sony headphones app. Here, you can see what you’re listening to, adjust equalizers, check the battery life, run the 360 Reality Audio setup for an even more customized experience, and you can check your overall activity. Plus, they support multi-point connection for up to two devices. That means you could be watching a movie, and if your phone rings, you simply press a button on the headset and switch over to the call. Then, when you’re done, you just press that button again to get back to your movie.
Additionally, these can be paired up with another Theater U, so if you and your spouse want to watch a movie after the kids are in bed, you can do it easily. We’ve seen this option on headphones before, but a couple of advantages these have over headphones are: one, you can wear this for hours at a time, and your ears aren’t going to get hot like they would with over-the-ear headphones or even on-ear headphones; and two, you can hear everything going on around you. So, if you want to have a little conversation while you’re watching your movie, you can just turn and talk to the person next to you. You don’t have to worry about turning on an ambient mode or anything like that.
But these aren’t just for watching movies; you can use them while you’re working or studying, and with that low latency wired connection, they make a great option for gaming too. They even have an IPX4 rating for water resistance, so you can wear them during light workouts, like if you’re walking on a treadmill or maybe riding a stationary bike.
Now, let’s talk about the experience of using the Theater Us, which is a little tricky to describe. I felt like, after looking at the specs and reading Sony’s description of them, they were going to be a little gimmicky, but they were far from it. Sony calls these a wearable home theater, and that’s pretty darn accurate. It sort of feels like you have headphones on, but you don’t, and the sound really does seem like it’s coming from all around you, like you’re in a movie theater. The audio quality was impressive.
I tried these out watching the movie Baby Driver, and there’s a scene in the beginning where the character is driving a Subaru WRX. If you’re someone who’s into cars like myself, you’ve probably heard of something called the “Subie Rumble.” It’s a very distinct tone that some of their cars make, typically if you’re using an aftermarket exhaust. When that scene came on, you could not only hear that rumble very clearly, but you could feel it too. It was almost like you were sitting in the car with the actors. You truly get that sensation of space; even if your eyes were closed and you were just listening, you’d be able to visualize where everything was on the screen.
No, it’s not the same experience as listening to it on a full Atmos system, but for what they are, they’re extremely efficient—maybe even more so than if you were listening to the same movie on a good sound bar set to night mode, because these are right next to your ears. I really like these a lot.
Their use cases are going to be slightly more limited than headphones because people sitting near you may still be able to hear what you’re listening to at higher volumes. So, it’s not like you’d wear them on an airplane or use them for an intense workout. But for someone who doesn’t like wearing headphones at home or in the office, or anyone who’s tried to watch a movie at night without waking up their kids, you’ll definitely want to give these a try.
If you live in the Chicagoland area, make sure you stop by Apt and check them out in person. If you have any questions on the Bravia Theater U TV speaker, be sure to leave them down in the comments.
