Sonos is already one of the biggest names in home speakers, with their pioneering multiroom speaker tech really putting them on the map very early on. That success has continued to this day with the outfit’s line of wireless speakers and soundbars being some of the most popular around. This time, the outfit is entering an entirely new category with the Sonos Ace headphones.
That’s right, Sonos is making wireless headphones now and it’s a premium model looking to compete with the top-end offerings from Apple, Sony, and Bose, among others. From sound quality and premium construction to active noise cancellation and all sorts of contemporary features, this thing looks set to take on the big players in the space.
The Sonos Ace is equipped with custom-designed 40mm dynamic drivers that, the outfit claims, has been “engineered and tuned by the most discerning ears in the industry.” Sonos claims their audio components deliver distortion-free playback with the most balanced sound profile, so we have pretty high hopes for these headphones’ overall sound performance. It has a ported acoustic architecture that supposedly enhances the bass response and delivers optimum low-frequency extension, exposing the full richness and depth in every piece of recorded audio you play.
WIreless connectivity is provided by a Bluetooth 5.4 chip, with support for SBC and AAC codecs. Lossless streaming is available via Bluetooth and USB-C, so you can use it enjoy your favorite high-res recordings, both from your own collection and your favorite lossless streaming services. For home theater use, it gets spatial audio with height channels via Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 Reality Audio, as well as the Intelligent Motion Processing with Dolby Head Tracking tech that keeps the sound anchored to the screen, regardless of your head’s position, creating an overall more immersive viewing experience. If you use Sonos soundbars, it even supports an audio swap feature that lets you swap audio output from one to another.
The Sonos Ace comes with active noise cancellation (ANC), which you can activate to block out external sounds that can interfere with your listening experience, with an Aware mode that blends some external ambient sounds with whatever’s playing to maintain situational awareness of your surroundings. A total of eight beamforming microphones are onboard to facilitate both the noise canceling and voice targeting functions.
A 1060 mAh battery provides up to 30 hours of listening time with ANC enabled, so this can even run far longer if you keep ANC turned off. It supports rapidc harging, too, which can fill it with three hours’ worth of juice in just three minutes of plugging in. Other features include AUX support using a USB-C to 3.5mm audio cable, vegan leather-wrapped earcups with memory foam ear pads, a stainless steel headband, wear detection (automatic pause and play modes), multipoint Bluetooth, and a durable travel case with a detachable pouch for the cables. Sadly, there’s no water-resistance rating, so make sure to avoid getting this wet, as there’s no guarantee it can continue to function if that happens.
The Sonos Ace ships on June 5. It’s now available for preorder, priced at $449.