Sonos Ace Review: This Has Been A Long Time Coming!

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91%

91%

• Sound

  10
• Design

  8
• Comfortability

  9
• Size and Weight

  10
• Connectivity

  9
• Power

  9
• Price

  9
• User Ratings (1 Votes)
  9.3

Sonos has, finally, made a pair of headphones.

I say “finally”, but I genuinely hadn’t thought about the prospect until the rumours started surfacing a few months ago. But when I heard that one of my favourite home audio brands was possibly working on a pair of cans, it suddenly all made sense.

The Sonos Ace are, apparently, Sonos’ most requested product. We know that because they keep telling us so in the marketing for the new headphones.

As you might expect, they’re not cheap, they offer integration with the Sonos ecosystem (although possibly not in the way you’re expecting), and they have some stiff competition.

I want to review Sonos Ace in a slightly different way. I’ll cover how they integrate with their fellow products, of course, but I know a lot of you just want to know if they’re a decent pair of headphones. That’s what matters to me, anyway.

I was lucky enough to sample Sonos Ace during a private briefing in London a few weeks back, but I’ve had a pair in my hands and on my head for the last week, and I’ve been giving them a hammering.

Sonos Ace specs and pricing

Sonos Ace have 40mm custom dynamic drivers and eight mics for noise control and voice targeting. They feature Spatial Audio, Dolby Atmos support, and can accept lossless audio.

They also have dynamic head tracking and introduce a feature called TV Audio Swap, which enables you to swap the sound output from your Sonos Arc soundbar to the headphones.

Bluetooth 5.4 takes care of data transmission and the battery provides up to 30 hours of playback with noise cancellation turned on.

You can order them now for delivery in June and they cost a suitably Sonos-priced £449.

Design, comfort, case, and controls

Sonos Ace do look very similar to AirPods Max, as many people have noted in the comments sections of my preview posts. However, get them in your hands, and you realise they’re far more like a regular pair of headphones than Apple’s elaborately designed cans.

They are also much lighter than Apple’s headphones. This aids the comfort factor, which is considerably impressive on Sonos Ace. These are an extremely comfortable pair of headphones to use for long periods.

Sonos has recognised that the peak of discomfort with headphones typically originates from the top of your head, which is why the headband features two layers of foam. It works. And I’m follically challenged.

The ‘yoke’ (this is the hinge that enables the cup to move around) is hidden within the ear cup to stop jewellery and hair from getting caught, and Sonos has also worked on what it calls the ‘directionality’ of the headphones to ensure they’re easy to place on your head correctly. This extends to colour-coded mesh inside the replaceable ear cups to signify left and right. In practice, it takes a few days to get used to the configuration of the headphones, but that’s no big deal.

Regardless, I think Sonos Ace look suitably upmarket and premium, which is important, given the price point. They’re very well made, too; there’s an anti-fingerprint coating that works well on my white review unit, and everything feels taut, robust, and very Sonos.

The case is great, too. Sonos calls it “inarguably good”, which is a big call. It’s a big case, too, but I’m a fan of the material, which is soft fabric (how that holds up over time remains to be seen). There are just two annoyances – the zip cord gets wedged in the tracks of the zip, and ‘Sonos’ looks the same regardless of orientation, which means you often pick up the case upside down. These are small gripes, though – the Sonos Ace case does at least protect your expensive cans, which is its main job.

When it comes to controls, we have real buttons. Sonos told us that they wanted to rely on the confidence people have with real switches and buttons – I’m a big fan of that, and it reveals why touch controls remain a questionable choice for headphones.

The controls on Sonos Ace are great, too. The content button, which is used for volume and play controls, is made from stainless steel and feels great to the touch, and there are also power and noise cancelling buttons – both of which are just as satisfying to press. I’m really glad Sonos spent a decent amount of time on this part of its research.

What do Sonos Ace sound like?

Ok, onto sound – this is what matters for me when it comes to how well the Sonos Ace justify their lofty price tag.

Good news – they do. Big time.

The Sonos Ace are the first headphones in quite a while I’ve not even thought about needing to EQ. Just like all Sonos gear I’ve used and owned, they sound brilliant straight out of the box.

They basically sound like a pair of Sonos speakers strapped to your head. For the uninitiated, that means they’re very full-sounding with loads of body, without being boomy, boxy, or too bassy.

Like Sonos speakers, the Sonos Ace headphones have so much character. They’re fun to listen to, exciting, and deal very well with pretty much any genre. They’re bright without being too harsh and there’s plenty of low-end stuff going on without it dominating the experience.

Sonos Ace sound miles better than AirPods Max, but they’re also unique enough to stand proudly alongside the likes of the Bowers & Wilkins Px8. Compared to the likes of the Sony XM5, they are light years ahead – it’s not even a competition.

The Sonos Ace are just so much fun to listen to. They’re a pair of headphones I look forward to putting on my head, and this hasn’t happened for quite some time. Remember – I get to try a lot of headphones.

When it comes to telephone calls, they work brilliantly, thanks largely to the transparency mode (which I’ll get to in a second) and the fact that I’ve had no issues with either party hearing one another.

Sonos Ace noise cancelling

The noise-cancelling performance on Sonos Ace is very good. They’re as good as the best headphones on the market in that regard – including the Sony XM5. There’s absolutely no audible hiss, and they don’t feel oppressive. That’s all we need from noise cancelling on headphones.

Transparency mode, which is when the outside world is let in at the press of a button, is very good too – not far off AirPods Max which remain the best out there for that task.

If one of your main considerations is noise cancelling, you’re going to be chuffed with Sonos Ace.

Sonos Ace and Arc

When I heard the rumours about Sonos releasing a pair of headphones, I assumed they would appear as another device on the Sonos network to which you can stream audio, just like any other Sonos speaker. That isn’t the case. I can’t work out if that’s a miss or not just yet, but Sonos has integrated the Ace into its system in a rather unique way.

According to Sonos’ research, up to 80% of people use over-ear headphones to watch movies at home. That’s presumably why they’ve put so much effort into integrating the Sonos Ace with the Arc soundbar.

At this juncture, I must note that it is only the Sonos Arc that works with the Sonos Ace at the moment. We’re told compatibility will widen at some point to support other Sonos soundbars, but there’s no word on when that’ll happen.

Sonos wanted to create a listening experience that feels like there’s a 3D sound system in your room even when there isn’t. It does this by sending head motion data via WiFi to the soundbar which then renders the audio and uses Spatial Audio in the cans to create a huge sound stage.

It’s super simple to set up, too, in typical Sonos fashion. You just set up the Sonos Ace in your Sonos app, and turn on TV Audio Swap. This uses something called TrueCinema which maps the space in your room and then renders a digital surround sound system for the headphones.

Sonos realised they could measure the room by playing sounds out of the soundbar to adapt the Spatial Audio experience based on the results. The process takes about a minute and leaves the user with nothing more to do than simply long-press the Sonos Ace content button to switch the audio from the Arc to the headphones.

It sounds superb. The space created by TrueCinema feels bigger than what I’ve experienced with AirPods Max, and the sound profile of the Sonos Ace suits movie and TV playback perfectly. Head tracking does a brilliant job of keeping everything in place and the Dolby Atmos support is tangible.

There are just two caveats. The first is the aforementioned Arc-only support which will disappoint owners of Sonos’ other soundbars. That’s a waiting game, I’m afraid. The second caveat is that this is a solitary listening experience. At the moment you can’t connect two Sonos Ace to one soundbar. This may not come as a surprise, but it’s worth keeping in mind.

Conclusion

I started this review with a couple of very simple questions: are the Sonos Ace a great pair of headphones and do they justify the price?

The answer is: yes, on both accounts.

If you’ve already bought into Sonos, you’re used to spending above average on speakers and soundbars, and the good news is that Sonos Ace justify their price. The build quality, comfort, sound, noise cancelling, and attention to detail are second to none.

The Arc integration is genuinely impressive and a differentiator, but we do need that additional soundbar support.

As for the competition, the Sonos Ace sit perfectly on their own within a pricing bracket that needs justifying, and which is justified in this case.

That leaves me with one thing left to say: it’s over to you, Apple!

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