The wifi hi-fi maker Sonos has finally released its much-anticipated first set of headphones, the Ace, which combine the best elements from Bose, Apple and other high-end rivals with supreme comfort, sleek styling and a killer party trick for owners of the company’s soundbars.
The hi-tech noise-cancelling headphones cost an eye-watering £449 (€499/$449/A$699) and rub shoulders at the top of the market with a range of extremely accomplished competitors such as the Bose QuietComfort Ultra, Sennheiser’s Momentum 4 and Apple’s AirPods Max.
The Ace are pleasingly smooth and understated with plush but slim ear cups that don’t stick out very far from the sides of your head. The headband has two types of foam with a softer bit right at the apex to relieve pressure on the ridge at the top of your skull, similar to the Sennheisers.
A hidden hinge provides plenty of adjustment while stopping hair getting trapped in the mechanism, similar to the AirPods Max. They are very comfortable even for extended listening sessions and stay put when moving about without clamping on your head too tightly.
The left ear cup has a power button and a USB-C port, which is used for charging and wired listening using either USB or the included USB-C to 3.5mm cable. The right ear cup has a noise-cancelling control button and an excellent sliding button that takes care of volume and playback controls.
The battery lasted several hours longer than the 30 hours they are rated for during testing via Bluetooth with noise cancelling active, or about 14.5 hours when connected to the Arc soundbar, which is more than long enough for most. A full charge takes about three hours, rapidly hitting 10% in just three minutes for up to three hours of playback.
Specifications
Weight: 312g
Dimensions: 191 x 160 x 85mm
Drivers: 40mm
Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.4 with multipoint, wifi, USB-C audio and charging
Bluetooth codecs: SBC, AAC, aptX Adaptive with Lossless
Battery life: 30+ hours with ANC over Bluetooth
Bluetooth, wifi or USB-C listening
The Ace have Bluetooth 5.4 and support the standard SBC and AAC audio formats, the higher-quality aptX Adaptive that is compatible with many Android and Windows devices, plus lossless aptX playback if you have one of the small handful of phones that supports it.
They can connect to two Bluetooth devices at once, seamlessly switching between them, such as calls on a phone and movies on a tablet. They can also play lossless music via USB-C for the highest quality sound from Androids, iPhones, tablets, computers and other devices, charging while they play.
The Ace have wifi to connect directly to one of Sonos’s soundbars for a personal cinema sound experience, but they cannot be grouped with the company’s other speakers to stream music around the home via wifi.
Quality sound from any source
Whichever way you connect the Ace, they are some of the very best-sounding headphones you can buy, producing the sort of quality audio that reveals new details in your favourite tracks. They are very well judged, with the same balanced audio that Sonos’s best speakers are known for. They are able to hit really deep notes when needed while producing warm mids and detailed highs with the sort of nuance across multiple genres you should expect at this price.
An equaliser in the Sonos app can adjust bass, treble and balance, but even so, those after bass above all else will have to look elsewhere.
The Ace also support Dolby’s spatial audio tech with head-tracking creating a surround sound experience, which gives stereo music depth without sounding hollow but comes into its own when watching films and TV shows with Atmos soundtracks.
Unlike most rivals, the tech works with any device or content, making it sound like the surround speakers are anchored in space around you even when you turn your head. The system recentres itself if you face one particular direction for about seven seconds, and is smart enough to suspend the head tracking if you’re moving around a lot, such as walking.
TV swap
Sonos’s ace in the hole is the ability to stream audio from its soundbars to the headphones at the touch of a button with a feature called “TV swap”.
The soundbar processes the audio from the TV fed into its HDMI port before sending it to the headphones via wifi at the touch of a button. That means it can be used with anything connected to your TV, including movies and TV, set-top boxes such as Sky Stream, or games consoles.
The system worked flawlessly producing one of the best surround-sound experiences with head tracking, making it the ultimate solution for anyone with a Sonos soundbar who wants to continue listening to a booming movie soundtrack without disturbing others.
There are a couple of caveats, however. Only one set of headphones can be connected to each soundbar at the same time. The feature only works with the controversial new iPhone or iPad Sonos app at launch, meaning Android users can’t set it up yet. It also needs the top-tier Arc to start with, but support for the rest of the company’s more affordable soundbars is due in the near future. A feature capable of recreating the acoustics of your actual room for a super-realistic home cinema experience is also promised.
Noise cancelling
The Ace also have very good noise–cancelling that is available for all listening modes and rivals class-leader Bose for its ability to dampen sounds of the commute or office. Rumbles, roars and other low tones are effectively suppressed, while higher tones such as chatter or keyboard taps are quietened better than many rivals. The awareness mode is excellent, second only to the AirPods Max in natural sound, though high notes such as the jangling of keys or the rubbing of a waterproof jacket come through louder than reality.
Call quality is very good, sounding pretty natural in both quiet and loud environments with only a little bit of background noise leaking through to the other end of the call, though wind noise was audible. The onboard mics can be used when wired listening with a USB-C cable as well as via Bluetooth.
Sustainability
The Ace are generally repairable by Sonos. The company commits to a minimum of five years’ software support for feature updates after it stops selling a product but has a track record of much longer, including bug and security fixes for its legacy products. The battery should last for at least 500 full charge cycles and will be replaceable via an out-of-warranty service.
The speaker contains 17% recycled plastic. Sonos offers trade-in and product recycling and publishes product environmental impact reports.
Price
The Sonos Ace cost £449 (€499/$449/A$699).
For comparison, the Bose QuiteComfort Ultra cost £450, the Beats Studio Pro cost £350, Sony WH-1000XM5 cost £279, the Sennheiser Momentum 4 cost £309.99 and the Apple AirPods Max cost £499.
Verdict
Sonos’s first set of headphones are a very long time in coming, but they are worth the wait. The company has clearly learned from rivals, combining elements from each of the top models on the market to make an excellent set of wireless headphones.
The Ace are slim, sleek and supremely comfortable. You can connect them via Bluetooth, USB or a headphones cable. They combine near Bose-level noise cancelling with Sennheiser-level sound quality, long battery life, excellent controls and cross-platform immersive audio.
But the killer feature for owners of Sonos soundbars is TV swap. Nothing else delivers quite like them, producing full private cinema sound at a touch of a button without waking the rest of the home. Unfortunately it only works with the company’s top Arc soundbar and the iPhone or iPad app at launch, so Android users miss out for now, something Sonos promises to fix soon.
With easily removed ear cushions and a battery that can be replaced via service, they should last a long time with a bit of care, too. Which is good, because they are very expensive, matching the costliest of rivals. They also do not fold up for travel and are about 60g heavier than the lightest.
For Sonos fans looking for a set of top-quality headphones for home and the road, the Ace are a no-brainer. But they also deserve to be on any list alongside high-end rivals from Bose, Sennheiser and Sony, even if Android users should wait.
Pros: sleek design, very comfortable, top-class noise cancelling and fantastic sound, spatial audio, great Bluetooth multi-point and aptX Adaptive/Lossless support, cross-platform companion app, can be used with USB-C or included 3.5mm cable, TV swap, battery can be replaced.
Cons: very expensive, do not fold up for travel, mics cannot be used with 3.5mm cable, 312g, cannot be used without battery power, no TV swap with Android at launch.
