Hi Sonos team,
I wanted to send a quick note now that I’ve switched to the Sonos Ace — and first, sincerely, congratulations on such an impressive first-generation headphone. The comfort, noise canceling, sound quality, build, and overall polish are excellent. I’m genuinely pleased I made the jump.
There is, however, one small UX feature that I deeply miss from my previous Jabra headphones, and it’s the only thing keeping the Ace from feeling perfect for me:
Press-and-hold Volume Up → Skip to Next Track
Press-and-hold Volume Down → Skip to Previous Track
This gesture became second nature over years of use. It’s intuitive, requires almost no precision, and works reliably in every situation — while walking, traveling, or listening in bed. I never had to think about it.
By contrast, the traditional double- and triple-tap method, while familiar, feels clunkier and much less reliable in practice. A double-tap can sometimes be misregistered, and a triple-tap — especially on over-ear headphones — is surprisingly hard to execute consistently. It demands a level of timing and finger precision that really breaks the sense of effortless control.
A long-press, on the other hand, is unmistakable. It’s deliberate, ergonomic, and works without visual confirmation or careful finger choreography.
And importantly:
On over-ear headphones, there’s virtually no real use case for a long-hold on the volume rocker to rapidly slam the volume up or down. Volume changes are inherently gradual and intentional. This means the long-press gesture is “empty real estate” — a perfect opportunity for a more natural, more reliable skip control.
If you were to add an option in the Sonos app to enable long-press track skipping, it would elevate the Ace from “excellent” to “exceptional” for me. I’ll be candid: I moved from Jabra to Sonos because the Ace does almost everything better. But this one missing gesture is the only moment where I feel even a hint of regret — and I would love to eliminate that entirely.
Thank you for listening, and for building such a thoughtful product. I hope this feedback is helpful, and I’d be thrilled to see this feature added in a future firmware update.
Best,
Mike
