It sounds as though Ace connects to ‘compatible soundbars’ (=ARC) via wifi, with this possibly being extended to Beam later.

Wierd. So if I want to go down the garden with ACE headphones I should be able to connect them (eventually when the updates catch up) via my gen 1 Beam in the back room, and stream music from there? There is much debate as to whether this ‘bonding to the soundbar’ requires active participation form a phone and THE app… Currently far to much of a pig in a poke to experiment with, methinks.

Very classy design with bizarre use profile - some might say bonkers

It seems these headphones ‘that everyone was asking for’ are the same as the app ‘that everyone was asking for’……a massive letdown. 

I’m a retired techie with a Dilbert-like mistrust of marketing types. I guess it boils down to ‘this is what we’ve managed to create so far, so rush it to market and now try to persuade the customers and prospects that this is the Emperor’s new clothes’ then apply sticking plaster patches to the deepest wounds.

I would add that a fully functioning wifi headphone player would possibly render the rest of the Sonos system obsolete unless playing for more than one listener and/or upsetting the neighbours… I do smile as the £45 offer for buying a pair of Aces - a perfect image of today’s isolated society!

I *really* had hoped they’d be able to act like a “room”. That would be their defining feature. As it is, the idea they can beam the sound via the soundbar to the product is nothing new - the Apple TV’s all allow me to send the audio to the Apple family of headphones (Beats included) at the press of a button or play via the soundbar. 
 

I’m a little fed up of tech companies saying they’ll “listen to feedback” before launching features.  Innovation seems dead - it’s just regurgitating what everyone else is doing. Sonos has an ecosystem and 
loyal fan base so why not leverage your USP instead of hoping you’ll be better than people who have been doing it for years. 
 

I was hanging on to see if they did the room capability but as they don’t I shall be getting the AirPods Max. They work with Apple things seamlessly of course and are the same price, and they offer me nothing more or less in terms of my Sonos setup. Sonos has missed a trick so I’ll go with tried and tested. 

No integration with my Sonos system !!!!!!!

We’ve all been waiting for headphones we can add to our Sonos systems like any other Sonos speaker product.

These new Ace headphones are just fancy bluetooth headphones - no better than Sony or Bose.

First the app upgrade disaster and now headphones that won’t work as part of an existing Sonos system.

Ridiculous!

It’s a “no purchase” from me! 

(Credit Reddit)

I have to agree with you Mathew, I was expecting much more from Sonos in regards to the Ace headphones. I will not be dashing out to purchase especially at the quoted  $699  Australian dollars and this on top of the S2 update debacle that I am still struggling with.

I had imagined that Sonos headphones would be part of my system and let me seamlessly and via WiFi be able to listen to either music or telly via the headphones without a reliance on my phone - right now I bluetooth onto the telly and its a bit of a fiddle to get it to work with me having to manually reduce the telly volume so its not seamless - I was hoping for headphones that Id just pick up put on and have the telly audio be adopted seamlessly - I have an older Playbase/Play1 system - this is not the case for me is it… these will just be a set of good headphones exactly like my Sony over the ear or buds… wont it… so not offer any closer integration into my Sonos system that covers all the rooms in my house - is it also the case that any audio I listen to on the Sonos headphones will be via the phone and so not direct from source via WiFi

Does anyone think that this closer phone less integration will be something that will be added in the future or have I missunderstood.

It’s still unclear to me - do the headphones allow you to listen to music via the arc? Say for example:

My Five is connected to my turntable and playing a record. I connect the Arc to the Five. Can I now get the turntable’s audio out of the Ace by connecting them to the Arc? 

From what I’ve read it seems you can only get TV audio out of the Ace but it’s all a bit confusing. 

The way I read it is that the headphones can be registered as an adjunct to the Arc (like a set of surround sound additional Play:1s), and as such become part of the Room that the Arc is attached to. Therfore anything you play through that room *should* be redirectable to the headphones via Wifi… Normally this would be the attached TV, but I presume that playing music to that room could be redirected.

bogus

I have the same question, but have not seen a definitive answer.  I don’t understand why Ace would only be able to get TV audio via an Arc.

Because that is what the code they have written so far can do.

Looking at all the information they have published Ace looks like a Sonos platform with Bluetooth and WiFi comms. Expect the capabilities to expand as they update the code that runs on Ace. The integration with Arc will be to show off Spatial Audio.

In 12 to 1 months Ace could have lots more options for connecting o Sonos and playing music.

Sonos Rep Marco B says that it is limited to TV Audio at leas that’s what I think he’s saying.

https://en.community.sonos.com/product-updates/the-long-awaited-first-headphones-sonos-ace-6894915/index7.html?postid=9061#post9061

It’s still unclear to me - do the headphones allow you to listen to music via the arc? Say for example:

My Five is connected to my turntable and playing a record. I connect the Arc to the Five. Can I now get the turntable’s audio out of the Ace by connecting them to the Arc? 

From what I’ve read it seems you can only get TV audio out of the Ace but it’s all a bit confusing. 

 

Sonos Rep Marco B says that it is limited to TV Audio at leas that’s what I think he’s saying.

https://en.community.sonos.com/product-updates/the-long-awaited-first-headphones-sonos-ace-6894915/index7.html?postid=9061#post9061

 

That’s too bad. The Ace headphones don’t seem to offer much over AirPods Max right now. I’ll wait to see if they get more features via software/firmware updates in the future.

I would not count on Ace getting any new features that have not already been promised. Particularly with the currently backlog of already features added back into the app and promised for Ace.

+1

That is what any sensible person that values his money would do - wait to see if features promised today by Sonos are delivered and work to expectations.

It seems that people are buying them regardless, trusting Sonos will fulfil their expectations as and when the promises are kept. That thinking seems to me to be from another universe, like a cult following.

I also understand that not all will see the effect on their wallet the same way.

They will likely release a software update down the line for the headphones to disable the pause button. Sonos loves the bait and switch with their products. 

Geez, y’all need to do some research before just piling on with the hate. They apparently integrate pretty seamlessly (one button-push) with the Arc to deliver surround sound - and full Dolby Atmos at that - to the headphones. And yes, it uses Bluetooth. If it didn’t y’all would be saying “What, I can’t play music from my phone? And I have to be connected to my wi-fi? That sux!” Look at potential use cases and they are likely (1) for quality sound when you’re out and about, and (2) personal surround when watching TV without disturbing the rest of the house. Both delivered. I’m sure treating them as another ‘speaker’ in your Sonos system will be coming, but ‘required day 1’? Probably not the most important thing. Now, I’m not a Sonos apologist (and the new app absolutely sucks b*lls) but damn, get some perspective here.

Any skepticism is more than reasonable given the current app debacle. The headphones appear attractive, and although I have yet to actually see and hold them, physically speaking, they look to be sleek and really professionally well built.  But no wifi integration with the sonos architecture?  Can’t directly stream music?  Of all the features, that was the most anticipated (and not unreasonably so, given how many years this product debut has been expected).  And no ability for multiple headphone users to stream simultaneously?  And a bunch of vague statements from the CEO about potential future updates?  Look, I wouldn’t be surprised if eventually the headphone prove to be nice additions to the product lineup.  With a bit of a track record and some additional features, I may by a pair.  But for $450 out of the gate for the limited case use (spoiler alert: of course, at a bare minimum, we would expect atmos from arc), i mean, c’mon, man, recognize Windows 95 when its staring you in the face.