Sonos Open House recap: Sonos 27, Beam Ultra, Sonos Ace Ultra and everything else we announced today
Hey everyone 👋
Today was a big one. Like, "someday I'll tell people I was there" big. We just wrapped Sonos Open House, and I want to put the whole thing in one place for anyone who wants the recap without the stagecraft. Grab a coffee, this one's worth the read. ☕
TL;DR: We gave our software platform a name: Sonos 27, the audio operating system for the home. Two new products, Beam Ultra and Sonos Ace Ultra, are up for pre-order today and on sale September 29. Portable surrounds are available starting September 8 and Sonos 27mcp lands in Early Access the same day. Headphone linking hits Early Access September 29. Sonos 27voice arrives this fall. And yes, the app updates you've been asking for are in there too.
The big picture 🖼️
For 20+ years, people have thought of us as a speaker company. Fair enough, we make a lot of speakers. But the thing that actually makes Sonos work is the system underneath, the software that lets a soundbar, a portable, and a pair of headphones all act like one thing. Today we finally gave that system a name and are releasing an updated version for this year called: Sonos 27.
Under the hood is something we call Sonos Fabric. Short version: it's how every Sonos product in your home finds its peers, figures out where each one is standing, and stitches them together.
New hardware 🔊🎧
Beam Ultra. Nine drivers, two of them up-firing, delivering 7.1.2 Dolby Atmos from a midsize soundbar. Redesigned center channel plus four levels of AI Speech Enhancement, because dialogue clarity is the single most requested thing we hear. Pre-orders open today, on sale everywhere September 29.
Sonos Ace Ultra. Our next-gen headphones. Ten-mic array with twice the noise canceling of the original Ace at the frequencies that matter most, 35 hours of battery with ANC on, and a 3-minute charge gets you 3 more hours. Adaptive EQ tunes them to your fit every time you put them on. Four colors, including a new one called Agave. Same dates: pre-order today, on sale September 29.
The two new Fabric tricks ✨
Portable surrounds. Grab a Move 2 or a Sonos Play from wherever it lives, set it down behind your couch, and about ten seconds later it's a rear surround in a full Atmos setup. No app, no settings menu. The speakers sense they've moved, use ultrasonic pulses to find the soundbar, sort out which one is left and which is right, and link up on their own low-latency mesh. Movie night ends, you carry them back, they go right back to their day jobs. Rolling out September 8 for Beam Ultra, Arc Ultra, Arc, and Beam (Gen 2).
Headphone linking. Sonos Ace Ultra can join your Sonos system directly over WiFi. Press a button on the earcup and the music playing on the speaker next to you moves into your headphones. Press again near another speaker and it jumps back to out loud. You can also control your headphones and choose content using the Sonos app. No Bluetooth pairing, no phone required. Early Access on September 29 for Ace Ultra owners with at least one compatible Sonos speaker.
The app 📲
I want to be straight with you on this one: a lot of what's in Sonos 27app exists because of feedback from this community. The team has been reading, and it shows.
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Tabbed navigation (Home / System / Search) becomes the default for everyone this fall, after rolling out in Early Access all summer
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Pin your favorite rooms to the top of the System tab. Large-system folks, this one's for you
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A proper iPad experience with a new Now Playing view
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A virtual volume knob: drop two fingers anywhere on screen and twist. Try it once and you'll get it
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Presets that save a whole vibe (music, rooms, volume levels) and bring it back in one tap
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On iPhone: Lock Screen controls, Live Activity, Dynamic Island support, and App Intents so Sonos works with Siri and Shortcuts
Some of these are already available in the app today. Others will be rolling out across fall.
Sonos 27voice 🗣️
A new voice experience built for how people actually talk about music. Vague descriptions, changed minds, "play music from the rap group that opened for Linkin Park back when they toured in 2002" and it lands on the right track (Cypress Hill). It handles the everyday stuff fast and locally, and reaches for a bigger model only when the question calls for it. No subscription. Launching this fall in Early Access, English first with more languages to follow.
Sonos 27mcp and Custom Agents 🤖
If you already have an AI you like (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, something you run yourself), Sonos 27mcp lets it discover and control your Sonos system through the open Model Context Protocol. Ask your assistant to find something new and play it in the office without ever leaving the conversation. Early Access starts September 8 - detail to come on how to get in.
And then there's Sonos Custom Agents. Build your own agents, each with its own summon phrase, voice, personality, and choice of model behind it, all living in the same speaker. Tom demoed a French chef, a music curator, and a trivia agent side by side. It's a Technology Preview today, with the full product planned for 2027.
The dates, all in one place 📅
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Today: Beam Ultra and Ace Ultra pre-orders open
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September 8: Portable surrounds + Sonos 27mcp (Early Access)
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September 29: Beam Ultra and Ace Ultra on sale, headphone linking Early Access
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This fall: Sonos 27voice Early Access, Sonos 27app navigation becomes default
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I've been at Sonos since 2017, and today felt different. Naming the system after 20+ years of building it matters, and so does the fact that this community's fingerprints are all over the software side of it.
As always, I'll be in the comments. Questions about dates, compatibility, Early Access, whatever - drop them below and I'll get you answers. And if not, I'll flag anything I can't answer to the right team and report back here.