Hi Kumar
A compatible Sonos soundbar will be a prerequisite, yes.
Right, I thought as much. But the surround/Atmos experience from the headphones has to be a lot more effective than just replicating that from the muted soundbar when the headphones are in use.
The big headache in a good HT from the time it became available decades ago, has been the need to install and wire speakers around the viewing area. Soundbars don't need that, for a lesser experience.
From what I read, the headphones should be able to replicate that wired HT experience. The only downside compared to a proper wired HT then is that the experience will not be a shared one.
First of all, @Marco.B these look absolutely fantastic and are everything that were rumored to be with even a few additions and albeit exceptions. I have been forgoing the Apple Max to await the launch of these and I am definitely not disappointed. Have a pair on order for the wife and I. Want to speak to a couple of the exceptions. One, disappointed that there aren’t “Roam/Apple Max” like colors. Black is fine, white will fade and yellow. Wanted something a little colorful to splash it up. Probably will be in 6 mos./year like the Roam did-but can’t wait. Two, the whole integration with the system. I understand why Bluetooth first, wifi second for a variety of reasons both technical and positioning wise but the ability to attach it to all of the Soundbars (later for non-Arc) for those of us that have them (I have some version with every tv in the house) it will be truly a life changing experience, especially if TrueCinema is as good as it says. Wondering if you have music service apps like Apple Music, Sirius XM and some of the others that are on the actual tv or a setup box like Apple TV if that will incorporate the same concept so that you can listen to music around the house. If so, the ability to “hot swap” between different soundbars would be fabulous. As far as the elephant in the room, the new app, it’s very short-sighted and tantrum like of everyone to say, “not ordering until they fix the app..” If you look at the roadmap on socials and here it appears that everything that is wanted to be fixed and returned will be completed before or shortly after these launch. It just seems like a reflection of the way social media society is right now-perpetual quick to complain; slow or ignore to compliment. That’s all right by me as it just means we get them sooner. Well done Sonos, can’t wait!
Hi @melvimbe
When the headphones are bonded to an Arc, will they be able to play audio that the Arc zone/room is playing regardless of source? I understand that they will play TV source, but if you are playing audio from a streaming source, aux input in another zone (turntable), or local library, will the headphones play that audio?
The linked-to soundbar must be actively playing the source for Ace to play too.
Ok, so if I’m understanding this correctly, I can set the Arc to play Sonos Radio, for example, then do the swap thing with Ace to have Sonos radio play through the Ace headphones.
If the headphones are playing audio, will the Arc and bonded speakers be able to play audio as well?
Only if Ace is playing from a Bluetooth source. If playing Arc’s audio, Arc will not play too.
Understood. This is somewhat unfurtunate as it means that a hard of hearing member of the family can’t listen to Ace while the rest hear audio through the Arc.
I see that Sonos is selling a bundled pair of headphones. Can 2 headphones be bonded to the same Arc?
No. We’ve conducted user research and learned the most common use case for wearing headphones with a home theater is for viewing content alone, so you don’t disturb others in your household. We’ll continue to learn how customers are using Sonos Ace and explore additional features over time.
Ok, the bundle seems a little odd then. I suppose it’s there for people with multiple home audio room or those who want to have a dedicated Ace for home theatre and anther for bluetooth only sources.
I’ve been waiting for SONOS to release a pair of headphones for years and they’re finally here! Just a couple of problems though:
- The app - it’s broken. No way I’m spending $450 when the app is broken
- They’re just bluetooth headphones. I had expected them to feature like any other speaker. You would see them in the app like any other speaker, add to a group etc., switch between speakers and headphones and so on. They would also connect via WiFi keep your phone as a controller rather than intrinsic to playing the music.
I’m not really sure why one would buy these over Bose/Sony etc. unless switching to/from Arc is a huge benefit.
Maybe I’d hyped these up over the years, but left a little underwhelmed 
I just ordered the headphones and quickly cancelled after seeing the confusion as to what products the headphones will connect to.
Sonos team - will the headphones be able to sync with the SONOS CONNECT AMP?
Sounds like the answer is no...but still not sure...Thought that was the whole point of the product to connect with current Sonos products
thank you
It states “Seamless switching with Arc.” Does this also work with Beam 2 or just the Arc?
First of all, @Marco.B these look absolutely fantastic and are everything that were rumored to be with even a few additions and albeit exceptions.
Did you miss the rumour that these would work as a sonos zone? Cause this was widely talked about and is a massive miss without it.
It states “Seamless switching with Arc.” Does this also work with Beam 2 or just the Arc?
Just Arc for now.
I just ordered the headphones and quickly cancelled after seeing the confusion as to what products the headphones will connect to.
Sonos team - will the headphones be able to sync with the SONOS CONNECT AMP?
Sounds like the answer is no...but still not sure...Thought that was the whole point of the product to connect with current Sonos products
thank you
NO - Only Arc for now, other soundbars later. It will not work with Connect Amp or Amp.
Ace-ed it!
Look like everything Apple one’s should have been. Apple be way behind if they don’t bring out new headphones in 2 weeks at WWDC24!
Well done Sonos
I just ordered the headphones and quickly cancelled after seeing the confusion as to what products the headphones will connect to.
Good question. One would think that if there is music being played in a Sonos zone, by a flick of something, the music will move to the headphones, muting the speakers.
Is this not a feature?
I just ordered the headphones and quickly cancelled after seeing the confusion as to what products the headphones will connect to.
Good question. One would think that if there is music being played in a Sonos zone, by a flick of something, the music will move to the headphones, muting the speakers.
Is this not a feature?
If a “flick of something” means stopping the music in the speaker, connecting the headphones via bluetooth, setting up the playlist, pressing “play”, then yes! If you thought they would act like a speaker, then no.
Very disappointed to read that the Arc audio switching feature is currently only supported via iOS. Does Sonos have an ETA for when this feature will be supported via Android?
As an Android user, there is absolutely no way I will be pre-ordering these without a guaranteed date for full Android compatibility. It's troubling that this feature is not already fully supported (or apparently expected to be supported at launch)! The main reason I've been holding out for these headphones is due to an enhanced experience when watching content late at night.
I just ordered the headphones and quickly cancelled after seeing the confusion as to what products the headphones will connect to.
Good question. One would think that if there is music being played in a Sonos zone, by a flick of something, the music will move to the headphones, muting the speakers.
Is this not a feature?
If a “flick of something” means stopping the music in the speaker, connecting the headphones via bluetooth, setting up the playlist, pressing “play”, then yes! If you thought they would act like a speaker, then no.
From what I’ve ready, this is not correct. The headphones are bonded to the Arc (and later, other soundbars) so that you can push the button on Ace to have whatever audio the Arc is playing start to play on Ace instead. This appears to be done entirely via WiFi, but I am not at all certain of that.
So bluetooth headphones that don't integrate with the existing local system so you can't listen to your local library?
And you released a godawful mess of an ugly, user unfriendly, featureless app to support these?
It's a no from me. Plenty of other Bluetooth headphones out there will probably be just as good, if not better, cheaper, and don't make a mess of your existing home sound system.
I just ordered the headphones and quickly cancelled after seeing the confusion as to what products the headphones will connect to.
Good question. One would think that if there is music being played in a Sonos zone, by a flick of something, the music will move to the headphones, muting the speakers.
Is this not a feature?
If a “flick of something” means stopping the music in the speaker, connecting the headphones via bluetooth, setting up the playlist, pressing “play”, then yes! If you thought they would act like a speaker, then no.
From what I’ve ready, this is not correct. The headphones are bonded to the Arc (and later, other soundbars) so that you can push the button on Ace to have whatever audio the Arc is playing start to play on Ace instead. This appears to be done entirely via WiFi, but I am not at all certain of that.
But not other speakers
If you have more than one Arc, how will it know which one to switch from?
From what I’ve ready, this is not correct. The headphones are bonded to the Arc (and later, other soundbars) so that you can push the button on Ace to have whatever audio the Arc is playing start to play on Ace instead. This appears to be done entirely via WiFi, but I am not at all certain of that.
The Verge description makes it sound like it’s through the phone (ios only). Or is this a different feature all togehter?
“You can walk around the house and keep listening to a sports game in the background as you clean up or focus on other things. TV Audio Swap will be exclusively available to people with iOS devices at launch, with Android support for this major feature coming “soon.” So Android users can take advantage of better Bluetooth audio (thanks to aptX), while the iOS side gets to enjoy the headlining home theater trick.”
Wow, what an absolutely horrible May for Sonos. First they release a alpha version of the new app without telling everyone that it was missing many critical functions. And then they announce the new headphones and they are not capable of doing the main thing that people wanted “Sonos” headphones for, being a zone. I honestly was looking forward to the headphones even after this horrible handling of the app update, but not being able to be setup as a zone or group to a zone is a major let down. I am really wondering what the people in charge are thinking. Maybe it time for a change at the top.
*Super* disappointed that there is no Sonos system connectivity other than through Arc. I don’t have an Arc, but was greatly looking forward to using my headphones as part of my Sonos system around the house, and would have gladly given up 50% or even 66% of the run time (e.g., I’d take 10 hours of run time) for that capability over wifi. I read that the headphones have a wifi chip (for use with Arc?). I sincerely hope that this can be exploited in the future for such functionality through an SOA upgrade. If not, I’ll have to concur with those how have said Sonos dropped the ball on Ace, or at least left its most loyal fans in the backcourt.
I’ve been waiting for these to be able to use with my Turntable, but what the heck, the AMP isnt even on the roadmap for audio handoff? I think youre missing a HUGE demographic of people that want something like this to listen to vinyl on. You sell Vinyl kits with AMPs and 5’s and 300’s, This should be priority!
The headphones are bonded to the Arc (and later, other soundbars) so that you can push the button on Ace to have whatever audio the Arc is playing start to play on Ace instead. This appears to be done entirely via WiFi, but I am not at all certain of that.
But the same thing cannot be done if one is listening to music on a 5 pair or Sonos Amp? If so, that suggests to me that these headphones are meant more for movie surround - where they may well be ground breaking in terms of the delivered experience when fully equipped to do so - than for music play.
As a follow up - how can someone playing vinyl use these to listen to music?
The headphones are bonded to the Arc (and later, other soundbars) so that you can push the button on Ace to have whatever audio the Arc is playing start to play on Ace instead. This appears to be done entirely via WiFi, but I am not at all certain of that.
But the same thing cannot be done if one is listening to music on a 5 pair or Sonos Amp? If so, that suggests to me that these headphones are meant more for movie surround - where they may well be ground breaking in terms of the delivered experience when fully equipped to do so - than for music play.
The reviews so far say these are home theater headphones first, music second. The big home theater feature “TrueCinema” won’t be available at launch
headphones feature breathtaking lossless and spatial audio, world-class Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and Aware Mode, as well as the most precise and immersive home theater experience possible using Sonos’ new TrueCinema technology. Sonos Ace will be available globally in both Black and Soft White.
