As a follow up - how can someone playing vinyl use these to listen to music?
Bluetooth?
Those comments tho 
As a follow up - how can someone playing vinyl use these to listen to music?
Bluetooth?
How? One needs third party hardware interposed somewhere to do that?
As a follow up - how can someone playing vinyl use these to listen to music?
Bluetooth?
How? One needs third party hardware interposed somewhere to do that?
Yeah you would need something that supports bluetooth transmission. Connect to an output on your system depending on what you have.
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.
Yes, the purpose is primarily for TV sound, but I think the reason that a pair of 5 s or Amp are not bonding options because they either do not have the required hardware for such a feature or Sonos did not prioritize development of that feature.
I have definate plans to purchase a new set of high quality headphones and have been holding off purchasing until such times as could physically see and listen to the Sonos offering.
I have two principle observation that may result in my dropping Sonos Ace from my option list.
My first concern is that the headphones do not appear to become part of my Sonos system where it would have been able to direct an audio sources to the headphones using the Sonos App (I’m confident it will be fixed in due course) as I can currently do with my existing system devices.
Secondly it would appear that the Sonos Ace headphones will not integrate with my older Soundbar, purchase in 2013.
Are my observations on this correct?
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 
Exactly this, the use case I would have purchased them for would be to listen to my music by switching from a speaker to the headphones when I want to continue listening and the family want to watch TV etc.
But my other use case would be to listen to my local music library via Wi-Fi on the headphones around my house, even if these headphones could do that I wouldn’t buy any until I am able to search and play local music like we could in the old S2 app.
And TBH, I’m not spending a penny more with Sonos until the new app is sorted or an old S2 app is republished in the app stores, so I can actually use my speakers as I intended when I first purchased them, listening to my local music collection.
I have definate plans to purchase a new set of high quality headphones and have been holding off purchasing until such times as could physically see and listen to the Sonos offering.
I have two principle observation that may result in my dropping Sonos Ace from my option list.
My first concern is that the headphones do not appear to become part of my Sonos system where it would have been able to direct an audio sources to the headphones using the Sonos App (I’m confident it will be fixed in due course) as I can currently do with my existing system devices.
Secondly it would appear that the Sonos Ace headphones will not integrate with my older Soundbar, purchase in 2013.
Are my observations on this correct?
Yes on all accounts.
That's a very ambitious price for a set of headphones that primarily link to the Arc for watching TV and not music. I think that your phone and Bluetooth connection via the app are then involved. Sounds a complex architecture and hope that lipsync isn't an issue?
Just need to find Arc owners who will forgive you for trashing the ecosystem and are happy to find a lot of money for some niche headphones. I hope it was worth it!
From todays Wall Street Journal:
“We expect early on existing customers will pick this up in droves” “Spence said.”
Uh, not me! Spence can speak to the WSJ but not to the customers that he expects to pick em up in droves? Fix the app and treat your customers with respect!!!!
I am struggling to see the rationale for a set of Sonos headphones that does does not fully integrate with a Sonos wi-fi speaker system...
I have definate plans to purchase a new set of high quality headphones and have been holding off purchasing until such times as could physically see and listen to the Sonos offering.
I have two principle observation that may result in my dropping Sonos Ace from my option list.
My first concern is that the headphones do not appear to become part of my Sonos system where it would have been able to direct an audio sources to the headphones using the Sonos App (I’m confident it will be fixed in due course) as I can currently do with my existing system devices.
I would say that, in this aspect alone, Ace integrates to your Sonos system the same way a sub or sub mini does. They cannot exist as their own Sonos room/zone, but can be a device in a Sonos room. The similarities end their though, as Ace can only bond with an Arc currently, and when it plays the rooms audio, all other speakers in the room are silent. That is my understanding anyway.
Secondly it would appear that the Sonos Ace headphones will not integrate with my older Soundbar, purchase in 2013.
Not unless you also purchase a Sonos Arc.
Hello, can see here https://support.sonos.com/en-gb/article/listen-to-home-theater-audio-on-sonos-ace-with-tv-audio-swap that
Support is coming soon for the following home theater speakers:
- Beam (Gen 1)
- Beam (Gen 2)
- Ray
Will support also be added to Amp as well in future. On the amp product page you advertise that the product will “Amplify your home cinema” - so surely this would include “Listening to home theater audio on Sonos Ace”
Would also be nice to listen to vinyl (that is connected to the amp) via the headphones
Thanks
I honestly expected to be rejecting the Ace because of the Sonos app clusterflub, but that’s not the case.
For Sonos not to leverage their existing tech to integrate Ace as a Zone for in-home use is mystifying. The only unusual feature is extremely limited - spatial sound when connected to Arc. That’s it. Apple TV with AirPods already does that. Everything else is just standard bluetooth functionality.
It’s even more confusing that the disaster with the app initially seems to have been driven by this product, but the app isn’t even required. The people most likely to benefit from the spatial audio are exactly the same population as have been throroughly alienated over the past few weeks, for no obvious benefit.
If it isn’t clear, the Ace is not for me. What it is, ironically, is a product that Sonos can’t brick with a half-baked app update. If they stand up in the standalone headphone market then good luck to them.
Wait, I cannot even use these in my home with the Sonos System? I have to “bind” with my Arc or something? OMG this just keeps getting worse. Please explain the rationale for this? I expect much cheaper and better sounding bluetooth headphones out there if these do not integrate with my Sonos system.
Can't deny that I'm vaguely disappointed with these. Been saving a bit and getting vouchers for presents and stuff to eat into the cost but definite second thoughts.
The cinema mode might have been a USP but with a Playbar that I have working well I've no intention of dumping the best part of £1,500 and Arc upgrade + Ace.
There's no other compelling reason not to go with established players in this space. Why bet on a gen 1 product that doesn't have any meaningful integration with the rest of the ecosystem (unless you are on iOS with an Arc)?
Not that they don't look like very nice headphones...
English is not my language, therefore, I think, I wrongly understand the new product Arc.
What I (wrongly) understood is:
- Sonos headphones could not be used as Sonos player. It sounds like a joke, I hope is not true.
- to use headphones to listen a movie I need a Sonos soundbar and Sonos soundbar will send audio to headphones. At this point it makes no sense to have a soundbar if it act only as an expensive "audiobridge". I will not buy a soundbar and a headphone to watching movie. I'll buy a soundbar or a pair of headphones.
- I don't need Sonos app in order to use headphones. This is a good point, but,in ma opinion, the message that sonos send to customers (in this period where there are a lot of customers unhappy with the new app) is something like "We too don't trust our new courageous app". I'm not sure if this is a good point or not...
It’s even more confusing that the disaster with the app initially seems to have been driven by this product, but the app isn’t even required. The people most likely to benefit from the spatial audio are exactly the same population as have been throroughly alienated over the past few weeks, for no obvious benefit.
Agree here. Other than “special features”, the app isn’t needed for these headphones.
For Sonos not to leverage their existing tech to integrate Ace as a Zone for in-home use is mystifying. The only unusual feature is extremely limited - spatial sound when connected to Arc. That’s it. Apple TV with AirPods already does that. Everything else is just standard bluetooth functionality.
From a technical point of view it makes sense. No Sonos product has been ever able to be bond to other speakers in a room, and also be it’s own Sonos room (or bond in a differnt room) at the same time. This feature has been asked for with the subs, surround speakers, and portable speakers, and never happened. It’s completely understandable that consumers want this feature for Ace, and it would be more useful that ever. I did wonder how they were going to achieve that feature, and it turns out they just aren’t.
It seems to me that it would have been much more desirable to give users the option to use Ace bonded to a TV or as setup as a separate zone….exactly what you can do with Era speakers and all the other surround speakers. It’s sounds as though that perhaps Ace does not have the processing power to do ANC, Aware, Head tracking, and all the other features it’s support without having your phone or an Arc do the audio processing for it.
Also, I am rather unsure about whether Ace can play any source that your Arc can play or if it’s just TV audio. If the answer is ‘any source’ than the need for Ace to be it’s own separate zone/room is partially reduced.
- to use headphones to listen a movie I need a Sonos soundbar and Sonos soundbar will send audio to headphones. At this point it makes no sense to have a soundbar if it act only as an expensive "audiobridge". I will not buy a soundbar and a headphone to watching movie. I'll buy a soundbar or a pair of headphones.
If you don’t have an Arc, than you can also connect to your TV with bluetooth or the wired connection. Obviously, any bluetooth headphones can do this, but I’m not sure how the headphones could posslbly get audio from your TV without some other Sonos product as an audiobridge, since no TV has Sonos tech in it to send audio via WiFi.
The reason to have a soundbar and headphones is so that everyone in the room can listen to the soundbar when that’s desired, and only you hear the audio when that is desired.
The reason to have a soundbar and headphones is so that everyone in the room can listen to the soundbar when that’s desired, and only you hear the audio when that is desired.
To switch between Arc and Ace is a cool little feature, but it’s just that. This seems to be the USP for Ace and not that it become part of the speaker set up
I gotta say I’m disappointed in the absence of adaptive audio and voice detection. It’s something I’ve gotten really use to with my AirPod Pros. I would hope and think Sonos would include something similar with a high end product like this. Maybe they’ll introduce something like that with a firmware update, but you can’t buy something with hopes of features getting added.
Until they add the support for TV audio with the Beam gen 2 and something equivalent to adaptive audio + voice detection, I’ll wait.
The reason to have a soundbar and headphones is so that everyone in the room can listen to the soundbar when that’s desired, and only you hear the audio when that is desired.
To switch between Arc and Ace is a cool little feature, but it’s just that. This seems to be the USP for Ace and not that it become part of the speaker set up
If “not that it became part of the speaker set up” means that Ace can’t be it’s own Sonos room, then agreed. The text you quote though was answering the question of why anyone would want both a soundbar and headphones, not really tied to Sonos products really.
The more I think about it, I think there are two primary target markets here. One is the consumer who may have gotten a custom installer for their system see that they can pay $2k for the wireless home theatre setup or $2.5k for the setup with headphones, and considers it a no brainer add on. They don’t care about a separate Sonos room or anything other than just being able to flip a switch to from sound system to headphones and back again.
The other market is really just the high end headphone market in generally. They don’t necessarily have a Sonos system and would want to use these just like any other headphones.
This is just not a typical Sonos speaker in headphone form factor, like many people were hoping for. As much as I would like it to be usable as it’s own room, if I only get 2 out of the 3 options (home theater headphones, BT headphones, and WiFi headphones), WiFi headphones are probably the feature I would drop.
@Corry P are there any new SVC voice commands specific for Ace?
It looks like there is no voice control built into Ace at all, looking at the specs.
Coming soon - our most requested product…
Seriously Sonos? I’ve been waiting card in hand (and that’s despite the app catastrophe) but this is a huge letdown. Was your customers’ most requested product a pair of standard Bluetooth headphones with almost no connectivity whatsoever to either their Sonos system, or to the app that you crippled to enable it? Did they not realise that other perfectly acceptable offerings have been available for years?
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.
