Skip to main content
Retired Sonos Staff
May 21, 2024 1:05 PM UTC
News

The long-awaited first headphones: Sonos Ace

Related content:Hardware
The long-awaited first headphones: Sonos Ace

Today we are announcing the launch of our first-ever headphones, Sonos Ace, marking the brand’s long-awaited entry into the personal listening category. As a leading innovator in sound, Sonos is now using its renowned audio and design expertise to transform the way we listen on headphones.

The premium over-the-ear Bluetooth® 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.

Sonos Ace

Superior Sound on a Personal Level 

Artfully crafted and masterfully tuned, Sonos Ace defies expectations with a range of features that bring the best of Sonos to headphones. 

  • Indulge in high-fidelity sound: Savor every second of your favorite song, podcast or friend’s phone call thanks to Sonos Ace’s two custom-designed drivers that render each frequency with impeccable precision and clarity.
  • Your own private cinema: Sonos Ace lets you enjoy a surround sound home theater experience while giving your household the gift of quiet. Instantly swap the TV audio from a compatible Sonos soundbar to Sonos Ace with just the tap of a button. Spatial audio with Dolby Atmos envelops you in dramatically detailed sound from all directions and dynamic head tracking keeps you centered in the action even if you need to grab a blanket or reach for the snack bowl. Coming later this year, Sonos’ all-new TrueCinema technology precisely maps your space then renders a complete surround sound system for a listening experience so realistic you’ll forget you’re wearing headphones.
  • Turn the world on or off: Make personal listening even more personal with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), or activate Aware mode when you want more awareness of your surroundings  - be it walking on a busy street or working in the office.

Day-long battery life and ultra-fast charge: Listen or talk for up to 30 hours with an extended, energy-efficient battery life. Ultra fast charging ensures you’ll never miss a beat - get 3 hours of battery life with a quick 3-minute charge using the included USB-C cable.

Sonos Ace Controls

 

Elegant Design and Long-Lasting Comfort

Sonos Ace was made to look and feel as good as it sounds. Its distinctive, slim profile beautifully blends  metal accents with a sleek matte finish, complementing any style no matter how fast trends move. 

  • Endless Comfort: Sonos Ace uses lightweight, premium materials for an airy fit that gently hugs your head. Its pillowy soft memory foam interior is wrapped in vegan leather, while a custom headband and ear cups that hide the hinge create the perfect acoustic seal without catching on hair. 
  • Intuitive Design: Wearing and storing Sonos Ace is a breeze - contrasting colors inside the ear cups subtly signal which way to put the headphones on and beautifully-tactile buttons make controls easy to use while wearing them. When you’re done listening, put Sonos Ace away effortlessly thanks to its fold flat design that fits snugly in its lightweight travel case. 
  • Responsibly Made: Sonos Ace is built to last and made for daily wear. The headphones feature replaceable ear cushions, circular materials that allow us to use 17% less virgin plastic, and a 75% recycled felt travel case made from plastic bottles. Engineered to drive energy efficiency, wear detection pauses your music when you remove Sonos Ace from your ears, minimizing the need for charging. 

Sonos Ace will be available on June 5 for $449 USD (499 EUR, 449 GBP, 699 AUD). For more information, visit sonos.com, and follow along on @sonos.

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

310 replies

Enthusiast I
May 21, 2024 3:25 PM UTC

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...

Translate
melvimbe
May 21, 2024 3:27 PM UTC

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.

 

Translate
Danny
Lyricist I
May 21, 2024 3:47 PM UTC

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

Translate
PloppyC
Lyricist III
May 21, 2024 3:53 PM UTC

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.

Translate
Lyricist III
May 21, 2024 4:00 PM UTC

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.

Translate
Enthusiast I
May 21, 2024 4:00 PM UTC

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...

Translate
Contributor I
May 21, 2024 4:00 PM UTC

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...

 

Translate
May 21, 2024 4:06 PM UTC

 

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.

Translate
melvimbe
May 21, 2024 4:18 PM UTC

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.

Translate
Danny
melvimbe
May 21, 2024 4:27 PM UTC

- 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.

Translate
Danny