The long-awaited first headphones: Sonos Ace

Why don’t you use the Ace, or any headphones connected to the phone in your pocket or the computer in your office? Wifi connected Sonos headphones would be great but bluetooth will work for what you describe.

If the audio is coming through your TV, as would be the case with a music app (say Apple Music) on AppleTV, to your Arc via HDM-ARC/eARC or optical, than the Ace can play that audio.

What you cannot do is use the Sonos App to start playback of Apple music on your Arc, then flipped the switch on Ace to have the Apple music audio play on your Ace headphones.

I don’t think Sonos app will ever have the capability to be a music player for multiple streaming services while not on your home network.  The streaming service would much prefer you use the app they created for their service in that scenario.  Maybe conditions can change one day where that sort of thing make sense for Sonos and music services, it obviously makes sense for consumers, but it’s not likely anytime soon.

I would be with
@Jeffrey_35 here, I can certainly see wearing headphones in the office or anywhere else in the house and moving round the house (get coffee etc). In this scenario the phone would not necessarily be in the pocket so I could get the double advantage of not loosing my Bluetooth signal and having the same standard user interface on which to be selecting my source.


 

I like the idea of Sonos headphones. My AirPods Max are awfully heavy for extended listening. But I don’t understand this product.

If I take Sonos Ace out of a drawer, hit the Sonos Voice button, and tell it to play me some music; what does Ace do?

Nothing, unless it’s BT paired to my phone? Reaches out to Sonos over Wifi and plays music (this is what you would think would happen)? Reaches out to my Arc and plays music through that into my headphones (because reasons)?

Somebody please explain to me how this works.

Okay, but *why* won't it be implemented at launch?

I can understand that Trueplay isn't possible on Android due to the lack of microphone standardisation on manufacturer's handsets, but what is Sonos' excuse this time?

Is there some kind of security policy in Android that prevents this type of functionality? I find that difficult to believe as (I assume) the app simply tells the Arc to assign the Ace to its group, after which control is exclusively between Ace and Arc without the app acting as a middle man.

Is there some kind of Trueplay integration that we haven't been told about that makes an iOS device mandatory for initial TV Audio Swap setup?

Or has Sonos simply decided that Android users are not a priority in this case?

Being 'determined' to add Android compatibility is all well and good ‐ I'm 'determined' to finish landscaping my garden this year, but that's absolutely no guarantee it will actually happen. Sonos still has two weeks to implement Android functionality before launch, but you (and other Sonos reps) have categorically stated that it will *not* be implemented by June 5th. That suggests very strongly that there is a significant issue with Android functionality that is not easily fixed. What's the story?

OMG what a #SonosMess this is…. 

• The Arc does NOT use Wifi and it does NOT group into your Sonos system, it only SWAPS your TV audio… => why would I use this headset???
• You need the Sonos app for iOS to set up TV Audio Swap. Support for Android devices is coming soon => so the product is not ready!

• You can use TV Audio Swap with the Arc and Arc SL. Support is coming soon for Beam (Gen 1 and Gen 2) and Ray => so the product is not ready!

• And don’t forget: the new Sonos App doesn’t work, has limited functionality and ridiculous restrictions, and has a poor user experience… 

#ByeByeSonos

The ACE headphones look very nice and seem to be getting good reviews. But I already have expensive blue tooth headphones that I like a lot. I don’t use Sonos soundbars, so without the ability to control streaming, via Wi-Fi, from the Sonos app means they are no better than my existing head phones. Very disappointed.

One thing I find interesting is that the explanation for why the new app was rushed out so quickly, still missing features many users hold dear, is that the Ace headphones required the new app and they didn’t want to delay its release. How many years have we been waiting for the long-rumored Sonos headphones while they took the time to get it right? Seems they could have waited just a little longer while they got the app ready. Sonos needs to take a cue from Apple. Don’t release products that aren’t ready. It’s a surefire way to rapidly lose years of built up loyalty. 

It’s possible that the need to increase sales right now drove this as units sold are down ~240K players and revenue is also down compared to last year. If they wait it’s another bad year. CEO and other execs want their bonuses and hold onto their jobs. Just speculating could be wrong.

I’m sure you’re right and that something like that was in play. There were likely reporting factors involved in pressuring them towards the wrong decision. 

There is a lot to unpack in this thread, lol. I’m not as angry as most, I have been patiently waiting for the release. Now that it’s here the one thing I was expecting was having the headphones as a “zone” like the rest of the eco system. I guess my real question here is do these have the hardware necessary for this and can WiFi zone support added in an update? I understand at launch not having all features is one thing, but if it can’t be added via a software update I may have to wait for gen 2.

I don’t care if these headphones are the best headphones ever made, I will never buy them due to the fact that the entire reason for the botched app rollout was because of these headphones. They rushed the app to coincide with their release. As some notable fellas once said, “Suck it!”

Thanks for the clear answer on support for multiple sets of headphones.

Let me give you a user scenario that is my life. My wife and I frequently watch movies after we’ve put the kids to bed. We live in an apartment where if we crank up our Arc, surround speakers, and subwoofer with Atmos any hope of sleeping chilldren is gone. If you allowed 2 pairs of headphones that still had Atmos support you would have just gotten a pre-order for 2 sets of headphones.

I would guess it’s not so much a matter of ‘allowing’ 2 Aces to connect to an Arc, but whether the Arc has the hardware needed to send atmos audio to two Aces at the same time.  I have little doubt Sonos would be happy to sell you 2 of them if it was just a matter of flipping a switch.

I have the Sonos Playbar and I was disappointed to hear that these headphones aren’t compatible with the Playbar. So many of us are happy with our Playbar and would love to add the Ace to our setup, but Sonos is ignoring all of our feedback. It’s really strange that Sonos is rushing these products and ignoring their existing user base. I can only hope that they improve.

Unfortunately, the Playbar is over a decade old, and headphones weren’t even thought of a decade ago.  Even if the technology used to connect the headphones existed back then, Sonos would have to have a time traveller on staff to realize it needed to be incorporated into the unit.  I’m sure if they could include the Playbar in Ace support, they would, but you can’t reengineer something made a decade ago to current specifications. 

The product page literally says -

“Quietly share an immersive home theater experience with someone when you swap TV audio from Sonos Arc.”

From the marketing above it’s logical to believe that two (2) Ace headsets can be connected to the Arc at the same time to share in a home theater movie experience. That’s makes sense as I would assume many Sonos users are couples in a household.

… Sonos also said that they'd “taken great care to ensure that this update only enhances your Sonos experience. Your products, features and services will work as they always have, and all your settings will be saved.” and we all know how that worked out. I suppose it's up to the public to ever believe what Sonos ever says again.

Apparently, people who complain are a 1% minority.

The bugs and issues being raised lately (mostly unacknowledged) is incredible.

The only impact for Sonos to take notice will be in sales. Difficult to find any enthusiasm for ‘headphones’ when I’m looking a few grands worth of speakers that can’t play my library anymore, interesting to be a 1%er if that is the case. Reminds me of Jobs telling everybody they don’t need to ‘own’ their music.

AjTrek1, Sonos has lost all credibility with me.  I would have probably bought the headphones as I have bought several other Sonos products and been very happy with them.  But this app rollout was a game changer for me.  Knowingly rolling out an app they knew was not ready and would screw over their existing customers just because they needed it out to sell the headphones is unacceptable to me.  I can’t bring myself to buy the headphones and reward that behavior, even if the headphones were the best ever made.  Personally I won’t even consider buying another Sonos product until the CEO is replaced. CEOs that don’t care about their customers don’t all of the sudden start carrying once new headphones come out.  The CEO saying 99% of the people love the new app is insulting.  Saying rolling out an app that wasn’t ready was “courageous” doubly insulting.  The CEO is betting people will move on and forget about this debacle.  I can’t speak for everyone but I will never forget.  I don’t feel angry over all this, anger fades over time.  I feel betrayed, and that stays with you forever.  

This is repeatedly touted as “Our most requested product” by Sonos. Why exactly did you guys think people were requesting headphones from you? You clearly didn’t understand if you thought a pair of headphones that don’t connect to the Sonos network were what people wanted. 

What, did you think none of us had ever heard of Bose or Sony? I was looking forward to these because it seemed like a great solution to listening to records at night without disturbing everybody else. But I already own a perfectly good pair of bluetooth headphones that doesn’t connect to wifi. 

The best you could do was saying these will connect with a Sonos soundbar (and only the most expensive soundbar at that) via bluetooth. How is that a plus exactly. Did nobody point out that the majority of TVs and streaming devices these days already support bluetooth headphones? Who exactly was this for?

Not to be pedantic, but a Sonos rep has stated that the connection to the soundbar will be through the same 5 GHz private Wi-Fi as the surrounds and sub, not Bluetooth.  Which gives hope that a Wi-Fi connection is possible, and the headphones, like the terrible launch of the app, are missing intended features at the time of release. 

Hit the nail right on the head jay house

If today's marketing email is anything to go by, Sonos are now actively downplaying the Ace's 'TV Audio Swap' feature. No mention of it at all. Oh dear.