Sonos Ace headphones review

When you say Sonos, people tend to think of two things: high quality multi-room speakers and, expensive products. Sonos is expensive for a reason and that’s that it most often delivers on an above average sound experience. But there’s one thing Sonos has NEVER had going for it… and that’s a more personal music solution, like headphones. Until now. Meet the Sonos Ace wireless headphones. In this review, I’m going to try the Ace headphones out. I’ll listen to the audio quality, see how they are to use, if they’re comfortable and if they live up to Sonos’ premium branding. I’ll also look at what special features Ace has.

Sonos is a special kind of brand in the audio realm. Loyalists will immediately associate the brand with its drive for delivering a quality multi-room audio experience with extra attention to product design. Sonos products are also priced higher than the competition, but their accolades in the audio space hasn’t stopped consumers from demanding a headphones product despite several top manufactures dominating the space with their own. After a short tease on their social media pages, Sonos finally announced the Sonos Ace—an ambitious pair of over-ear headphones priced at $450USD effectively cutting its obvious competitor, the Apple AirPods Max, by $100.

If you’re interested in Sonos, check out my reviews of other Sonos products, like Sonos Roam 2, Sonos Era 100 or 300 wired speakers, Sonos Arc sound bar or Sonos Move 2.

Unboxing & Initial impressions

I have to say that for a pair of ultra premium headphones, the recycled cardboard box may say green but it doesn’t scream luxury audio. The cartoony emblem also doesn’t do the product justice. I know we’re not supposed to judge the book by its cover but I am a bit worried about the tone that’s being set here.

When it comes to the unboxing, points are earned back for the felted hardshell case and sexy zipper. The headphones are very minimalist which is true to brand for Sonos and I like that too.

Inside you get a cool lightly magnetized squeeze case for your 2.5 foot USB-C charging cable but no plug, which does seem like a bit of a cheap-out at this price point. You do get a 4-foot Aux cable; Yes, you can use the Sonos Ace with your favourite analog sources right out of the box. A subtle dig at the Apple AirPods Max.

The headphones are pretty with a stone-like matte finish and pops of chrome, and the buttons are subtle yet easy to find.

Putting them on they have the perfect amount of clamping force; not too strong, not too weak. They legit feel like a nice warm hug. Although the headband lacks any stainless-steel innards, Sonos did a great job in distributing the memory foam padding in a way that molds to the shape of your face. This approach also makes the headphones feel lighter than the AirPods Max.

Set up

To get things started Sonos wants you to use the Sonos app. The Sonos app is probably my least favourite thing about any Sonos product, but in the spirit of following directions, I gave it a try.

I powered the headphones on and opened the app, and my headphones appeared immediately. The app connected to the headphones on the first try, which has been unheard of for me when setting up Sonos speakers. I was ready to listen in under a minute, which is a Sonos review record in this house.

Maybe I need to chalk one up for the new Sonos app.

Our Expectations

Before I talk about the headphones, I want to point out the unique position Sonos is putting itself in with its approach to pricing because it is the pricing that will set the expectations. You could treat the high asking price of the Sonos Ace as a “brand tax”, but it’s not that simple. People didn’t buy an AirPods Max just because it had an Apple logo, but also because of how well the headphones fit into Apple’s ecosystem of products and services.

Sonos doesn’t have that infrastructure—in fact it’s the opposite. The infrastructure it does have, mainly it’s speakers and app suffered mightily in recent years from buggy software and poorly-timed updates that didn’t fix core problems.

Sonos doesn’t manufacture phones and lacks a burgeoning streaming service. This means Sonos is relying on its brand image and its feature set alone in convincing people to spend $450. That is a high bar to clear because some big brands like Sony, Bose, and Sennheiser offer flagship headphone products for $299 or sometimes less during sales.
Sonos Ace needs to decisively beat them all or offer some big incentives for going all-in on Sonos’s ecosystem. And as a spoiler alert, I’m happy to report they exceeded my expectations.

Sound quality

The most important factor for shoppers here will be the sound quality and fortunately, the Sonos audio story holds true here. They sound fan-frikking-tastic!
These headphones are among the rare premium over-ears that make you remember how good headphones can sound. They are probably the best sounding headphones I’ve reviewed.

The bass is stunningly detailed and has actual levels of rumble, boom, bounce, and thrum. The treble is as if tiny angels were strumming harps in each ear. The amount of detail in the music is insane.

I listened to jazz, pop, rock, symphony and podcasts. They can be ear-caressing at low volumes or head-filling at higher outputs.

Controls

If you despise tapping and flicking on the earcups, you’ll be pleased with the physical controls Sonos implemented on the Ace. You can trigger all the primary functions on the right earcup using a nifty rocker switch called the Content Key. Sliding up or down the switch adjusts volume while pressing the key plays or pauses a track. Double pressing or triple pressing triggers “Next” and “Previous” functions. The Content Key feels very satisfying to use and the distinct design makes it easy to spot while wearing the headphones.
Next to the Content Key is a smaller button for switching between Aware Mode and Active Noise Cancellation mode. The left earcup features a lone power button which doubles as the pairing button if you hold it for 7 seconds.

Features

Sonos is matching the Ace’s luxurious design with an attractive feature set which justifies the asking price even more.

Active Noise Cancellation & Aware Mode

Sonos really wants to make sure buyers go for the Sonos Ace over the other impressive products so all the major features found on those headphones are present here. This includes the option to enable ANC or an enhanced listening mode through the microphone which Sonos refers to as “Aware Mode.”

Table stakes for a premium pair of headphones these days is Active Noise Cancellation or ANC and Aware Mode. ANC uses digital algorithms combined with microphones to listen for and then create a special signal that masks sound from bleeding in. Conversely, Aware Mode lets you allow sound in to keep an ear out for sounds like the doorbell, kids or a flight announcement.

You can swap between ANC and Aware by pushing the Noise Control button on the right earcup, or toggling it on and off in the Sonos app.

How is Noise Cancellation?

I always test noise cancellation with the music off so I can really hear and assess how good it is. In this case, I was totally wowed at how much it was able to block out.

Spatial Audio and Head Tracking

The Sonos Ace supports spatial audio for all kinds of music whether you are using an iOS or Android device. TIDAL, Apple Music, and Amazon Music Unlimited are the best streaming services for listening to spatial audio formats as they all offer Dolby Atmos Music which Sonos Ace supports.

You may also enable the “Head Tracking” option on the Sonos app to have the headphones adjust spatial audio playback whenever you move your head. The effect of Head Tracking is kind of trippy; it always seems like the music is coming from all around you, but if you turn your head to one side, it subtly pushes the audio into the front ear cup so it sounds like it’s still in front of you.

aptX Adaptive

The Sonos Ace joins the slowly growing list of headphones offering Qualcomm’s aptX Adaptive audio technology. aptX Adaptive works by making adjustments of the bitrate in real-time without affecting the audio quality while maintaining a low latency. This should benefit folks who have big lossless audio collections. However, only modern Android phones can take advantage of this feature.

TV Audio Swap

If you have a Sonos Arc connected to your TV, you can conveniently redirect the audio coming out from the soundbar to your headphones in Dolby Atmos glory if your content supports it. Once you set up the feature using the new Sonos app, you just long-press the Content Key on your Sonos Ace and enjoy that private listening experience! Sonos plans to add this feature to both Sonos Beam generations and the Sonos Ray.

Auto Pause

Ace also has a built-in sensor which can automatically pause playback when you remove the headphones or resume after putting them back on. You can turn this on in Settings.
I tried it out, but found it didn’t work. Even after a firmware update and toggling the setting on and off repeatedly, they refused to pause when I removed them.

Connect Two Devices

You can connect to two devices with Sonos Ace, like your phone and computer, but you need to make sure the Multi-point feature is turned on in the Sonos app. If it’s not you will have to manually switch between devices by going into your Bluetooth menu to disconnect from one device then reconnect to the other, otherwise Ace just defaults to the last device used.

Once that setting is toggled on though, the swapping between devices is simple, instant and fully automatic and was a huge plus for me, when using Ace with my iPhone and MacBook.

Battery Life & Charging

Sonos promises a 30-hour battery life with ANC enabled which sounds like a good amount, until you hold it up to some of its competitors.

Sennheiser Momentum 4 boats more than double that at 60 hours, Sony WH-1000AM 5 matches the 30 hours, while Apple AirPods Max cheap out at a paltry 20 hours. So depending what you’re deciding between, these are either great, equal, or sub-par.

The added inclusion of rapid charging also helps which means you can extend the battery life by up to 3 hours after charging for 3 minutes. Ace charges with the USB-C cable and you can listen while you charge which is a nice touch.

Replaceable earcups

Wear-and-tear is often a concern when it comes to expensive over-ear headphones and Sonos took another Apple move implementing a magnetic, detachable earcup system. Detaching the earcups also reveals distinct colors so you can quickly identify the right earcup from the left. The magnet even repels if you put an earcup on the wrong side.

Notable Omissions

I must emphasize the Sonos Ace’s lack of Wi-Fi support which is like a break in tradition as even the Bluetooth-equipped Sonos Roam comes with it. This might disappoint some folks who wanted a pair of Sonos headphones to integrate with their awesome Sonos multi-speaker zones, and have the music playing all over the house and inside your ears (not sure why you’d want that) so at least for now, you’ll just have to settle with the TV Audio Swap feature.

Fortunately, Sonos has promised they are open for user feedback and may implement some features down the road.

While Sonos Ace has the Bluetooth 5.4 standard baked in which means aptX Lossless and Apple ALAC support, newer codecs like LE Audio and Auracast are absent. Not a dealbreaker by any stretch, but some pairs of headphones launched in 2024 like the Sennheiser MOMENTUM True Wireless 4 support these next-gen codecs right out of the gate.

Using Sonos App

Using an older Sonos app version because of all the controversy surrounding the new app? You have to upgrade to the new app in order to configure or update the Sonos Ace. In fact, Sonos built the new app for the Sonos Ace and future products in mind so if the Sonos Ace is your first entry to the Sonos ecosystem, don’t worry about the new app.

Once paired, you can view detailed battery life and adjust the EQ settings, as well as enable or disable a lot of the settings I just mentioned.

Overall Thoughts: Sonos Ace

Overall, Sonos has hit a grand slam with its Ace headphones. With only a couple minor gripes, these are going to have a place in my day-to-day starting now.

Let’s cover the pros and cons so you can see if they’re right for you.

On the pro side, they are beautiful and look ultra premium. The felted hardshell case is a nice addition. The sound quality is top tier and they are beyond comfortable. With Noise Cancellation and Aware, you can use them however you need to. Even the set up went perfectly and the Sonos app works with the Ace like a dream. With fast charging, Spatial Audio and Head Tracking plus TV Audio Swap for Sonos soundbar users, these check a lot of boxes.

With the release of the Sonos Ace, Android users finally have their AirPods Max moment and they have every right to gloat just on the grounds that the Sonos Ace is cheaper and even has a nicer and more practical carrying case! Spatial audio and aptX Adaptive really bring out the best of the Sonos Ace experience. With a terrific sound stage and unmatched levels of comfort, the Sonos Ace is a surprisingly good first attempt at making a pair of headphones.

So what are the downsides? I would have loved to see Sonos blow the competition out of the water with longer battery life, but 30 hours is still pretty good. I also couldn’t get the auto-pause feature to work during my testing. But that’s a pretty minor complaint.

But is it enough to shame its slightly less expensive competitors? Not exactly. Sonos products rarely go on sale and even a minor price drop on a Sony, Bose, or Sennheiser pair could sway buyers. These headphone products still deliver excellent audio quality and adequate comfort.

Sonos Ace sells for $599CAD/$449USD which is a lot less than AirPods Max but more than some other competitors. Is it worth it? Think of the Sonos Ace as a perpetual ticket to flying business class; once you try it, you can’t go back!

If you’re interested in Sonos, check out my reviews of other Sonos products, like Sonos Roam 2, Sonos Era 100 or 300 wired speakers, Sonos Arc sound bar or Sonos Move 2.

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