Sonos Ace Wireless Headphones Review: Are They Worth the Splurge Over Apple?
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Did you hear the news? The Sonos Ace are officially here and as the audio maker’s first-ever headphones, they're a monumental addition to the product range. The wireless noise-canceling cans debuted with a $449 price tag, with the latter making them a direct competitor to high-end offerings by Apple, Bose, and Sony, to name a few leading brands.
Ace Wireless Headphones
$449.00
Sonos speakers and soundbars have been synonymous with excellence for many years, but creating an all-new product and joining a highly competitive field dominated by known entities is a challenging feat for any hardware manufacturer. Since I've been testing wireless noise-canceling headphones for the past decade, I was eager to discover how the Sonos Ace stacks up against today’s finest the moment I demoed it for the first time.
After a couple of weeks as my go-to set of wireless cans, the Sonos Ace convincingly fulfilled my hefty expectations set by its brand cachet and price point. Here’s a breakdown of the newcomer’s design, ergonomics, and performance:
Audio Performance
Sound
The sound quality of the Ace headphones is worthy of the price tag. Out of the box, the wireless cans impressed me with a balanced and detail-rich sonic experience that’s a best-in-class contender, just like the wireless speakers Sonos offers.
Equipped with finely tuned 40-millimeter audio drivers, the Ace presented my go-to tracks for testing audio gear with a perceptible harmony between deep bass, harmonious mid-range, and vibrant treble. Translation? The headphones’ sound was natural, true-to-life, and free of unnecessary embellishments.
The Sonos mobile app has sliding buttons for adjusting the Ace’s bass and treble output. The controls work as intended, but I think discerning audiophiles might find this sound customization setup too basic, especially compared to what rivals by Bose and Sony offer.
Spatial audio with and without dynamic head tracking has become a must for high-end wireless headphones, and the Sonos Ace ticks that box, as expected. Streaming Dolby Atmos-enhanced live albums from Apple Music and Tidal made me feel like I was in the audience, and video content that features the same format was also noticeably more immersive. Enabling dynamic head tracking in the Sonos app made spatial audio content sound more lifelike.
The call quality on the headphones was exceptional. The headphones performed superbly during telephone, FaceTime, and Zoom calls while I put them through their paces. Given their price category, I expected nothing less.
Impressively, the Ace headphones seamlessly connect to a Sonos soundbar and deliver a private spatial audio experience. Dubbed TV Audio Swap, the handy feature is currently only available for Apple hardware users (iPhone and iPad) who own the range-topping Sonos Arc soundbar. It will arrive on Android and the brand’s cheaper soundbars later this year.
Setting up TV Audio Swap to link the Ace to an Arc took me a few screen taps in the Sonos app. The functionality allowed me to experience immersive and powerful sound during late-night movie-watching and gaming sessions without keeping my family and neighbors awake. Despite not being fully rolled out, the feature is a major reason to have the Ace on your radar if you own or plan to upgrade to a Sonos soundbar.
Noise Cancellation
The Ace performed admirably in tuning out audible distractions during my testing. Activating the headphones’ noise cancellation eliminated the fan noise from the ventilation system at my office, as well as the clacking of keyboards and people chatter almost completely, allowing me to focus on work. The headphones also reliably did away with the neverending traffic cacophony underneath my fifth-floor living room.
Available at the press of a button, the cans’ aware mode worked well, too. The Ace’s overall noise cancellation and aware mode performance is excellent, especially for a first-generation product. Still, you should know that similarly priced competitors like the Bose QuietComfort Ultra and the Sony WH-1000XM5 offer a slightly more sophisticated take on these essential features.
Design and Comfort
While scrutinizing the design and ergonomics of the Sonos Ace, I consistently felt like I was interacting not with a first-generation product but one that’s been on the market through multiple iterations.
I like their beautifully understated design, headlined by matte earcup covers with toned-down branding and polished stainless steel headband arms. The last-mentioned bits are noticeably nicer than those of the headphones’ competitors, giving them a luxury finish that rivals the headband of the pricier AirPods Max.
In a manner befitting their price tag, the Ace headphones are supremely comfortable, courtesy of a lightweight build and soft memory foam cushions. I spent entire workdays wearing them at the office without a hint of discomfort.
The Ace’s hardware button controls and their layout are fantastic. The dedicated key for controlling the playback and the volume, in particular, is miles ahead of Bose and Sony rivals’ layouts and second only to the rotating crown of the costlier AirPods Max.
I also really enjoyed having the button for toggling between noise cancellation and aware mode sitting below the one for controlling the content playback. Having access to all essential controls by reaching for the right earcup was super convenient.
Battery Performance
With up to 30 hours of playback with noise cancellation, the Sonos Ace headphones can last longer than the AirPods Max and Bose QuietComfort Ultra between power-ups. Over a couple of weeks of testing, I had to charge them only a couple of times, so their real-life endurance matched the maker’s claim pretty well.
The cans’ USB-C connector can give you hours’ worth of tunes after only three minutes of charging. Better yet, linking the Ace to my MacBook via USB-C for wired playback also charged their battery, so I never had to fret over their battery running out.
Conclusion
The amalgam of sleek design, outstanding ergonomics, great audio performance all-around, and long battery life the Sonos Ace provides is worth splurging on. By making them a formidable alternative to Apple, Bose, and Sony offerings, their looks and sonic capabilities are also certain to shake things up in their price category.
If you are shopping for a new set of high-end wireless noise-canceling headphones for yourself or to gift someone close, I highly recommend you consider the first-ever Sonos cans, especially if you or the recipient own (or plan to buy) a soundbar from the same maker.
Sonos offers the Ace headphones in black or soft white. Each set comes with a beautiful storage case crafted using recycled plastic. The accessory has a soft felt cover, so it’s as upmarket as the headset, which it’s designed to protect. The headphones’ audio and charging cables are stored in an elegant felt pouch.
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