Sonos Ace headphones review: Hands-on with the first headphones from the audio giant

When I got an invite to a Sonos briefing in New York City promising a “highly anticipated innovation,” I kept my fingers crossed it’d be a headphones announcement. The Sonos brand has more than 20 years in the audio industry and has finally released its first pair of headphones, which were three years in the making.

Sonos Ace are premium Bluetooth headphones, but they’re more than just a pair of headphones for listening to music or podcasts. They’re compatible with Sonos soundbars to seamlessly swap audio and create a home theater experience for one.

I got to go hands-on with Sonos Ace at the briefing and test them in my home for about a week. The first impressions were amazing, but read on to see if the excitement lasted.

Sonos Ace price and specs

The Sonos Ace headphones retail for $449 and come in two colors: black and soft white. To put that in context, Apple AirPods Max retail for $549, while Mashable Choice Award-winning Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones go for $400. I was not surprised by the Ace’s price considering Sonos speakers are on the higher price end, with the Move 2 and Era 300 costing the same $449.

In terms of specs, the Sonos Ace feature:

Drivers: Custom 40mm drivers in each ear cup (the same drivers that power Sonos speakers)

Weight: 11 ounces

Battery life: 30 hours with ANC on

Charging: USB-C, up to three hours of playback after three minutes of charging

Bluetooth: Bluetooth 5.4

Sonos Ace setup and connectivity

As soon as I turned the Sonos Ace headphones on straight out of the box, they were in pairing mode and connected to my phone within seconds. Pairing them with a second device (my MacBook) was simple and straightforward as well — I just held down the power button until the headphones went into pairing mode and selected them from my laptop’s Bluetooth settings. The headphones transfer seamlessly between devices without interruption to playback.

Sonos Ace also come with a 3.5mm headphone jack for lossless audio, and the headphones are compatible with Qualcomm Snapdragon Sound AptX Lossless and Apple Lossless Audio Codec.

The big draw of the Sonos Ace headphones is the TV audio swap feature with compatible Sonos soundbars, and that was also easy to set up. I did have to go into the Sonos app for the initial swap, but that was as simple as tapping a button on my phone’s screen. After that, I used the content key button on the headphones. More on that later.

Sonos Ace design and comfort

Design

Looking at Sonos Ace, they have a very sleek and premium-looking design. The ear cups have a super low profile, with a similar appearance to the AirPods Max. They have a soft, smudge-proof finish with a simple Sonos logo engraved in the right cup. The headband is plush and cushiony, and both it and the inside of the ear cups consist of memory foam wrapped in vegan leather. There are no visible hinges on the headphones — those live inside — just sleek metal rods that allow you to adjust the fit. The headphones are made from “circular materials” that allow Sonos to use 17 percent less virgin plastic, and the carrying case is made from 75 percent recycled plastic bottles.

Sonos Ace are not IP-rated, so they’re not water- or sweatproof — but they were environment-tested for sweat. I worked out in them, and didn’t experience any issues in the moment or after. I definitely sweat a lot around my ears and trapped major heat, but that happens with any over-ear headphones. I probably wouldn’t make it a habit to work out in these headphones just because they are so expensive and I wouldn’t want a sweaty exercise session to be the death of them. But it is nice to know that I can exercise and sweat while wearing the Sonos Ace headphones if I want to.

The ear cups are removable — attached via magnet — and replaceable. I tested the soft white pair of Ace, so I can see this being beneficial if I get makeup or sweat stains on the leather. I appreciate that these headphones are designed with sustainability and longevity in mind. 

Comfort

No exaggeration, these are the most comfortable over-ear headphones I’ve personally tried. Usually, when I wear headphones the band digs into the top of my head and I have to take them off to give my scalp a break. But the Sonos Ace honestly felt like a cloud on top of my head. They’re so lightweight and don’t dig or create pressure points at all. There’s plenty of space for my ears in the cups, and the cups didn’t squeeze my head for the most part — though my head is on the smaller side.

That said, when I wore sunglasses, the ear cups lifted from my head quite a bit and didn’t create the seal needed for ANC to work properly. I’ll touch more on that in the noise cancellation section of this review.

Controls

At the briefing for these headphones, there was a big emphasis on making them a very tactile experience. That means the on-headphone controls are buttons rather than swipe commands. My concern with button controls is that they don’t always include volume, and that’s an important function for me. But, luckily, Sonos Ace’s controls do include volume. 

There’s the power on the left ear, which is also how you activate Bluetooth connection by long-pressing. The right ear houses a button that toggles between ANC and aware mode. For some reason, it doesn’t come programmed to toggle through the “off” option for standard listening without noise cancellation or transparency mode, but you are able to add this as a command within the Sonos app. The right ear is also home to the content key, which is where you control music and access the soundbar audio swap. Play/pause with one press, skip forward with two, skip backward with three, audio swap with a long press, and control volume by sliding up and down. The controls are intuitive and I figured them out without having to read or hear any instructions. 

Sonos Ace sound quality

Audio quality is Sonos’s wheelhouse and where the Ace headphones rise above competitors. I’ll admit I’m not the biggest audio snob, but testing headphones for a living definitely makes me aware of the differences between good sound quality and outstanding sound quality. Other headphones I’ve tested pale in comparison to Sonos Ace when it comes to sound quality.

I am a Sony loyalist and I’ll stand by claims that the brand has industry-leading audio quality, but I’ll also be the first to say that Sonos snatches that industry lead. I recently tested Sony’s new ULT Wear headphones, and those are easily my favorite over-ear headphones for bass. But the Sonos Ace headphones are my new go-to for overall sound quality. 

During the NYC briefing with Sonos, I listened to a demo experience on the headphones that started with a man speaking. His words were so crisp and clear that I don’t think listening to him in person would have even sounded as good.

Songs with spatial audio sound unreal on Sonos Ace. You can hear the audio exactly where the producer wants you to hear it. Three songs in particular felt almost like a religious experience on these headphones (not to be dramatic): “Carolina” by Young Mister, “Praise the Lord” by BRELAND and Thomas Rhett, and “What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish. The latter starts on the left side and then fills up the entire space. As the song progresses, you can feel the audio move from right to left. It’s immersive in a way I haven’t experienced from other headphones.

If bass is your number one priority in headphones, I’d still recommend Sony ULT Wear. But if you value crisp, immersive sound, Sonos wins.

Sonos Ace noise cancellation

Noise cancellation is where I ran into a few issues with Sonos, and I think other brands perform better. It’s pretty good noise cancellation that blocks out most outside noise. Turning ANC on instantly silenced white noise I heard from my window AC unit and general city sounds I could hear from my apartment. However, while wearing the headphones outside, I could still hear a dog bark very loud and clear. 

My biggest gripe with the Sonos Ace headphones is that, while the ear cups’ slim design looks fantastic, it doesn’t lend itself well to cancelling noise. While walking down the street in New York, every time I turned my head, the headphones popped off my ears slightly. This caused the seal to break and let external noise in. And this wasn’t a fluke — it happened almost every time I turned my head left or right. While I was stationary, the active noise cancellation worked great, but when walking is my main mode of transportation, I want a pair of headphones that’s going to stay locked on my ears and doesn’t break the noise-cancelling seal.

On the other hand, I do want to shout out Sonos’s aware mode. I notoriously hate any sort of transparency mode because they always seem to heighten external sounds to the point where I can’t focus on my music. The Sonos Ace’s aware mode is probably the best transparency mode I’ve experienced on a pair of headphones. It let me hear what was going on around me without making that all I could hear.

Using Sonos Ace with Sonos soundbars

Yes, the sound quality is exceptional and the noise cancellation is pretty decent. But where the Sonos Ace headphones really shine is the TV audio swap function, which lets you switch audio from a compatible Sonos soundbar to the headphones with the press of a button.

This means you get Dolby Atmos spatial audio and head tracking, which create a surround sound-like experience in the headphones. During my demo with the Sonos team, I watched a clip from Barbie where voices felt like they were coming from every part of the room and a clip from a nature show where the sounds of chimpanzees fighting one another for food rattled my ears from all angles. 

I tested this feature in my own home as well and found even the most straightforward, certainly not sound-focused shows sounded amazing. I have a Samsung TV that is always on a random included cable channel when I turn it on. Lately, it’s been showing me Operation Repo, and the spatial audio on the Sonos Ace makes even those chaotic confrontations sound superb.

As I mentioned in the controls portion of this review, setting up TV swap just required me to tap an icon in the Sonos app, then I was able to use the content key on the headphones to easily switch between the Sonos Arc soundbar and Sonos Ace headphones. Long-pressing the content key also activated the swap even when my TV was off and triggered my TV to turn on.

At launch, Sonos Ace headphones are compatible with the flagship Sonos Arc soundbar. Sonos Beam, Beam (Gen2), and Ray will follow soon, though the exact date has not been disclosed. New TrueCinema technology is coming later this year, too, and will map your space to render a true surround sound experience in the headphones.

Sonos Ace battery life

Sonos advertises that the Ace headphones have a battery life of up to 30 hours with active noise cancellation on. I am still in the process of running a full battery test and will update this review when I’ve completed it. However, some early findings show that the battery went from 100 percent to 75 percent after seven hours and 46 minutes of playback. That means the headphones are on track to hit at that ~30 hours of battery life.

Sonos Ace competition

Looking at their price and design, the obvious Sonos Ace competitor is the AirPods Max. They also offer similar features and specs to Sony’s WH-1000XM5 and the Bose 700. Their price puts the Sonos Ace somewhere in the middle-to-high end of the spectrum, though the $550 AirPods Max are sort of an outlier that skews the scale.

Sonos wins when it comes to sound quality, though other brands have better noise cancellation.

Are the Sonos Ace headphones worth it?

For $449, I have a hard time saying, “Yes, everyone should absolutely buy these headphones.”  I would recommend Sonos Ace to people who 1) are true audiophiles who value incredible sound quality above all else, and 2) have a Sonos ecosystem at home and will use the TV audio swap feature with their Sonos Ace and soundbar.