A few months ago, Sonos finally released one of their most requested products, the Sonos Ace headphones. They are over-ear closed-back headphones that retail for $449. When I saw these headphones for the first time, they looked very similar to the Airpods Max from Apple, in this review we will take a look at the Sonos Ace headphones and find out if they can compete with their more expensive counterparts from Sony and Apple.
Review
The build quality of the Sonos Ace headphones is very good, and the overall feel is nice. They weigh about 312 grams, a bit more than the Sony XM5 headphones. However, you won’t feel them on your head because of the weight. In fact, this higher weight gives the headphones a more premium feel.
They come in two colors, Soft White and Matte Black. The headband is connected to the ear cups with a stainless steel arm, and adjusting this arm is easy and smooth. You can also move the ear cups to fix your head perfectly. The ear cushions are lined with memory foam and are incredibly comfortable to wear, and you won’t have any problem wearing the Sonos Ace headphones for several hours. You can take the ear cups off to clean them, and placing them back won’t be an issue as the inside of the right ear cup is a different color.
On the left ear cup, you have a power button a Bluetooth connection button, and a USB-C port for charging. On the right ear cup, you have a button for switching between Active Noise Cancelling and Aware Mode. There is also a sliding switch that lets you control the volume, and play or pause your music. The headphones have a battery life of about 30 hours with ANC on, and there is also a rapid charging feature that gives you three hours of battery life in three minutes.
The Sonos Ace headphones also have some new features. There are eight beam-forming microphones, that listen to your environment to cancel out the outside noise. The Active Noise Cancellation is one the best I have used in headphones, and very few headphones have better ANC. Aware Mode isolates voices and allows them to pass through, all while still maintaining a good level of ANC. The headphones have 40mm custom drivers, and they also support Bluetooth 5.4. You can change the bass, treble, and loudness through the Sonos app.
If you have a Sonos Arc soundbar, you can swap audio from the soundbar to your headphones with just the press of a button. Sonos also tracks your head movement, this, along with Dolby Processing, puts you in a hyper-realistic listening state. This is a little like the Spacial Audio feature we can use with Apple AirPods. You can play 360 tracks available in Dolby Atmos or Sony 360 Reality Audio, from Apple Music, Amazon Music, Tidal, and Deezer.
Another unique feature in the Sonos Ace headphones is called True Cinema. This maps out your entire room and builds a complete surround sound system. This feature hasn’t been launched yet, but it will be soon.
Verdict
The Sonos Ace headphones are one of the most comfortable headphones I have used. They have enough clamping strength to not fall off your head during exercise, and I didn’t feel any strain when I wore the headphones for several hours. The Active Noise Cancellation is one the best I’ve seen in over-ear headphones, and the spacial audio feature takes these headphones to a whole new level. While you do have better headphones out there from Sony and Apple, the Sonos Ace are the best at this price, and you should give them a try.
Buy the Sonos Ace headphones here.