Sonos has released a product its fans have been asking for a very long time, yes, that’s right folks, Sonos has released its first-ever pair of headphones, the Sonos Ace.
I got a sneak peek of the headphones a few weeks ago and did a little roadtest and they are gorgeous not only in looks but audio quality too.
There will be two colourways to choose from a white and a black, in person, the white looks more like an off-white or a very light blue, but it’s still pretty.
The Sonos Ace headphones come with active noise cancelling (ANC) and aware mode, so you can switch between getting deep into the music and being able to hear cars zoom past.
Using the headphones, the ANC is potent and I was unable to hear conversations behind me, I’m very excited to road test these out in the real world. Even with the aware mode I wasn’t inundated with the chatter and the music was still clear.
Sonos promises 30 hours worth of headphone battery and it can give you three hours of playback with a three-minute charge, we will have to test that theory out.
The company is known for its very good speakers for audio and surround sound and the company told Gizmodo Australia it wanted to create an immersive experience in every way you use it, whether it be for music, audiobooks, podcasts or phone calls.
Sonos Ace headphones design
The Sonos Ace headphones have been designed with our heads in mind, which is a very courteous gesture. Yes, they do look very familiar but Sonos promises us that they modelled them to best sit over ears and were also designed with the Sonos Arc in mind.
It has an internal hinge so the headphones don’t snag on hair. The headband has been designed to show users the front and back, inside the ear cup, the right ear is a different colour to the left to easily distinguish the sides.
Sonos said they collaborated with 600 people with varied gender, age, hair types and those who wear headscarves to ensure the headphones work for everyone.
To control the Sonos Ace, you need to use buttons, there are no intuitive controls as Sonos told us they just bring more problems. Instead of filling the headphones with buttons they have three buttons that do A LOT. There is one button on the bottom of the left cup that turns the Ace on and controls Bluetooth.
The round button on the side of the right cup controls ANC, aware mode and your voice assistant. The slider on the right-hand side controls can be pushed in and slid up and down, it controls tracks, volume, play/pause and the TV/audio swap. Wait, what’s the TV/audio swap? I’m so glad you asked!
Sonos Ace home theatre compatibility
The headphones aren’t just for music and podcasts, Sonos has designed these with the home theatre in mind. But there is a catch, you need to have a Sonos-supported speaker so a Sonos Arc and then later there will be support for Beam, Beam Gen 2 and Ray coming soon.
So if you have an Arc and watching a movie but want to really immerse yourself, pop on your Ace headphones, press the slider button and you are thrown into a movie or TV show.
The headphones come with dynamic head tracking you when you turn your head, you’re able to feel the sound move with your head, which can be accessed via the app.
Sonos said the headphones are anchored to the TV so you’re immersed with the content, with the surreal sound with true cinema, the software maps the space and renders a sound system with your headphones.
Unfortunately, only one headphone can use this feature but Sonos assures us this could change as updates change.
Sonos Ace headphones availability and pricing
Thankfully, you won’t be waiting too long for the headphones to arrive, the Sonos Ace will be available from June 5 and will be $699.
Image: Sonos