The Sonos Ace Rock. But Not For The Reasons You’d Assume

As somebody who has owned numerous Sonos speakers, soundbars, and subwoofers over the years, I’ve been cautiously optimistic about Sonos’s long-rumored wireless headphones. I didn’t know what to expect or what would make them feel distinctly “Sonos.”

Well, the Sonos Ace are here, and we have our answers. They’re $449 wireless noise-canceling headphones poised to disrupt the premium end of the market—they are direct rivals to Apple’s AirPods Max, Sony’s WH-1000XM5, and Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones. 

Surprisingly, the Ace lack most “Sonos-y” features— the headphones can’t stream music over Wi-Fi or be grouped with the other Sonos speakers in your home. In fact, they work mostly like other noise-canceling headphones. 

This means that the Sonos Ace aren’t limited to Sonos superfans or people who have Sonos speakers in their homes. But it also means those same people don’t have an explicit reason to buy them. Sonos is betting on the Ace’s comfort, style, and sound to win over both Sonos lovers and neophytes alike. 

The Sonos Ace are available in white or black and will start shipping on June 5th. It can be pre-ordered now.

Sonos Ace: GENERAL IMPRESSIONS

Photo by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol

The Sonos Ace are elite noise-canceling headphones. They sound impressive as heck. Their active noise-cancellation is on the same level as the Apple’s, Bose’s, and Sony’s of the world. They look good and are super intuitive to use. And the Ace are definitely one of the most comfortable headphones I’ve put on my head, full stop. 

But at $450, the Sonos Ace are also undoubtedly expensive. You also need a Sonos soundbar to take advantage of the Ace’s most exclusive and “Sonos-y” feature—which allows you to play your TV’s audio through the headphones at the press of a button. 

Admittedly, there are a lot of excellent noise-canceling headphones to choose from in 2024. And the Sonos Ace can now be counted as one of them. If you can stomach the price — granted, they’re still cheaper than AirPods Max — the Ace are superb … whether you’re a Sonos superfan or not.

Sonos

Sonos Ace

The Sonos Ace is the company’s first pair of wireless over-ear noise-canceling headphones. For those who have a Sonos soundbar, you can quickly swap your TV’s audio to these headphones for a private listening session.

Specs

Drivers	Custom 40mm dynamic drivers
Battery Life	30 hours
Colors	Black, soft white

Pros

• Maybe the most comfortable noise-canceling headphones out there
• ANC and sound quality are both impressive
• Physical buttons (especially the Content Key) are nice

Cons

• More expensive than alternatives from Bose and Sony
• Can't stream music over Wi-Fi or be grouped with Sonos speakers
• TV Audio Swap isn't quite ready at time of review

• $449 at Sonos

The Sonos Ace perfectly balances style and comfort.

Photo by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol

If you were to twist my arm and ask me what the Sonos Ace’s defining feature was, I’d tell you that they’re probably the most comfortable wireless headphones I’ve worn. They really are. The headphones have a mostly plastic design to keep the weight down, while also having metal and vegan leather so that they don’t feel cheap. It feels like an even tradeoff between comfort and style.

Additionally, the Ace just feels natural on your head. The clamping force isn’t too tight, and the headband doesn’t create an irritating pressure point that would make you want to take the headphones off. The memory foam cushions rest pleasantly on and around your ears. Truly, they’re very comfy.

Count the Sonos Ace Among the Other ANC Elites

Photo by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol

The Sonos Ace’s active noise-cancellation skills are impressive, especially considering this is Sonos’s first go at ANC of any kind. The Ace headphones have eight beamforming microphones designed explicitly for noise-cancellation and voice targeting (for its transparency mode). And they work really well. 

When posted up at my local coffee shop, the Ace successfully blocked out most of the noises from the tables around me. Even when in the same room as somebody watching TV, only muffled voices trickled in. The transparency mode lets you hear outside sounds and voices that pass through sound naturally. 

Photo by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol

Photo by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol

Sonos has extensive experience with beamforming mics and audio processing — just look how it’s incorporated TruePlay in its speakers and soundbars over the years — so part of me doesn’t think it’s that surprising that the Ace’s active noise-cancellation is this good. That said, they’re not the best I’ve tested.

At home, I have the AirPods Max and the Sony WH-1000XM5 — two of the main rivals that Sonos is positioning the Ace against — and the Ace stands up to both of them. However, if push came to shove, I’d say that Apple’s and Sony’s options still edge the Ace. They just deliver a more complete quiet. It’s close, though.

For lossless listening, grab a wired adapter.

Photo by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol

The Sonos Ace knock it out of the park regarding sound and overall features. The headphones place 40mm custom drivers in each ear and sound bold and vibrant with a decently wide soundstage. They support spatial audio and Dolby Atmos with dynamic head-tracking, similar to AirPods Max, so whatever you’re listening to sounds super immersive. They sound elite.

The Ace lacks the Wi-Fi streaming capabilities of Sonos’s wireless speakers. However, for those craving high-resolution audio, the Ace support lossless audio over a wired connection—it comes with 3.5mm and USB-C adapters in the box. You can stream higher-quality tracks with Ace over aptX Adaptive if you have a new-age Android, too.  

Physical buttons are simple and effective.

Photo by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol

Sonos kept things relatively simple when it comes to Ace’s on-device controls. It’s all physical buttons, which I like. (Tap and swipe controls tend to be less intuitive and more finicky.) There’s a dedicated power button on the left earcup. There’s a button on the right earcup for toggling between noise-cancellation and transparency (or “aware”) modes. Also on the right earcup is a volume slider button, which Sonos calls the “Content Key,” which adjusts volume and playback controls (play/pause, skipping tracks and answering calls).

The Content Key is one of the things that makes the Ace feel different. It’s the only metal button — the others are plastic — and feels more premium. When you slide it up or down, you must hold it as the volume changes. Then, when you release it, it slots firmly back in position. If you’re a fidgeter, this is the button you will play with the most.

This Content Key is also the button you’ll hold down for TV Audio Swap, allowing sound to instantly switch from your soundbar to the Ace headphones. But more on that below.

PRIVATE TV AUDIO is A button press away. 

Photo by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol

If you have a Sonos soundbar, you can use Ace’s one true “Sonos-y” feature: TV Audio Swap. This lets you quickly switch the audio from playing on your Sonos soundbar to playing on the Ace headphones. All you do is press and hold the Ace’s Content Key when watching TV. Afterward, another long press of the Content Key will then switch the TV’s audio back to your Sonos soundbar.  

I have a Sonos Arc soundbar and during my testing with Ace, the TV Audio Swap feature worked every time and almost without a hitch. The TV’s audio was quickly transferred between the headphones and the Arc soundbar, with the volume adjusting reasonably so you never got blindsided by it being too loud or quiet. 

A quick note: While neat, this ability to play TV audio on headphones isn’t exclusive to the Sonos Ace. If you have an Apple TV and any AirPods (or Beats) headphones, you’ve been able to do this for years. Many smart TVs and other streaming boxes have it, too. So, while convenient if you have a Sonos soundbar, I don’t think this is a game-changing feature—at least not yet. 

TV Audio Swap is promising, but not fully ready yet. 

Photo by Tucker Bowe

I did have one issue with TV Audio Swap, however. When switching the sound back to my soundbar, it frequently would also switch the TV’s input; it’d go to the HDMI ARC input (which my Arc soundbar was connected to), forcing me to grab my TV remote and manually switch back to the TV input I was watching …which was annoying. 

When I talked to someone from Sonos’ tech support, they said this was a CEC issue — aka, the connection between my Vizio TV and my Arc soundbar — and should be fixed with a future software update. Still, it wasn’t ideal.

Photo by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol

Photo by Tucker Bowe

Also, at the time of my Ace review, the TV Audio Swap feature was not fully baked. It only works for people with iPhones—Android support will come later. It only works with the Sonos Arc; again, support for Sonos’s other soundbars will also come ” soon.” Perhaps most significantly, Sonos’s fancy software feature, TrueCinema—which promises to be like Trueplay but for the Ace headphones—won’t roll out until later this year. 

Sonos claims that TrueCinema will allow the Ace headphones to optimize its sound even further based on the room you’re in when using TV Audio Swap. Effectively, it’ll help the headphones sound more immersive — Sonos claims it’ll trick you into thinking you’re not even wearing headphones (we’ll see). It’s a tall claim and, as it isn’t available yet, I can’t really speak to its effectiveness.

Sonos

Sonos Ace

The Sonos Ace is the company’s first pair of wireless over-ear noise-canceling headphones. For those who have a Sonos soundbar, you can quickly swap your TV’s audio to these headphones for a private listening session.

Specs

Drivers	Custom 40mm dynamic drivers
Battery Life	30 hours
Colors	Black, soft white

• $449 at Sonos

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