Sonos Ace Headphones Review

About the Sonos Ace

The Sonos Ace are higher-end true wireless ANC (active noise canceling) headphones. They’re well-padded and fairly flat, making them comfortable to wear for most people, and they don’t take up too much space when folded into their included hard-shell case. You can connect them to an analog source with an included 3.5mm-to-USB-C cable, or digitally with a USB-C-to-USB-C (also included). This, their noise canceling, and their size, make them a solid option for frequent travelers that don’t like earbuds. Inside each earcup is a single 40mm driver. They have head tracking for spatial audio playback, and if you connect them to the Sonos Arc soundbar, they can play back Dolby Atmos soundtracks as well. The Ace are available in Soft White and Black.

Sonos Ace specs

• Price: $449
• Battery life: Up to 30 hours with ANC on
• Fast charging: Yes, 3 hours listening with 3 minutes charging
• Colors: Soft White, Black
• Ambient sound modes: Active Noise Canceling (ANC), Aware mode
• Speakers: 40mm dynamic drivers
• Microphones: 8 microphones
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.4
• Dust/water resistance: No
• Passive operation: No (analog connection requires power)
• Weight: 312 grams (0.69 ounces)
• Special features: Noise canceling, lossless audio, spatial audio (Atmos requires Sonos Arc soundbar), head tracking, bass, treble, and balance controls, TV audio swap (one Ace only per Sonos system)

What we like

The sound

Overall the sound of the Sonos Aces is quite good, with a little extra bass, but fairly well balanced mids and treble. There isn’t a ton of upper treble, so they don’t have the airiness of some headphones. The bass is full, and extends fairly deep, but can sound a little muddy with some tracks.

With Radiohead’s “Everything In Its Right Place” from Kid A, the opening synths sound robust, though the soundstage isn’t particularly wide. Other closed-back headphones I’ve heard made this track sound larger. Thom Yorke’s wails vocals are clear and blend well with the rest of the mix.

The Chvrches and Wednesday Campanella collaboration single “Out of My Head” has plenty of bass through the Ace, doing this synth-pop/J-pop combo justice. Mayberry and KOM_I’s vocals are a little back in the mix, at least partly due to the extra bass. There’s enough upper-mids and treble that the sound is never muddy, but not so much that it’s harsh or biting.

With something (significantly) more chill, the legendary Getz/Gilberto track “The Girl From Ipanema,” the Ace were a little less suited. Neto’s double bass is very prominent, managing not to overwhelm Astrud Gilberto’s voice by the nature of being hard panned on opposite channels in the stereo mix. It’s a very warm sound, perhaps too warm if you’re not a fan of bass. The Sonos app does have an EQ, but with only bass and treble controls, it’s far too broad for fine tuning.

So basically, the sound is good but not amazing. The Ace likely won’t be at the top of any “Best Sound” lists, but they’re on the list somewhere and aren’t likely to disappoint.

Great noise canceling

Overall noise canceling is really good. The Ace can reduce the low frequency rumble of engine noise, aircraft or otherwise, and also higher frequency sounds like a nearby air conditioner. Assuming you get a decent seal with the earpads (always the case with over-ears), they do a really good job with overall noise isolation. This, plus their size and flat case, means they’d be great for travel if you don’t like earbuds.

The size and design

For the most part, and for most people, the Ace are comfortable headphones. The headband and earpads have soft vegan leather (we presume made from real free-range vegans), and underneath is soft memory foam. Their curvy design looks far more stylish than many headphones-looking-headphones available in this price range. Both the Black and Soft White colors have some chrome highlights, and the latter has light green inside the earcups. As far as headphones go it’s all quite attractive.

The Sonos app and ecosystem (mostly)

While some companies somehow get by with bare-bones apps, the same can’t be said for Sonos. In the app, which can also connect to your other Sonos equipment, you can swap between noise canceling and Aware mode, adjust bass and treble, enable multipoint Bluetooth connections, and even personalize the name of the Ace as it appears in the app in case you have several pairs.

One of the big reasons to get a Sonos product is to add it to other Sonos gear as part of a whole-home system. Sonos was one of the first companies to get such an idea right in a way that was easy for most people to use. The Ace, to an extent, can become part of a system that includes other Sonos speakers in your home. This isn’t quite as seamless as you’d hope.

Which is also why…

What we don’t like

The Sonos app and ecosystem (mostly)

People with other Sonos gear might get the wrong idea what Sonos-branded headphones might offer. For instance, you can’t group the Ace with other speakers in your system. There’s no Wi-Fi or streaming directly to the Ace, they’re strictly Bluetooth or wired. While you can swap the TV audio to the headphones if you have a Sonos soundbar, this only works for one Ace, so if you and your partner want to watch something together on headphones to keep the sound in your house down, you’re out of luck.

Editor's note: During our test period, the Ace only worked with the Sonos Arc soundbar, and worked well. Sonos has since added functionality with the Beam and Ray soundbars, but we have not had the opportunity to test. Our expectation is that it works just as well as with the Arc.

There has also been a significant amount of controversy about the Sonos app, due to some recent changes that completely removed or broke important features for many users. It’s too much to get into here, but worth checking out. The excellent Audio Unleashed podcast talked about it at length in a recent episode.

Small-ish earcups

While the Ace are fairly average sized for over-ear headphones, the design of the earcups is a little smaller than average. So if you have taller ears they might get pinched. The cups are fairly deep, though, so wider ears should be fine.

Should you buy the Sonos Ace?

Yes, if you have other Sonos gear. Maybe, if you don’t.

At $449, the Sonos Ace are well above the price of some serious offerings in the wireless over-ear market, including the Sony WH-1000XM5s and Bose QuietComfort Ultra. While their performance generally competes with both of those headphones, it does so at a higher price. A “Sonos tax” if you will, that only really makes sense if you have other Sonos gear and you want to have an entire system. Their performance is very good, and a $20-50 premium over the Sony and Bose is probably fine given the features. If one of those headphones goes on sale though, that’s a very different proposition.

That said, the fact that Sonos’s first headphones come out the door competing with the best options in the price range from far more well-established headphone companies is unquestionably impressive. We wish they were a bit cheaper, but they are definitely very good. If you’re already bought-in on the Sonos ecosystem, these might be the best option of the three.