Sonos takes on Sony, Bose and others with its first Bluetooth headset

It was no longer a secret, but it is now official: Sonos is entering the market for portable Bluetooth headsets for the first time in its history with the Ace. The Californian brand has proven itself in the speaker market, notably with the excellent Era 300, but also in the soundbar market, with the Arc, among others. But the group’s latest financial results were not the most encouraging and Sonos therefore had to react by diversifying its product ranges.

Victim of numerous leaks in recent weeks, the Ace headset is resolutely premium with a sleek and neat design, the promise of audio quality and noise reduction at the best level and Dolby Atmos compatibility to immerse the user at the heart of his music and his films.

Elegance and comfort

The Ace adopts a very refined look, halfway between the sobriety of a Sony WH-1000XM5 and the finesse of an Apple AirPods Max. Its external shells are entirely covered in plastic and the helmet benefits from a steel structure. The pads are magnetic, like an AirPods Max, and are therefore easily detachable. They are particularly thick and should therefore offer excellent feelings of comfort. With 312 g on the scale, the Ace is once again placed halfway between Sony’s flagship headset and that of Apple.

Spatial audio in all flavors

Premium headphones require, the Ace can play titles in Dolby Atmos and 360 Reality Audio from the Apple Music, Tidal, Deezer and Amazon Music platforms. An operation close to what Apple offers with its AirPods Max but which differs from Bose’s QC Ultra Headphones which makes its own fuss. The Ace also has a head tracking function for added immersion.

In addition to that, the Ace reserves a very specific functionality for those immersed in the Sonos ecosystem. The headset is thus capable of connecting to a Sonos Arc soundbar (available on the Beam, Beam Gen 2 and Ray following an upcoming update), recovering the audio stream and simulating a 3D audio bubble. Connection is simply done with a single long press on the multifunction button. The bar’s processor then takes care of all the processing and transforms the Dolby Atmos streams (up to 7.1.4 channels), or any other signal, into binaural stereo signals simulating a 3D listening bubble.

The Ace also features TrueCinema technology, unique to Sonos, allowing you to simulate surround sound specific to your listening room, but in the headphones. This feature will be rolled out later via an update.

The promise of high-end services

The Ace features 40mm drivers to deliver “clear and precise” sound. We find Bluetooth 5.4 connectivity (compatible with the aptX Lossless codec in particular), but also a USB-C socket used both for charging and listening to music. Autonomy is also promised around 30 hours. There are also no less than 8 microphones used for calls, but also for noise reduction and for listening to surrounding sounds. It remains to be seen if Sonos manages to come and hunt on the same ground as Sony, Bose and Apple on this point.

The Ace will be available in black or white from June 5 at a price of €499.