Sonos recently teased that it plans to release its “most requested product of all time.” If you guessed headphones, congratulations. The company maintains a passionate fan base, many of whom were no doubt eager to see what it would look like to apply its expertise to the category.
The answer comes in the form of the over-ear Ace headphones. The market play is clear from the start. The $449 headphones are firmly targeting the audience that would buy the Bose QC Ultra ($349), Sony WH-1000XM5 ($399), or Apple AirPods Max ($449). These are mostly frequent travelers who don't mind paying a premium for sound and comfort. It's a demographic that undoubtedly fits well with Sonos' existing user base.
“They’re here! Fans have been asking us to bring the Sonos experience to headphones for years, and we knew our first foray into a category needed to champion the type of innovation and sound experience Sonos has become synonymous with,” CEO Patrick Spence said in a statement. said in
To tell you what this means outside of PR, the Aces look like a standard set of premium headphones on paper. That's not a bad thing, but the days when bosses were the only game in town are long gone. Competition in the category is fierce, especially at this price point.
Its best features, including lossless and spatial audio, active noise cancellation/awareness modes, and home theater surround sound, will be familiar to anyone shopping for space. The stated 30 hours of battery life is a big plus. This is the same rating as the Sony MX and a significant improvement over the Bose and Apple, which are rated at 26 hours and 20 hours respectively.
There is a point where the extra battery time becomes negligible. Considering that our longest international flight (New York-Singapore) is just under 19 hours, I'd say we're operating in that territory right now. In other words, having a lot of battery is never a bad thing, and it's not like you can listen to music for 3 hours with 3 minutes of charging.
Actual battery life will vary depending on a variety of factors, and the company simply states that “up to 30 hours” is the amount of time you can listen to audio with ANC turned on. Life. The battery itself is 1060mAh, a significant upgrade from the Bose QC Ultra (750mAh) and AirPods Max (640mAh), and slightly less than the M5's 1200mAh.
Ace features two 40mm dynamic drivers and eight beamforming microphones for call and noise detection. First introduced in last year's Era 300 speakers, spatial audio features head tracking and Dolby Atmos support. Meanwhile, losslessness is provided by Qualcomm's Snapdragon Sound AptX low-latency codec. Again, this all sounds great (so to speak), but I'm withholding judgment until I have time to review the headphones. The good news is that it's coming sooner rather than later.
The Sonos Ace certainly looks the part of premium headphones. The headphones feature a minimalist design compared to its competitors. Other than the subtle Sonos logo on the right cup, there are no unnecessary decorative details. Both the cup and band have ample padding, making them ideal for long distance travel. But as summer approaches, I wonder how well they breathe in the hot weather.
Above all, the company operates an ecosystem here. There's no doubt there's a significant portion of the fan base that trusts Sonos enough to buy any product that bears its name. If you trust the brand enough to invite it into your home, you'll be happy that Sonos is finally entering that space.
Considering how long it took Sonos to actually release the headphones, it's safe to say they weren't in a rush. The company has high standards when it comes to sound, but whether that translates well to very different form factors is the kind of thing that can only be properly answered after you try it out for yourself.
As great as they sound, whether there's a need for more $450 headphones in the category is another question entirely. How much of Sonos' loyal fan base in the current headphone market is enough to support the product? Few people will have put off buying a set of premium over-ear headphones in the hope that Sonos will one day enter the market.
Even for a brand as well-established in audio as Sonos, this will be a tricky issue to navigate.
Sonos Ace will be available starting June 5th.