The Sonos Ace Headphones landed on my desk one day. I’ve been using them daily over the last couple of weeks and I have no problem at all in saying, they are the best headphones I’ve used in a very long time.
It will be a common theme in this review, but I’m going to say things like premium, or to that effect, quite a lot, and it starts with the unboxing. The headphones come in a sealed cardboard box, and inside the box you’ll find the headphones, within a hard case with a removable cable pouch, USB C to C cable and USB C to 3.5mm cable, plus some instructions. The attention to detail of just the instructions and the cables, how they are coiled up and presented, it’s great to see.
The headphones themselves ooze sophistication, class and craftsmanship. They offer a sleek, minimalist design, with a subtle matte black finish and hints of chrome. It’s flawless, it’s exactly what you want from a premium pair of headphones and I wouldn’t change anything. We have the black version here but a white version is also available to purchase.
There are three buttons on the headphones and between them, they allow you to pretty much control everything you need. The largest of the three buttons, on the right earcup, which slides up and down, as well as pushes in, allows you to control all your content. Press once to play/pause, double press is next song, slide up or down for volume control. The smaller button below that is for noise and voice control. Press once to switch between ANC and aware mode, or press and hold to activate voice assistant if you like that kind of thing. The last button is located on the left earcup and that’s your power and connection button. Press and hold for 3 seconds to turn the headphones on or off, or press longer for about 7 seconds to put them into pairing mode if you want to connect to a new device. You’ve also got similar commands for taking calls, too.
Both the headband and earcups come with plush memory foam, covered with vegan leather, providing a very soft and comfortable fit. The headband is adjustable, and each earcup slides in and out of the stainless steel headband. The headband has a good amount of flex, and the earcups swivel too, providing a good amount of adjustment and flexibility to suit any shape and size of head. It’s also worth noting that the earcups do come off, they’re held in place by some strong-ish magnets but can be removed if you want to replace them at any time.
The hard case is very nice, albeit a little tricky to open at times due to the way the zip is covered; you have to really make sure you fully unzip the case to open it, and I failed to do that to start with. but it will certainly keep the headphones safe while in transit in your backpack or similar and the removable cable case is handy. You’ll get both cables in if you want and it’s magnetic, so it stays secure to the case. There is only one magnet in the case, though, located within the headband, which is really the only place it can go anyway but I did try other locations to see if it stuck but it didn’t.
In terms of specifications and features, they include custom-designed 40mil dynamic drivers to each cup. Lossless audio via Bluetooth or USB C with a supported device. Spatial audio and Dolby Atmos, including head tracking, offering an immersive experience. Noise cancellation plus aware mode, which blends in ambient sound with your content. Eight microphones for noise control and voice targeting. Bluetooth 5.4 or a hardwired connection. 1060mili amp hour battery providing upto 30 hours of standard use, 24 hours with ANC activated, and there is app support including EQ options but more on that later.
The headphones are a pleasure to wear, for long or short periods of time. They’re big enough to fully sit over the top of my ears, providing a very secure and isolating fit. They’re lightweight, the memory foam is fantastic and not once did I feel the need to adjust or remove them due to being uncomfortable, too tight, hot or sweaty.
Audio performance is top-notch, I cannot recall really hearing anything else that offers what these do, and I’ve tried a bunch of headphones over the years. You put them on and it’s just a joy to listen to music, it’s like hearing your favourite songs in a whole new light, a better light that truly showcases the quality of the music production. I listen to various genres, lots of country, some heavier stuff from the likes of Bilmuri, and sometimes some classics by Phil Collins. Great clarity, well balanced, instruments are well placed, I’ve got hi hats to the left, crash cymbal to the right, thumping bass in the middle, guitars are shredding and vocals are clear.
I watched some video content with the headphones too, basic YouTube stuff, which was fine but these are compatible with Dolby Atmos, as long as your device can deliver it. Well mine can, so i had to try it. Now, alot of brands say their products include Dolby Atmos but it’s a bit of a gimmick usually and I’m not that impressed. However, with these, it was pinpoint accurate and elevated the movie experience for me. I watched a few official Dolby Atmos samples, which sounded fantastic but also parts of Dune 2 and Oppenheimer, and I loved it. You could say I’m converted but we’ll see when the next brand can deliver.
The ANC or active noise cancellation, is superb, it’s night and day. You can switch between ANC and Aware mode, which is a transparency feature that allows you to hear some of the outside world, like a car passing by. Switching between the two, you can hear the difference straight away. A simple click of the fingers, you can hear via aware mode but not when ANC is on. Take it to the next level, I can’t hear my kids calling my name because they’re hungry and too lazy to go to the fridge and sort themselves out. They are 10 and 7 by the way, they can help themselves to some fruit out the fridge. Taking the dog for a walk, was somewhat nervy as there were times where I didnt hear passing cars at lower speeds around housing estates, and would certainly recommend switching to aware mode for that. Safety first. I’d love to try these out on a plane, see how well they hold up during a flight but I’m not going away anytime soon, unfortunately, but if any of you have experienced that, let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Sonos do have an app that offers some additional features, it’s free to download and for once, you’re given the choice to either sign up or not, which is refreshing, as so many force you to set up an account just to gain access to an app for your headphones, its so unnecessary. Upon first use, I had an update, great I’m not too sure what it included but the headphones are now up to date and bugs have been fixed or features added. Within the app you can do the usual things, control your content, check battery level and turn certain features on and off. There is an EQ option, which allows you to adjust the balance, treble and bass on the fly, while listening to music so you can adjust it to suit your preference. You can turn head tracking on and off, it’s quirky, I personally am not a fan but the options there if you want it. The app also allows you to adjust what noise control and wear detection options are accessible via the buttons, if you want to switch those up.
Battery life appears very good and true to what Sonos states within their literature. There is a small indicator light on the left earcup, This will show various things but in terms of battery, when it flashes orange, you’ve got 10% or less left, and it’s time to charge. While charging, that light will stay orange and once fully charged, will turn to green. When the headphones reach 10% or lower, you can use the rapid charge feature. You don’t need to do anything specific for this, it just means when you plug it in, you’ll get around 3 hours of playback from just 3 minutes of charge time. Once past that 10% threshold, it charges at a normal speed and can take a few hours to hit 100%.
Price is around £380 here in the UK at the time of making this, but I believe the retail price is £449, which is a tad steep, considering one of its closest competitors is the XM5’s from Sony with a retail price of £299. I’ve tried the XM5’s before, but I don’t have them anymore, I’m going to try grab a pair as I’d like to have these two next to each other and see which one is superior.
Would I recommend them, 100%. If you’re looking for a premium experience and to fall back in love with music, yes, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every second of using them and can see myself using them indefinitely. Would I recommend them over the XM5s or something else, it’s yet to be decided…
