Giving The People What They Want
Key Points:
- Sonos has launched the Ace Ultra headphones ($449) as an upgraded follow-up to the original Ace, featuring improved sound quality, active noise cancellation (ANC), and integration with the Sonos speaker ecosystem via Wi-Fi linking.
- The Ace Ultra supports "headphone linking," allowing users to send audio seamlessly between Sonos speakers and the headphones through the Sonos app, although this requires initiating playback within the app and does not work with AirPlay.
- Key hardware upgrades include 10 microphones for adaptive ANC and EQ, user-replaceable batteries offering up to 35 hours of use, and Sonos-designed 40mm drivers tuned with Grammy-winning engineers for enhanced bass and audio detail.
- ANC performance is reportedly twice as effective as the original Ace, with a highly natural transparency (Aware) mode that rivals competitors like the AirPods Max 2, and improved call quality with good voice pickup.
- While TV Audio Swap works reliably to transfer sound between the TV and headphones, some users may experience occasional audio skips, which Sonos attributes potentially to streaming devices or Wi-Fi issues and plans to address in future updates.