After much anticipation and speculation about an imminent announcement, Sonos has officially announced its first pair ofBluetooth headphonesto pair with itsnewly designed app. And with an adjustableEQ, a sleek and thoughtful design, and optional wired listening, the headphones boast some of the featureswe were most hoping to see. Officially named the Sonos Ace, the headphones are what the audio company calls a “representation of [its] premium craftmanship.”
Coming into a consumer space full of strong competitors, the Sonos Ace tries to stand out with its advanced sound features and luxurious design. “We wanted a product name that encapsulates this effort and the high bar we set for ourselves as we enter this category,” Sonos said to Pocket-lint.
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Thoughtful and luxury design
Sonos is going for a luxurious look with the Ace, as it does with all of its products. The headphones will come in two colors, black and white, with a matte finish and stainless steel accents. Additionally, Sonos promises a lightweight build, and features memory foam ear cushions covered in vegan leather. Not only does the company boast that they’ll be comfortable enough for all-day wear, they will also feature a 30-hour battery life, so it sounds like they’ll be a great companion for long trips, long commutes, and long days at work.
Sustainability is also factored into the Sonos Ace, with Sonos claiming it used 17% less virgin plastic by using recycled materials, and the felt case is made up of 75% recycled plastic bottles. Longevity of the product is also taken into account here, with replaceable ear cushions and automatic wear detection to save on battery life, so the lifespan of the headphones can be as long as possible.
Boasting Sonos' staple sound
The Sonos Ace will be a pair ofnoise-cancellingheadphones, like most flagship headphones at major audio companies. It will also have a transparency mode, called Aware mode, that allows you to hear your surroundings when you need to.
The headphones will feature 40mm dynamic drivers, and haveDolby Atmossupport for spatial audio. In the press release, Sonos writes “Sonos Intelligent Motion Processing with Dolby Head Tracking dynamically adjusts the sound as you move your head for a hyper-realistic listening experience.” It also allows you to quickly switch between your Sonos Arc speaker and the headphones while watching TV, so you’re able to experience your shows and movies with spatial audio with a single click of a button. Sonos also writes that later this year, “all-new TrueCinema technology will map your space and render a surround sound experience so realistic you’ll forget you’re wearing headphones.”
While the Sonos Ace will be Bluetooth headphones, they’ll also have an optional wired listening mode, so you can also listen tolossless audiowith none of the latency inherent to Bluetooth.
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The Sonos Ace will be available for purchase on June 5th for $449.
