Sonos not too long ago teased that it was set to announce its “most requested product ever.” In the event you guessed headphones, congratulations. The agency maintains a loyal fanbase, and many individuals had been little question desperate to see what it could appear to be had been it to use its experience to the class.
The reply arrives within the type of the over-ear Ace headphones. The market play is obvious from the outset: The $449 headphones are firmly focused at an viewers that may in any other case be buying the Bose QC Extremely ($349), Sony WH-1000XM5 ($399) or Apple AirPods Max ($449). These are largely frequent vacationers who don’t thoughts paying a premium for sound and luxury — little question a demographic that overlaps properly with Sonos’ current person base.
“They’re here! Fans have asked us for years to bring the Sonos experience to headphones — and we knew our first foray into the category needed to champion the type of innovation and sound experience Sonos has become synonymous with,” CEO Patrick Spence famous in a press release.
As for what which means in non-PR communicate, the Ace appear to be a regular set of premium headphones on paper. That’s not a nasty factor, however the days of Bose being the one sport on the town ended a very long time in the past. There’s stiff competitors within the class, significantly at this value level.
The highest-line options will likely be acquainted to anybody who’s been procuring the house: lossless audio and spatial audio, energetic noise canceling/consciousness modes, residence theater encompass sound. The acknowledged 30 hours of battery life is a giant plus. That’s the identical score because the Sony MX and a pleasant enchancment over the Bose and Apple, that are rated at 26 and 20 hours, respectively.
There’s a degree the place extra hours of battery are negligible. Provided that the present longest worldwide flight (New York to Singapore) is below 19 hours, I’d say we’re at the moment working in that realm. That mentioned, extra battery is rarely a nasty factor, neither is the flexibility to get three hours of listening on three minutes of charging.
It’s additionally price declaring that real-world battery life varies and relies on quite a lot of components, although the corporate handily notes that the “up to 30 hours” is for audio listening with ANC turned on — one thing that may be a drain on life. The battery itself is 1060mAh, which is a giant improve from the Bose QC Extremely (750mAh), AirPods Max (640mAh), and a bit lower than the M5’s 1200mAh.
The Ace sports activities two 40mm dynamic drivers and eight beamforming microphones for calls and noise detection. Spatial audio, which debuted on final yr’s Period 300 speaker, options head monitoring and Dolby Atmos help. Lossless, in the meantime, arrives by way of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Sound AptX low latency codec. Once more, this all sounds nice (so to talk), however I’m holding off any judgement till I’ve had time to evaluate the headphones. The excellent news is that that is coming prior to later.
The Sonos Ace completely look the a part of premium headphones. The headphones supply a minimalist design, relative to the competitors. There’s no pointless ornamental element, past a refined Sonos emblem on the correct cup. The padding is beneficiant on each the cups and band, which must be good on lengthy journeys. As we strategy summer season, nonetheless, I’m curious to see how properly they breathe in steamy climate.
Above all, the corporate is making an ecosystem play right here. There’s little question a good portion of the fanbase that trusts Sonos sufficient to buy any product it places its identify on. In the event you’ve come to belief a model sufficient to ask it into your private home, you’re doubtless additionally enthusiastic about Sonos lastly coming into the house.
Given how lengthy it took Sonos to really launch a pair of headphones, it’s secure to say that it didn’t rush into issues. The corporate has excessive requirements relating to sound, however whether or not that interprets properly into a really completely different kind issue is the sort of factor you may solely correctly reply after you’ve tried them on for your self.
Even when they sound nice, whether or not the class wants one other pair of $450 headphones is one other query solely. Is no matter portion of Sonos’ loyal fanbase that’s at the moment out there for headphones sufficient to help the product? Doubtless only a few have held off on shopping for a premium set of over-ear headphones in hope that Sonos would some day enter the market.
Even for a model as properly established in audio as Sonos, these are going to be tough waters to navigate.
The Sonos Ace will likely be obtainable beginning June 5.
