Pondering Sonos' first headphones

When's a review not a review? When it's this, I guess.

Over-ear headphones might be my favourite type of gadget. Ever since my early teens, I’ve carried a pair around with me wherever I go. They’re like a comfort blanket. A badass comfort blanket for a Cool Rock ‘n’ Roll Kinda Guy™.

You may have some issues to work out, pal.

Wait… who are you? What are you?

Well, I’m partially you, and partially the reader. A word spirit, if you will.

So like some sort of strawman?

If that makes you feel better go for it. Really though, I’m more like an omniscient force running through the piece.

God this is confusing, where was I?

Headphones.

Ah, yeah.

One of the things I love about being a tech journalist is getting to review and write about headphones, meaning I was hyped when Sonos got in touch ahead of the announcement of its new product.

Let me guess: headphones?

Uh, yeah, headphones. But its first ever pair of headphones.

Specifically, the Sonos Ace. A pair of headphones released on Wednesday 5th June, but I was lucky enough to get my hands on them a few weeks before. Since then, I’ve had the chance to put these suckers through their paces and do some Big Brain Thinking.

So is this… a review?

In one way, yes. In another more real way, no. It’s about the Sonos Ace headphones, it looks at how they are to use, but in the traditional way of The Rectangle, it spends a lot of time looking at why they are.

“Why they are?” You realise that’s nonsensical, right?

Hey, it’s not my fault you’re here. And it’s not my fault I find Sonos so intriguing — and have done for some time.

Okay, I’ll bite. What’s so interesting about Sonos?

The company has managed to carve out an impressive niche that you don’t see often in the tech world.

There are very few categories of gear that are dominated by a single company. Consider other consumer items like TVs, phones, guitars, earbuds, games consoles, and the like. I bet you can easily name several companies making those items.

But multi-room audio? That’s still dominated by Sonos. It’s defined an entire category of hardware, and that’s rare.

Yet the nature of business means that nothing stands still. While Sonos still has a share of mind, smart speakers by companies like Amazon and Apple have taken some rather big bites out of its delicious lunch.

In response, we’ve seen Sonos try and expand its offering, in an attempt to draw more people in. The company moved past only selling wired speakers, introducing the wireless Roam and Move, with the former in particular being the company’s lowest priced product at the time.

And launching some headphones? The Sonos Ace? A brand new category for the company? This is part of this expansion.

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Makes sense. But are we gonna talk about the cans or not?

Of course! The Sonos Ace are a pair of premium Bluetooth headphones. They retail for about €500, making them a direct competitor to something like the AirPods Max which go for about €550.

I don’t want to spend too long in the weeds, kicking the dirt and obsessing over the details details (there are lots and lots and lots and lots of straightforward reviews out there), but it is important to talk about them a bit.

To begin with, slap your peepers on them, friends:

Pretty. Real pretty.

You’re right there, strange disembodied voice. The Sonos Ace have a sort of effortless style to them. They aren’t as unique-looking as AirPods Max, but are elegant in a way that’ll probably look good in a decade.

It’s really the small touches that endear me towards the Sonos Ace though.

Tell me all about these small touches?

Okay, Freud. One thing I particularly like is that the right and left ear cups are colour coded. This means you can easily see which way round they go.

Green is right, the white is left. Also, the plush area is all memory foam. It’s lovely.

Alongside that, the magnets that attach the ear cups only work one way, so when you try and put them back the wrong way around, they won’t fit in. It’s a clever bit of work.

Sounds it.

Also being able to easily replace ear cups? Thank the lord for that. A quick glance through my headphone collection will show you how easily ear cups can be destroyed — especially with lighter coloured headphones like these.

Are those… buttons?

You’re damn right they are, omniscient question-asker.

One of my biggest headphone pet peeves is touch sensors. You know, areas you have to swipe and jab at to control the audio.

Yes, a touch sensor on a headphone works most of the time, but all it takes is a bit of moisture and the whole process moves across. And the thing about headphones? You wear them outside. In the weather. Which is often moist.

Instead, the Sonos Ace has buttons. Actual, real-life buttons.

The most interesting is that silver switch in the middle of the photo, which the company refers to as the Content Key. Here you can change the volume and play/pause whatever you’re listening too. It’s a unique little touch that I’ve not seen in the same way elsewhere.

I get that. It’s nice to easily rewind a song so you can get pumped up.

Pumped up? Who are you?

Whatever. Tell me about the fit.

And the sound?

It’s a very Sonos sound — and I mean that in a good way.

I’d describe it as meaty and exciting. They may not be tuned for high level audiophiles, but what they do is create an audio experience that’s exciting and fun to listen to.

If I had to be a bit nerdy about it, I’d say I’d prefer there to be slightly more oomph in the bass, and a bit less emphasis on the mids, but, honestly? If you listen to them, you’ll enjoy them.

Anything else?

It’d like an IP resistance rating, so you know they’re not gonna mess up in any sort of rain, drizzle, or downpour.

You planning on getting wet or something?

Mate, I live in the Netherlands.

So is that it? The end of the review?

This isn’t a real review. Thought we cleared that up earlier.

Anyway, I could go on and on and on about the headphones, but I think there’s something more interesting to ask: why?

Why?

Like, why is Sonos doing this?

But you mentioned earlier that it was about making money?

We can of course say “money” and be done with it, but that doesn’t get to the bottom of anything.

Come with me, my narration-loving friend, and let’s backtrack.

When I last wrote about Sonos’ product strategy, I pointed towards a change in its strategy to release cheaper hardware. The reason for this, I posited, was it broadened its sales funnel.

Think of it this way: a cheaper system is an entry point. If you can get people to buy the €160 Sonos Roam or its €100 collaboration with IKEA, they’re hooked. The ecosystem has gobbled them up and can convince them to buy more.

One of the Symfonisk range of speakers, developed by Sonos and IKEA.

Once you have one Sonos speaker, it’s incredibly easy to add to it. Expanding your collection is easy. Want surround sound? Or something for the kitchen? Sonos has you covered.

This tactic worked wonders.

I know lots of folks with Sonos speakers — but I don’t know anyone with only one. Once you’re in, you’re in.

The company has been very clever. It created an Apple-esque ecosystem of premium products. Then, it slightly lowered the barrier to entry with new, cheaper hardware to draw more people in.

Whether it’s soundbars, home speakers, or portable devices, Sonos aims to hook you into its web.

The thing is, the Sonos Ace doesn’t act this way.

What, my good friend, are you talking about?

It’s weird that the Ace headphones don’t really interact with any other Sonos equipment.

Yes, there’s some snazzy integration with the Sonos Arc sound bar, where you can seamlessly swap the sound from the TV to your ears, but that’s about it.

The Ace have been designed to work independently of Sonos’ ecosystem. In some senses, this is good. They connect via Bluetooth and work with whatever device you want — but why isn’t there an option to connect them to a full Sonos system and use them as something resembling an extra speaker?

The explanation I got from the company was all about battery life.

Wi-Fi — which is what the speakers predominately run on — uses much more energy than Bluetooth, meaning the Sonos Ace only last about 10 hours, compared to 30.

While this makes sense, Sonos also told me that one reason they went for over-ear headphones rather than, say, earbuds, is their research showed people liked using over-ears at home for watching movies.

This is a lost opportunity.

Not only does this mean that people can’t make use of these as part of their entire system, it also offers no reason for someone who buys the Sonos Ace to look into getting more of the company’s equipment.

To me, there’s a simple solution to this: A small switch that separates Wi-Fi from Bluetooth.

Have it so they can operate in two profiles. One, a home-based setting that interacts with other Sonos hardware, and the other for when you’re out and about. Hell, it doesn’t even need to be a switch. It could just be a long hold on the power button and the LED changes colour.

I mean, that sounds good and all, but it does it actually change the headphones?

Yes and no.

Genuinely, the Sonos Ace deserve to be talked about in the same breath as the big four over-ear headphones: The AirPods Max, the Sony WH-1000XM5, the Bose Quietcomfort Ultra, and the Sennheiser Momentum 4.

Really, it’s now a Big Five. And that’s a huge testament to the work that Sonos has done making the Ace as good as they are.

My concern is that Sonos, at the moment, hasn’t done enough to convince people already in its ecosystem that its headphones are the ones you should buy. And that’s a shame. It could’ve taken advantage of its unique position and, to me, they didn’t quite grasp it.

I’ve got to get out of here, this article has gotten really long.

Hasn’t it just?

So… final thoughts?

Despite my reservations, the Ace have become my daily drivers. I’ve been using Sony’s WH-1000XM5 for the past several months, and the Sonos headphones have booted them down the pecking order for the time being.

And, for someone who loves headphones as much as I do, that’s high praise.