Sonos Ace Black

The first Sonos headphones are here and I am very curious about them. I find the sound reproduction of the headphones detailed and the wearing comfort is high. Unfortunately, the Sonos app shows few options to adjust the sound to my wishes.

Sound quality When I listen to music, the high, mid and low tones sound balanced. This makes music genres such as rock and pop sound clear. With heavier music styles such as EDM or techno, the music lacks some intensity. I can partly adjust this in the Sonos app, but this app gives me few options to improve this sound. As a result, music does not always sound the way I like it.

Strong noise canceling Thanks to noise cancelling, I can isolate myself well from my environment. With most headphones I can't hear my surroundings when I listen to music, but I can hear them when I listen to podcasts. With the Sonos Ace, I don't hear much of my surroundings even when I listen to podcasts. I can use the button on the right earcup to turn noise canceling on or off if I want.

Wearing comfort The headphones fit securely on my head thanks to the aluminum design. They also have leather ear cups so the headphones sit comfortably on my ears. This means I can listen to music for hours without the headphones being annoying on my head. I also do this without worrying about the battery running out. Thanks to the battery life of 30 hours, I am rarely without music and I like that.

I was able to test the Sonos Ace for a few weeks.

Very good build quality and nice storage case with space for cords. Ear cups are magnetic and can therefore be easily replaced.

The headphones fit comfortably on the head and when you take them off the sound automatically turns off.

Noice canceling works well, although I must say that when you put on the headphones you already experience a kind of natural noise canceling because it closes off all around your ears.

Even though they are over-ear headphones, my ears do get warm quickly, which I have had with several over-ear, but especially on-ear headphones, so my personal preference is in-ear headphones.

Pairing via Bluetooth to two devices (iOS) was easy and switching between the two devices also works fine.

Unfortunately, despite several attempts, I was unable to connect the headphones to my Windows 11 laptop.

The operation works with various buttons on the side. So it has no touch controls, which is otherwise fine and quick to use

The sound is also good, but not noticeably better than other headphones in the same price range.

Conclusion: Super nice quality headphones, noise canceling is excellent and the sound is also more than sufficient, but they are not outstanding.

A nice product, but the quality of the sound is not what I have come to expect from Sonos. The midrange and high tones themselves are reasonable to good compared to headphones in the same price range, but I think the low tones are very poor. Especially if you are a fan of heavy dance, you should leave this one alone. The option to increase the volume considerably is also missing. The NC is also disappointing in comparison.

The touch operation is mediocre. Understand that design is important, but not at the expense of ease of use.