I travelled to Berlin with Sonos Ace, and this is what I learned wearing these elite headphones

Over the past few days, I have tried to wear the Sonos Ace more than usual due to travelling, and I didn’t use any other headphones. Here’s the good and bad, and in my opinion, how the Sonos Ace helped me become more accustomed to over-ear headphones.

Sonos Ace price in India (as reviewed): Rs 39,999

Premium built and comfortable to wear

The headphones incorporate 40mm drivers, eight beamforming microphones for noise control, and an LED status indicator on the left ear cup. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

The design of the Sonos Ace is clean, minimal, and premium. It exudes richness and a high-polish finish, tapping into classic codes — just like a Birkin is to Hermès or a Boy Chanel handbag is to Chanel. I have them in a soft off-white colour, and they feel like a subtle luxury. The headband and ear pads are made of vegan leather with a stainless steel yoke, while the cups are made of plastic. One of my biggest complaints about the AirPods Max (at least, in my experience), a premium set of headphones that comes closest to the Ace, was that they felt heavy despite their high-quality aluminium ear cups. I am glad Sonos chose plastic for the ear cups to reduce the weight, making them the most comfortable over-ear headphones I have ever worn.

The Ace feels natural on your head. During my flight from Berlin to Doha, neither the headband nor the ear cups created any irritating pressure that made me want to take off the headphones for a moment. Yes, you do feel that you are wearing headphones but I did not feel a discomfort or sense of fatigue after long listening sessions.

Sonos has kept the control system on the Ace headphones simple. Unlike touch-sensitive buttons, which I find irritating and useless, it has opted for all physical buttons. There’s a dedicated power button on the left ear cup, and a button on the right ear cup toggles between noise-cancellation and transparency (or ‘aware’) modes. On the right ear cup is a volume slider button, which Sonos calls the Content Key. This button adjusts volume and playback controls (play/pause, skipping tracks, and answering calls). The Content Key is made of metal and feels more premium. When you slide it up or down, it changes the volume. The Content Key is also the button you hold down for TV Audio Swap, allowing sound to instantly switch from your soundbar to the Ace headphones (more on that later).

Meanwhile, the ear cup inserts are exchangeable and attached to the ear cups via magnets. Thanks to the detachable magnetic ear cushions, they can be easily replaced whenever needed. The USB-C port is used for charging the headphones.

However, the Ace doesn’t have sweat or water resistance, so make sure to wear them only when the weather is clear. I’m glad that Sonos ships the Ace with a proper case, unlike Apple’s weird Smart Case, which is useless. The case is impressively thin and doesn’t take up much space in my backpack. Since the Ace doesn’t fold onto themselves like the Beats Studio Pro, the case is designed to be interestingly different. The Ace lays flat in the case, keeping the headphones protected and secure.

Easy setup

The Sonos Ace headphones primarily use Bluetooth and don’t have Wi-Fi capabilities like the company’s groundbreaking soundbars. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

I had been using the Sonos app for the iPhone (I recently reviewed Sonos’s excellent Arc soundbar — read it here) for quite some time, so setting up the Ace was easy and breezy. I paired the Ace with my iPhone 15 Pro via Bluetooth, and from there, I was able to discover the headphones within the Sonos app. The first thing I activated in the app was the headphone tracking option, along with the Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) feature. I left the equalisation (EQ) flat and activated the loudness control. The Ace supports multipoint Bluetooth, so they can be paired with two devices at the same time. They also have on-head detection, like AirPods and automatically pause your music when you remove them.

Ace has a great soundstage

The Sonos Ace can reproduce spatial audio, including movie soundtracks and Dolby Atmos content from Apple Music. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

I am often asked, ‘How good do the headphones sound?’, and my response after all these years is that it all comes down to personal preference. There’s no such thing as ‘the best’ when it comes to audio products. In fact, many factors determine sound quality — the type of music you listen to, your preference for a specific sound signature, whether noise cancellation is on or off, and even your hearing ability. Frankly, my experience with headphones, even from the same brand, has been different each time. With the Sonos Ace, I feel these headphones don’t appeal to a particular section of the audience, rather they appeal to a broad spectrum of audio listeners. The Ace sits right between the Sony 1000XM5 and Apple’s AirPods Max in terms of audio quality. They’re not aimed at audiophiles. The sound the Ace produces is designed to impress average consumers who stream music via Bluetooth.

These headphones have a great soundstage, offering pleasingly high-fidelity, rich, and expensive-sounding audio. The focus on detail is very evident when listening to Billie Eilish’s Everything I Wanted and Farhaan Saeed’s Tu Thodi Der. It’s like listening to pure music right in front of the vocalist’s voice. They don’t sound like the AirPods Max, which can be neutral-sounding. I don’t know much about frequency response nor am I an audiophile, but I can say that while listening to music on the Ace, I hear the vocals more clearly than before. The music doesn’t sound boomy or too intense but well-balanced. They have a powerful bass, which is evident when listening to The Heat by Alok and Jazzy and Baby Don’t Hurt Me by David Guetta, Anne-Marie, and Coi Leray. I prefer the Ace over the AirPods Max.

Another thing I liked about the Ace was its ability to reproduce spatial audio — I enjoy listening to spatial audio content whenever I’m in the mood for it. The 3D sound adds a new dimension to the music, especially with artists I grew up listening to, particularly when I’m on a long flight. On the Sonos app, you can turn on the feature to get spatial audio and Dolby Atmos content while listening to Apple Music from your iPhone. It’s pure magic.

Terrific active noise cancellation capability

The active noise-cancelling is top-notch — the best I have heard on over-ear headphones. While walking the streets of Berlin, I couldn’t hear passing cars and buses with music on. I was also surprised by the level of noise-cancelling capability the headphones offer — it’s impressive. To be clear, active noise-cancelling doesn’t mean the outside is completely blocked out. You’ll still hear some background noise, such as people’s voices. I quickly grew accustomed to the active noise cancellation, but I prefer the Aware mode which allows you to more easily hear someone talking to you on most days, whether I’m out for work or working at home.

Notes, comments and observations

The headphone’s design allows users to wear the Ace for long listening sessions. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

I can also vouch for the Ace as the best over-ear headphones for taking calls. Sure, it’s a Bluetooth headphone and still not quite up to wired microphone quality, but attending calls on the Ace feels very natural and is quite close to the experience of not wearing any headphones at all. Sonos promises that the Ace’s battery will last for 30 hours, and from my experience, I have charged it maybe twice in 9-10 days, even after a long trip to Berlin.

Perhaps the headline feature of the Ace is the TV Audio Swap, which allows users to ‘swap’ audio between a compatible Sonos soundbar, such as the Arc, and the Sonos Ace headphones. Instead of playing audio through the soundbar, users can activate the swap option to play audio through the Ace headphones. The latency is low, and it’s impressive, I must say. It’s like privately listening to your TV. However, to use this feature, you need a compatible Sonos soundbar. While it may not be a new feature, Sonos’s implementation is superior to others. Then there is also Sonos’s new software feature, TrueCinema, which promises to be like Trueplay but for the Ace headphones. This feature won’t roll out until later this year.

The verdict

The ANC works well to block out outside noise, which is great on long flights, especially if you are someone like myself who travels a lot. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

Sonos’s Ace has been in the works for years, and the company’s first attempt at making wireless headphones is indeed impressive. I don’t have anything too harsh or negative to say about the Ace. The headphones are better than Apple’s AirPods Max in many aspects, but I must say that, like those headphones, the Ace is not for everyone. Yes, they are good but not perfect, and there are things I hope will be improved in the second generation.

The Sonos Ace headphones sit at the upper end of the premium over-ear headphones segment. At Rs 40,000, not everyone might want to buy the Ace. However, Sonos has a cult following, and there is a segment of consumers who don’t mind spending this much on the Ace. As happened with the AirPods Max, I didn’t see many people opting for those headphones initially, but now, after several years, especially on the streets of Berlin and Doha’s Hamad International Airport, I saw many people using them. I see the same growth trajectory for the Sonos Ace.