Like many Forbes readers, a major part of my work involves travel. A good pair of headphones that are comfortable, portable, offer effective ANC, and sound great is a must-have for us. After using the Sony WH-1000XM5, Sennheiser Momentum 4, and Bose QuietComfort Ultra, I can confidently say that the Sonos Ace are a strong contender for a place in your backpack.
From covering conferences to local on-ground events, I’ve worn the new Sonos Ace headphones in taxis, flights, subways, and buses. Here’s what you need to know about the Sonos Ace before you consider them as your next pair of headphones.
The Most Comfortable ANC Headphones for Long Durations
At $449 / INR 39,999, you’d expect the Sonos Ace to offer a premium design, and they do. It’s got nothing to do with the weight and everything to do with the soft cushioning and low clamping force on the headband. This difference becomes apparent during extended wear.
I found them more comfortable than the AirPods Max (385g) and the Sennheiser Momentum 4 (293g), both of which I couldn’t wear for long durations due to the weight, and the Sony XM5s (250g), which are too tight and get sweaty. The Sonos Ace are on par with the Bose QuietComfort Ultra (253g) for extended wear. Like many flagship headphones, the earpads tend to retain sweat in humid conditions.
Despite being heavier at 315 grams compared to competitors, the Sonos Ace feel surprisingly comfortable for long periods of wear. It’s because of theslanted earcup design and soft headband that offers a snug yet non-restrictive fit.
The Sonos Ace feature a matte finish with metal accents. While I prefer the White variant, my review unit was in Black, which looks equally classy and elegant. The mesh inside the magnetic earpads has color accents to indicate left and right. The Sonos Ace offer buttons for every control, which I prefer over the gesture controls found on competitors.
On the right earcup, you’ll find the Content key, which controls volume (up and down) and playback (single/double/triple press), and an ANC control button for toggling between active noise cancellation and aware mode. The left earcup has a Power button and a USB-C port for charging and music playback. A Type-C to Type-C cable is included for wired playback.
Notably, there is no 3.5mm headphone jack and Sonos Ace can’t be used passively even when connected with a wire. So, if the battery runs out, you’ll need to charge them to continue using them.
I prefer the Sonos carrying case over the likes of Sony, Sennheiser, and Apple. It’s a large, rectangular, flat case that fits easily in a backpack. It also features a magnetically detachable pouch to store wires. I still like my Bose case for the QuietComfort Ultra headphones, because of its smaller size, thanks to the foldable earcups, but it’s also thicker. I would rate the Sonos Ace’s carrying case slightly better than Bose.
Sonos Ace Sound Quality and ANC Performance
The Sonos Ace use custom-designed 40mm dynamic drivers. They feature Bluetooth 5.4 and support Qualcomm’s AptX Adaptive and AptX Lossless codecs, along with AAC for Apple devices. I appreciate the sound quality on offer—it’s articulate and accurate. The Sonos Ace deliver clean, balanced sound with a nice amount of sparkle and strong bass that isn’t overpowering.
I tested the Sonos Ace with the iPhone 16 Pro (AAC codec) and Honor Magic V3 (AptX Adaptive codec) alongside the Pixel 9 Pro XL and used Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube Music for streaming. The sound profile can be tweaked in the Sonos app, but I used the default settings, listening to a mix of pop, rock, and acoustic songs.
The Sonos Ace’s sound offer good instrument separation. You can separately distinguish the guitar, drum beats, and synthesizer tones, similar to the Sennheiser Momentum 4 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones. The bass is strong without being boomy, and high frequencies have a nice sparkle without becoming too sharp. Vocals sound as clear as they do on the Sennheiser and Bose.
In comparison, the Sony XM5s have a more bass-forward sound, while Sennheiser remains neutral—both appealing to different consumer preferences. The Sonos Ace, however, are closer to the Bose QuietComfort Ultra and are well-suited for a variety of music genres. For instance, I enjoyed listening to Faisal Kapadia and Sona Mohapatra’s vocals in Naina (Strings’ Thirty album), as well as the beats in Queen’s Another One Bites The Dust.
The Sonos Ace go head to head with its Apple, Sony, and Bose. Apart from the AirPods Max, I’ve tested all these headphones on airplanes, in cabs, and on buses. I would rate the ANC performance on par with the Sony XM5, with the Bose QuietComfort Ultra slightly ahead. The transparency mode is comparable to the top-notch transparency found on the AirPods Max.
The Sonos Ace do an excellent job muffling ambient noise on airplanes. While you can still hear some engine noise, playing music effectively zones you out. The same is true when you’re stuck in traffic or inside the subway. The Ace muffle out lower frequencies very well. They were able to reduce the hustle-bustle of crowded public spaces by up to 90%.
Sonos Ace Review: Features and Battery Life
The Sonos Ace are feature-rich, though not all features are flawless. Starting with the latter, the TV Audio Swap feature is great until it isn’t. It’s designed to work with Sonos Arc, Beam, and Ray soundbars, transfers soundbar output to your headphones so you don’t disturb others.
When you want the audio to be private while watching TV, press and hold the Content key, and the soundbar will direct audio to your headphones. It is a wonderful feature, which I’ve found myself using at night. But the problem is, it’s unreliable.
Sometimes it swaps audio to the headphones but doesn’t swap it back; other times, it doesn’t work at all. It works about six out of ten times, but when it does, it’s impressive. The dialogue remains centered on the screen, while spatial audio provides an immersive experience where you feel like you have speakers on both sides behind you. Sonos promises that this experience will get better.
The Sonos Ace also feature wear detection, pausing music when you take them off. As for voice calls, the Ace are equipped with eight microphones, These make for good voice clarity and I had no problems taking calls on the go. You also get multipoint connectivity, though it must be enabled via the app. Unfortunately, there’s no voice detection feature like the Sony XM5s, which automatically lowers the music volume when you start talking.
The Sonos Ace are rated for up to 30 hours of battery life with noise cancellation on. It’s similar to Sony (30 hours) and more than Bose (24 hours) and Apple (20 hours). In my one month of usage, I never felt the need for more battery life and I wasn’t out of battery at crucial moments. However, if you ever get stuck with no battery, the headphones feature a quick-charge option that offers three hours of playback with a three-minute charge.
Sonos Ace Review: Verdict
The Bose QuietComfort Ultra used to be my go-to travel headphones, but the Sonos Ace are now right up there, and in some cases, even better. At $449 / INR 39,999 (currently on sale for INR 34,999 in India), the first headphones from Sonos might seem expensive, but they are worth it.
You can find good-sounding headphone options for less, like the Sony XM5 and Sennheiser Momentum 4 headphones – but the Sonos Ace are more complete and on par with the Bose QuietComfort Ultra.
The Sonos Ace are comfortable to wear, offer great sound across multiple music genres, feature top-notch noise cancellation, clear voice quality for calls, and an impressive spatial audio experience. If you have $449 to spend, these are the headphones to get.
