7.0 Score
Choosing the right words to write a review can be challenging, but the time spent with the product gives you the ability to form a much more solid thought and opinion – which is the case with our Sonos Ace Review. We have been using these headphones as our daily and we have a lot of things to share about these headphones.
Sonos Ace Review Almost a Year Later
We Weren’t Planning to do this Long Term Review
But after the first few weeks with it, we realized that these cans were nowhere near perfect – so we gave the benefit of the doubt to see if there were any improvements over time. Now that we have seen and listened extensively – it’s safe to say that these Sonos Ace headphones are designed for one specific type of user: the Autopilots who don’t ever want to tinker with at all – what do we mean by that? Let us explain.
Before we proceed any further, a huge thanks to TC Acoustics for trusting our process. Now let’s dive in.
What’s Good about the Sonos Ace?
One Word to Describe the Design and Build: Immaculate
From a brand like Sonos, you expect nothing less than immaculate because that’s what the brand is known for – just like their minimalistic lineup of products, the Sonos Ace fits right into the portfolio with its clean and unobtrusive design cues which many users who don’t want a flashy headphone would appreciate with all their heart. The one we received is the black finish – which I like but it’s the white Sonos Ace I love the most – for its stand-out colour and the signature look Sonos has been known for since their Play: One.
Nothing here is cheap – the soft memory foam pleather pads are as comfy as a pillow, the headband sits on the top of your head with no pressure and feels as soft as a cloud would be and the metal band that connects to the earcups and gives the adjustability is solid as it can get.
There’s nothing to complain about but I do understand if users have a gripe with the weight of this thing because the build does add a significant weight to these headphones. So, for those with a rather small head shape, you might be a little taken aback.
Good Comfortable Headphones for Long Hours
Despite the weight, these are some of the most comfortable headphones I have enjoyed throughout my time. I have not experienced a single discomfort over hours because I have a problem—once my headphones go on, they don’t come off for hours or only when the battery dies. If you want that ultra-luxury experience with your headphones with the most comfy bands and such, these Sonos Ace do get that so right. The magnetic earcups with colour-coded mesh design are something I appreciate, as they will be easy to replace over time.
Sonos Nailed the ANC on this Thing (because wtf it’s good!)
We have tried a bunch of headphones with amazing ANC – in fact, some industry-leading ANCs. And to see a brand that has no experience in making personal audio products nail the ANC right is extremely surprising – the clean noise cancellation with no hiss and other noise you’d generally get with ANC headphones is a relief. I would put Sonos on par with the Sony WH-1000XM5, which is a headphone we really enjoyed reviewing here and in fact, I go back to every time I want to enjoy my music. That said, for the past few months, I reached out to the Sonos Ace more times than I should have, solely because of its really good ANC which sometimes performs really well in more noisy spaces such as public transport and such.
Now, you can switch from the ANC to Aware Mode, which allows you to hear your environment and the feed-forward and feed-back microphones baked right into it, do a very nice job of allowing you to hear your surroundings well. The experience surely does come super close to how you’d hear everything without your headphones on. There is this slight “narrow-ness” in the audio, but that’s expected in Aware Mode. But I will still take this for a win because it’s pretty darn impressive.
The Sound Quality Improved (After an Update)
To make things very clear, I wasn’t a fan of the audio quality these Sonos Ace produced the first few months – and we waited patiently for the first update, which hit our headphones 2-3 months later. This is the update I was waiting for because before that: the audio quality left a lot to be desired – the narrow sound staging was an issue, and I didn’t like the high treble and the extremely flat nature which can be mistaken for neutral – often it felt like I was listening to my BayerDynamic DT headphones which is known for its sharp trebles. Not to forget, it lacked the dynamic-ness which is what you expect with headphones like these.
After the update, we noticed the improvement in the trebles, the lows were more pronounced and the mids were slightly better – so, listening to Haim’s Hallelujah or Leonard Cohen’s You Want It Darker had the impact I needed when I listened to them. However, while these songs sounded “okay” at best, it wasn’t the Sonos Ace’s strong suit.
Where this headphone excels – in’s indie/pop music genre, and we are talking songs like Leon Thomas’ MUTT, as it gives this studio type of listening experience with reverb, JVKE’s Worlds Collide which again does so well because the reverb effect is pretty good. And then go mainstream to The Weeknd’s Hurry Up Tomorrow – you realize it has that ideal sound signature for pop/indie music. The bass is still not as pronounced as what you’d get on a Bose QCs, Sony WH-1000XM5 or even the ULT Wear (which is the headphones you should go for if you are a true bass lover).
What was a little lacklustre is the stereo presence – don’t get confused with Spatial Audio, which is a whole other thing of its own – the dynamic-ness of this headphone, is not as dynamic as you think. With MILLI’s One Punch, her vocal presence is there but it’s not quite fully there. And you listen to Silambatam’s Nalamdhana – a Tamil song that has the right complexity to push the boundaries with the instrument and vocal, you hear that dynamic presence for a moment until it kind of pulls it together and keeps within this “limited virtual realm”. It’s as if something is really stopping these headphones from letting loose.
But put the headphones in songs like The Weeknd’s Wake Me Up, you hear the finger snap so clearly and beautifully at the back of your head. Just based on this, it’s safe to say that these are purely casual listening headphones that will make anyone happy, including myself but if you want the depth, the immersion and the dynamic-ness – Sonos has a long way to go because this is not it.
In fact, we weren’t alone when we thought that the Sonos Ace sound is pretty harsh, shallow and sometimes muddy (Just listen to Leonard Cohen’s baritone, and you’ll understand). Some users share the same sentiment as us on Reddit – so, we are right about this. You might think you could adjust EQ and such, this is where, as someone who enjoys music – this was a huge letdown.
What I Didn’t Enjoy
Purely a “Music-only” Headphones
Let me save the most frustrating point for last but for starters, this headphone is only good for music – even that is a high praise, especially with what we heard. Otherwise, the headphone lacks the type of features we see on a Bose or Sony for instance. During calls, the headphones do not enable passthrough in ANC, so you just have to assume that you are not loud when you are talking. The entire design of the headphone proves that it’s great for home use but not when you travel at least the solid build lets you take it around without a case.
Sonos took so much pride in how this headphone brings an amazing movie experience if you have an existing Sonos setup, but for me to experience that, I need to fork out 4 times more money, on top of how much these headphones cost. This is where Sonos missed out on making these WiFi-capable headphones for a high-fidelity listening experience. And somehow, Xiaomi made better WiFi (in fact, the world’s first Wi-Fi-capable audio product) before Sonos did – a review we are working on, so stay tuned for that.
Extremely Limited Control over the Headphones
At the time of the Sonos Ace launch, we saw the downfall of the Sonos App experience (#neverforget), and the app experience for the Sonos Ace was extremely limited. You only get:
- Noise Control: which lets you toggle between ANC, Aware Mode and Off. No granular controls on how intensive you want the ANC or the Aware Mode to be.
- EQ: This only gives you four options – Bass, Treble, Balance and Loudness and it’s not proper EQ to begin with.
- Head tracking, which uses its own Motion Processing to give a “Spatial Audio” experience and if you do not have the content to take advantage of it, you won’t be using it at all.
- Multipoint Connection Toggle: for those 2-device users out there, this is an important feature.
When a headphone that costs RM 500 less than the Sonos Ace and offers extreme granularity in the EQ, Noise Control and other departments – there’s no excuse for Sonos to not give that granularity to users who need it.
The AptX Adaptive Codec is the Achilles Heel of this Headphone
The only other Codec out of SBC and AAC this headphone supports is AptX Adaptive and it’s a codec I feel that doesn’t live up to LDAC or even LHDC for that matter. You can hear the AptX Adaptive switching the audio quality whenever there’s some interference in the public and it gets worse at times where you need to hold your phone in your hand to get the best listening experience. Put your phone in your pocket, you will hear stutters which is so weird to begin with.
Odd Glitches That Make Zero Sense
Apart from the stutters we experienced, there were some other glitches where the headphones would refuse to turn on and only blink red and blue light – and no, it wasn’t updating. But when we do update, it takes a long time to connect. When we switch between devices, we see the headphones struggle to keep up and refuse to pair at all.
Minor inconveniences like this have made me prepared to resort to my true wireless earbuds while travelling – and that’s not good. Because I wanted a good listening experience, but I missed out. These glitches need to be sorted.
After all of this experience, we realized that Sonos made the Sonos Ace for those who don’t care much about all these settings and just want to turn on, pair and use – I call these people the Autopilots. But I still believe that, if a headphone like this cost RM 2,299 – it better cater to more users as well, especially when their messaging is directed towards audio enthusiasts.
Things that Need to Improve
Granular Controls…
…because this whole “Autopilot” experience is a best-case scenario, and it doesn’t happen all the time unless you are of a certain class citizen. There need to be better EQ controls, and sure if Sonos isn’t going to provide ANC control, that’s fine – it’s good the way it is but at least let me adjust the necessary parameters to get the best sound or the right sound for myself.
Wider Support with Other Sonos Products
Just giving support to the Sonos Arc is a big mistake – and the fact that there are so many users who own the Ray soundbar and so on who wanted the “Audio Swapping” feature, won’t be able to experience it as they need to fork out for more. We weren’t given an answer if this is a hardware limitation but knowing how Sonos is a Software company that has given life to legacy products, I think they could widen the support with an update.
Conclusion – Steps Away from Being an Ace
During the launch, I expected a WiFi-capable headphone which could truly bring a better audio experience to my ears, alas, the Sonos Ace ended up being a miniaturized personal home theatre headphone which even misses out on being one.
There are so many good things worth noting (the stellar ANC, amazing design and comfort, pretty good battery life and better-wired support) but when an RM 1699 headphone does way better at things, Sonos should rethink how they plan to reinvent their headphone audio game. This is their first attempt, and while we have given a lot of constructive criticism – I do want to see a far better Sonos Ace v2 or whatever they will call that. You best bet, we would want to review that.
And when that happens, I’ll be first in line to check it out. But after almost a year with the Sonos Ace, the RM 2,299 price tag is the biggest stopping factor on top of the other setbacks. But if you are already heavily invested in the Sonos ecosystem, I don’t see why you shouldn’t get this – especially if your media consumption is in sync with most of the people in the world who enjoy the same kind of radio music.
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