Sonos Ace

Why this model

The Sonos Ace is a pair of over-ear wireless noise-cancelling headphones for people who want something elegant for the office, for travel and for the TV, especially if they already own a Sonos soundbar. In Soft White, with a stainless steel headband and vegan leather ear cushions, they look good enough to leave out on your desk.

According to Sonos, they deliver up to 30 hours of listening with noise cancellation on, and 3 minutes of charging gives about 3 hours. They connect over Bluetooth 5.4 with multipoint, support lossless audio over USB-C and, paired with a compatible Sonos soundbar, take over your TV sound in one move. Here's our Sonos Ace review: who they suit, and when you're better off looking elsewhere.

Sonos Ace design: clean white headphones

The Sonos Ace keeps things understated: smooth earcups, no loud branding, a stainless steel headband and memory foam cushions wrapped in vegan leather. The Soft White finish stands out from the usual black, technical-looking headphones, and they sit nicely next to a design keyboard or lamp.

The ear cushions are replaceable, which helps the headphones last longer. Sonos says the headphones contain 9% recycled plastic, and the slim carrying case is made with 75% recycled plastic. The case also has a removable magnetic pouch for the cables.

Day to day: office, travel and TV

At the office or when working from home, adaptive noise cancellation with eight microphones cuts out background noise, and Aware mode lets outside sound in when you need to hear what's going on. Multipoint keeps you connected to two devices at once, such as your laptop for video calls and your phone for music. You just need to register the headphones in the Sonos app.

In the evening, if you have a compatible Sonos soundbar (Arc Ultra, Arc, Beam or Ray), TV Audio Swap sends the TV sound to one or two Sonos Ace headphones. A compatible soundbar also unlocks Dolby Atmos and Dolby dynamic head tracking, which you turn on in the Sonos app.

Sonos Ace key specs

Each earcup houses a 40 mm dynamic driver. The 1,060 mAh Li-ion battery gives up to 30 hours of listening, or 24 hours of calls, with ANC or Aware mode on, according to Sonos. A full charge takes up to 3 hours, and 3 minutes of fast charging gives about 3 hours of playback. A USB-C power adapter isn't included.

For connectivity, you get Bluetooth 5.4 with multipoint, lossless audio over USB-C and a USB-C to 3.5 mm cable for wired listening. The headphones weigh 312 g and measure 191 × 160 × 85 mm. They come in black and Soft White.

Who the Sonos Ace is (and isn't) for

The Sonos Ace is for you if you want well-designed noise-cancelling headphones for remote work, train or plane journeys, and late-night TV without waking the house. They make the most sense if your living room already has a Sonos soundbar, because that's where they do things other headphones can't.

They're less compelling without the Sonos ecosystem, since the TV, Dolby Atmos and head-tracking features rely on it. At 312 g, they aren't sports headphones either. If you want style-led noise-cancelling headphones that aren't tied to an ecosystem, the Nothing Headphone (1) is worth a look.

The matching guide

A speaker, an e-reader, a pocket camera: three objects you can leave out on display, and that genuinely earn their place every day.