Sonos lately teased that it was set to announce its “most requested product ever.” If you guessed headphones, congratulations. The agency maintains a loyal fanbase, and many individuals had been little doubt desperate to see what it might appear to be had been it to use its experience to the class.
The reply arrives within the type of the over-ear Ace headphones. The market play is evident from the outset: The $449 headphones firmly goal an viewers that may in any other case be buying the Bose QC Ultra ($429), Sony WH-1000XM5 ($399) or Apple AirPods Max ($449). These are principally frequent vacationers who don’t thoughts paying a premium for sound and luxury — little doubt a demographic that overlaps properly with Sonos’ present consumer base.
“They’re here! Fans have asked us for years to bring the Sonos experience to headphones — and we knew our first foray into the category needed to champion the type of innovation and sound experience Sonos has become synonymous with,” CEO Patrick Spence famous in an announcement.
As for what meaning in non-PR communicate, the Ace appear to be a typical set of premium headphones on paper. That’s not a nasty factor, however the days of Bose being the one sport on the town ended a very long time in the past. There’s stiff competitors within the class, significantly at this value level.
The top-line options shall be acquainted to anybody who’s been purchasing the house: lossless audio and spatial audio, energetic noise canceling/consciousness modes, residence theater encompass sound. The acknowledged 30 hours of battery life is an enormous plus. That’s the identical score because the Sony MX and a pleasant enchancment over the Bose and Apple, that are rated at 26 and 20 hours, respectively.
There’s a degree the place further hours of battery are negligible. Given that the present longest worldwide flight (New York to Singapore) is lower than 19 hours, I’d say we’re presently working in that realm. That stated, extra battery is rarely a nasty factor, neither is the power to get three hours of listening on three minutes of charging.
It’s additionally price stating that real-world battery life varies and relies on plenty of elements, although the corporate handily notes that the “up to 30 hours” is for audio listening with ANC turned on — one thing that may be a drain on life. The battery itself is 1060mAh, which is an enormous improve from the Bose QC Ultra (750mAh) and AirPods Max (640mAh), and a bit lower than the M5’s 1200mAh.
The Ace sports activities two 40mm dynamic drivers and eight beamforming microphones for calls and noise detection. Spatial audio, which debuted on final yr’s Era 300 speaker, options head monitoring and Dolby Atmos help. Lossless, in the meantime, arrives by way of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Sound aptX low latency codec. Again, this all sounds nice (so to talk), however I’m holding off any judgement till I’ve had time to assessment the headphones. The excellent news is that that is coming before later.
The Sonos Ace completely look the a part of premium headphones. The headphones ship a minimalist design, relative to the competitors. There’s no pointless ornamental element, past a refined Sonos emblem on the correct cup. The padding is beneficiant on each the cups and band, which needs to be good on lengthy journeys. As we strategy summer time, nonetheless, I’m curious to see how nicely they breathe in steamy climate.
Above all, the corporate is making an ecosystem play right here. There’s little doubt a good portion of the fanbase that trusts Sonos sufficient to buy any product it places its title on. If you’ve come to belief a model sufficient to ask it into your own home, you’re probably additionally enthusiastic about Sonos finally getting into the house.
Given how lengthy it took Sonos to really launch a pair of headphones, it’s secure to say that it didn’t rush into issues. The firm has excessive requirements in the case of sound, however whether or not that interprets nicely into a really completely different kind issue is the sort of factor you’ll be able to solely correctly reply after you’ve tried them on for your self.
Even in the event that they sound nice, whether or not the class wants one other pair of $450 headphones is one other query solely. Is no matter portion of Sonos’ loyal fanbase that’s presently out there for headphones sufficient to help the product? Likely only a few have held off on shopping for a premium set of over-ear headphones within the hope that Sonos would some day enter the market.
Even for a model as nicely established in audio as Sonos, these are going to be difficult waters to navigate.
The Sonos Ace shall be accessible beginning June 5.