News May 23, 2024

Sonos Unveils Its First Wireless ‘Ace’ Headphones

Head of Content

Sonos is (finally) entering the high-end headphones business.

The Santa Barbara, California-based audio equipment specialist makes its long-awaited move with the Sonos Ace headset, which is unveiled this week and should slot onto music fans’ heads everywhere from next month.

Sonos fanboys and girls will squeak at the device’s 30 hours of battery life, and the three minutes required to charge the set for three hours’ play. Features include noise cancellation, Lossless audio streaming over Bluetooth, and connectivity with the recently-relaunched Sonos app.

Sonos Ace was presented last month to an intimate gathering of industry friends, media and VIPs at a luxury residence in Mosman, North Sydney. Guest speakers on the evening included P.E. Nation co-founder and creative director Pip Edwards, plus Aki Laine, industrial design director at Sonos.

When the design team knuckled down, explained Laine on the evening, the objective was to “evolve our timeless design language,” using “comfort, fit and ergonomics as a consideration.”

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The final product is a geometric and “calm” design, the result of an extensive amount of consumer research and benchmarking, including collaboration with more than 600 users, and hundreds of hours of testing.

Building the product from the ground-up was an opportunity to “make the best product, that looks good and fits good for everyone, feels unique,” he continue, “and captures the essence of the Sonos brand,” which includes sets, speakers, home theatre kit and portable speakers.

Fashion icon Edwards partners on the new product, and is named as its Australian ambassador for the launch. “Music is what gives us the heartbeat,” says Edwards, who is classically trained across multiple instruments from the age of four. “And it brings us to life.” Sonos Ace, she said in a statement, “is the epitome of timeless design, comfort and stunning sound – I can’t wait to style it with our newest collection.”

Available from June 5, the wireless headsets are available in black and soft white, and priced at $699, a chunk of change that places it on the spectrum near the popular Beats Studio Pro.

The rollout of Sonos Ace follows the Era 300 (US$749), an in-the-house spatial audio speaker featuring Dolby Atmos in an hourglass design, along with Era 100 (US$399), both of which arrived fully-formed in 2023.

Pre-order the Sonos Ace here.