The Review of Sonos Ace Wireless Headphones in the UAE

Overview of the SONOS Brand

SONOS, is renowned for its high-end music products such as players, speakers, and soundbars. The brand is available in the UAE through distributors and high-end retailers. Recently, the brand introduced the Sonos Ace Wireless Headphones globally, with early access provided to reviewers.

Design and Specifications

The Sonos Ace headphones measure 191 mm x 160 mm x 85 mm and weigh 312 grams. They feature a 40 mm custom-designed Dynamic driver, delivering exceptional audio quality. For connectivity, they use Bluetooth 5.4 and support ear-detection pairing, allowing seamless switching between two devices. The headphones support a range of audio codecs, including SBC, AAC, ALAC, and aptX Lossless, and are compatible with Dolby Atmos and 360 Reality Audio, ensuring immersive sound.

Packaging and Accessories

The Sonos Ace headphones arrive in eco-friendly packaging. Inside the box is a soft-felt carry case with the Sonos logo, a Quick Start Guide, and a Warranty card. The package also includes two cables: a USB Type-C to USB Type-C cable and a USB Type-C to 3.5mm cable for wired connections. The headphones are available in black and soft white matte finish, providing a stylish look.

Build Quality and Comfort

The Sonos Ace headphones are designed with ABS plastic and have a smooth matte finish, making them durable and aesthetically pleasing. They are lighter than the AirPods Max but slightly heavier than the Sony WH-1000XM5. The concealed hinges and joints offer an elevated look and prevent hair from getting caught. The memory foam ear cups are covered in vegan leather, providing comfort for long listening sessions.

The ear cups are replaceable and attached with strong magnets, allowing easy replacement if they get dirty or worn out. The left ear cup is black, and the right ear cup is grey, making it easy to distinguish between them. These headphones support Hi-Res Audio, Lossless audio, head tracking, and spatial audio, delivering high-quality sound.

(Personal Choice: I would prefer to wear Cloth ear cups, which help circulate air and avoid sweating around the ear, especially in summer and humid environments.)

Battery Life and Charging

The Sonos Ace headphones boast a 30-hour battery life with a 1060 mAh battery, making them suitable for long listening sessions. A 3-minute charge provides 3 hours of playtime, and a full charge takes approximately 3 hours. This fast-charging capability ensures you can quickly return to enjoying your music without long interruptions.

User Controls

Sonos has designed the Ace headphones with simple, intuitive button-based controls. The left ear cup features a power and Bluetooth pairing button. The right ear cup has a button to cycle through noise-cancelling modes and a multi-functional slider/button for volume and playback control. This slider allows you to pause, play, skip tracks, answer calls, and control volume. Holding the button lets you swap music from a connected Sonos Arc Soundbar to the Ace headphones and vice versa. While the buttons are responsive, they feel slightly cheap and could benefit from a silicone covering.

App Integration and Features

The Sonos Ace headphones connect via Bluetooth to iOS and Android devices through the Sonos App. The app displays battery status, sound control, and noise control settings, including Active Noise Cancellation, Aware Mode, and Off. It also provides equaliser settings with balanced treble, mids, and bass bars. Users can manually set their preferred equaliser settings and activate the loudness option. The app includes head-tracking on/off settings, which work best with spatial audio, thanks to Sonos Intelligent Motion Processing with Dolby Head Tracking. The app also offers noise control and wear detection under hardware control, as well as a user guide and help centre under the “Education” section. The system settings allow simultaneous connection to two devices, Google Voice Assistant for Android devices, and touch sensor function customisation.

Audio Performance

We tested the Sonos Ace headphones with various music genres: country, jazz, rock, R&B, soul, metal, lounge, techno, house, Hindi classical, and Bollywood. The headphones were also tested with Hi-res quality 24-bit 96 kHz and 320 kbps MP3 music, as well as multiple movies and TV shows. The sound quality is balanced, with precise frequencies and detailed audio output. The crossover chip in the speaker keeps the sound frequency crystal clear, allowing you to hear every detail, from guitar strings and vocal breathing to distant bird chirping. The ANC works well, though it will enable some surrounding noise to pass through, providing good but not total isolation. The call quality is excellent, comparable to a smartphone mic, making the headphones suitable for music and business calls.

TV Audio Swap Feature

The TV Audio Swap feature allows you to swap TV audio from a Sonos Arc Soundbar to the Ace headphones. This feature works brilliantly with Dolby Atmos movies, providing a cinema-like experience. The feature is available for newer Sonos soundbars, including Beam Gen 2, Beam Gen 1, and Ray. However, it will not work with older models. We tested this feature with a Sonos Arc Soundbar and found it to be highly effective. The TV Audio Swap function enhances the movie-watching experience, especially for Dolby Atmos content. However, for non-Dolby-supported content like news and particular TV series, the artificial spatial effect created by the Sonos chip did not feel as immersive.

Price and Availability

The Sonos Ace Wireless Headphones cost AED 2,099 and are available in Black and Soft White at SONOS, Virgin Megastore, Amazon.ae and other power retailers. The price reflects these headphones’ premium quality and features, making them a worthwhile investment for audiophiles and regular users.

Conclusion

The Sonos Ace Wireless Headphones are an excellent choice for music lovers, business professionals, and gamers. With 30 hours of playtime, Hi-Res audio support, and the ability to connect to two devices simultaneously, they offer a versatile listening experience. The replaceable ear pads, eco-friendly packaging, and high-quality sound output cater to audiophiles and casual listeners. While the buttons feel slightly cheap and the ANC is not the best in the market, these are minor drawbacks compared to the overall performance and features of the headphones.

The Sonos Ace Wireless Headphones provide a great audio experience, whether travelling, working, or relaxing at home. For audiophile listeners, they are perfect for compact, wireless listening with ANC mode on. Including USB Type-C to 3.5mm and USB Type-C to USB Type-C cables for wired connections adds to their versatility. The Sonos Ace Wireless Headphones are highly recommended for all music enthusiasts.

New Software Update – 11/06/2025

The new feature-rich software update keeps pace with how people listen and live today.

• Personal Home Theatre for Two: We’ve updated our TV Audio Swap to let two individual listeners enjoy the same TV audio in sync on their own Sonos Ace headphones when connected to a Sonos soundbar.
• Realistic Surround Sound: Explicitly designed for Sonos Ace, Sonos’ innovative TrueCinema technology understands the dynamics of your space, acoustically treats it, and makes it sound like you have a beautifully tuned 3D audio system right in your headphones.
• Enhanced Noise Cancellation: Enjoy uninterrupted listening with Active Noise Cancellation, which now adapts to your hair, glasses, and hats in real time using advanced sensors to compensate for sound leaks. Smoother, More Natural Calling: Stay connected with more explicit, more natural conversations thanks to high-resolution calls and SideTone, which allows you to hear a bit of your voice during calls while ANC is on.

My Personal Opinion on the new update

I have been using the SONOS ACE for a long time. It is undoubtedly my favourite headset for audio quality testing and video editing. Thanks to SONOS, I have the SONOS ARC Ultra with SUB 4 and am currently reviewing the ERA 300 for a complete home theatre experience. I use the SONOS ACE at night to avoid disturbing others and maintain my personal space while watching movies. So, if I have to compare it to before the new update, I was satisfied with the sound quality and range of the audio. I watched some episodes of ANDOR on the Disney channel, and TrueCinema technology and noise cancellation worked wonderfully. I could not see much difference in the enhanced high-resolution calls and SideTone as I used the ACE for video calls, which looked fine.

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