Sonos, the brand that’s well known for its booming wireless speakers and sound systems, has launched its first-ever pair of headphones. And they’re now available to buy in the UK, with features that may sway music lovers away from the likes of Apple, Bose, and Sony.
The Apple AirPod Max are sought after for both their sound quality and seemingly style accessory, while the Sony WH-1000XM5 are picked for their noise-cancelling features. At £449 the new Sonos Ace seems to go above and beyond, offering one particular unique feature to make up for the eye-watering price.
The new pair has all the quality features of a high-end surround sound speaker, as the brand flags its ‘next-level superior precision and clarity’, fitted into the pair of headphones. There’s an endless 30 hours of battery life, a standard wireless Bluetooth connection and a new spec that’ll bring ‘home theatre content to life like never before’, says Sonos.
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Like the majority of big-name pairs out there – from Bose to Beats and Samsung GalaxyBuds – the smart-looking Sonos Ace accessory will cancel out any surrounding noise. A feature, which to be honest, is becoming rather repetitive to write about as it seems all new headphones clock onto it… but there’s another high-end feature, not many other models offer.
That’s the ability to connect to your soundbar in one simple tap. Yes, say you’re at home and want to switch your movie audio from your TV soundbar to your headphones it can automatically cross the sound over. It has to be its biggest USP feature, a hassle-free way to sync up your devices and headphones no other brand offers, although you would need its flagship Sonos Arc soundbar.
This nifty feature can be done with anything connected to the soundbar, any new TV show like Disney+ new Star Wars Acolyte, a film, music or podcast. As well as this there are of course standard audio features you’d expect for the price.
Spatial audio to help create a cinema-like sound, Active Noise Cancellation (to help block out background noise), head tracking so no matter how fast you move, say you’re in the gym, the audio will follow, and lossless streaming – this is vital for those streaming music as it keeps the original audio files for better quality.
It doesn’t take a hawk to spot its design similarities to the Apple AirPod Max (with the oval-like cushions) but as well as design these can also be bought separately. It’ll allow for more wear and tear but users can replace and switch out the cushions when they like, even switching up the colours too.
Anyone who’d prefer to stick to Apple’s AirPod Max can buy a pair over at John Lewis, as the retailer is currently offering a hard-to-beat Apple Music offer. Anyone who buys an Apple product will get six months of the subscription for free.
Anyone with the Sony WH-1000XM5 on their list can buy a pair from Amazon for £279, in its new £100 off sale. The pair are already flagged among tech experts as offering high-end quality for a relatively cheaper price (compared to Apple and now Sonos) but this deal makes it even better.
