Sonos Ace

A comfortable, well-connected and long-lasting first-generation headset whose ANC improved a lot after firmware updates, but sound quality, limited EQ, and value still trail the established flagship rivals.

Stylish and easy to use, with handy Sonos home cinema extras, but the Ace's sound, noise cancelling and call quality fall short of the many excellent rivals at this price, making them a disappointing first attempt at premium headphones.

Sonos' first headphones are comfortable, well built and excellent at noise cancelling, with strong battery life, but weaker sound customization, a mediocre mic and app issues leave them behind top rivals unless you already own a Sonos soundbar.

~8/10

The Sonos Ace are excellent, exceptionally comfortable noise-canceling headphones with top-tier ANC and sound, but they don't differentiate themselves enough from rival flagships and lack WiFi streaming.

After a month of travel use, the writer finds the Sonos Ace comfortable, great-sounding and strong at noise cancelling, on par with the Bose QuietComfort Ultra, and worth the high price despite a flaky TV audio swap feature.

After about a year of regular use, the writer considers the Sonos Ace their favorite home headphones thanks to excellent comfort, intuitive controls, and strong sound, with only a weak app and high price as drawbacks.

8/10

The Sonos Ace are beautifully built, comfortable Bluetooth headphones with excellent noise cancellation and very good sound, but the lack of Wi-Fi and deeper Sonos ecosystem integration, plus a glitchy TV Audio Swap, keeps them from being a full success.

7/10

The Sonos Ace is a comfortable, good-sounding, well-built first headphone with a standout TV Audio Swap feature, but buggy software, limited soundbar and Android support, and an apparently rushed launch hold it back.

A stylish, great-sounding pair of Bluetooth headphones with strong noise cancellation, but the lack of Wi-Fi and limited integration with other Sonos gear make them a confusing fit, and Bose's cheaper QuietComfort Ultra still beats them for noise cancelling.

Stylish, comfortable and great-sounding noise-cancelling headphones, but they don't integrate with a Sonos system as hoped beyond the Arc-only TV Audio Swap, and buggy software and a poor case hold them back.