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When Sonos made its long-awaited move into the personal-audio space in June 2024, I was a fan. From an aesthetic point of view, its Ace headphones were (and remain) among the most understated and refined designs out there, and in terms of sound and comfort, they undoubtedly enhanced my daily listening experience. As a result, they’ve remained a go-to for me.
However, one area where many felt the Ace package fell short was how the headphones interacted with the user’s in-home Sonos speaker setup. This kind of connectivity has always been Sonos’ calling card, so while I found the ability to connect with my Sonos Arc Ultra soundbar a handy novelty, many believed the concept didn’t go far enough. It was a fair point, despite not being a hindrance to my own experience of Sonos’ first-generation headphones.
With the new AUD$699 Ace Ultra, Sonos has made a welcome update to its headphone offering. Sonos has kept (or refined) everything I loved about the original and added the much-demanded connectivity the first effort was marked down for. Further, Sonos has spent the last two years improving its noise cancellation and battery life. These upgrades, combined with better sound and the non-essential but very welcome expansion of the available colour palette, make Sonos’ new headphones a strong contender as we race towards 2026’s season finale.
Pros:
- A meaningful upgrade to the Sonos ecosystem’s connectivity
- Fuller, more confident sound
- Improved noise cancellation and a healthy 35-hour battery life
- That understated design language still appeals
- Four colourways, up from two
- Replaceable ear pads and a user-swappable battery continue to add longevity
Cons
- Earcups swivel rather than fold flat for travel
- Call quality is solid rather than outstanding
Enhanced Connectivity
Let’s start with that whole connectivity palaver. It’s something longtime Sonos users have been asking for since day one of the original Ace. Powered by the new Sonos 27 software platform, the Ace Ultra is an expansion of your home Sonos audio setup. Simply hold down the Ace Ultra’s content key on the back of the right cup for a few seconds to pull whatever’s playing on your compatible Sonos speaker or soundbar straight into your headphones. Hold it again, and it hands the audio back to the original source.
I tested this extensively with my own Sonos speakers. These include the Arc Ultra soundbar and a Play speaker or two and the seamless handoff took place almost instantly. This alone may be enough to justify the upgrade if you’ve built out a Sonos system over the years, particularly if you share living spaces with family, friends, or housemates who may not want to be subjected to your listening habits.
That said, there is one caveat worth flagging. This feature relies on your speaker or soundbar being compatible with the new Sonos 27 software. So, if you’re running older Sonos gear, don’t expect the same seamless handoff until you’ve upgraded that hardware too.
Familiar Style and Comfort
Sonos has maintained its winning formula on the design front, and that’s all for the better, in my view. That said, there are some subtle tweaks here and there that are also welcome.
The Ace Ultra retains the clean, minimalist look that I so enjoyed the first time around. The smooth, slimline earcups and headband with just the right amount of padding (further enhanced with new “Rebound” memory foam), exposed metal arms, and overall compact design embody a restraint that sets the Ace Ultra apart from many of the over-engineered headphones that populate the premium space.
Further, the branding is once again subtle with a mirrored Sonos logo on the right earcup, and there’s no touch-sensitive trickery here. Three cheers for physical buttons! I also like that the Ace Ultra’s cups now swivel both ways, so the soft padding rests against your collarbone rather than the hard back of the cup. Sometimes, it really is the little things that make all the difference. It’d be better still if they could fold flat for travel, but that is real nitpicking and not something that irked me in the slightest — it only occurred to me moments before writing this sentence.
Once again, Sonos deserves credit for considering the Ace Ultra’s longevity with magnetic ear pads and a battery that can be replaced by the owner. For headphones priced at AUD$699, it’s reasonable to expect years of service, and in an era where half of all companies’ business models appear to be based around some kind of scam, it’s nice to see that Sonos agrees.
The one addition that’s more about vanity than performance, but is welcome nonetheless, is the expanded colour range. Agave and Sand join the Black and Soft White colourways, giving the Ace Ultra buyers options with a touch more personality. I highly recommend the Agave.
Noise Cancelling and Everyday Practicality
Sonos has also used this generation to sharpen its noise-cancellation capabilities, and the difference is certainly noticeable. The headphones now house ten microphones, up from the last generation’s eight, which are paired with an adaptive ANC system that constantly reads the ambient noise around you rather than applying a blanket setting. I found the general hum of the outside world dialled down dramatically, and while the occasional sharp clatter or siren would still cut through, I wouldn’t have it any other way. The day when my noise-cancelling headphones mean I can’t hear an oncoming siren is the day we’ve gone too far.
There’s also the useful Aware Mode for when you need to be more attuned to your surroundings. This comes with Voice Boost functionality, which spotlights nearby speech, making it easier to catch train announcements or your barista letting you know your order’s ready. It’s one of Sonos’ small but practical touches that add up to make the Ace Ultra an easy recommendation.
Battery life has also received a small but welcome bump, now offering 35 hours of playtime with noise cancelling switched on, up from 30 hours on the original. I wear headphones on my morning and evening dog walks, throughout my two-way commute, and consistently once in the office, and across a couple of weeks of this kind of heavy use, that figure tracked.
That said, should your battery run flat, the inclusion of fast charging and three hours of playback from just a three-minute top-up means you’re rarely left stranded.
More Sophisticated Sound
I never had any issue with the audio of the original Ace release. They were certainly premium sounding, and as I said at the time, “From ‘Spitfire’ by The Prodigy to ‘Why Was I Born?’ by Jimmy Smith, The Beatles’ ‘Long and Winding Road’ to ‘New Race’ by Radio Birdman and everything in between, you’re in for a sumptuous sonic experience.”
However, the Ace Ultra does sound like a more assured pair of headphones. Sonos has fitted new 40-mm dynamic drivers built around a dual-ring magnet motor, and the resulting sound has more depth and detail, particularly in the low end. It does this without losing the balance that made the original such a comfortable listening companion.
Working through a stack of familiar tracks, from moodier electronic production to denser orchestral scores, the Ace Ultra handled the low end with authority without ever tipping into boominess. Vocals sit comfortably forward in the mix, which has long been one of Sonos’ signature strengths across its speaker range, and it continues to do so successfully here.
Sonos’ TrueCinema feature also deserves a mention, recreating your room’s acoustics to add a genuinely more spacious, cinematic quality when watching Dolby Atmos content in your headphones. It’s a neat reminder that the Ace Ultra has been built by a company that thinks about home entertainment as a whole, not just music.
Sonos Ace Ultra Final Verdict
The Sonos Ace Ultra is a sequel that fixes precisely what people asked it to fix, without messing around with the parts that already worked so well. The design remains understatedly stylish, and the comfort level means you can wear them all week. Obviously, you wouldn’t want to do that if the sonic experience wasn’t up to snuff, but here it’s been upgraded across the sound-quality and noise-cancelling factors, as well as the way it interacts with other Sonos speakers.
If, like me, you were already sold on the original Ace and you’re looking for an upgrade, this is an easy choice. And if connectivity was the one thing holding you back last time, well, allow me to be the first to welcome you to the Sonos Headphone Society.
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