WORDS Joshua Varghese
Sonos is well known among audiophiles who appreciate high-end speakers. Now they have made a pair of headphones that costs Rs 40,000, placing it among brands like Bose and Sony. For those who travel a lot, the travel case is crucial and we like this one. It has a clean, elegant design with minimal branding and a reasonable size. Sonos’ choice to make it from recycled material is a point in its favour. We also appreciated the small cable pouch inside. It has a magnetic back which leaves it stuck to the case; extremely thoughtful because it potentially saves one from the embarrassment of dropping it by accident. However, the zipper design could have been better because it snags frequently. The Sonos Ace is available only in two colours; Soft White and Black. Between them, we would recommend the latter. Having used the Soft White, we can say that the fibrous exterior of the case stains easily and is not easy to clean. Thankfully, the headphones are not as prone to getting dirty and are relatively easy to clean thanks to the predominantly plastic construction. It looks and feels like its price tag; the minimal branding ensuring that it appears subtle and refreshing. The smooth yet tough plastic exterior is complemented by soft vegan leather cushions on the headband and ear cups (magnetically detachable). We wore it for hours on end while waiting at the airport and through f lights without any discomfort. The ear cups sit nicely around the ears and the whole thing feels lighter than its 300-g weight. Other points to be appreciated include the stainless steel adjustment and physical buttons.
Overall, there is nothing to complain about in terms of quality. It feels premium and robust. When describing the audio for a product in this range, it is difficult to be precise because it is already so good that opinions become subjective. That said, the Ace offers a balanced sound with neutral tonality and almost no electronic interference, which works very well for us because it offers a good base for fine tuning. The Sonos app has a simple equaliser where one can adjust the bass, treble and balance but the technical audiophile may not be happy with such limitations. We felt they could have offered a few presets. Active noise cancellation is among the reasons why people are ready to part with such money and the Ace offers three settings. It can be switched off entirely, switched on or toggled into a transparency mode called ‘Aware’. The transition from off to on is amazing because one second we could hear the whirring of the plane’s engine and the babies crying and the next moment, all we could hear was the music. It is not 100 per cent noise cancellation because some extremely loud sounds of a certain pitch and frequency do filter through but not enough to get noticed or ruin the aural experience.
The app also offers access to all of the Ace’s features. To make the most of spatial audio and Dolby Atmos, one needs to have a good streaming service. Or one could plug the Ace in to the phone or laptop using a cable. Sonos provides USB-C to USB-C and USB-C to 3.5 mm cables with the Ace but they are of different lengths. The 3.5-mm cable is appropriately long but the C-C is only long enough to watch videos; too short be able to put the phone away in a pocket. The ability to swap the audio from a TV or soundbar at the touch of a button is what sets the Ace apart from its competition but that feature has a few limitations including no availability for Android at the moment but Sonos said it is under development. The ability to connect to two devices simultaneously is useful to have. We switched between two phones and between a phone and a laptop seamlessly. Even though it has eight microphones, the Ace needs one to press a button to call the phone assistants which somewhat negates the point. Wear detection recognises when one wears/ removes the Ace and resumes/pauses playback accordingly. It also answers an incoming call when worn. Neat. With about four hours of usage each day, the Ace easily made it through a week off a full charge. In this fast-paced world, it is also reassuring to note that it is capable of fast charging. A few minutes of charge is good enough for almost three hours of usage. Overall, we would say that the Sonos Ace is an excellent product for a company that is making noise-cancelling headphones for the f irst time. It matches its competition in terms of build quality and offers an excellent aural experience overall. In fact, to decide which one is best, we would have to test them back-to-back. That is how close they are.
Pricing and Availability
- `39,999
- sonos.com