Tech · Report LineJada Jones/ZDNET 4.0 / 5 Very good Pros & Cons Effective ANC Comfortable and sleek design User-replacable ear pads and battery Standout feature has narrow use cases Still needs to find its place in the Sonos ecosystem The Sonos Ace Ultra is the company’s most anticipated hardware of the year, and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the successor to my personal favorite pair of headphones. The Ace Ultra debuts with redesigned earcups, more stylish color options, improved ANC, expanded EQ settings, and deeper integration with the Sonos ecosystem. Also: I flew 2,700 miles with Apple, Sony, and Sennheiser headphones – this pair had the best audio Notably, the Ace Ultra allows you to swap audio between it and any of your Sonos speakers, which Sonos really wants you to know is its most remarkable feature.
Yet, the need for audio swapping is a problem Sonos created for the Ace Ultra to solve, and, like the firstborn Ace , its ecosystem doesn’t make the Ace Ultra meaningfully better. It’s a testament to both how great the headphones are — and how far ecosystem lock-in can go before it offers thinly-sliced solutions. What headphone linking does right The best thing about Sonos’ headphone linking feature is that it works.
Once all my speakers were updated to the correct firmware, I didn’t experience any bugs or significant lag when using this feature. Once you’re in proximity of a compatible speaker, you can long-press the Ace Ultra’s Content Key, and the music is swapped from the speaker to the Ace Ultra or vice versa (with caveats). The system outshines the solution The Ace Ultra’s audio swapping feature, which Sonos calls headphone linking, only works at home, over Wi-Fi, and when you’re in proximity to your other Sonos speakers.
Very rarely do I queue up music on my Era 100 and decide to put on headphones mid-song, or vice-versa. I imagine that when most people intend to wear their Ace Ultra headphones, they’ll just connect to their phone — as that’s the natural behavior. But most importantly, they may not even be at home to begin with.
If you connect the Ace Ultra to a source device via Bluetooth, you cannot swap that audio stream to your Sonos speakers. This feature is also unavailable via AirPlay. Your audio stream must be within the Sonos app, with speakers and the Ace Ultra connected to the same home Wi-Fi network.
Jada Jones/ZDNET Plus, when assuming audio from a nearby speaker to the Ace Ultra, you miss out on lossless Wi-Fi streaming and Dolby Atmos. I’m led to believe that the Ace Ultra’s Wi-Fi capabilities are strictly for connecting to your Sonos system, rather than functioning as a speaker within it. Also: Sonos’s new hardware isn’t its most exciting announcement – 3 things to anticipate Ironically, you’ll access higher-fidelity streaming when keeping the Ace Ultra connected to a different source device, whether via its USB-C port or by using AptX codecs.
I don’t find it that bothersome to take off my headphones, walk downstairs, and tell my downstairs speakers to play my “BTS all day long” playlist. The result is Sonos offering a way to eliminate friction in a relatively frictionless process, using headphone linking to bolster the system’s swagger without making it the Ace Ultra’s “must-have” feature. It is nice to have, but the case for paying $449 is elsewhere in the spec sheet.
Review: Sonos Ace So, with the somewhat uncommon user behaviors associated with headphone linking — needing to interrupt a speaker listening session to put on your headphones or spontaneously deciding mid-listening that you don’t want to wear headphones anymore — and the headphones lacking vital audio quality aspects when connected to a speaker instead of a phone, I admire the engineering behind headphone linking more than the feature itself. The Ace Ultra can stand on its own Though I’m not dazzled by Sonos’s headphone linking feature, that perspective ultimately reflects well on the Ace Ultra headphones. You don’t need to have a full-fledged Sonos system to find the headphones endearing, because the Ace Ultra is good at the only thing that matters: being a solid pair of wireless headphones.
The Ace Ultra offers both small and large improvements over its predecessor, from larger, repositioned, and more tactile multifunction buttons to stronger noise cancellation and an extended battery endurance. The Sonos Ace Ultra’s updated equalizer. Jada Jones/ZDNET I always considered the Ace the most comfortable headphones for those with multiple piercings and glasses, and the Ace Ultra’s redesigned earcups are even more comfortable.
The Ace Ultra has two more microphones than the first generation, and, along with its improved noise-processing algorithms, has significantly enhanced noise-canceling performance. The first-gen Ace struggled to suppress human voices and low-to-mid frequencies from plane engines, trains, and air conditioners; the Ace Ultra fares much better. Also: I used Sonos’s new home theater feature once, and knew it would be a competition killer I haven’t yet worn the Ace Ultra on a plane, but during my demo at Sonos’s launch event, the headphones did a stellar job at muffling the clamor of a room full of media personnel trying to get a first look at them.
It also performed well at tackling voices and rickety grocery carts in a packed store on a Saturday. Sonos also made the Ace Ultra smarter. It features adaptive EQ and ANC for a listening experience that molds to your fit and environment, and a comprehensive parametric EQ in the app allows for more audio customization.
Additionally, the Ace Ultra’s battery is user-replaceable and promises 35 hours of playtime, five more hours than the first generation. Sonos Ace’s right earcup (left) and Sonos Ace Ultra’s right earcup (right). Jada Jones/ZDNET Sonos’s sound is dynamic and colorful, with a deep, tight bass response, great separation in stereo and Dolby Atmos tracks, present mids, and slightly recessed highs.
Compared to its competitors, the Ace Ultra’s highs are less sharp than the Sony WH-1000XM6 , its bass is more controlled than the Bose QC Ultra 2 , and its overall profile is more dynamic than the Sennheiser Momentum 5 . Also: Sonos Play vs. Sonos Move 2: Why I’d go with the $200 cheaper Bluetooth speaker On the design front, Sonos again beats all of its flagship counterparts, with a relaxed clamping force, evenly distributed weight, slim yet roomy earcups, and polished accents in the right places.
The bottom line is the Ace Ultra doesn’t need the Sonos ecosystem to be a great pair of Bluetooth headphones, as it’s just as strong away from the system as it is with it. TV Audio Swap is still legit On the topic of headphone linking, Sonos got it right with TV Audio Swap . TV Audio Swap was the precursor to headphone linking, allowing users to hold down the Content Key to pull the audio from their soundbar into the Ace headphones.
The behaviors behind TV Audio Swap make more sense: perhaps it’s late at night, and everyone in your house is sleeping, or you want to hear your TV program clearly while you move about the house. Also: Sony Bravia Theater vs. Sonos: I’ve used both home theaters – here’s how to choose Like headphone linking, these scenarios are situational and not a foundational reason why someone outside the Sonos ecosystem might choose the Ace Ultra over the Sony WH-1000XM6 or the Sennheiser Momentum 5.
Still, those scenarios make more sense to me in a TV-watching context than in a music-listening context. The real magic isn’t ready yet Imagine if you could turn on your Ace Ultra headphones and start a music stream in the Sonos app without needing a speaker to piggyback on, enabling Sonos 27voice compatibility, Wi-Fi streaming with higher bandwidth, and allowing the Ace Ultra to act as its own zone within your system. Also: I tested Sonos’ new beta features on iOS and Android – how to opt in and what to expect This utopia isn’t yet a reality, though Sonos seems closer to it than any of its contemporaries, as this kind of innovation fits perfectly with its business model.
However, Wi-Fi is power-intensive, heat dissipation is a concern, and the earcups’ insides have limited space. Plus, your head is right there, but that point may open another can of worms. ZDNET’s buying advice The Sonos Ace Ultra is a refined successor to the Ace, retaining the first-generation product’s best attributes while smoothing out the rough patches.
For those with no or one Sonos speaker, or those who don’t see value in headphone linking, the Ace Ultra can stand apart from the Sonos ecosystem and still be a worthwhile pair of headphones. For those nestled in the ecosystem, the Ace Ultra is still wonderful for adventures beyond your home Wi-Fi network, while offering additional perks in connecting to your soundbars and speakers. If the Sony WH-1000XM6’s design, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) ‘s limited EQ, the Sennheiser Momentum 5 ‘s neutral sound, or the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 ‘s few software features are turn-offs, consider the Sonos Ace Ultra .
Why the Sonos Ace Ultra gets an Editors’ Choice award We awarded the Sonos Ace Ultra with an Editors’ Choice award for solid upgrades to noise cancellation, audio tuning, battery life, user repairability, and design, which all make the headphones more competitive in a crowded device category full of high performers. Despite the impressive Sonos ecosystem being an attractive justification for some to buy the Ace Ultra, Sonos doesn’t need it as a crutch for the Ace Ultra, which is part of why I rated the headphones highly. Additionally, the Ace Ultra delivered on Sonos’ promise to make its headphones a more integral part of the Sonos ecosystem.
Though I don’t personally care for headphone linking, it works, and it works much smoother upon release than TV Audio Swap did when the Ace was released in 2024. Furthermore, the Ace Ultra’s improvements to its core wireless headphone features mean it can still be an attractive choice to people outside of the Sonos ecosystem, and anyone can take advantage of its most important characteristics, regardless of their phone’s operating system.
Source: ZDNET
