Sonos Ace Ultra: the headphones Sonos should have shipped the first time

Sonos’s original Ace headphones were comfortable and well built, but they never quite felt like Sonos products: TV audio swap was limited at launch, and they could not join the wider speaker ecosystem for music. The Ace Ultra, reviewed this week by The Verge at the same US$449 launch price as the first Ace (now discounted), is the corrective sequel — improved drivers, adaptive noise cancellation, longer battery life and, finally, Wi-Fi headphone linking into a Sonos home.

Comfort remains a standout. The Ultra keeps the clean design, magnetic ear cushions and physical Content Key controls rather than capacitive buttons, and The Verge’s reviewer found them easy to wear for hours, even with glasses. Battery life rises to as much as 35 hours from 30 on the Ace. Newly designed 40 mm drivers and adaptive EQ deliver richer bass without burying vocals, though midrange clarity on dense tracks still trails Sony’s WH-1000XM6 for some listeners; an eight-band EQ helps, but only on the Ultra.

Active noise cancellation is meaningfully better and now adaptive, yet still lets through more mid and high frequencies than Sony, Bose or Apple flagships when silence is the goal. Call quality improved indoors; street noise remains a tougher test. The big Sonos-specific advance is headphone linking: the Ultra appears in the system list and can pull audio from any Sonos speaker or group — including turntables and other inputs — not only TV audio from a soundbar. That feature is still in early access, however, and Wi-Fi audio during this period is lossy rather than lossless; headphones also cannot be grouped with speakers.

Lossless listening is available over aptX Lossless Bluetooth or USB-C. For households already invested in Sonos soundbars and speakers, the Ace Ultra is an easy upgrade over the original Ace. Everyone else may still prefer the Sony WH-1000XM6 for sound and ANC at a lower price — unless system integration is the reason to buy in.

Sources: Sonos Welcomes Beam Ultra and Sonos Ace Ultra — Sonos Newsroom: https://newsroom.sonos.com/269788-sonos-welcomes-beam-ultra-and-sonos-ace-ultra-to-its-system/ | The Sonos Ace Ultra are the headphones Sonos should have made the first time — The Verge: https://www.theverge.com/tech/1002122/sonos-ace-ultra-headphones-review | Sonos Ace Ultra review — TechRadar: https://www.techradar.com/audio/wireless-headphones/sonos-ace-ultra-review