In June, the home audio company Sonos announced its first pair of over-ear headphones, the Sonos Ace. The Sonos Ace are the culmination of many years of product research and development, and Sonos took direct aim at Sony, Apple, and Bose’s premium over-ear headphones.
Review: Sonos Ace
I reviewed the Ace headphones when they launched, and I enjoyed their comfort, simple and functional design, and dynamic and vibrant sound. When Sonos launched the Ace headphones, it was clear that the standout feature was TV Audio Swap, which allows users to swap audio from their Sonos Arc soundbar to their Sonos Ace headphones with the press of a button.
Yesterday, Sonos announced that TV Audio Swap is now available in the Android Sonos app and is compatible with the Sonos Beam and Ray, the company’s more affordable and compact soundbars.
I’ve tested many headphones with unique features that miss the mark, and Sonos’ breakout feature is far from gimmicky. This feature alone has made me a new member of the Sonos fan club. If you live in close quarters with others and frequently disagree on the household’s TV noise levels, you may also want to invest in the Sonos Ace and soundbar combo. Here’s why.
My partner works as a night nurse, which means he sleeps during the day while I’m in peak TV-watching mode. Our Sonos Arc soundbar lives on our living room fireplace mantel right below our 70-inch TV, one of our most prized possessions. If you aren’t familiar with the Arc soundbar, it’s enormous and heavy, so moving it to another room is wildly inconvenient.
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With the Ace headphones, I don’t have to limit myself to watching TV with the volume on a low level. I can press the Content Key and watch TV as loud as I want without disturbing him. Additionally, I can wear the headphones while I run up and down the stairs with laundry baskets or keep them on while I cook lunch without missing my show’s audio.
Conversely, when he’s up all night while I’m sleeping, he can wear the Ace headphones and watch his favorite shows in immense clarity with Dolby Atmos. And because the Arc soundbar is connected to our TV’s audio outputs, he can play video games as loud as he wants without me hearing anything.
You may share a compact space with others and have a smaller Sonos soundbar, like the Sonos Ray. Your shared space, whether a college dorm or an apartment building with thin walls, may make it difficult to watch an action movie at theater volume past quiet hours.
However, with the Sonos Ace headphones, you won’t have to compromise your TV audio for the collective good again. TV Audio Swap is the main reason I use my Ace headphones, and their immense comfort makes them easy to wear for even the longest movies, like the extended cuts of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
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This feature is also incredibly reliable, and you don’t have to open the app to activate it. Now that TV Audio Swap is available on Android and for Sonos Ray and Beam soundbars, I can confidently say that if you already own one of these soundbars, you won’t regret purchasing the Ace headphones.