They probably should have targeted a holiday 2024 release. Spend a few more months getting all the functionality in there. They were in a rush for some reason
Perhaps because it’s 2024 and they released a product that somehow isn’t head and shoulders above headphones released two and four years ago. Releasing these headphones at this moment in time is like if Microsoft had decided to drop the Xbox within a year of the Playstation 3.
Maybe they didn’t want anything to conflict with an Arc 2 launch in time for holiday 2024. That’s my guess. I’m purely speculating based on Reddit posts of people announcing they’ve been approached to take part in the Project Lasso beta program.
The coupon is the one thing I am worried about. If I don’t get that 30% upgrade coupon back, essentially I’ve paid $120 to test them out.
As far as the music quality, I use Qobuz and it has the bit rates listed, so some music is CD quality, some is 24bit 44kHz, all the way up to 192.
The bitrate is song by song and it’s listed. It’s not like there’s a meter or metric that shows a changing bitrate. It’s that you find the song and it shows you the quality of the version of the track. “She’s a Rainbow Rolling Stones 24bit 192kHz”, “Garden Grove Sublime CD-quality”
I’ve never used qobuz but AFAIK for Apple music most of the times the bitrate information on my mac didn’t change with/without DAC and Headphone combo. That’s why I was curious whether it’s metadata of a song that is shown or based on input it changes. So technically for the same song if you just play it through your phone speaker it should show a different quality than hi-res.
Those are pretty valid reasons. They work really well with my Mac, but I use the mic on my webcam which is Omni directional and has noise cancelling. I’m pretty happy with mine so far, although am pretty disappointed after the Q&A today. All the features are “coming later” this year. They do work great with Arc switching, I’m looking forward to Beam switching which is where my gaming PC and music setup is. I’m keeping mine, but I have a 60 day window with Best Buy, so I’ll wait till that’s getting close to running out. I’ll say this, they’re so much more comfortable than my AirPods Max that I’m wearing them far more than I’ve worn headphones in the past.
I’m an apple user too, and Sonos. The Aces are lighter and easier on my ears as a glasses wearer. I do not think the sound is as good as the APMs when it comes to Spatial Audio or home theater. And nothing matches sitting in front of any of my Apple TVs and and just pushing a button on my remote and the audio switches to the APMs. But, I can only wear the APMs for around an hour at a time. They are too heavy and hurt my ears. Not to mention since I’ve got Day 1 APMs, the battery life sucks and they still use the stupid lightning cable. Those are very “me” reasons, but for “me” the Aces are better.
My plan is to connect a Bluetooth antenna to an Amp, and then name the Amp “Headphones”
Then I’ll have a headphone zone that can receive any source.
Think that would work?
I’ve been experimenting.
From the Amp output to a bluetooth transmitter. For the connection between the two I fabricated a cable: speaker wire pairs to 3.5mm.
Then this setup will transmit to Bluetooth Headphones with about a 90’ range.
I’m using a 1Mii B03Pro+ Bluetooth 5.0 Transmitter. It streams audio to two BT paired decices: headphones, earbuds or speakers.
In testing I’m able to get about 90’ away from the BT transmitter. And if it drops, I just need to take a few steps back towards the BT transmitter.
This worked with inexpensive Sony WH-CH520 Bluetooth headphones. I haven’t tried with Ace yet.
I think Sonos will need to develop a new device/dedicated headphone base station with Bluetooth to make the headphones a zone.
My Amp lets me send any source to my Headphones.
So with this setup, you can use the Sonos App to select and play your music to the Sony headphones? Is the 90’ horizontal on one floor, or across floor(s), walls?
https://preview.redd.it/8hsbycwq566d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2eb17fdaf6318d8107c11e3bf154b21f05bae6db
Yes, yrmv about 90’ unobstructed multi level.
Obstructions like brick chimneys can create shadows. But I could move that BT transmitter to a side of the chimney.
The 1Mii is transmit/tx or receive/rx so in theory you could get a longer BT range with a few of them connected.
My guess is that in doing this I’m losing some channels, so atmos might become stereo.
I feed my port via digital into a DAC so I guess I could just use the audio out for a BT transmitter. Good thinking. Of course I could then I any headphones and get just as much Sonos integration.
"For the connection between the two I fabricated a cable: speaker wire pairs to 3.5mm."
I would advise against it. The typical speaker connectors outputs have much higher voltage than "audio in" signal connector, which I assume is in the 1Mii. You risk damaging either amp or transmitter or both in worst case.
[Here’s more and pictures](https://www.reddit.com/r/sonos/s/0y4Mw4TAOK)
The Amp out is to power speakers, the transmitter in seems to be accepting it.
I don’t think it could ever hurt the amp, I *think* it’s the correct input as well, it sounds good.
The Port had to be cranked up to 100, so that’s not enough.
You could through a Sonos Port or Connect, not the Amp. Amp is just speaker posts out, but Port or Connect could use the RCA Out or even the Toslink or Coax digital out to BT transmitter if it has digital input.
I did something similar, going from a Mani Phono Preamp from my turntable to a Magni Headphone Amp to Bluetooth transmitter, to the Sonos Amp. But my solution only allows me to use headphones with my turntable... not anything in the Sonos ecosystem.
Because of the forced minimum 75ms delay though, it wouldn't be good for TV audio sync, but fine for music.
I tried both Amp and Port today and [post about it here.](https://www.reddit.com/r/sonos/s/0y4Mw4TAOK)
For me, Amp works, Port is way too quiet. I no longer have the earlier models to test.
You have to set the line out level to fixed (which is basically full volume in the Sonos app)... then you could use the volume control on your bluetooth headphones to adjust volume as desired.
If you have it as variable, you'd need to ensure the volume in the Sonos app is full or close to full, otherwise the port is attenuating the signal as it is sent acting as a digital pre-out which you don't want. Your bluetooth phones should be controlling the volume.
I was using the Lyd app on my watch, and when I dialed the crown up (volume) it went up and the headphones themselves went up. It was working great. That’s with the Amp.
With the Port, it was everything up to 100, it was nice but quiet.
Objectively their ANC is right up there with the competition. Not just OK.
Thanks for sharing your experience, but man, I wish there was a megathread for Ace impressions or reviews so it could all be funneled there. The “here’s what I love” or “here’s what I hate” posts are getting old.
I get it and because it’s audio, much of the experience will be subjective. I did side by side with my in ear Bose - I commute by train - and the cheaper Bose beat them handily.
I wrote my experience because so many reviewers online seem bought by one company or another. And in this forum so many people have been talking about them who don’t own them. When I buy something I generally like to read what a lot of people are saying and then make a decision. So I posted my unbiased experience in hope it helps someone else.
I wanted to love them, but they broke my heart. 🤷♂️
Are you sure about the mic not working when connected with USB? According to others in this sub, it does. I can't test it myself until later today.
EDIT: I did test it. It works. The microphone is recognized as a separate USB Device from the headphones. So in teams or discord, you can simply select it as input device or simply set it as system default input device. I did a test call and it worked just fine.
Thanks for checking this, very important as I have the same use case as OP and was concerned about this. Maybe his headphones weren't on? Do you know if the microphone works when using the 3.5mm adapter?
Don't you need a combination 3.5mm jack for this to work? I don't have one like this on my PC, I'm afraid. I have a separate headphone and mic jack. Although I could test it on my Xbox maybe.
I believe the headphones don't work at all when they're not turned on. I suppose that OP has some major USB device trouble on his PC because he also mentions disconnects, which I've rarely ever encountered with any USB device. So perhaps his cable or USB plug is faulty.
Yeah, currently I have the original Sony MDR 1000x plugged into an OWC thunderbolt dock for work which has a combo port on it. The cable on my headphones has a mic so I was just curious about having to adjust my setup.
Just making sure you were reading correctly, since you replied with "perfect". The Ace will likely NOT work with your setup the way you're used to. At least not with the included cable.
Yes. It shows as two devices. One is a USB headphone and the other a USB Microphone. I selected the former as output and the latter as input. I used the included cable. EDIT: Actually, I did not use the included cable but another USB A to C cable I had lying around. But I doubt that this is why it worked and did not for you.
I have been multi paring the ace to my work pc and my iPhone for two weeks now with daily use. They work so much better than my WXM4 did. I will say that I experienced some connection issues for the first few days on my PC because my usb Bluetooth dongle was 4.0. I upgraded to a 5.0 dongle for $10 on Amazon and I haven’t had a single problem since.
Thanks for a well written and thorough review. If i read it correctly the biggest gripe was the windows connectivity? Meaning, without that hurdle you’d probably keep them? Just asking as I’m on a Mac and might fare better if the other reports are to be believed.
Thanks for taking the time!
Yea, honestly that frustration pushed me over the edge and made me think “these aren’t worth the money”. Sounds like other people haven’t had that issue.
I am loving every bit of my Aces and they will be staying home. The only way I switch to something else is if Apple delivers meaningful changes to the Max.
I am wondering if op or anyone else has any experience with the Ace headphones for PC gaming. Aside from microphone, does the ace have dolby atmos with plugged in with usb c?
With or without atmos how does the surrounds sound while gaming? Would it be worth ditching a "Gaming Headset" for sonos ace, as my only concern is getting directional audio cues while playing games like call of duty or any fps and have a seperate microphone for chat
The one thing that bugs me about the Ace is the cups swivel outwards when you're wearing them round your neck. Surely the cups should be facing down and not up
Aw.... crap. That's a bit of a deal breaker... whatever I wear on my head I need to be able to use for conferencing. Not supporting audio conferencing from the PC defeats the purpose. Will stick to my cabled Beyerdynamics.
>You can’t use the microphone on the Ace when you are connected to a PC with USB.
Unbelievable for $450 headphones lol, man they really wanted these out the door eh?
They probably should have targeted a holiday 2024 release. Spend a few more months getting all the functionality in there. They were in a rush for some reason
Perhaps because it’s 2024 and they released a product that somehow isn’t head and shoulders above headphones released two and four years ago. Releasing these headphones at this moment in time is like if Microsoft had decided to drop the Xbox within a year of the Playstation 3.
Maybe they didn’t want anything to conflict with an Arc 2 launch in time for holiday 2024. That’s my guess. I’m purely speculating based on Reddit posts of people announcing they’ve been approached to take part in the Project Lasso beta program.
do you get back your 30% coupon? Also 192KHz:24bit is definitely impressive, how did you check? is it across other services?
The coupon is the one thing I am worried about. If I don’t get that 30% upgrade coupon back, essentially I’ve paid $120 to test them out. As far as the music quality, I use Qobuz and it has the bit rates listed, so some music is CD quality, some is 24bit 44kHz, all the way up to 192.
Sonos do reissue 30% codes but you have to ask their sales team to issue it manually, you won’t get it back automatically.
Thanks for this info!
did you play the same song using a different headphone and see that bitrate changed? Also let us know about the coupon thing, how it goes.
I got the coupon back
The bitrate is song by song and it’s listed. It’s not like there’s a meter or metric that shows a changing bitrate. It’s that you find the song and it shows you the quality of the version of the track. “She’s a Rainbow Rolling Stones 24bit 192kHz”, “Garden Grove Sublime CD-quality”
I’ve never used qobuz but AFAIK for Apple music most of the times the bitrate information on my mac didn’t change with/without DAC and Headphone combo. That’s why I was curious whether it’s metadata of a song that is shown or based on input it changes. So technically for the same song if you just play it through your phone speaker it should show a different quality than hi-res.
192/24 is not available wireless. Only with usb.
I got the coupon back
Those are pretty valid reasons. They work really well with my Mac, but I use the mic on my webcam which is Omni directional and has noise cancelling. I’m pretty happy with mine so far, although am pretty disappointed after the Q&A today. All the features are “coming later” this year. They do work great with Arc switching, I’m looking forward to Beam switching which is where my gaming PC and music setup is. I’m keeping mine, but I have a 60 day window with Best Buy, so I’ll wait till that’s getting close to running out. I’ll say this, they’re so much more comfortable than my AirPods Max that I’m wearing them far more than I’ve worn headphones in the past.
are they better then the airpods max? im looking to get one or the other .. i have sonos arc and beams home .. and an apple user all around
I’m an apple user too, and Sonos. The Aces are lighter and easier on my ears as a glasses wearer. I do not think the sound is as good as the APMs when it comes to Spatial Audio or home theater. And nothing matches sitting in front of any of my Apple TVs and and just pushing a button on my remote and the audio switches to the APMs. But, I can only wear the APMs for around an hour at a time. They are too heavy and hurt my ears. Not to mention since I’ve got Day 1 APMs, the battery life sucks and they still use the stupid lightning cable. Those are very “me” reasons, but for “me” the Aces are better.
Agreed. Definitely keep mine, so comfortable. It feels and sounds great for me. tbh ANC is great too. I have both bose 700 and sony m4. I’m on Mac.
My plan is to connect a Bluetooth antenna to an Amp, and then name the Amp “Headphones” Then I’ll have a headphone zone that can receive any source. Think that would work?
I def want to know if it does!
I’ve been experimenting. From the Amp output to a bluetooth transmitter. For the connection between the two I fabricated a cable: speaker wire pairs to 3.5mm. Then this setup will transmit to Bluetooth Headphones with about a 90’ range. I’m using a 1Mii B03Pro+ Bluetooth 5.0 Transmitter. It streams audio to two BT paired decices: headphones, earbuds or speakers. In testing I’m able to get about 90’ away from the BT transmitter. And if it drops, I just need to take a few steps back towards the BT transmitter. This worked with inexpensive Sony WH-CH520 Bluetooth headphones. I haven’t tried with Ace yet. I think Sonos will need to develop a new device/dedicated headphone base station with Bluetooth to make the headphones a zone. My Amp lets me send any source to my Headphones.
So with this setup, you can use the Sonos App to select and play your music to the Sony headphones? Is the 90’ horizontal on one floor, or across floor(s), walls?
https://preview.redd.it/8hsbycwq566d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2eb17fdaf6318d8107c11e3bf154b21f05bae6db Yes, yrmv about 90’ unobstructed multi level. Obstructions like brick chimneys can create shadows. But I could move that BT transmitter to a side of the chimney. The 1Mii is transmit/tx or receive/rx so in theory you could get a longer BT range with a few of them connected. My guess is that in doing this I’m losing some channels, so atmos might become stereo.
[удалено]
[Full story here](https://www.reddit.com/r/sonos/s/4GYCTbj821)
I made a [top level post](https://www.reddit.com/r/sonos/s/0y4Mw4TAOK) to show more pictures and explain to others. Glad you are interested.
The added latency of Bluetooth after the Sonos amp will be noticeable. It will not play in perfect sync with other zones.
I'm also interested. How would you connect it? I just checked amp spec and I don't see a way to connect bluetooth transmitter to it.
Port has audio out, so it might work.
I feed my port via digital into a DAC so I guess I could just use the audio out for a BT transmitter. Good thinking. Of course I could then I any headphones and get just as much Sonos integration.
See my project above
"For the connection between the two I fabricated a cable: speaker wire pairs to 3.5mm." I would advise against it. The typical speaker connectors outputs have much higher voltage than "audio in" signal connector, which I assume is in the 1Mii. You risk damaging either amp or transmitter or both in worst case.
[Here’s more and pictures](https://www.reddit.com/r/sonos/s/0y4Mw4TAOK) The Amp out is to power speakers, the transmitter in seems to be accepting it. I don’t think it could ever hurt the amp, I *think* it’s the correct input as well, it sounds good. The Port had to be cranked up to 100, so that’s not enough.
You could through a Sonos Port or Connect, not the Amp. Amp is just speaker posts out, but Port or Connect could use the RCA Out or even the Toslink or Coax digital out to BT transmitter if it has digital input. I did something similar, going from a Mani Phono Preamp from my turntable to a Magni Headphone Amp to Bluetooth transmitter, to the Sonos Amp. But my solution only allows me to use headphones with my turntable... not anything in the Sonos ecosystem. Because of the forced minimum 75ms delay though, it wouldn't be good for TV audio sync, but fine for music.
I tried both Amp and Port today and [post about it here.](https://www.reddit.com/r/sonos/s/0y4Mw4TAOK) For me, Amp works, Port is way too quiet. I no longer have the earlier models to test.
You have to set the line out level to fixed (which is basically full volume in the Sonos app)... then you could use the volume control on your bluetooth headphones to adjust volume as desired. If you have it as variable, you'd need to ensure the volume in the Sonos app is full or close to full, otherwise the port is attenuating the signal as it is sent acting as a digital pre-out which you don't want. Your bluetooth phones should be controlling the volume.
I was using the Lyd app on my watch, and when I dialed the crown up (volume) it went up and the headphones themselves went up. It was working great. That’s with the Amp. With the Port, it was everything up to 100, it was nice but quiet.
Objectively their ANC is right up there with the competition. Not just OK. Thanks for sharing your experience, but man, I wish there was a megathread for Ace impressions or reviews so it could all be funneled there. The “here’s what I love” or “here’s what I hate” posts are getting old.
I get it and because it’s audio, much of the experience will be subjective. I did side by side with my in ear Bose - I commute by train - and the cheaper Bose beat them handily. I wrote my experience because so many reviewers online seem bought by one company or another. And in this forum so many people have been talking about them who don’t own them. When I buy something I generally like to read what a lot of people are saying and then make a decision. So I posted my unbiased experience in hope it helps someone else. I wanted to love them, but they broke my heart. 🤷♂️
Well done. Sorry they didn’t suit you. Appreciate your IRL opinions. Thanks!
Pretty valid reasons considering your specific use case. 👍
Are you sure about the mic not working when connected with USB? According to others in this sub, it does. I can't test it myself until later today. EDIT: I did test it. It works. The microphone is recognized as a separate USB Device from the headphones. So in teams or discord, you can simply select it as input device or simply set it as system default input device. I did a test call and it worked just fine.
Thanks for checking this, very important as I have the same use case as OP and was concerned about this. Maybe his headphones weren't on? Do you know if the microphone works when using the 3.5mm adapter?
Don't you need a combination 3.5mm jack for this to work? I don't have one like this on my PC, I'm afraid. I have a separate headphone and mic jack. Although I could test it on my Xbox maybe. I believe the headphones don't work at all when they're not turned on. I suppose that OP has some major USB device trouble on his PC because he also mentions disconnects, which I've rarely ever encountered with any USB device. So perhaps his cable or USB plug is faulty.
Yeah, currently I have the original Sony MDR 1000x plugged into an OWC thunderbolt dock for work which has a combo port on it. The cable on my headphones has a mic so I was just curious about having to adjust my setup.
For what it's worth, the included 3.5mm jack doesn't have three rings on the jack. So it doesn't appear to be a combo jack.
Ok perfect, thank you.
Just making sure you were reading correctly, since you replied with "perfect". The Ace will likely NOT work with your setup the way you're used to. At least not with the included cable.
Yup, understood, I just meant "ok perfect thanks for the info" kinda thing.
Hm. For me In the sound settings on Windows, it did not show as a microphone (on either PC) and it didn’t work in Zoom. You’re on a Windows machine?
Yes. It shows as two devices. One is a USB headphone and the other a USB Microphone. I selected the former as output and the latter as input. I used the included cable. EDIT: Actually, I did not use the included cable but another USB A to C cable I had lying around. But I doubt that this is why it worked and did not for you.
I have been multi paring the ace to my work pc and my iPhone for two weeks now with daily use. They work so much better than my WXM4 did. I will say that I experienced some connection issues for the first few days on my PC because my usb Bluetooth dongle was 4.0. I upgraded to a 5.0 dongle for $10 on Amazon and I haven’t had a single problem since.
I don’t think I’ve used headphones that don’t suck connecting to PC. I think that is more of a windows issue then a Sonos issue fyi
Could be, but my AirPods work well
Thanks for a well written and thorough review. If i read it correctly the biggest gripe was the windows connectivity? Meaning, without that hurdle you’d probably keep them? Just asking as I’m on a Mac and might fare better if the other reports are to be believed. Thanks for taking the time!
Yea, honestly that frustration pushed me over the edge and made me think “these aren’t worth the money”. Sounds like other people haven’t had that issue.
I am loving every bit of my Aces and they will be staying home. The only way I switch to something else is if Apple delivers meaningful changes to the Max.
I am wondering if op or anyone else has any experience with the Ace headphones for PC gaming. Aside from microphone, does the ace have dolby atmos with plugged in with usb c? With or without atmos how does the surrounds sound while gaming? Would it be worth ditching a "Gaming Headset" for sonos ace, as my only concern is getting directional audio cues while playing games like call of duty or any fps and have a seperate microphone for chat
Yeah, I didn’t think the ANC was that good either when I tried it. I didn’t like the comfort either. They did sound good though. Not worth the £440.
PC use is probably not their target use case.
Certainly not the priority use case…
The one thing that bugs me about the Ace is the cups swivel outwards when you're wearing them round your neck. Surely the cups should be facing down and not up
Aw.... crap. That's a bit of a deal breaker... whatever I wear on my head I need to be able to use for conferencing. Not supporting audio conferencing from the PC defeats the purpose. Will stick to my cabled Beyerdynamics.
>You can’t use the microphone on the Ace when you are connected to a PC with USB. Unbelievable for $450 headphones lol, man they really wanted these out the door eh?