Sonos Ace

Sonos goes big and drops its first ever wireless headphones

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Rumours and rumblings of wireless headphones to complement the rest of the Sonos family have been doing the rounds for a while now, and when you think about it, it's not a huge leap. Sonos has already nailed the soundbar, wireless speaker and multi-room markets. If it can introduce a couple of unique selling points while mastering sound quality, such cans could be quite the success story.

But Sonos is entering a market that isn't for the faint-hearted. Some of the brands in the space are huge hitters and were making headphones before Sonos was even born. The likes of Apple, Bose, Bowers & Wilkins, Sennheiser and Sony all have sensational Bluetooth, over-ear noise-cancelling headphones that we rate at five stars.

We expected Sonos to be gunning for the expensive Apple AirPods Max (£549), but the Ace's £449 is smack bang in the middle of Sony and Bose territory too.

Sonos has a reputation for designing minimalist products that blend into the home anonymously without drawing attention to themselves, but we think the Ace are nicely made with a hint of style.

At 312g they are lighter than the AirPods Max (384.8g) but a touch heavier than the Sony WH-1000XM5 (250g), and you can feel the difference in hand. The earcups feel smooth to the touch and are coated in an anti-fingerprint finish that we couldn't tarnish when handling. The Sonos logo on one earcup is meant to be subtle and shimmers only when it catches the light, but it is rather large when it does.

The earpads use memory foam coated in a layer of vegan leather (polyurethane) that feels quite plush, although you get a bit more cushioning from the Sony and Apple. The adjustable headband uses a firmer structure of the same materials, and we find them comfortable enough.