Sonos is a major player in the home audio world, with its range of super-connected wireless speakers and sound bars, making it a trusted brand for audiophiles and casual music listeners.
Now it looks like the audio company is about to enter a new market, after patents and confirmation of a mysterious product launch on March 9 fueled rumors about the first Sonos headphones.
With Sonos’ reputation for providing excellent speakers and whispers of integration with its existing multi-room system, expectations for wireless headset rumors are high, echoing the hype we saw last year with the arrival of the first headphones heard from Apple.
In many ways, the Apple AirPods Max responded to the hype, delivering excellent sound and unmatched connectivity with iOS devices – although in other ways they disappointed, lacking basic features despite its incredibly high price.
While the Sony WH-1000XM4 are still the headsets to beat, we’re excited to see how Sonos approaches its first headsets compared to Apple – and if the company gets it right, it could blow the AirPods Max out of the water. , and even give Sony a try for their money.
Learning the basics
Before we get into the special features that Sonos could use to boost its headphones above the competition, it is crucial that the company get the basics right.
This means that the first Sonos headphones will need to provide excellent connectivity, a long battery life of 30 hours or more, a sleek, comfortable design and class-leading active noise cancellation.
Although they have not yet been confirmed by the company, a number of patents have given us some tips on what features they could have, basic and others.
The first is wireless connectivity via Bluetooth – and to compete with the large number of wireless headsets on the market, Sonos must opt for the latest Bluetooth 5.1 codec.
Pursuing the latest wireless standard should ensure that Sonos’ first headphones maintain a strong connection to other devices – but that’s not the only thing on our connectivity wish list.
We would love to see support for aptX Adaptive, which allows 96 kHz high resolution audio files to be transmitted wirelessly. We have already seen this technology adopted by the Bowers & Wilkins PX7, and it would be a welcome addition for audiophiles who take chances with the first Sonos headphones.
The patent also describes noise-canceling technology, an increasingly sought-after feature for headphones. Hopefully, Sonos will employ adaptive noise cancellation as seen with the Sony WH-1000XM4; this smart technology adapts the level of noise cancellation to your environment in real time, increasing for noisy environments and decreasing for quiet environments.
Obviously, Sonos will need to make the right design to compete with the best headphones in the world. Sonos products usually follow an aesthetic of elegant and minimalist design, in variations of black and white.
We hope to see more of the same in the first Sonos headphones, with minimal external hardware and an elegant user interface, perhaps making use of touch-sensitive boxes that let you control music playback without taking your phone out of your pocket.
Unbeatable audio
Sonos already has a great reputation when it comes to the audio performance of its wireless speakers and sound bars, and we expect more of the same from its first headphones.
The brand is regularly at the top of our product recommendation lists, with the Sonos Arc soundbar, the Sonos Move portable speaker and the Sonos One wireless speaker, all offering an exceptional sound experience.
That said, the first Sonos headphones will have to sound great for better than the AirPods Max, which surprised us with its wide and well-balanced sound stage, excellent details and rhythmic precision and fantastic images.
Sonos can try to emulate this by employing similar drivers; AirPods Max contains 40 mm neodymium drivers, which feature dual neodymium magnetic ring motors to reduce distortion.
Combine that with support for high-resolution audio, and Sonos could make many audiophiles very happy.
We will also be interested to see if Sonos includes any support for engaging audio technologies like Dolby Atmos for headphones. The AirPods Max feature Apple’s Spatial Audio technology, making them a great pair of headphones for watching movies and TV shows.
Playing to your strengths
Sonos is a giant in the world of wireless audio solutions for various environments and, by using its strengths, it can blow up the Apple AirPods Max and other rivals.
And it can be a reality. The most interesting feature revealed in the Sonos headphones patent describes how wireless headsets can interact with existing Sonos speakers, with what the company calls an ‘exchange’:
“For example, if certain content being played is being played on the wireless headset, an exchange changes playback to play that content on one or more other playback devices on the local network.”
So, in theory, you could be listening to music on your Sonos headphones and quickly switch that song to your Sonos speaker, whether it’s part of a multi-room audio system or an independent smart speaker like Sonos One or Sonos Move.
It is certainly an exciting prospect and would really differentiate the headphone rumors from the competition.
Resolving Apple’s shortcomings
When AirPods Max launched in late 2020, we were not sure what to expect. Apple had never made a pair of wireless headsets before, and although AirPods and AirPods Pro gave us an idea of the connectivity features we could see, things like design, sound quality and usability were a big mystery.
And we were pleasantly surprised. The Apple AirPods Max turned out to be among the best-sounding headphones we’ve tested, and its noise cancellation easily compares to models like the Sony WH-1000XM4 and the Bose Noise Canceling 700 headphones.
However, their high price, limitations for Android users and lack of 3.5mm audio port means that we only recommend them for iOS users with a lot of money to spend – and with no interest in high resolution audio.
These oversights, together with their high price, are the reason why we cannot recommend AirPods Max as the best wireless headphones you can buy today – and that means that if Sonos can solve these problems, the first headphones The company’s wireless ear can be an exceptional foray into the world of personal audio.
For what it’s worth, the patents we’ve seen suggest that the first Sonos headphones will come with a 3.5mm audio port, allowing audiophiles to use a wired connection for playing pure music, as well as allowing you to use headphones when the battery runs dry.
The price issue may be more difficult to resolve. Sonos products are rarely cheap and we don’t expect the brand’s first headphones to be any different. However, if he can cut the Apple AirPods Max from $ 549 / £ 549 / AU $ 899 by just a little, that may be enough to put his first cans ahead in the battle for his ears.
In any case, we don’t think Sonos will cost your headphones less than the Sony WH-1000XM4, which cost $ 349.99 / £ 349 / AU $ 549 – but if it did, and we have those special Sonos features that we’ve heard about, the first Sonos headphones could even rival Sony’s cans and take the crown as the best headphones in the world.
Of course, we’ll have to wait and see what Sonos will reveal on March 9 to find out. There is every chance that the new product will be a wireless speaker, rumored to be a smaller and cheaper version of Sonos Move as well.
As much as we loved Sonos Move (and we would receive a more economical model), we really waited for a pair of headphones. After all, if the rumors are true, they can rock the world of personal audio in a way we’ve never seen before, even with the first Apple headphones.