The Sonos Ace The design story starts with Marcel Breuer’s Wassily chair. Bauhaus’s iconic modernist design represented an idealized balance between contrasts – soft and hard, simple and complex, machine versus the human body – and provided the Sonos design team with a perfect aesthetic and functional template for designing what became the first headphones from would become the brand. Across the Wassily seat, hard, shiny metal is responsible for structural support, while soft and supple leather should provide a comfortable contact point (vegan leather, in the case of the Ace). While no one wants to carry a chair on their head, the parallels between the Sonos Ace’s clean lines and subtle sloping profile are clearly visible through the combination of contrasting materials. We spoke with Aki LaineSonos’ Director of Industrial Design on some of the individual details that add up to what he believes makes the Sonos Ace headphones a unique entry in the competitive field of ANC headphones.
Including comfort at the core
From the start, the Sonos design team identified a comfortable fit as essential. According to Laine, the shape of the Ace ear cups is the result of extensive ergonomic research. “We conducted comfort testing research with nearly 600 participants, varying in age, gender, different head sizes and shapes, ear sizes, earrings versus no earrings. We even tested the Ace with scarves, glasses and with different hair lengths.”
Aki Laine, Sonos Director of Industrial Design
“If you look at the end cap of the Sonos Arc and the Sonos Move from above, you see the same profile, resulting in nice parity with the Sonos portfolio,” explains Laine. “But this was not the reason why we pursued this specific profile. After testing several different designs and prototypes and extensive research, we found that this shape is truly the most optimal shape to create an effective seal around the ear.”
A replaceable mesh basket magnetically snaps onto the Ace’s angled driver and follows the contours of the ear, ensuring the ear never comes into contact with the internal components. Please note, each side is colored differently; In addition to the angled front arms, the distinction allows users to quickly identify which way to carry the Ace.
The Sonos Ace’s overall user interface language adheres to a commitment to tactile simplicity. Physical buttons give users the ability to switch listening modes and volumes without the guesswork of other headphones, each strategically placed across a part of the headphones that Laine describes as the ‘waist’. In the hand, the section adds a defining detail along with a pleasurable contact point.
“We added the waistline to give the overall soft shape a little more definition, but also to create a nice runway for the hardware user interface, microphones and vents on the front and bottom,” Laine said while she leaned her hand against the camera. an early production Ace in hand to show another detail. “We designed these grilles for the microphones and went through different perforation patterns.”
In real life, the grills are impressively small in size, and the perforations are so small that they are easily overlooked. “They are chemically etched onto the stainless steel grill and are designed so that the pattern eliminates any wind noise to create the best possible ANC experience.”
The color palette for the headphones was chosen with inclusivity in mind. The team tested different shades and settled on soft white and black, both of which are designed to complement a wide range of skin tones and personal styles. The soft white variant in particular features naturally polished metal parts that add a touch of elegance and contrast.
Returning to controls, Laine elaborates on the importance of physical buttons instead of capacitive controls to reduce the cognitive load of a device that is often operated while moving and without the aid of vision.
“We strive to design a hardware user interface that is predictable, memorable and intuitive,” Pointing to a slider control that Sonos calls the Content Key, Laine rationalizes the combination of mechanical switch and button as a proven means of delivering tactile precision between user and device . It’s an interesting detail to note that the brand’s Era speaker family, alongside the Move, features capacitive touch controls, albeit with a slim, shallow physical channel that prompts the user’s fingers to follow its length. Laine attributes the difference between two different use cases, with the Ace requiring a higher degree of operational confidence, which is clarified by our fingertips.
A hidden hinge mechanism adheres to the minimalist ethos while adding a moment of metallic elegance reminiscent of Marcel Breuer’s Wassily chair. The mechanism also reportedly minimizes the chance of hair snagging.
The Misty Green color accent used in the right ear cup of the Soft White Sonos Ace colorway is also applied to the housing.
Durability and choice of materials
Continuing the brand’s efforts to improve on sustainability, the headphones are made from 17% post-consumer recycled plastic, while the carrying case is made from 75% post-consumer recycled polyester felt. This begs the question: “Why only 17%?”
“We have very high durability and quality bar for every product we ship. With all the wear and tear and stress that headphones have to endure, we’ve determined that we need to use more virgin plastic to meet and exceed customer expectations.
The California-based brand has earned legions of customers by simplifying the audiophile experience that is defined less by specs and more shaped by experience. Similar to Apple, Sonos deliberately designs devices that can be used independently, but only reveal their full potential when used within the brand’s conscientiously developed ecosystem (for example, the Ace only offers a convenient audio output transfer option in conjunction with the Arc brand soundbar). But unlike its network speakers, the Sonos Ace joins an already crowded field of top-tier headphones like the Apple AirPod Max, Bose QuietComfort Ultra and Sony WH-1000XM5. In our opinion, the Ace’s combination of best-performing active noise cancellation, modern aesthetics, and dedication to tactile controls deserves attention… and a listen.
For more information or to purchase the Sonos Ace headphones, visit sonos.com.
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