Sonos Ace Ultra

In my view, if you value sound quality over noise cancelling and you’re willing to stump up the extra £50, I’d say get the Sonos over the Sony WH-1000XM6. The Sonos are more comfortable, too, and the build and finish are nicer.

The Ace Ultra is what the original Ace should've been two years ago. Specifically, Sonos' first headphones should've offered the ability to be part of a speaker system like this model does, instead of simply swapping the audio with a compatible soundbar. Maybe the technology wasn't there yet. Maybe the company already knew adding headphones to its app was going to be a heavy lift.

The Sonos Ace Ultra are a triumph in active noise cancellation, delivering a 10-microphone array that legitimately gives Bose a run for its money. Featuring redesigned 40mm drivers, subtle structural refinements, a 35-hour battery, and direct Wi-Fi linking into the Sonos home system via Headphone Engine 2, these are an absolute dream for commuters and home theater enthusiasts alike. But at $449, they are a steep investment, and unless you already own Sonos home gear, rivals like Sony and Bose offer similar standalone value for less.

With a significant improvement in musicality, excellent Dolby Atmos performance, and a more fleshed-out feature set, the Sonos Ace Ultra feel like a landmark achievement for Sonos, which has finally entered the headphone game with confidence. Incremental additions to battery life, ANC, and Sonos ecosystem interactivity only help these stylish cans to stand-out more than the original model, and while the Ace Ultra may still get edged out by a few rivals in terms of sonic detail and travel convenience, they’re still easy to recommend.

While they're still not quite on the level of the class leaders, Sonos's sophomore wireless headphones are a marked improvement in sound quality, along with their comfortable design and healthy features set.

The Ace Ultra introduce a feature that really should have been part of the brand's headphones story from day dot: Headphone Linking audio handover to other compatible products in your Sonos ecosystem. But even if you're not a Sonos user, or growing your system, it's the core experience these headphones provide that's even more important. The astounding comfort, incredible battery life, quality sound and ANC are as good as – and often even better than – many key competitors.