Get Them Here:

Bose QC: https://amzn.to/3SFWDPU

Bose QC Ultra: https://amzn.to/3SIeIwZ

Sonos Ace: https://amzn.to/3SLqerd

So the Sonos Ace are a good first try from Sonos, I really like their build quality, I like their case and I like that you can use the USB C port on these headphones as a wired connection. However these headphones to struggle when it comes to sound, active noise cancellation, their ambient mode and microphone for phone calls. Nonetheless, today we’re going to see how the Sonos Ace stack up to both the Bose QC Ultra and the Bose QC’s.

Regarding pricing, there is a considerable Sonos and Bose tax here. The Sonos Ace retail for $450 which is up there, but these make up for it with its build quality. Where as the Bose QC Ultra for $430, and the Bose QC retail for $350… which I also feel is a little up there. But the QC Ultra’s now like to go on sale for $350 and the QC’s go on sale for $250. Nonetheless, if you want to pick any of these headphones up they’ll be linked down below or you can always press on the YouTube shopping button.

So first theres the case. Now the Sonos Ace have a lay flat design to them, where as both of Bose’s headphones have a fully collapsable design to them. SO both of Bose’s cases have a smaller foot print than Sonos’s case which I feel is great for traveling cause it makes it easy to stuff these cases into your back pack. However, Sonos’s case is surprisingly thin, so traveling with this case isn’t all that hard. Nonetheless, I like all of these cases and all of these cases are going to do a great job of protecting your headphones if you’re traveling with them. The only thing that worries me about Sonos’s case is its fabric shell.

But with the case out of the way, lets talk about the headphones themselves. Simply put, the Sonos Ace feel a lot more premium then either of Boses headphones. Now all of these headphones are using new plastics, but the ear cups on the Sonos has a slight soft touch feel to them, which helps it feel more luxurious. Now the metal arms on the Ultra look and feel great, but the chrome arms on the Sonos just look more premium. But something that really helps the Sonos stand out here is its leatherette, the leatherette on the Sonos just feels more supple and theres more a grain to it, which helps it feel more luxurious. Now the leatherette on Bose’s headphones also feels good… however the leatherette on Bose’s current generation of headphones doesn’t feel as food as Bose’s previous generation of headphones. And then also theres the fact that the ear cups on the Sonos Ace are magnetically attached which is good either if you want to replace your earpads or if you want to clean them. However the use of the finer materials on the Sonos Ace does mean that the Ace weigh considerably more than Bose’s headphones. Now the Sonos Ace weigh in at 312 grams, which isn’t as bad as the AirPods Max which weigh in at 380 grams… but for comparison sake, the Bose QC ultra weigh in at 254 grams and the Bose QC’s weigh in at 235 grams. So with the Sonos Ace, these are a pair of headphones that you’re really going to notice shifting around on your head when you’re walking around with them on and you never forget that you’re wearing these headphones if you’re sitting at your desk or while in bed. Where as with the Bose QC ultra, these headphones are a lot less noticeable when they’re on your head… and then there are the Bose QC’s which are even less noticeable cause they weigh in at 235 grams. The Bose QC’s are one of the lightest premium ANC headphones out there and their light weight just helps with overall comfort.

Now when it comes to fit, all of these headphones fit well, and they are all big head approved. However both of Bose’s headphones have noticeably less clamping force than the Sonos Ace, so Bose’s headphones are going to give you a looser fit, especially the Bose QC. And when it comes to the ear pads on these headphones, all of these ear pads are very spacious and even if you have large ears or ears that stick out a lot, they should all have you covered. However, both of Bose’s ear pads are more spacious than Sonos’s ear pads. But the key detail between Bose’s ear pads and Sonos’s ear pads is heat… the ear pads on the Sonos has a lot more surface area coming in contact with your skin… these ear pads are also softer and the padding like to retain heat a lot more… so with Sonos’s ear pads, they can heat up faster… where as Bose’s ear pads stay cooler for longer… which overall leads to better comfort. Overall, the Sonos Ace are very well built, they feel a lot more premium than Bose’s headphones and they fit well. However, both of Bose’s headphones are more comfortable than the Sonos Ace cause they’re lighter, specially the Bose QC, they have less clamping force, specially the Bose QC, their ear pads are more spacious, specially the Bose QC, and their ear pads stay cooler for longer.

However when it comes to battery life, this is an area where Bose needs help. Both the Bose QC and Bose QC Ultra have an advertised battery life of 24 hours with their active noise cancelation turned on. And a battery life of 24 hours is decent, however you cant use these headphones with their ANC turned off so you can’t extend their battery life that way. And also, if you were to use the immersive audio feature on the Bose QC Ultra their battery life is going to drop to 18 hours.

Where as the Sonos Ace have an advertised battery life of 30 hours with their active noise cancellation turned on, and you can always extend their battery life by using them with their active noise cancelation turned off.

And to create all of these headphones, they all charge via a USB C port as they should. However, this is the only port that you’ll find on the Sonos Ace, but you can actually use the USB C port on these headphones as a wired connection… and they also come included with a USB C to audio jack cable, so you can still use these headphones with a wired connection if you’re on an airplane.

Where as with Bose’s headphones you cant use their USB C ports as a wired connection… but they do have audio jacks so you can use them with a wired connection that way. However, with both the Sonos Ace and Bose QC Ultra, you can’t use these headphones passively, as in, if you want to use them with a wired connection, they have to be powered on, where as with the Bose QC, you can, so I feel that this is something that frequent flyers should be mindful off.

Now when it comes to bluetooth connectivity, all of these headphones can be connected to any two bluetooth devices regardless of eco system, so you can easily hot swap from one device to another which is great if you’re a power user with lets say an iPhone and a windows PC.

Now when it comes to overall performance, all of these headphones have zero latency across the board when watching movies or videos on your phone whether you’re using an iPhone or an android device… but with the Sonos have noticed some random disconnects… so hopefully that can be fixed through a firmware update. Now when it comes to audio codecs, the Bose QC have support for SBC and AAC, which is fine, but both the Bose QC Ultra and Sonos Ace have support for SBC, AAC, and APTX, however, if you want to take advantage of APTX you do  have to be an android user cause iPhone’s top out at AAC.

but with all of that out of the way lets talk about sound, Now simply put, the Sonos Ace dont sound all that great. These headphones leans towards a very bright sound signature and their bass is very flat. So due to these headphones very bright sound signature, their vocals are super emphasized, but the instrumental lack detail and their bass has no kick to it and it doesn’t resonate all that much either. So as a result, these headphones are not all that much phone to listen to, and due to their lack of bass, watching movies with these headphones isn’t all that much fun either. Now you can always go in and adjust their EQ, but even if you try to adjust their EQ, these headphones aren’t going to sound all that great. Where as with both of Bose’s headphones. Both of these headphones also lean towards a more neutral or vocals focused EQ. But more importantly, since these headphones dont put as much of an emphasis on the vocals as the Sonos, these headphones sound noticeably more open than the Sonos… and they also have more resonance in their bass… the bass on the bose doesn’t physically kick all that much… but it does resonate more than on the Sonos. Actually, if you have the bass on the Sonos all the way up, its like having the bass on the Bose set to 5 and the mids set to 3. So personally, I prefer how both of Bose’s headphones sound compared to the Sonos Ace cause they both sound more balanced, they sound more open and they have more resonance in their bass. Now something that the Bose QC Ultra has over the Bose QC is immersive audio, and after daily driving these for the last few months, I have grown to never use immersive audio cause it just adds a lot of reverb to your music. And both the QC Ultra and Sonos Ace do the hole head tracking… but I think head tracking is just a gimmick so I never use it on any of my headphones. Overall, if you’re a bass head or just someone that wants to physically feel your bass… you’ll might not want to go with any of these headphones cause their bass is mostly on the audible side. But for me, I do feel that both of Bose’s headphones sound a perform better than the Sonos Ace cause they sound more balanced, they sound more open, they have more detail in the instrumentals and their bass has more resonance to it.

Now when it comes to the media controls on these headphones, both the Bose QC and Sonos Ace are using physical buttons, and this is great either cause you just dont want to deal with touch pads or they’re good options for older or less tech savvy people. Now the Bose QC’s are using a 3 button layout, where as the Sonos Ace have a more elegant button slider combo. Both of these are easy to use… where as with the Bose QC Ultra, these are using a hybrid set up. They have a button to skip through your music and they have a slider for your volume, it works, but its not my favorite.

However, both the Sonos Ace and Bose QC ultra have wear sensors, so when you take these headphones off they’ll automatically pause your music, and when you put them back on they’ll start playing your music again. Now overall I dont really care for wear sensors on my headphones, so I usually just turn them off, but if you want them they are there.

But now lets talk about the active noise cancelation on these headphones. Now the Sonos Ace block out a lot of noise, which is great. But the Sonos Ace have a lot of cabin pressure. But so that you can see for yourself we’re going to jump into an ANC test.

ANC test

So like you may have just seen, the Sonos Ace block out a lot of noise, they actually had the lowest readings here. However if you actually use these headphones you’ll see that both of Bose’s headphones do a better job of dealing with that constant road noise and they also do a better job of mitigating the sudden spikes from chatter. Nonetheless, the Sonos Ace block out a lot of noise, but both of Bose’s headphones block out a little more noise. But more importantly, both of Bose’s headphones are able to block out a little more noise than the Sonos Ace, and they do so with significantly less cabin pressure. Cause with the Sonos Ace, these have a lot of cabin pressure, so you feel discomfort on your ear drums and you’ll might even feel a little disorientation when walking with them. Yes the Sonos Ace block out a lot of noise, but the ANC on these headphones is more similar to the ANC on headphones from like 5 years ago cause they have so much cabin pressure.

But then theres the ambient mode on these headphones, now all of these headphones have an ambient however, the ambient mode on both of Bose’s headphones sounds a lot more natural. Cause with the ambient mode on the Sonos, its clear that they are trying to focus on people’s voices and they are trying to control loud sounds. But the end result is that the ambient mode on the Sonos Ace sounds like you’re underwater. Where as with both of Bose’s headphones, the ambient mode sounds a lot more natural… however, with the Bose QC ultra these also try to control the noise that comes in if you have the active sense feature turned on… but active sense is more trouble than its worth so I use them with active sense turned off.

Mic Bose QC Quiet

But finally heres the microphone test, now I feel that all of these microphones perform the same, but the Bose QC’s have the worst performing microphone here.

Mic Bose Ultra Quiet

Now all of these microphones are good to take phone calls with while in a quite room, but I do feel that these microphones could have better clarity to them.

Mic Sonos Quiet

But the Sonos Ace do have the best clarity here while in a quiet room, but there is a little bit of white noise in the background.

Mic sonso Road

However, the Sonos Ace do the best job here of dealing with road noise, cause right now this microphone is doing a decent job of reducing all of this road noise, cause for comparison sake, if we were to switch over to my lapel microphone, you’re going to clearly hear all of this road noise, but if we switch back over to the Sonos Ace, it is reduced.

Mic Ultra Road

Where as with the Bose QC Ultra, these are letting in considerable more road noise, but you can still understand me pretty good.

Mic Qc Road

Where as with the Bose QC, these are just letting in a lot more road noise. But you can still understand me.

Mic QC Chatter

However, when it comes to blocking out chatter, all of these headphones struggle.

Mic Ultra Chatter

Now the Bose QC ultra are trying to reduce this chatter, but they are still struggling here, but I do feel that these do a slightly better job than the Sonos Ace

Mic Ace Chatter

But regardless, with all of these headphones, they have decent enough sounding mcrihpones to take phone calls with while in a quite room and the Sonos Ace do a decent job of dealing with road noise, however when it comes to chatter, all of these headphones struggle quiet a bit.

But with all of that being said, the Sonos Ace are a great first try from Sonos, they have great build quality, they come with a great, thin and hard case, and I really appreciate that they come with both USB C and audio jack cables. However, these headphones sound very bright and they dont have all that much kick in their bass, making them boring to listen to music with or to watch movies. Yes they block out a lot of noise, but they dont block out as much noise as either of Bose's headphones and they have a lot more cabin pressure than Bose’s headphones.  Personally for me it is hard to justify and recommend the Sonos Ace and I really feel that you are much better off going with either of these Bose’s headphones. Now if you plan on traveling a lot with your headphones then you’ll might want to go with the Ultra cause they block out a little more noise… but if you want the most comfortable fit, then you’ll want to go with the Bose QC.