Sonos Ace Vs AirPods Max & BW PX7 S2 - When Build Quality Matters

So the Sonos Ace are a great first try from Sonos, however the Sonos Ace do struggle to keep up with your staples like the Sony 1000XM5’s or Bose QC Ultra. However, somewhere where the Sonos Ace really does well is build quality… so today we’re going to see how the Sonos Ace stacks up to your more premiumly build headphones like the AirPods Max and the Bowers And Wilkins PX7 S2.

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So first theres pricing. Now like I just said all of these headphones are more premiumly built, which is going to mean that they are going to have a more premium price. Now the Bowers and Wilkins PX7 S2’s currently retail for $400… which isn’t super premium these days cause a lot of headphones are retailing for $400 now. But the Sonos Ace have a retail price of $450 and then there are the AirPods Max which retail for $550… and I feel that AirPods Max are just status symbols for people that just dont know better. Nonetheless, if you want to pick any of these headphones up they’ll be linked down below, or you can always just press on the YouTube shopping button.

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So first theres the case, now all of these headphones have a lay flat design to them which means that all of these headphones are going to have a larger footprint to them when they’re in their case. Now both the Sonos and PX7 S2’s come included with a great hard shell case that going to do a great job of protecting your headphones if you’re traveling with them. Now the Bowers and Wilkins case here feels more premium and more sturdy, however the Sonos case here is easier to travel with cause this case is surprisingly thin. So even though this case has a large foot print to it, its still easy to throw into your back pack. Overall, I really like both of these cases. But then theres Apple’s case, and I have said this since day one, I think that it is unacceptable that apple includes this so called case with their headphones. If you plan on traveling with these headphones they’re either going to be mostly exposed or you’re going to have to pay separately for a case, which I feel is ridiculous given the price of these headphones.

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But with the cases out of the way lets talk about the headphones themselves. Now something that all of these headphones do very well is build quality. Now the Sonos Ace has the most plastic surfaces here, however the plastic on the ear cups has a slight soft touch feel to them, we have chrome arms, and the headband on these headphones has a lot of padding to it and the leatherette feels very nice. The Sonos Ace are the most conventionally built headphones here. Where as with the Bowers and Wilkins PX7 S2’s, with these the amount of plastic that you touch is very little. The eacups and headband have these large fabric wrapped surfaces, the ear cups also have exposed metal on them and this metal extends into the headband arms and the and both the headband and earpads on these headphones are wrapped in real leather. Now the leatherette on the Sonos Ace feels nice cause it feels very supple and theres a nice grain to it, however real leather just feels nicer especially after you get your juices all up in them. And finally there are the AirPods Max which also have amazing build quality, you’ve got these large exposed aluminum ear cups, we also have chrome arms, the headband is wrapped in silicon and this mesh canopy is perhaps one of the coolest things about the AirPods Max cause this canopy provides an extremely comfortable fit and it doesn’t retain any heat. But one of my biggest critiques about the AirPods Max are the ear pads, these fabric ear pads also do a great job of not retaining any heat, however, I do find these fabric ear pads to be pretty itchy after awhile, so they’re not my favorite. But also, with all of these headphones, you can easily remove their ear pads which is good either for cleaning or if you want to replace them. The only thing is, the earpads on both the AirPods Max and Sonos are magnetically attached, where as with the PX7 S2’s, these are clip on, which isn’t as elegant.

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Overall, all of these headphones are very well built and one of their main selling point is their more premium build quality, however the more premium materials on these headphones means that they’re going to weigh a little more. Now for comparison sake, your stables like the Sony 1000XM4’s weigh in at 255 grams, the Bose QC Ultra weigh in at 254 grams, the Sony 1000XM5’s weigh in at 250 grams and the Bose QC’s weighs in at 235 grams… and I think that all of these are great options that you cant go wrong with. But with the Bowers and Wilkins PX7 S2 these weigh in at 307 grams, the Sonos Ace weigh in at 312 grams, so with both of these headphones, they are going to be a lot more noticeable when they’re on your head cause you’re really going to feel them shifting around on your head when you’re walking around with them on and you never really forget that you’re wearing them if you’re sitting at your desk or while in bed. But nonetheless, both the Sonos Ace and PX7 S2’s are doable. But then there are the AirPods Max and these things weigh in at 380 grams, and I feel that these things are just over weight, you never forget that you’re wearing them and their weight does get uncomfortable after awhile.

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And when it comes to overall fit, the AirPods Max as the least comfortable headphones here, particularly because of their weight, they also have the most clamping force here, and like I mentioned earlier their fabric ear pads can get itchy, where as the ear pads on the Sonos and PX7 S2’s dont get itchy and they’re a little more spacious. But the ear pads on the PX7 S2’s are my favorite here cause they are the most spacious, and since they have less surface area than the Sonos, they retain less heat. Overall, both the Sonos Ace and Bowers and Wilkins are more comfortable than the AirPods Max, but the PX7 S2’s the most comfortable headphones here.

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And when it comes to tech specs, the AirPods Max do struggle here a little bit. When it comes to battery life, the AirPods Max have and advertised battery life of 20 hours with their active noise cancellation turned on. Which is very below average for a pair of premium ANC headphones. Where as both the Sonos Ace and Bowers And Wilkins PX7 S2’s are good for like 30 hours with their ANC turned on, and with all of these headphones you can always extended their battery life by using them with their ANC turned off.

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And to charge these headphones, both the Sonos and PX7 S2’s charge via a USB C port as they should, where as the AirPods Max charge via a lighting port which isn’t as conviente as it used to be if you’re using an iPhone 15 or newer. But the important thing here, none of these headphones have an audio jack… however, with the USB C port on both the Sonos and PX7 S2’s their USB C port can be used as a wired connection… and they also come included with a USB C to audio jack cable, so you can still use either of these two headphones with a wired connection if you’re on an airplane. The only thing is, if you want to use these headphones with a wired connection, they still have to be powered on.

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Where as with the AirPods Max, you can also use these headphones with a wired connection… however if you want the privilege of using your AirPods Max with a wired connection, then you have to get apple’s lighting to audio jack cable which is sold separately. And like I said with the case, I feel that this is unacceptable given the price of these headphones. But I guess Sonos and Bowers and Wilkins dont have as much curage as apple.

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Now when it comes to bluetooth connectivity, both the Sonos and PX7 S2’s can be connected to any two bluetooth devices regardless of eco system which is good if you’re a power user cause you can easily hot swap from one device to another. Where as with the AirPods Max, you can also hot swap from one device to another regardless of eco system, but these are better suited for apple power users that have multiple apple devices.

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But 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 AirPods Max only have support for SBC and AAC which is fine cause iPhones top out at AAC. But these other two headphones have support for SBC, AAC and APTX, just keep in mind if you want to take advantage of APTX, you do have to be an android user.

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But finally lets talk about actually listening to much with these headphones. Now first off I dont really like how the Sonos Ace sound cause these headphones lean towards a very bright sound signature cause they put a lot of emphasis on the vocals. And as a result the instrumentals can get lost and the bass on these headphones is very underwhelming cause there isn’t much pshycailty to it and it doesn’t resonate all that much. Now you can always go in and adjust the EQ on these headphones, but if you’re looking for bass from these headphones youre not going to get much out of these epically when compared to other headphones out there. Personally, I can only recommend the Sonos as to people that feel that Bose’s headphones have too much bass. But then there are the Bowers And Wilkins PX7 S2’s, and these are actually my favorite headphones to listen to much with. These have a much more balanced sound signature to them and they sound a lot more open than the Sonos cause they dont put as much of an emphasis on the vocals as the Sonos. And more importantly, the instrumentals have a lot more detail to them than on the bass. However, these also dont have a lot of physicality to their bass, but the bass on the PX7 S2’s does resonate deeper and cleaner than on the bass on the Sonos. But finally there are the AirPods Max, now I constantly roast the AirPods Max cause they do have their issues, but these headphones also sound great. Basically the AirPods Max sound and perform very similar to the Bowers and Wilkins PX7 S2’s… however these have more kick in their bass thus they give you a more fun and more dynamic listening experience. I just feel that their treble is a little to high. But overall, the PX7 S2’s are my favorite sounding headphones here, and the AirPods Max are also up there cause these have more kick in their bass. Where as with the Sonos, they aren’t my favorite cause they put so much emphasis on the vocals and the bass is very flat on these.

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And when it comes to the media controls, all of these headphones are using physical buttons, now the PX7 S2’s has your standard 3 button lay out, and the AirPods Max has their crown. But I think the Sonos Ace has the most elegant media control button cause you can press this button up or down to adjust your volume and you can press it in to skip through your music.

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And all of these headphones 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.

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But now lets talk about the active noise cancellation on these headphones. Both the Sonos Ace and the AirPods Max block out a lot of noise, which is great, but they both have a lot of cabin pressure. And lets just say that ANC on the PX7 S2’s isn’t its strong suit. But so that you can see for yourself lets jump into the ANC test.

ANC Test

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So like you may have just seen, you shouldn’t get the Bowers and Wilkins PX7 S2’s if active noise cancelation is very important to you cause the ANC on these headphones is more similar to the ANC on lets say the Sony ULT wear. But then theres the ANC on both the Sonos and AirPods, Now I feel the AirPods Max block out a little more noise than the Sonos in general, but the problem with these two headphones is that that have noticeably more cabin pressure than your staples like either the Sony 1000XM5 and Sony 1000XM4, or the Bose QC Ultra and Bose QC. So with this added cabin pressure, you’re going to feel some discomfort on your ear drums, and you’ll might even feel a little disorientation when walking with either the Sonos or AirPods. But I do feel the Sonos have a little more cabin pressure than the AirPods Max.

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But then theres the ambient mode on these headphones, and the AirPods max easily take the win here. The Ambient mode on the AirPods Max is so good, it sounds like you’re not even wearing headphones. Where as the ambient mode on the PX7 S2’s sounds very artificial, and the ambient mode on the Sonos sounds like you’re underwater cause people’s voices sound muffled.

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But finally heres the microphone test, now all of these headphones have decent enough sounding microphones on them to take phone calls with while in a quite room, but the PX7 S2’s do have the worst performing microphone here.

Mic Sonos Quite

Now I do feel the PX7 S2’s have better clarity and the Sonos Ace while in a quite room, cause with the Sonos Ace there is a little bit of static in the background.

Mix AirPods Quite

But the AirPods Max have the best clarity here while in a quiet room cause this microphone really likes to focus on your voice.

Mic AirPods Road

And the AirPods Max also do that best job here of dealing with noise pollution, cause right now, this microphone is doing a great job of reducing all of this road noise and keeping my voice front and center, cause for comparison sake, if we were to switch over to my lapel microphone you can clearly hear all of this road noise, but if we switch back over to the AirPods Max, it is severely reduced and my voice is front and center.

Mic Sonos Road

Now the Sonos Ace also does a good job of dealing with this noise pollution, and these are actually blocking out more road noise, but my voice doesn’t sound as clear.

Mic BW Road

And then there are the PX7 S2’s which arent blocking out all that much road noise, but you can still understand me pretty well.

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However when it comes to blocking out chatter, there is a lot of interference going on with my voice and it can be a little hard to understand me.

Mic Sonos Chatter

And when it comes to the Sonos, these are trying to block out this chatter, but again there is a lot of interference going on with my voice and its hard to understand me.

Mic AirPods Chatter

And finally here are the AirPods Max and again these are trying to reduce this chatter but its still hard to understand me. However I do feel that these have a little less interference than the Sonos. Overall, all of these headphones have decent micprhones on them to take phone calls with while in a quite room, but I do think the AirPods Max are a little better.

But with all of that being said, all of these headphones excel when it comes to build quality, all of these headphones feel more premium and more luxurious than your staples from Sony or Bose. However, I do feel the Bowers And Wilkins PX7 S2’s are the best build and most comfortable headphones here. The PX7 S2’s feel more premium than the Sonos cause of the real leather, and fabric and metal touch surfaces, and they’re more comfortable than these other two headphones cause they’re much lighter than the AirPods Max and their ear pads dont heat up as fast as the Sonos. I also prefer the PX7 S2’s more balanced sound over the Sonos and the PX7 S2’s have much better battery life than the AirPods Max. Where the PX7 S2’s really fall short though is active noise cancellation. Now I really like how the AirPods Max sound too, they block out a lot of noise and their ambient mode is the best one out there. However there are just too many compromises with the AirPods Max thats makes it hard for me to justify them. And then there are the Sonos Ace which have less comprises than the AirPods Max cause they fit well, they have good battery life and they come with a good case… but personally I am not a fan of their bright sound signature, their ANC has a lot of cabin pressure and their ambient mode sounds muffled.