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Sonos has released the Ace Ultra, an update to its original Ace headphones that keeps a similar design but overhauls internal technology. The headphones run on Sonos' new Headphone Engine 2 software, enabling 'headphone linking' that lets users send audio from Sonos speakers or turntables directly to the headphones, alongside expanded noise cancellation and EQ customization.
Sonos has released its Sonos 27 app update for all S2-compatible hardware, adopting a new year-based naming convention similar to iOS. The update lets pairs of portable speakers like Move 2 or Sonos Play act as rear surrounds with a compatible soundbar, introduces a redesigned navigation interface with swipe gestures and pinned rooms, and adds early-access features for headphone-speaker audio handoff and third-party AI assistant integration.
In a Decoder interview, Sonos CEO Tom Conrad, who became interim chief after the botched 2024 app redesign and took the permanent job a year ago, said the company has moved past that turmoil. He outlined the launch of Sonos 27, a new software platform meant to unify the company's speakers into a smarter, more interconnected system.
Sonos launched its Ace Ultra headphones and Beam Ultra soundbar today, and alongside them officially named its existing software platform 'Sonos 27.' The update brings four new capabilities arriving this fall: portable surround speaker pairing, seamless headphone-to-speaker audio handoff, a conversational voice assistant called Sonos 27voice, and Sonos MCP for connecting third-party AI assistants to the system.
Sonos introduced two new Ultra-branded products: the Ace Ultra headphones priced at $449 and the Beam Ultra soundbar priced at $699, both available for pre-order now and shipping September 29. The company also rebranded its software platform as 'Sonos 27,' rolling out alongside the hardware launch.
Sonos unveiled its Sonos 27 software platform alongside new hardware, introducing annual OS version numbers and a redesigned app interface. The update lets external AI assistants like ChatGPT control Sonos systems through a public MCP server, enabling voice or text commands to play music, move audio between rooms, and adjust volume without a dedicated app.
Sonos unveiled its next-generation app, dubbed Sonos 27, alongside a second-generation over-ear headphone (Ace Ultra) and a new soundbar (Beam Ultra). The update includes generative AI voice tools, improved navigation, room sorting, volume controls, and upcoming system health diagnostics, following the disastrous 2024 app relaunch that stripped away accessibility and volume features and led to a leadership shakeup.
Sonos held an event in New York to launch the Beam Ultra soundbar and Ace Ultra headphones alongside a major software update called Sonos 27, marking its largest product reveal since the troubled 2024 app relaunch. The update introduces an in-house voice assistant, Sonos 27voice, plus Sonos 27mcp, which lets users link outside AI models like ChatGPT or Gemini to control their systems, though Google Assistant remains unsupported. A future feature will let users build up to 10 custom AI agents with distinct voices and personalities to handle tasks like news updates or motivational prompts.