The Sonos Ace the design story begins with the Wassila armchair by Marcel Breuer. The iconic Bauhaus modernist design, which represents an idealized balance of contrasts—soft versus hard, simple versus complex, machined versus the human body—offered the Sonos design team the perfect aesthetic and functional template to design what would become the brand’s first headphones. Throughout the Wassila chair, solid, shiny metal is intended for structural support, while soft and supple leather is intended to provide a comfortable touch point (vegan leather in the case of Ace). While no one is trying to wear a chair on their head, the parallels between the Sonos Ace’s clean lines and gently sloping profile are evident in the combination of contrasting materials. We spoke with Aki Lainedirector of industrial design at Sonos about some of the individual details that add up to what he says make the Sonos Ace headphones a unique entry into the competitive ANC headphone field.
Inclusive comfort at its core
From the beginning, the Sonos design team identified comfort as essential. According to Laine, the shape of the Ace earcups is the result of extensive ergonomic research. “We conducted comfort research testing with nearly 600 participants representing different ages, genders, different head sizes and shapes, ear sizes, earrings versus no earrings. We even tested Ace with scarves, glasses and different hair lengths.’
Aki Laine, Director of Industrial Design, Sonos
“If you look at the Sonos Arc and the Sonos Move from above, you can see the same profile, which results in a nice parity with the Sonos portfolio,” explains Laine. “But that wasn’t why we were looking at this particular profile. After testing several different designs and prototypes and extensive research, we found that this shape is indeed the most optimal shape to create an effective seal around the ear.”
The replaceable mesh basket magnetically attaches to the Ace angled driver and follows the contour of the ear, ensuring that the ear never comes into contact with internal components. Note that each page is colored differently; alongside the front angled shoulders, the differentiation allows users to quickly identify which way to wear the Ace.
The overall language of the Sonos Ace user interface adheres to a commitment to tactile simplicity. Physical buttons give users the ability to switch listening modes and volume without the guesswork of touching other headphones, with each one strategically placed over what Laine describes as a “waist” portion of the earpiece. In the hand, this section adds a defining detail along with a nice touch point.
“We added the waist to give a little more definition to the overall soft form, but also to create this nice landing strip for the hardware UI, microphones and ventilation across the front and bottom,” said Laine, leaning into the camera with an early production Ace in hand show more detail. “We designed these grilles for the microphones and went through several different perforation patterns.
In person, the grills are impressively tiny in scale, the perforations so small they’re easy to miss. “They are chemically etched onto a stainless steel grid and have been designed to ensure that the pattern eliminates any kind of 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, 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.
Back to the controls, Laine extends the importance of physical buttons rather than tactile capacitive controls to reduce the cognitive load of a device that is often operated on the move and without the aid of sight.
“Our goal is to design a hardware user interface that’s predictable, memorable, and intuitive,” pointing to a slider Sonos calls the Content Key, and Laine rationalizes the combination of a mechanical switch and button as a proven means of providing tactile precision between user and device. . It’s an interesting detail, noting that Era’s line of speakers, along with the Move, feature capacitive touch controls, albeit with a thin, shallow physical channel that guides the user’s fingers to trace its length. Laine attributes the difference between the two different use cases, with the Ace requiring a higher degree of operational certainty made clear by our fingers.
The hidden hinge mechanism maintains the minimalist ethos while adding a moment of metallic elegance evoking Marcel Breuer’s Wassila armchair. The mechanism is also said to minimize the possibility of hair getting caught.
The Misty Green color accent used in the Soft White Sonos Ace right earcup is also used inside the case.
Sustainability and material selection
Following the brand’s efforts to improve in the sustainability department, 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 rod durability and quality for any product we supply. With all the wear and tear the headphones have to endure, we found that we would need to incorporate more of the original plastic to meet and exceed customer expectations.
The California brand has won legions of customers by simplifying the audiophile experience, one that is less defined by spec and more shaped by experience. Comparable to Apple, Sonos deliberately designs devices that can be used on their own, but only reveal their full potential when used within the brand’s conscientiously developed ecosystem (for example, the Ace offers a nifty option to pass audio output only when paired with the brand’s Arc soundbar). But unlike its network speakers, Sonos Ace joins an already crowded field of high-end headphones like the Apple AirPods Max, Bose QuietComfort Ultra, and Sony WH-1000XM5. In our opinion, the Ace’s combination of high-performance active noise cancellation, modern aesthetics and dedication to touch control deserves attention… and listening.
For more information or to purchase Sonos Ace headphones, visit sonos.com.
This post contains affiliate links, so if you make a purchase from the affiliate link, we will earn a commission. Thank you for supporting Design Milk!
