Sonos Ace headphones get long-awaited TrueCinema sound and more in big upgrade

Sonos has revealed a major software upgrade for its flagship Sonos Ace headphones that brings some new features to the premium wireless cans. Chief among them is the long-awaited TrueCinema feature, which was first promised as upcoming when the headphones launched in 2024. TrueCinema uses a compatible Sonos soundbar to measure the acoustic dynamics of the room you’re sitting in. It then uses that data to increase the accuracy of the spatial sound in your headphones, in the same fashion as Trueplay on Sonos speakers. The idea is for the audio the user hears to mimic that of a well-balanced surround sound system thats sits right in the room you're listening in.

TV Audio Swap is also getting an upgrade and will now support two sets of Sonos Ace headphones synced to the same compatible soundbar, where it previously supported just one set. This feature allows people to seamlessly transfer the audio from their soundbar to their headphones.

The upgrade also improves the headphones Active Noise Cancellation by leveraging on-board sensors to adapt to a user's hair, glasses or hats in real time. Using the sensors, the Sonos Ace will then compensate for sound leaks.

Some improvements to call quality are also coming to Sonos Ace with the addition of SideTone, a feature that plays a user’s voice back to them at low volume while on a call. The audio fidelity on phone calls has also received a bump through this upgrade, though details on what bitrate or exactly how it was improved are not available.

Jason White, head of software at Sonos, said the company’s goal has been to share meaningful software updates that deliver new enhancements to existing products. “Our goal has always been to create products that earn their place in people’s lives for years, and this Sonos Ace upgrade is a great example of that. It proves that your best tech investment doesn’t need to be your newest, it just has to be built right,” White said.

This upgrade launches globally today and is available through the Sonos app.

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