A year after launch, the Sonos Ace headphones have received a big update, adding several new features and improving a few others.
Do these updates help make it one of the best headphones on the market? You’ll have to wait and see as we go through the process of updating our existing review.
But there is an issue with these headphones. And it’s not an insignificant one either.
While it’s been around a year since the Sonos Ace launched, it’s been over a year since the app was updated, an update that, if you frequent tech websites, you’ll know did not go down well.
Though Sonos seems to have ironed out most of the issues, there are still some quirks. The problem I have has to do with the Ace, and I can’t quite tell if Sonos either doesn’t know about it (unlikely) or isn’t paying much attention to it.
Android disconnect
Even before the update, I had the Sonos Ace out of the case for comparison against headphones such as the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 and Sony WH-1000XM6. But I noticed that every time I tried to connect the headphones to the Sonos app, the process would time out.
I just assumed that it was my phone being weird or my Bluetooth connection causing issues. It’s acted this way before with other headphones.
But trying it with a new Android smartphone, it was one of the more frustrating experiences I’ve had in recent times. Every time I tried to connect the headphones, the Sonos app wagged its finger at me, saying it couldn’t detect the headphones.
At first, I tried the old on and off trick. No luck. Unpair and then re-pair with the smartphone. Tumbleweed. Restart the smartphone and the headphones. Nothing. Uninstall and reinstall the Sonos app. Nada. Factory reset the headphones… oh, wait, the app recognises the headphones now.
And then the app says it can’t establish a connection, for some reason.
By now, I’m well enough annoyed and I head for the Interwebs to find a solution. I found some answers. The worrying trend I noticed is that some complaints people have brought up go back a year.
Sonos x iOS
So, I have a look at some of the solutions presented. The most promising? Connect to an iOS device.
Thankfully, I have an iPad Pro and after giving the Sonos app an update, I put the Ace into pairing mode, connect to the iPad, open the app and cross my fingers.
It works flawlessly.
The app recognises the headphones, they connect to my Sonos system, it downloads the update; they’re ready to go in about 10 minutes. Completely painless.
So what is going on with Android devices? Why is the Android app failing to recognise the headphones? It’s not even that Bluetooth is the issue, it’s that the app is failing to communicate with the Sonos servers.
I could take a guess, but I think we all know that if Android and iOS were siblings, iOS would get all the praise and attention.
And it’s annoying.
Quite why it’s working for iOS and not properly on Android, I can’t fathom, but Android always seems to get hand-me-downs.
Those with iPhones get the most accurate version of Trueplay, while Android users make do with the simpler Quick Tune version due to the various different OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) and the variances in the quality of microphones.
But the issue of not being able to connect to the server is a baffling one to me. In my mind, it’s not an issue that has anything to do with the software or hardware on your phone.
While it doesn’t make the Sonos Ace a dud, it does make for a more trying experience on Android than it is on iOS. You’ve spent over £400 / $400 on a headphone, and you want it to work straight out of the box. Sonos has been working hard to improve the app and bring updates to its products, but issues like this aren’t helping in restoring the goodwill it has lost.
