I can' t help but praise Sonos for a job perfectly done with their first headphones. True, they had several years to develop them, and space to respond to the demands of the target group of customers who prefer closed over-the-head headphones. However, they did a really great job. I am the owner of several Sonos speakers (Beam2, sub mini, OneSL, and some Symfonisk. ) and I am a die-hard fan and lover of this brand and all their products. However, these headphones must impress even the unbiased customer looking for premium headphones - just the design alone! From a hardware point of view, the headphones are made of very high-quality materials - they don' t leak anywhere, everything fits, and even the white version is made of plastic that can withstand UV rays and shouldn' t turn yellow over time, so don' t be afraid to go for the white version!: ) The bridge is solid, the adjustment of the earcups is pretty stiff, and it holds its position. The bridge is metal. There are some decent details on the earrings - also made of metal - and I personally liked the combination of white and silver more. In the black version, everything is painted black, so the details do not stand out. The SONOS logo is only on the right earpiece and doesn' t scream in any way - additional plus points for decency! There is nothing to complain about the headphone case - it is very thin and in height it is the same height as the constructed case for Airpods 3 - see photo. So it can be easily stored in a backpack, bag or suitcase for travel.
The materials used here are recycled. so no premium like leather etc. but that' s no longer appropriate today.: -) On the contrary, details such as a hidden zip or the magnetic attachment of a smaller cable cover will ensure that liquid does not leak inside the case, or that cables will disobeyingly fly all over the place inside the case. The sound performance of the headphones is rather neutral. They are not over-bassed, the highs do not sound crystal clear, but the mids are perfect. In short, Sonos has its own sound signature, but I personally like it the most out of all the premium manufacturers - it' s the closest to Apple headphones. Fortunately, everything can be adjusted via EQ. There is support for Spatial Audio, Dolby Atmos, lossless quality - but be careful, via Bluetooth lossless can only be used on Android phones with Qualcomm chips. For iOS, you have to make do with a cable (USB-C or 3.5mm jack). On the other hand, the connection via Bluetooth version 5.4 supports 2 paired devices at the same time and can switch automatically - so I don' t have to deal with manual connection between iPhone and Macbook - again, it works similar to Airpods. The biggest specialty of these headphones is the Cinema function, which transfers the sound from the soundbar to the headphones. You' re probably wondering what' s so special about being able to connect any headphones directly to your TV via Bluetooth. this works completely differently - the headphones surround you with a soundscape set up as if you weren' t wearing headphones, but still heard the brutal rumble of your soundbar and action scenes in Dolby Atmos quality from your soundbar and satellite speakers. Thanks to the adaptation of the sound according to the room you are sitting in, you will not even realize that the sound is not coming from the home theater, but really only from the headphones! In addition, this connection between the soundbar and the headphones is the only one that works via the Wi-Fi protocol (Sonos-Net), so there is no sound delay. This feature is currently limited to the Arc soundbar, but a SW update will be released by the end of 2024 to support other sbs - Beam, Beam2 and Ray. I will not evaluate from the SW point of view. the criticism towards the Sonos app belongs more to the Appstore, but that' s something that can always be debugged. Ugly headphones or poor quality materials are hard to fix on a built product, but luckily the software can be tweaked as we go, and I believe it will only get better as Sonos gets a lot of feedback and works with it. So don' t be discouraged by reviews of a failed application - apart from EQ, you don' t need the application at all and everything can be set via the great hardware buttons directly on the body of the headphones. Separate button on the left side for power off/on. On the right side you' ll find the ANC/transparency button and above it a metal cradle for taking calls, pausing/playing music and adjusting the volume or calling up the voice assistant - what more do you need?
