Apple AirPods Max Wireless Over-Ear Headphones
The Apple AirPods Max Wireless Headphones are the highest-end consumer-grade headphones that Apple currently offers in its AirPod lineup.They offer excellent active noise canceling, a powerful transparency mode, and a custom Apple H1 chip, allowing them to deliver a superior audio experience backed by seamless connectivity to a variety of Apple products
Sonos Ace
The Sonos Ace is the first headphone from legendary home audio brand Sonos, and the performance lives up to their reputation handily. Experience every frequency with superior precision and clarity. Maximize your immersion with lossless streaming, spatial audio with dynamic head tracking, and world-class Active Noise Cancellation. Hear what’s going around you with Aware mode. Enjoy up to 30 hours of battery life, exceptional comfort, and flawlessly clear calls.
Summary
The Apple AirPods Max has led thepremium ANC headphonesmarket since their release in 2020. Other competitors, like theSony WH-1000XM5, have come close, but none have shown as much promise as the brand-new Sonos Ace. Sonos has a legendary reputation in the home audio world for its soundbars and home speakers, but it hasn’t dipped its toe into the world of headphones until now.
Even though the Sonos Ace is the company’s first headphones, they offer many premium features, like world-class ANC, fantastic battery life, and, of course, the incredible sound quality that Sonos is known for. With the price of the AirPods Max dropping to the same level as the Sonos Ace, it seems like even Apple recognizes that these headphones are a worthy competitor, but how do they stack up side by side?
Sonos Ace vs Apple AirPods Max Price
At the time of writing, the Sonos Ace is $100 less than the AirPods Max’s MSRP. While this price drop might be because of the launch of the Sonos Ace, the AirPods Max is getting a bit older, and there are even rumors that Apple will announce the AirPods Max 2 soon.
Even with both headphones at the same price, these headphones are firmly in the premium category. However, the higher price for both headphones is backed by premium-level performance and build quality. You can pick up the Apple AirPods Max for $549 without the current sales and the Sonos Ace for $449, respectively.
Winner: Sonos Ace
Sonos Ace vs Apple AirPods Max Design
At a glance, you might mistake the Sonos Ace for the AirPods Max. Both headphones feature sleek minimalist designs that can easily fit into anyone’s style. However, the Sonos Ace earcups are a bit more round and smaller than the AirPods Max, and the finish is matte on the Ace instead of glossy. All things considered, though, these headphones look more similar than they do differently.
The Ace’s smaller design makes it much more approachable to people intimidated by the bulk of the AirPods Max. However, if you have larger ears, the smaller earcups can cause some discomfort. This shouldn’t be a concern for many of you, but if you regularly feel cramped in over-ear headphones, the AirPods Max will probably be a better choice over the Ace.
The bigger earcups give your ears more room to breathe in the AirPods Max, but that also comes with some extra weight. The AirPods Max weighs 385 grams, while the Ace weighs less at 312 grams. Thankfully, the overall light clamping force and excellent padding distribution of both make these weights pretty unnoticeable, even during long listening sessions. The extra weight is a bit more noticeable once you start moving around in these headphones, but it isn’t essential as long as you have the headband appropriately sized.
Both feature a lay-flat design, so you can rest the earcups flat on your shoulders or the table when you are not listening to the headphones. This makes them easier to use for everyday use and travel. Plus, both hinges are entirely invisible so as not to detract from the minimalist design.
Finally, both headphones come with a carrying case, but the Ace’s case is much more protective and useful than the smart case included with the AirPods Max. The travel case that comes with the Ace can easily hold the headphones and all the cables you need, while the AirPods Max case only covers the earpads. The AirPods Max comes with no charging cables or 3.5mm audio cables, which feels a bit cheap at this price point. But this is pretty standard for Apple at this point.
Winner: Tie
Sonos Ace vs Apple AirPods Max ANC Performance
ANC performance is the make-or-break point for many headphone users, and regardless of which one you choose, you will not be disappointed by the ANC performance. The Ace and the AirPods Max use eight microphones to help cancel outside noise. However, neither of them is quite up to the level of the Bose QuietComfort Ultra. These headphones do not make the outside world completely silent, but with music playing and ANC on, it is pretty easy to tune out the world and focus on your music.
When it comes to blocking out high-end and low-end noises, both these headphones are pretty neck and neck, which is nice because a lot of annoying sounds like lawnmowers, construction, and fan whines live in these ranges, but where they both lack a bit of power is in the mid-range. The AirPods Max sneaks out a bit more noise cancelation in the mid-range, making them excellent for use in an office setting where people around you are talking a lot.
However, if you are in an office setting where you need to talk to other people but don’t want to take your headphones off, the transparency mode on the Ace is much more natural-sounding than the AirPods Max. This is a bit of a surprise, considering Apple is famous for its usually stellar transparency mode performance.
Sonos Ace vs Apple AirPods Max Battery Life
Solid battery life is one of the quintessential features of any good wireless headphones. While the Ace and AirPods Max deliver on this point, the Ace edges out a bit more battery life with up to 30 hours of playback on a single charge, whereas the AirPods Max sits at just 20 hours.
Not only is the Ace’s single-charge battery life better, but with just three minutes of charging, you can get an extra three hours of use out of it. With the AirPods Max, five minutes of charging with the $20 add-on 20-watt charger can give you one and a half hours of extra playback time.
In the grand scheme of things, this fast charging feature isn’t too big of a dealbreaker for most people, but if you are the kind of person who doesn’t charge their headphones until they need to, three hours will get you a lot further than just one and half hours.
Sonos Ace vs Apple AirPods Max Sound Quality
Throughout all of these categories, these two headphones have exchanged fairly equal blows, but sadly, the Sonos Ace’s sound quality is still hard to compete with the AirPods Max. By no means does the Ace sound bad, but compared side by side with the AirPods Max, it feels a bit bland and flat.
The sound produced by the AirPods Max feels like a party regardless of what you are listening to, whereas the Ace has a bit too much of a clinical frequency response to introduce that same level of fun. The AirPods Max blends excellent clarity with a spacious feeling that gives songs a depth not recreated with the Ace. Even with no support for lossless playback on the AirPods Max, they handily beat out the Ace when listening to music.
On the other hand, the sound quality is a bit more even when watching movies or playing games. Both offer an excellent wide soundstage. When combined with spatial audio, it is easy to immerse yourself in surround sound with just a pair of headphones. However, this even matching for movies might change when Sonos introduces support for TrueCinema on the Ace, as Sonos has promised.
Sonos Ace vs Apple AirPods Max: Which One Is Right For You?
On almost every front, the Ace and AirPods Max have exchanged equally impressive results, with a few categories having an outright winner. While the Sonos Ace might not be enough to fully dethrone the AirPods Max from their spot as the king of premium ANC headphones, they are one of the closest competitors since the AirPods Max release in 2020.
Despite not dethroning the AirPods Max, the Sonos Ace is still an incredible option that most people would be extremely satisfied with, especially if they already have a Sonos Arc at home. On the other hand, if you are already in the Apple ecosystem, it is hard to go wrong with the AirPods Max. These headphones seamlessly integrate with all Apple products and deliver incredible performance. Despite a few weird Apple oddities like the lack of included cables and lackluster case, this headphone remains the king of premium ANC headphones.
FAQ
Q: Are AirPods Max 2 coming out?
The AirPods Max 2 has not been officially announced yet, but given the popularity of the original AirPods Max, it is not hard to imagine that Apple will release a second generation soon, if not later in 2024.
Q: Does Sonos Ace require the Sonos app to set up and use?
Unlike other Sonos products, the Ace uses Bluetooth to connect to devices instead of only Wi-Fi, so the app is not necessary to get started using these headphones. However, features like spatial audio can only be enabled through the app, so it is still worth downloading.
