The Sonos Ace and Bose's QC Ultra are premium headphones with class-leading noise-canceling technology. To see just how good they are, I took them out on a series of real-world tests.Â
This is Sonos' first foray into wireless headphones, and taking on a veteran like Bose is no easy task. Design-wise, the Ace certainly looks like a pair of premium headphones. It's made with similar materials to the QC Ultra, blending plastics with faux leather and a touch of metal.Â
I wanted to see how clear both headphones are in transparency mode, and just how effectively they cancel noise. The testing grounds include a busy London intersection, a bustling outdoor Parisian cafe and the cabin of an airplane. All worthy locations to put these headphones to the test.
While I don't want to spoil the video, both headphones did a great job in all these different scenarios. I found it interesting how both headphones approached the task in terms of transitioning from transparency to noise-canceling. One was definitely more aggressive in some instances.Â
As a quick disclaimer, this is not a scientific lab test but the result should nonetheless be interesting. When watching the video, I recommend using your headphones so you get the full effect.