Sonos Ace Ultra may bring AI voice controls

Sonos appears to be preparing a second attempt at wireless headphones—and a much larger push into AI. An FCC filing identifies an upcoming model as the Sonos Ace Ultra, with a possible launch tied to the company’s September 2026 product event, according to Digital Trends.

The filing is heavily redacted, but it confirms the Ace Ultra name and the model number S52A. Documents point to five colors: greige, shadow black, agave, blush, and sand—a broader palette than the original Ace, which launched in 2024 in only black and white.

More significant are hints that the headphones could support voice commands. The Verge reports that the filing includes testing for local networks over 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi. That could support the existing TV Audio Swap feature, which moves sound from a compatible Sonos soundbar to the headphones, or potentially enable Wi-Fi music streaming similar to Sonos speakers. The filing does not establish which capability Sonos intends to offer.

Voice control would address one of the first Ace’s clearest omissions: it did not support direct voice interaction with AI chatbots. Gizmodo also reports that the Ace Ultra may support both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, though Sonos has not confirmed the feature set.

Sonos has been positioning AI as part of a broader smart-home strategy, rather than as a standalone chatbot. Its Sonos Voice Control assistant already handles some Philips Hue and Lutron Caséta controls, while the company has also partnered with Amazon to bring Alexa to its speakers.

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“Conversational computing and predictive intelligence”

The company’s whole-home audio setup could give it a distinctive angle if the headphones can understand where users are listening and interact with other Sonos devices. But that is still an ambition, not a confirmed Ace Ultra feature.

What Sonos needs to fix

The original Ace offered comfortable hardware, strong design, sound quality, and active noise cancellation, but its ecosystem integration was limited and initially buggy. Users could privately listen to TV audio through Sonos soundbars, yet could not seamlessly move music between Sonos home speakers and the headphones.

The launch also coincided with Sonos' troubled 2024 mobile-app redesign, which hurt sales and contributed to the company pausing new hardware launches. CEO Tom Conrad has acknowledged that releasing the Ace without deeper system integration was a mistake. The Verge adds that the headphones were not as competitive as similarly priced models such as the Sony WH-1000XM5 and Sennheiser Momentum 4.

Sonos has since released the Arc Ultra soundbar and Play speaker, and the Ace Ultra could be the company’s next test of whether its hardware and software strategy has recovered. The FCC filing suggests a fall 2026 successor is approaching, but Sonos has not announced a release date, price, or confirmed the rumored voice and Wi-Fi features.

Update, 1 September 2026 — Ships September 29 at $449

Digital Trends reports that the Sonos Ace Ultra costs $449, with preorders beginning September 1 through Sonos and select retailers. Availability is set for September 29, replacing the earlier expectation of a possible fall launch with specific dates.

The headphones also add Headphone Engine 2, which can connect directly to a Sonos system and move playback from Sonos speakers to the headphones with a button press, then return it to the speakers. Sonos says the handoff does not require the phone to remain within range. The Ace Ultra has a Sonos-designed 40mm driver, Adaptive ANC using 10 microphones, up to 35 hours of battery life with ANC enabled, USB-C and 3.5mm connections, and TrueCinema tuning for audio transferred from a compatible soundbar.

Update, 30 September 2026 — Headphone linking launches in early access

The Verge reports that Ace Ultra headphone linking is now available in early access. It can move music from a Sonos speaker or speaker group to the headphones and back over Wi-Fi, including audio brought into the system from sources such as a turntable or CD player.

The current implementation uses a lossy compressed stereo stream over Wi-Fi, according to Sonos product-management director Andrew Sutherland. Transfers can require more than one button press, and moving playback back sends it only to the nearest speaker rather than the previous speaker or group. The headphones cannot be grouped to play alongside Sonos speakers; lossless playback is currently limited to aptX Lossless Bluetooth with a compatible device or USB-C.