It’s been a question on many lips for many years, but it looks like Sonos is finally about to launch its first pair of headphones.
Until now, the rumors weren’t based on much more than hearsay, but now we have some evidence to get us excited. With Sonos’ historic reluctance to use Bluetooth, wireless headphones seemed extremely unlikely. However, that changed when the company launched the Sonos Move portable speaker last year.
Let’s take a look at the evolution of Sonos headphones based on the rumors.
When will the Sonos headphones be released?
Bloomberg first reported the possibility of a Sonos headset a long time ago, saying it could arrive in 2020.
While that hasn’t happened – Sonos released the Arc soundbar instead – it’s possible that the headphones will arrive in 2021, very soon even.
How much will Sonos headphones cost?
It’s no secret that prices for Sonos products are high, so it’s no surprise that the same Bloomberg report suggests that Sonos headphones cost “$ 300 or more.”
That would place them at a similar price to rivals like the Sony WH-1000XM4, Microsoft Surface Headphones 2, and Bose QC35 II.
What features will Sonos headphones have?
Aside from a good look at two possible designs, one that looks a bit like the Master and Dynamic pairs like the MH40, the patent gives an idea of what Sonos headphones could offer.
We say “could” because a patent does not guarantee that a technology will be included in the final product. There is plenty of room for that to change between now and then.
The two options featured in the patent are an on-ear design, and the headphones may well feature active noise cancellation. The patent states that the microphones can be “configured to facilitate filtering of background noise” while also mentioning possible control for the DAC.
These microphones will also be used to take phone calls when connected to a smartphone, it seems.
Various proximity sensors are mentioned which would be used for things like volume control. However, a controller is also mentioned as a possibility, so it’s not clear which Sonos will decide and could even use a combination.
What is pretty clear is that the Sonos headphones will be compatible with various digital voice assistants such as Alexa and Google Assistant. Not too surprisingly given that a lot of Sonos speakers already do.
Many, including Siri and Cortana, are mentioned as examples, and the headphones might have multiple wake-up words to activate them.
What many will want to know is how the Sonos headphones will play with the speaker line. They might, after all, be a standalone product and not work with the multi-room features that S onos is famous for.
However, the signs are positive since the patent speaks of an “exchange”. This seems to suggest that the music you listen to on headphones can easily be transferred to another device.
“For example, if a particular content is played on the wireless headset, an exchange switches playback to play that content on one or more playback devices on the local network.”
It would be a trick you would lose if you couldn’t go home and seamlessly transfer music from the headphones to the Sonos system.
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