Transcript
by Josh Teder
I’ve been using both the AirPods Max and the new Sonos headphones for 6 months now, and I’m going to take you through which one of these premium headphones I think is the better buy.
AirPods Max Advantages: Spatial Audio
Let’s start with the AirPods Max and their first advantage: spatial audio with the Apple TV. The AirPods Max, when connected with an Apple TV, can make it sound like you’re in a virtual theater with their head tracking and spatial audio features. This is actually a pretty compelling feature if you’re looking to watch TV and movies late at night but you don’t want to keep people up. Now Sonos has a similar ability with their soundbars – you can use the audio swap feature on the Sonos Ace to move any audio playing through your Sonos soundbar to your Sonos Ace headphones, but keep in mind with an Apple TV you can pair up to two pairs of AirPods to it, where with the Sonos Ace only one pair of headphones can use the audio swap feature at a time.
Comfort and Design
The second advantage I’d give to the AirPods Max is comfort, and before you smash those keys typing in the comments about comfort, in terms of breathability, Apple chose to use a mesh knit fabric for the ear cups and a mesh material on the headband as well, making them much more breathable than the Sonos Ace. Now yes, the AirPods Max are heavier, and that extra weight won’t work for everyone, but for my big head at least, they’ve been totally fine.
Controls and Volume
The third advantage for the AirPods Max is actually how you control them, which is by using their Digital Crown. It just makes fine-tuning your volume so much easier than traditional volume controls. Speaking of volume control, another interesting advantage with the AirPods Max is you can listen to stuff on these at really low volume. The Sonos Ace seems to bottom out at what’s around 20% to 30% of the AirPods Max’s volume, which can be really frustrating if you’re like me and you want to listen to content at really low volumes while you work.
Audio Feedback and Transparency Mode
Also, the control noises on the Sonos for things like when you turn the headphones on or you raise and lower the volume, they’re just a tad bit too loud to me, or at least they’re just a bit too noticeable. For example, with the AirPods Max, when you raise and lower their volume, you hear these just subtle ticks. Another advantage for the AirPods Max is transparency mode. The transparency mode on this set of headphones is so good – I’m using it right now. It doesn’t even sound like I’m wearing headphones, that’s how good it is.
Noise Cancellation
While both headphones have good noise cancellation, the Sonos Ace’s have some quirks. High-pitch sounds like dishes clanking still can come through pretty clearly, where the AirPods Max’s noise cancellation algorithm seems to just do a better job with these sudden types of noises.
Case Design
The last advantage I’d give to the AirPods Max is their case design, or part of it at least. This is actually one area I think Apple gets right and everybody else gets wrong with their headphones case. With the AirPods Max case, and yes there are obviously downsides to this case design, but the one nice thing with it is when you take the AirPods Max out of their case, they’re ready to go. You don’t have to press any button, and the adjustments you already made to the headphones, they’ve stayed intact.
Sound Quality Comparison
Now when it comes to sound quality, I think it’s actually a bit of a tie – both sound excellent, but they have different sound signatures. The Sonos Ace has more pronounced mids and bass, especially with their loudness turned on in their EQ. This gives them a full warmer sound and a more punchy sound, though they can sound a bit more muddled compared to the AirPods Max. The AirPods Max sound a bit clearer and more dynamic, but at the same time a bit more sterile.
Audio Codec Support
Which one do I prefer? Honestly, it depends on what I’m listening to and what quality the music is playing at. The Sonos Ace can play lossless audio over Bluetooth if the device you’re playing music from supports Snapdragon Sound aptX. None of my Android devices that I checked like my Pixel 9 Pro XL and Pixel Tablet have aptX lossless, but they do have aptX HD, which is still higher quality streaming than just standard Bluetooth, but it’s not true lossless. The AirPods Max doesn’t support lossless over Bluetooth even though you might see the lossless icon show up in Apple Music when they’re connected. All that’s telling you is the music is playing at lossless quality before it’s converted and then compressed over the Bluetooth signal.
Microphone Quality
Now what about mic quality? Well, here’s how they both sound: “All right, and these are the Sonos Ace. This is how their mics sound. Again, I’m in my studio environment here, so this is like a best-case scenario for how these mics are going to sound when you’re on a work Zoom call or you’re on the phone with somebody, and I’m just recording this straight to my Mac via QuickTime and then using my iPhone as a camera.”
“All right, and these are the AirPods Max. This is what their mics sound like. Now again, I’m in my studio environment here, so this is going to be like best-case scenario for how these mics sound.”
Overall, I actually think both of these sound good, and interestingly, each pair of headphones emphasizes a different part of my voice. The AirPods Max have better dynamic range but they also have maybe a tad bit more distortion in my voice, while the Sonos Ace’s mics produce a more consistent volume but they make my voice sound slightly more muffled. Definitely let me know which one you think sounded better in the comments.
Sonos Ace Advantages
Now let’s take a look at where the Sonos Ace stand out, and their first advantage is overall comfort, specifically with their weight. Their lighter weight is likely going to be more comfortable for those who find the AirPods Max too heavy or have issues with the clamping pressure with the AirPods Max. Battery life is another clear win for Sonos – you get 30 hours of battery life compared to 20 hours on the AirPods Max, and in my experience, the Ace’s standby battery drain is much better. My AirPods Max just constantly seem to be out of juice.
Price and Features
The Sonos Ace also gives you EQ controls. While it’s not as comprehensive as what you’d find on Sony’s WH-1000XM5, you still get some control over how they sound. The AirPods Max have no EQ adjustment at all. Another advantage for the Sonos Ace is their audio swap feature. Now this might not matter if you’re an Apple household running everything through an Apple TV, but for game consoles and other devices, being able to transfer any audio played from a Sonos soundbar to the headphones is pretty convenient, though the mics on the headphones will not work for gaming.
Price Comparison
Another advantage for the Sonos Ace is price – they retail for $449 where the AirPods Max retail for $549, though depending on the time of year you’ll likely find both on sale, with the AirPods Max with the Lightning Port likely seeing larger discounts than the USB-C model. And you can easily see their current price and comparison shop between retailers via our blog post at 6months.net – link to that in the description.
Final Verdict
So which one of these do I think is the ultimate better set of headphones? While the sound quality is pretty close, when you add up the features like the ability to pair two sets of AirPods to an Apple TV at once, auto-switching between Apple devices, better breathability, transparency mode, and the ability to listen at lower volumes, no annoying control noises, and more premium materials, the AirPods Max are the better choice for most people. The only reason I’d suggest going with the Sonos Ace is if you don’t like the AirPods Max’s weight and clamping pressure, you really want the audio swap feature with the Sonos soundbars, and you’re an Android user and you want to take advantage of lossless over Bluetooth.
Android User Considerations
And speaking of Android users, I have no idea why you may have clicked on this video, but I’m glad you’re here. I do think the Sonos Ace are generally a good choice for Android users, but then the problem with Sonos is when you want to get deeper into their ecosystem and buy speakers, Sonos speakers don’t support Google Cast, which makes you kind of a second-class citizen with Sonos products if you’re primarily an Android user. So should you go for headphones like the Sony WH-1000XM5s instead? I’m not so sure – they don’t offer lossless over Bluetooth like the Sonos Ace, and they don’t look as nice either, so the Sonos Ace might end up being the better option for Android users
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