Sonos announced its largest product and software lineup in years at an event in New York City, unveiling the Sonos Beam Ultra soundbar, the Sonos Ace Ultra headphones, and a major update to its operating system called Sonos 27. The announcement marks a bid to recover from the fallout of a problematic app rollout in 2024 that triggered customer backlash. The company is introducing the new audio hardware alongside deep AI integration and new whole-home features.
The software update, Sonos 27, centers on artificial intelligence, including a new in-house voice assistant for music and system control that will launch as an opt-in early access feature this fall. Sonos 27mcp, which connects to existing AI models like ChatGPT or Google Gemini, arrives in early access on September 8th. Users will also be able to create up to ten custom agents, giving them different voices and roles, but that feature is not expected until 2027.
Sonos Fabric, the company’s whole-home connected system, is gaining two new capabilities. Play and Move 2 portable speakers can now be configured as surround sound speakers in a home theater system, automatically adjusting to their new positions without manual setup. Compatible Sonos headphones will also become part of the home system, with a feature called headphone linking that senses the closest speaker and passes audio from it to the headphones when they are worn.
The Sonos app is receiving several updates, some based on feedback from the Sonos subreddit community. New home, system, and search tabs will appear at the bottom of the screen, and a room sort option can be pinned to the top. A virtual volume knob, controlled with two fingers like a physical dial, will begin rolling out on September 8th, though it will initially be available only on iOS.
Sonos is also introducing two new products. The Ace Ultra headphones, priced at $449 and releasing on September 29th, are designed as a more integrated part of the Sonos ecosystem. They feature the company’s Headphone Engine 2, a button for passing audio between speakers and headphones, custom 40mm drivers, and ten microphones for noise control, with Sonos claiming improved noise cancellation at 65Hz and 120Hz frequencies.
The Beam Ultra soundbar, priced at $699 and also releasing on September 29th, is a redesigned 7.1.2 compact soundbar with two up-firing drivers for Dolby Atmos spatial audio. It is slightly longer than its predecessor and includes a new center channel design with AI speech enhancement. The headphones offer up to 35 hours of battery life with noise cancellation on and are available in additional colors beyond black and white.
Sonos is taking a measured approach by rolling out software updates over time and allowing users to opt into early access, rather than pushing changes on everyone at once. This strategy could help rebuild trust with its customer base as the company looks to move past recent troubles.
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