Sonos looking to battle Apple & Beats in high-end headphone market

Sonos is reportedly poised to challenge Apple and other high-end headphone makers, entering that market by 2020 with some unique features in tow.

The company is in early development of a wireless over-the-ear set expected to ship for $300 or more, Bloomberg sources said. As with its most recent room speakers, the product will allegedly support multiple music services and voice assistants.

The sources didn't identify those assistants, but some Sonos products already support Amazon Alexa, as well as limited Siri control by way of AirPlay 2. Google Assistant compatibility is due sometime this year.

Offering native multi-assistant support would give Sonos a clear advantage over Apple's Beats products, which can only interact with assistants on a connected iOS or Android device. AirPods do have Siri integration, but don't go any further.

Apple has been rumored as working on self-branded over-the-ear headphones with high-end features like noise cancellation. At one stage it was thought that they could ship by the end of 2018, but the project may have been delayed by multiple redesigns, joining other vaporware accessories like a wireless AirPods charging case and the AirPower charging mat.

12 Comments

eideard 427 comments · 16 Years

About 5 years ago

B&O rules. Everyone else appears to be getting just as expensive.

agilealtitude 165 comments · 6 Years

Oh Sonos...we have enough choices for wearables. Stick to what you are good at. Bring Atmos. Update your PlayBar and Sub. Leave diversification to others.

sapporobabyrtrns 844 comments · 15 Years

eideard said:

B&O rules. Everyone else appears to be getting just as expensive.

Swing and a miss. Shure SE-846 blow them out of the water. They are cabled but the sound quality can not be touched by anything Apple or Beats can offer. Second come the B&W PX over the ears and pulling in a powerful third are the Sennheiser Momentum Wireless. I have a pair of BeatsX that I use for the gym. For critical listening they suck.

AppleInsider said:

Sonos is reportedly poised to challenge Apple and other high-end headphone makers, entering that market by 2020 with some unique features in tow.

The company is in early development of a wireless over-the-ear set expected to ship for $300 or more, Bloomberg sources said. As with its most recent room speakers, the product will allegedly support multiple music services and voice assistants.

The sources didn't identify those assistants, but some Sonos products already support Amazon Alexa, as well as limited Siri control by way of AirPlay 2. Google Assistant compatibility is due sometime this year.

Offering native multi-assistant support would give Sonos a clear advantage over Apple's Beats products, which can only interact with assistants on a connected iOS or Android device. AirPods do have Siri integration, but don't go any further.

Apple has been rumored as working on self-branded over-the-ear headphones with high-end features like noise cancellation. At one stage it was thought that they could ship by the end of 2018, but the project may have been delayed by multiple redesigns, joining other vaporware accessories like a wireless AirPods charging case and the AirPower charging mat.

Apple and Beats don’t belong in the same sentence as high-end. Anyone that thinks Apple or Beats headphones are high-end have no clue about high fidelity sound.

boltsfan17 2294 comments · 12 Years

sapporobabyrtrns says
Apple and Beats don’t belong in the same sentence as high-end. Anyone that thinks Apple or Beats headphones are high-end have no clue about high fidelity sound.

Couldn't agree more. Beats are definitely not even close to being high end headphones.