Sonos is best known for making speakers that sound great and work together. Now the company is thinking bigger: it wants to create an operating system for your entire home audio setup.
I got a firsthand look at Sonos 27 at the company’s Open House event in New York City. The big idea isn’t really the new hardware. It’s the software connecting everything together, whether you’re using the Sonos app, your voice or even an AI assistant like ChatGPT.
That could be a big deal because Sonos says it already has 53 million devices in 17 million homes. Many of the new features will come to existing products, so you won’t necessarily have to buy anything new.
One of the biggest upgrades is Sonos Voice Control. Instead of memorizing specific commands, you can speak more naturally. Sonos is also opening up its system to outside AI services, so you could potentially ask ChatGPT to control music around your house.
The new hardware shows how Sonos 27 can make its products work together in more interesting ways.
The $700 Beam Ultra is a compact soundbar that sounded great for its size. My favorite trick is the ability to bring compatible portable Sonos speakers into the room, set them down and have the system automatically configure them as surround speakers for movie night. When you’re done, pick them up and take them elsewhere.
Sonos also introduced the $450 Ace Ultra headphones. They have 10 microphones for calls and noise cancellation, plus a neat feature that lets you press a button and instantly move whatever is playing on your Sonos speakers to your headphones.
What stood out to me is that Sonos seems to be leaning back into what made its products popular in the first place: simplicity. The company is also very aware that previous software changes frustrated customers, and executives told me they’ve learned from that experience.
Sonos 27 features begin rolling out in early September. The Beam Ultra and Ace Ultra go on sale September 29.
If Sonos gets this right, the best part might be that the speakers you already own become more useful without having to replace them.
