these are the Sonos Ace, and these are the Bose Quiet Comfort Ultras. Both premium headphones with class-leading noise cancelling, which is why I'll be putting both of them through a series of real-world scenarios to show off how good the noise cancelling is and how natural the transparency mode sound. As a quick disclaimer, this is not a scientific lab test whatsoever, but I feel like the findings could be interesting nonetheless. As another aside, it would be great if you guys use headphones for this video as I'll be mic'ing up both of these so you hear exactly what I hear. And with that being said, let the testing begin. Okay, first up on the real-world test is this relatively busy street. Now, before we start the test, it would be remiss of me not to put these side by side and have a look at the design. First, the Ace and the QC Ultra both sport a body mostly comprised of plastic, faux leather, and a touch of metal. The softness of both cups are really similar, so either would be great with extended use.

most notable difference design wise is the QC Ultra's dual hinge that allows it to hold down a little bit more compact compared to the Ace. While the Ace has removable ear cuts, making it a lot easier to replace down the line. Anyway, enough of all that, let's put these two to the test. Qui, okay, first test done and I'll say both of them did a really good job cutting out a lot of that background noise. Uh, say from 100% that was in transparency mode, it came down to about 30, maybe even 25%. So really, really good, really, really effective. There was a lot of wind to contend with, and I think they did really well with that. In transparency mode, they both allowed me to hear my surroundings. It was very natural and didn't have to worry too much about things cutting out. It was very, very clean. All right, test one is done. Now moving on to the next challenge. [Music] So welcome to Gay Perie, as you can see, very hustling and bustling. So a very

good place to test both of these headphones noise cancelling so let's have a little walk around and find a place to situate and get testing. [Music] Okay, this seems like a good place to situate. You know, it's a nice cafe, a few people talking, a little bustle. Road right behind the camera, so a lot going on for these headphones to compete with. But before we go onto that, I just want to talk about both headphones' killer features. For the QC Ultra, it is definitely its immersive audio, which is essentially the same spatial audio technology that Apple has, and your music ends up feeling really airy and less like it's in your head. While the ACE also has this, its killer feature is the TV swap that allows you to transfer your audio from selected Sonos Soundbars direct to your Ace, making it a good option if you're watching TV late and you have a house full of sleeping people. But enough of that for now, let's get on with the test. Okay, with the Sonos Ace right now in transparency mode just

going to zip it for a second so you guys can take in what the mics can pick up. So here you can hear the traffic. I can hear traffic. I can hear conversations around me. If I could get my uh assistant to just say four numbers. 1 2 3 4. I heard all four numbers very clearly. So let's kick it into noise cancelling and see what we get. The overall D has gone from 100% to maybe 20. The louder conversations come through but it feels like they're maybe two or three times further away than they actually are. Really good performance by the A. And now I'm in the QC ultas again in transparency mode or ambient mode. And once again I can hear everything thing around me and it's uh it sounds natural. If I could get some different numbers from you. 5 6 7 8. Okay. 5 6 7 8 came through to me clearly. And yeah I think it sounds very natural. It doesn't sound overly processed. But let's kick it into noise cancelling quiet. Okay. So a lot of that backgrounding goes

away, I got to say I feel like the ANC had a more dramatic decrease. This is more like the ANC went from 100% to about 35, maybe 40%. The conversation around me is still muffled. I can't hear much of it, but I feel overall Sonos might have done a slightly better job. But I'll leave it up to you to hear and see and judge for yourself. So, my little Paris adventure is over. Just getting back to the hotel. It's 5:00 a.m. in the morning, so I'm not feeling the best right now. But I did feel like the plane would be a good opportunity to really test both these headphones. So, just before I board, I think it would be a good opportunity to look at both of these headphones' apps. The Bose app is where you can manage and customize your sound profiles, as well as tweaking the EQ. Although it's not the most robust of settings, you can also manage shortcuts and what certain long presses trigger. The Sonos app is very

much the same in most of these instances. You can turn on head tracking for spatial audio, tweak the EQ with the same limited controls, and of course control your media. So once I'm situated on the plane and we've taken off, I'll do another transparency and noise cancelling test. See you there. Why is aware quiet? So that was the test, and I think both did very well in cutting out a lot of that cabin noise. They do it slightly different. I feel like the Sonos Ace was definitely more aggressive going from transparency to noise cancelling, while the QC Ultras tapered a little more gradually. And also with the QC Ultras, it felt like... I don't know how to explain, but in transparency mode on the Ace, it sounded like the Sound Stage was wider, while with the QC Ultra, it was not as wide, like not as much sound came through. But maybe that's because it's a noisy plane, so maybe that's a good thing. But yeah, I think that's been a good test in the plane. And once I land and get

home. I'll give you my final thoughts. [Music] Okay, I'm back and I have thought. Overall, I think both headphones did a pretty impressive job cutting out a substantial amount of noise. The consistent thing in all the tests was just how much more instant the switch to noise cancelling was on the ace compared to the QC Ultra. The dedicated button, which you don't need to hold down, just made switching instantaneous. The QC Ultra also performed really well in most instances, but as I mentioned earlier, there were times where it felt like the aware mode didn't have as wide a Sound Stage as the ace. While the margins are minor, if I had to pick a winner, it would marginally be the Sonos Ace. It matches the Bose stride for stride, and I just love how snappy it is to activate that noise cancelling. And also, if you are wondering why I was randomly in Paris, it was because I was filming another video with Patrick Hollen going through the French Capital with the new Galaxy Z Flip 6. Great video, and I do encourage you to

watch that so please do, and thank you so much for watching this video. If you'd like to see more comparisons with all kinds of headphones, do hit a like and subscribe, and thank you so much for watching. Catch you on the next one.

Noise-Canceling Showdown: Sonos Ace vs. Bose Quietcomfort Ultra Headphones

CNET is the premier destination for explaining and navigating the changing world around us. Through news, product reviews, price comparisons, and more, we’ll tell you what’s new in the parts of modern life that increasingly matter more — from health, home, and money to tech, culture, and climate — and how to get the most out of them.