The Ace Ultra doesn’t need Sonos’ ecosystem to be great – I can attest to it

4.0 / 5 Very good The Sonos Ace Ultra is the company’s most anticipated hardware of the year, and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the successor to my personal favorite pair of headphones. The Ace Ultra debuts with redesigned earcups, more stylish color options, improved ANC, expanded EQ settings, and deeper integration with the Sonos ecosystem. Notably, the Ace Ultra allows you to swap audio between it and any of your Sonos speakers, which Sonos really wants you to know is its most remarkable feature. Yet, the need for audio swapping is a problem Sonos created for the Ace Ultra to solve, and, like the firstborn Ace, its ecosystem doesn’t make the Ace Ultra meaningfully better. It’s a testament to both how great the headphones are — and how far ecosystem lock-in can go before it offers thinly-sliced solutions. The best thing about Sonos’ headphone linking feature is that it works.…