Any conversation about the best premium headphones in the world today is bound to include the Sonos Ace. The most recent offering from the Sonos brand is not only one of the most comfortable over-ear headphones available on the market, but it also provides a top-of-the-line auditory experience. Topped off with advanced noise cancellation, the Sonos Ace Headphones have everything that a modern audiophile could possibly want to enjoy their favourite music. But perhaps the biggest draw of the Ace is its seamless integration with a Sonos home audio system.
The magic lies in the TV Audio Swap feature that connects your headphones to a Sonos soundbar, allowing you to take your listening experience to a whole new level. This step-by-step guide describes everything you need to do to connect your Sonos Ace to your Sonos soundbar for an enhanced audio experience like no other.
Understanding TV Audio Swap
Sonos Ace headphones come equipped with a feature called TV Audio Swap that allows you to connect and share the audio of your favourite movie, game or playlist wirelessly to Sonos soundbars such as Sonos Arc, the original and second-generation Sonos Beam (Gen 1 and 2), or Sonos Ray, facilitating a smooth transition between your soundbar and your headphones.
Step 1: Preparing Your Devices
Make sure all your Sonos devices – including the Ace headphones and soundbar – are up to date with the latest firmware. Here’s how.
Confirm Software Update: Open the Sonos app on your phone or tablet. Go to System Settings and check for available updates. Make sure your equipment is up-to-date.
Make sure Both Sonos gizmos must be connected to the same Wi-Fi network: if not, that absolutely ensures that the TV Audio Swap experience will be terrible, and moreover, it’ll be easy to spot the problem.
Step 2: Setting Up TV Audio Swap
Once your devices are ready, follow these steps to set up TV Audio Swap:
Turn on the Sonos app: Open the Sonos controller on your smartphone or tablet. If this is your first time using Sonos, you’ll have to set up an account.
3. Tap System Settings: the System Settings gear is at the top-right corner of the screen:
Choose Sonos Ace: From the list of Sonos devices registered to your account, select your Sonos Ace headphones.
Scroll right to the bottom of the settings panel and tap Add TV Audio Swap: That’s it! You’re done.
Set Up TV Audio Swap: Tap the ‘Set Up’ button that appears in the bottom-right corner, then select Sonos soundbar, such as Arc, Beam or Ray, from the list of devices. If you only have one Sonos soundbar, simply tap Continue.
TV Audio Swap is now ENABLED. Try this. First – play a movie or show on your TV. You should now be hearing that sound coming through your Sonos Ace headphones. You should also be able to control the volume using your Sonos Ace headphones controls.
Step 3: Switching Audio Between Devices
While enjoying your audio through the wonders of the Sonos Ace headphones, you will finally get the urge to return to your soundbar. Simply press these two buttons on the side of your soundbar to do so.
Pushing and holding the main Content Key on the right ear cup of your Sonos Ace headphones makes the sound come back to the Sonos soundbar you are using.
When you are using the Sonos App: Open the Sonos application, and tap the yellow ‘Swap Back’ button. Here, if you are already listening to audio through your soundbar, the button will be white and say ‘Swap’, which means you can swap back to your headphones.
Enhancing Your Audio Experience
Now that you have your Sonos Ace headphones plugged in to your soundbar, you can take your audio to the next level:
Trueplay Tuning: The Sonos app includes a Trueplay feature that lets you tune the sound to the acoustics of your room. After you go through a few steps, Trueplay automatically adjusts the settings to give you the best possible listening experience with either the soundbar or the headphones.
Spatial Audio and Head Tracking: If you have a head-tracking device, enabling these features makes the sound come from exactly where a character is in a movie or a game.
Compatibility and FAQs
What Sonos Soundbars Are Compatible with TV Audio Swap?
Currently, the Sonos Arc, Sonos Beam (Gen 1 and 2) and Sonos Ray are all supported by TV Audio Swap so, if you own one of these soundbars, you can use TV Audio Swap right away.
Is Sound Swap the Same as TV Audio Swap?
Sound Swap, the feature that lets you move audio with two Sonos Roam speakers, is wirelessly enabled so you can switch the sound from one to the other. It is also available for two Sonos home theatre devices: TV Audio Swap allows you to switch the audio between the Sonos Ace headphones and the Sonos Arc, Beam and Ray sound bars.
How Do I Connect the Sonos Ace to a Bluetooth Device?
You can then pair your Sonos Ace headphones with your Bluetooth-enabled device by keeping the Bluetooth button on your headphones down until the circle lights up, and then find your Sonos Ace under Device Pairing on the Bluetooth device you want to pair with.
Conclusion
Here’s how to hook your Sonos Ace up to a Sonos soundbar so you can enjoy TV at night without waking up the rest of the house. Or game with a little extra oomph. Or London doom. Whatever you use your Sonos account for. Plug one audio system into the other with TV Audio Swap, and you can have your cake and eat it. Here’s how to set things up.
