Sonos appears to be preparing a follow-up to its Ace headphones, with AI and voice control moving closer to the center of the company’s hardware roadmap. Bloomberg reports that Sonos is readying a new pair of wireless headphones called the Ace Ultra, describing the product as the first in an upcoming hardware wave that will push the audio company deeper into artificial intelligence. Engadget separately reports that a new Federal Communications Commission filing, spotted by Lowpass, points to over-ear headphones named “Ace Ultra.” The timing is still not official. According to Engadget, Sonos said during its third-quarter financial call that it was planning a product launch in September, and the FCC filing suggests the Ace Ultra could be among the products shown there. The filing is heavily redacted, so the public record does not yet provide a full specification sheet. What it does appear to show is a familiar form factor. Engadget reports that the Ace Ultra seems to use an over-ear design, similar to the original Sonos Ace launched in 2024. Engadget also reports that it will be available in five colors instead of just two: Greige, Shadow Black, Agave, Blush and Sand. The more important signal may be voice. Engadget says the filing hints that the device will support Sonos Voice Control, the company’s voice assistant. Bloomberg, as cited by Engadget, notes that voice support is especially important for a screenless device that may need to interact with AI assistants and chatbots. That aligns with how Sonos is framing its next phase. Engadget reports that Sonos CEO Thomas Conrad told investors the company is preparing to make AI a core part of its business strategy. Bloomberg’s report similarly describes a broader push to position Sonos’ whole-home audio system as a strong fit for AI models and voice interfaces. The company is also trying to move past a difficult product cycle. Engadget notes that the original Sonos Ace launch was affected by the company’s troubled 2024 app redesign, which Sonos later acknowledged had shipped too early. Engadget also reports that TrueCinema, a spatial audio feature that takes room acoustics into account when one of Sonos’ soundbars is inside, did not arrive until about a year after launch, despite being presented as a key feature. The Ace Ultra, if it appears in September, would therefore carry two jobs: refreshing Sonos’ headphone lineup and showing how seriously the company can turn its AI messaging into device-level capability. For now, the evidence points to a planned product rather than a finished announcement, with the FCC filing and Bloomberg’s reporting setting the contours of what Sonos is likely to show next. Who benefits: Sonos benefits if Ace Ultra gives it a cleaner hardware cycle and a visible device for its AI strategy. It is too early to tell how existing Sonos users would benefit, because the reports do not establish specific cross-system Ace Ultra features. Who's exposed: Sonos is exposed if it repeats the execution issues that affected the original Ace and the 2024 app redesign. The reports do not yet establish whether the new AI or voice features will be mature at launch.