Exclusive: Sonos CEO Tom Conrad explains why the new Sonos Ace Ultra headphones can achieve what fans wanted the first Ace to do, why its new Ultra soundbar is small, and the AI features of the company's new 'operating system'

Sonos has just made three new announcements: it's launching a new pair of headphones called the Sonos Ace Ultra; it's launching a new soundbar called the Sonos Beam Ultra; and it's rebranding its software side as an "operating system" that it's calling Sonos 27 — and is adding a new AI-enabled voice assistant, new AI agent integration, and smarter ways for its speakers to work together.

I spoke to Sonos' CEO Tom Conrad about the new launches — especially the new software, since any new software changes that Sonos makes will be met with caution from the community, as Conrad and I discussed last time we spoke .

First, here's a rundown of the details of what Sonos is launching, starting with the Ace Ultra.

These new headphones will launch at $449 / £399 / AU$699, and bring a new 40mm driver promising improved sound — but more interestingly they're powered by a new chip called the Headphone Engine 2 that means they'll be able to do what people expected the original Sonos Ace to do: they'll be able to work as a standard part of the Sonos ecosystem.

The Beam Ultra, meanwhile, sits between the Sonos Beam (Gen 2) and the Sonos Arc Ultra — it's a compact soundbar, but it delivers 7.1.2 channels of Dolby Atmos sound, using nine drivers (including two upfiring drivers, which is a first for the Beam range).

It launches at $699 / £699 / AU$1,099.

Both of the new products are available to pre-order on September 1, 2026, and will launch on September 29, 2026.

Sonos Sonos When it comes to software, Sonos has given its platform a name for the first time: Sonos 27.

Part of the launch of Sonos 27 is the reveal of Sonos Fabric, which is the name Sonos has given to "the system capability that enables Sonos products to sense each other and adapt to the moment" — and immediately, Fabric is being used to enable smart music switching on the Ace Ultra, and the ability to have portable surround speakers in Sonos home theater setups.

Conrad will explain both of those in our interview.

There are two other new elements to Sonos 27, though.

Sonos 27voice is a new voice assistant that's based on AI tech, and Sonos 27mcp is a new way for AI agents to connect to Sonos systems and control them.

In our conversation, Conrad dug into why the company is doing all of this and what the company is offering for AI skeptics — so let's get into it, starting with Conrad's explanation of why they wanted to give the software a name at last.