![]() ![]() Sonos headphones rumours: What's happened so far? Of course, as the patent is just that, a patent, it might be that any headphones that Sonos launch are nothing like what has been mentioned in terms of specifications, features or design so bear that in mind. The Sonos headphone September 2020 patent reads: "In one embodiment, a wireless headphone includes a left earcup comprising a left speaker driver and a left earcup housing and a right earcup comprising a right speaker driver and a right earcup housing a processor a microphone user controls including: a voice assistant activator control a volume slider a play control slider a play-pause control and instructions configuring the processor to: commence a voice assistant recognition routine when sound received by the microphone matches a wake word, and perform an action based on instructions returned from the voice assistant update a current volume of the headphone to a higher volume when the volume slider receives a swipe skip to a next track of a current media content when the play control slider receives a swipe and toggle playback of the media content when the play-pause control is activated." Whether all or none of these features appear though is currently unclear. As mentioned in the design section above, there's also talk of adaptable ANC and gesture touch controls. As Sonos offers a choice of both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant on its smart speakers, we would expect both on the headphones too - there's been talk of a Sonos voice assistant in rumours too though. There's also talk of voice assistants in the patent. You can read more about Sonos Swap in our separate feature, but in theory, we assume you would be able to listen to content on the headphones, pressing and holding a button and transferring it to the nearest Sonos speaker, as you do on Roam. The patent also describes the ability to "swap" content playback between the headphones and other devices on a local network by tapping and holding a button - this is essentially the Sonos Swap feature, which launched on the Sonos Roam Bluetooth speaker. With Sonos Roam the transition happens automatically, which will likely be the case for any headphones too. The September 2020 patent mentions Bluetooth and Wi-Fi however, so it's likely you'll be able to send content directly from your smartphone to the headphones over Bluetooth too, like you can with Sonos Move and Sonos Roam, bypassing the Sonos app if you want to. We therefore know that if Sonos makes headphones they will work with the Sonos system, as you would expect. The charging port mentioned in the patent is USB Type-C and there is also talk of a line-in port. A pairing button is also mentioned and a status LED indicator light which would be blue when connected to Bluetooth - like the Move and Roam - and white when connected to Wi-Fi. Other controls discussed in the patent include a power button for turning the headphones on or off, or indicating battery status with a long press. There's also talk of gestures, such as swiping up to increase volume, down to decrease volume, and left or right to skip tracks. The patent also says wireless and there's talk of ANC control with the potential for a rotating knob, suggesting Active Noise Cancellation could be adjustable.Īdditionally, the patent mentions touch control on the outside of the earcups, offering different functions based on the activity, such as a call or music playback. The second design is a little different however, with stems on the outside of the cups and talk of microphones at the tips. ![]()
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