Sonos confirms March 9 event: Bluetooth speaker or noise-canceling headphones incoming?

Sonos is bringing a special event to you on Tuesday, March 9, 2021, and you'll be able to watch it live when it happens. The audio giant has extended an invite that involves an outdoorsy scene, with a person pictured in a field, maybe dishing out clues to its next product. We're hoping it's a new portable speaker, as has been rumored for some time. 

Aside from talk of a possible Sonos Move follow-up, the rumor mill has also been whirring away around new Sonos noise-canceling headphones. And things are dialing-up on this front, too: a new headphone patent filed in Germany shows schematics of what could be the Sonos noise-canceling headphones in its final design, moving ever closer from concept to its launchable form. 

The timing of this news and the invite collide perfectly to tease the tech community. Sonos aims to launch two new products per year; we know one is launching in March, so which one is it, or could it be a multi-release launch? It seems unlikely, but stranger things have happened.

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It could be a new portable speaker for use outdoors, and here’s why:

For starters, the Sonos Move is overdue a portable sibling, hence the noise around a smaller follow-up: something equipped with an outer shell to weather the bump and grind of travel, universal smart assistant compatibility, and something to compete with the recent news of Google smart speakers baking in Apple integration. 

And it needs to be smaller than the Sonos Move, which is leaning on the bulkier side – able to sling in a rucksack and carry all day without groaning about the weight. The recent FCC filing displayed a device with its own wireless charging foundation, outwardly similar to the Sonos Move, but with a sturdier base. 

It alluded to something less costly and able to lend itself to both the indoors and outdoors; mainly, though, we’d like to see something that is heavily geared to the outdoors – like being in a field – as Sonos has already got the indoor space under lock and key, featuring regularly on our best multi-room speakers list, and turning out TV soundbars like the Sonos Beam and Sonos Arc.

It could be new noise-canceling headphones, and here’s why:

We already know a pair of premium Sonos noise-canceling headphones are in the works, but the new schematics show Sonos is inching closer than ever to release. So, could it be coming as soon as March? 

In the designs, the advanced noise-canceling headset now has the Sonos branding visibly stamped on its outer plastic, and the illustrations show that the support rods extend all the way from the headband, and there are several buttons, a 3.5mm jack, and a USB-C port. 

These differ from earlier designs that popped up in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) last September, showing serious progress has been made on the headphones (via protocol). 

It would be fairly tight for a March release, but Sonos’ designs are much fleshier than last year, and surely can’t be far off. T3 hopes the headset will link-up with Sonos' wider, more complicated audio system devices, which can be very difficult to choose between – especially deciding between the Sonos Arc and Sonos Beam – because of the sheer array of audio finesse all Sonos devices offers. 

When is the Sonos special event and what time?

Sonos' special event will stream live from 9 PM GMT, Tuesday 9 March 2021. It can be found and watched live over at Sonos Press. T3 will stream the event from our page on the day.

Depending on your location, the times for the event will vary somewhat: US West Coast: 1:00 PM/PST East Coast US: 4:00 PM/Central Europe: 10:00 PM CET.

All in all, it's set to be a very exciting spring with more portable choices anticipated in time of the relaxed lockdown measures. It's true: we may just be able to actually use a portable speaker for its intended purposes outdoors in the next few months, perhaps even taking some noise-canceling headphones away on holiday with us. We're cautiously optimistic.

We'll have an answer to the Sonos product riddle on March 9, so stay tuned for updates, news, and any leaks along the way. In the meantime, you can take a peek at our best noise-canceling headphones, best Bluetooth speaker lists, and choose a device to let you dine out on songs until your heart's content.

Source: The Verge