Sonos speakers just got an important free audio upgrade

When Sonos launched the Sonos Ace headphones, one of the best features only worked with the Sonos Arc soundbar – but now it's available for the first and second generation Sonos Beam and the Sonos Ray too.

The feature is called TV Audio Swap, and it enables you to switch the audio from your Sonos speaker to your headphones. It's one of the features we like best about the Ace, but of course when it only worked with one Sonos device it was pretty limited.

TV Audio Swap is part of a system that also includes TrueCinema, which is a headphone version of Sonos's TruePlay room optimisation. It measures the acoustics in your room in order to recreate the same sound you'd get from your Sonos Arc, but directly to your headphones. It's very clever.

How to get TV Audio Swap on Sonos speakers

The TV Audio Swap feature now works on four different Sonos models: the Sonos Beam, the Sonos Beam (2nd Gen), the Sonos Ray and the Sonos Arc. And while it was originally iOS-only, it's now available in the Android app too.

In order to use the feature you'll need to download the latest version of the Sonos app from the appropriate app store. Then it's just a matter of pressing the content key on the right ear cup, or using the Sonos app, to swap the TV audio from your soundbar to your Sonos Ace. That gives you the same spatial audio with Dolby Atmos (if the content supports it) with the added bonus of active noise cancellation and dynamic head tracking.

This update makes an already excellent pair of headphones even better: in our five-star Sonos Ace review we praised the "intense comfort and beautiful design", the ANC and the battery life. The integration with other Sonos hardware is a huge selling point for the Sonos Ace, and being able to swap the audio to your headphones is likely to ensure you stay popular with your neighbours too.