Last week we got word that Sonos Inc. is seeking new markets following their August IPO. The smart speaker company looks to have designs on moving into headphones as well as looking at the possibilities of in-car audio, according to people familiar with their plans.

However, Sonos's primary focus appears to be headphones. The same insiders say that Sonos is expecting a target price range of $300+ for their new product. So, Beats, Sony, Bose and others will no doubt be watching how this develops with much interest.

Read the Sonos Headphone Update Here

As there is little room for innovation at this level of headphone - I can't see them introducing a multi-room headphone package - we can expect the Sonos headphones to support multiple voice assistants. Additionally, it is also likely that their cans will be of the active noise cancelling flavour. However, let's hope they're sexier than those in the April fools prank from 2015 below.

This move may at first look to be quite a gamble but getting into the headphone game may pay dividends, especially when armed with the fact that Bluetooth active noise-cancelling (ANC) headphones make up the most significant share of this market, by value. That's not because they sell the most; it's because they sell in substantial quantities, even at over £300 a pair. Aiming for that RRP follows Apple's 'affordable premium' approach as it a price point that a considerable amount of people can afford, but it is also not cheap and so keeps the prestige.

This news also coincides with a recent letter from Sonos to its shareholders, where the company wrote that half of the music listening occurred outside the home and suggested it will tackle that part of the market:

We plan to push our boundaries by investing resources to make the experience of Sonos outside the home a reality.

Granted, we may have this all wrong, and Sonos is going into making battery-powered speakers, but we think that the smart money is on them announcing some stylish, good sounding Bluetooth ANC cans that have Amazon Alexa and/or Google Assistant baked in. Well, they already feature Alexa in their smart multi-room speakers, after all.

Watch this space, and we'll keep you updated as this story unfolds.