Companies have different reasons for venturing into new markets. For Sonos, venturing into the headphone segment means expanding its horizons to offer its users something that only it can do: an interplay between personal audio with the Ace, its first pair of headphones, and the family or party audio it offers through its soundbars and speakers. At least that’s what Sonos has said as it launched the Ace in India at a price of Rs 39,900.

The Sonos Ace is a premium product. It is one of the most expensive wireless headphones in India, although it more or less justifies its price with its design, Sonos aesthetics, feature set, and sound. You can read more about the Sonos Ace in our full review.

But given that the Ace is the first wearable Sonos audio product, it begs the question: why? For Sonos, one obvious answer is that its fans want it. Sonos distinguished product manager Scott Fink told India Today Tech: “Our fans have been asking for headphones from Sonos for a very long time. That’s because they love our approach to design and ease of use and sound, and they wanted to see what our take on headphones would be.”

But is it just about meeting the demands and desires of Sonos fans? Well, that’s part of the story. And maybe the smaller part. The bigger play with the Sonos Ace is the desire to create a great ecosystem, one that seamlessly blends the personal and the social, bringing together all Sonos products into one ecosystem so that Sonos users can switch between devices depending on what they’re doing.

Sonos Asia Pacific general manager Renee Addabbo says the Ace is “critical to delivering a great audio experience throughout your day.”

Addabbo says that when Sonos “thinks about audio, it’s not about a one-off product.” Instead, it’s about connecting products together. “So as you add more over time, your experience gets even better in your home, and now with products like the Roam, Move and Ace, the audio experience is powered by Sonos even outside the home,” he says.

Of course, interoperability between devices is nothing unique. Apple does it with features like Continuity and cloud sharing. Even in the audio space, Apple does it with the Handoff feature. Sony is trying the same for its audio and entertainment devices. Google does it by placing its cloud service at the center of all its devices. But Sonos is unique in this respect because the company can offer consumers a seamless and complete 360-degree audio experience for sound and entertainment. That’s because it’s already a key piece of the puzzle with its well-regarded soundbars.

This interoperability between devices is one of the most distinctive features of the Sonos Ace. Sonos calls this feature Sound Swap and it allows users to exchange sound between the Sonos soundbar and headphones with the click of a button.

Scott Fink explains this and calls it one of the Ace’s main selling points. “One of the great things about the Sonos Ace that’s unique to the Ace compared to the rest of the market is its ability to swap TV audio,” he says. “So when you’re using a Sonos soundbar, you just press a button on the headphones and the audio switches from your soundbar to the Sonos Ace. Our soundbar is great on its own, the Sonos Ace is great on its own, but when you combine the two, you get an even better experience for your home.”

The idea is certainly, ahem, sound. But there are a few drawbacks. The first of them is that it only works with the Sonos iOS app. And second, Sonos probably needs a few more devices. And while the company won’t say anything specific at this point, it seems like a pair of earbuds would feel right at home in the Sonos lineup. While headphones provide a seamless transition between home audio to personal audio, a pair of earbuds could also cover those moments of the day when you don’t want to wear headphones all the way through. At the gym, for example. When asked, Scott Fink only said, “The answer is, stay tuned. Please. Stay tuned.”

Clever answer. Sonos’ history indicates that the company is expanding its ecosystem. It started out making speakers and sound systems before entering the soundbar market. Slowly it has made a name for itself in the home entertainment segment, and now it’s hoping to make a similar mark in the personal audio space. As solid as the Sonos Ace is, it’s possible that it might not be enough. A pair of buds, or one or two more headphones, are likely to be the next step from Sonos.