Sonos Ace - Buzzing / Static Noise and low volume HELP

I have not noticed any buzzing sounds in my right ear cup that several others have reported, but I do hear this tiny clicking noise. It’s very faint, and your description of it sounding like a HDD clicking is spot on. It’s very faint, but I listen to a lot of movie scores so I hear it “a lot” since I noticed it when scores are quieter. I am running the latest 2.9.3x firmware. 

Hi @jag.sahota @laurentxdubois  @Euge80 

As already stated, if you experience this issue with your Ace headphones, please call in to our technical support team to arrange a replacement - we will cover all shipping costs.

I presume the issue is hardware-related as, if it were software-related we would not be replacing them, and, more people would probably be affected. Clearly, not everyone is affected, so there will be no “mass call back”.

I hope this helps.

@Corry P I think it’s worth considering that some people just don’t notice it even if it’s there- I’ve seen a few examples of this. I have reached this conclusion this given:

• There are people who have reported buying multiple units who hear it on every single one
• There are people who reported hearing it, but other family members don’t notice it on the same pair (meaning, if the other family member bought the same unit they wouldn’t have reported an issue)
• There is at least one person above (rosjeremy) reporting hearing buzzing on their replaced unit

This is a very faint sound, that is not THAT easy to notice, but once you hear it, it’s hard to unhear it. I suspect this is why it’s actually been difficult to notice for your own QA teams. 

In the spirit of trying to be helpful:

• It might be worth taking a unit you know has been sent back with this issue and see which members of your QA team can hear it. 
• It also might be worth using a quiet room and a high sensitivity mic to pick up the buzzing sound
• I think it’s worth considering for Sonos that this may affect every single unit, but only some people hear it (v.s. the theory that only some units are affected)

I also just want to say Sonos support has been great and it’s clear this is a very nuanced and hard to notice issue, and I appreciate the support I’ve seen from them on this (including a willingness to replace so quickly)

This to me proves that all pairs have the same problem.
 

I think most people don’t notice it or don’t hear it at all. Or maybe it is slightly worse on some models than others — I don’t know.
 

I’m pretty sure Sonos will look at this in the future and make sure whatever is causing this issue will be addressed. Such a shame honestly. 
 

I’ve decided to return mines and just wait for a future batch which hopefully has this ironed out.

Luckly for them most people seem to have bad hearing — so they’ll be contempt and will have no idea there’s an issue in the first place. 

 

Yep, looks like good plan. I have only a problem when the ANC is on. Then I hear a static noice. My whole life I’m hearing the smallest sounds like for instance a watch that is on a table a view meters away. So I can imagine that most people don’t hear that and in this case not even the static noise I’m hearing.

I buyed mine at the day of release. The same day I got back to the store with this issue. They swapped the unit for a new one. This one was also faulty so contacted Sonos in the Netherlands and they affirmed that their where issues with these headphones. The store, hifi Klubben, als affirmed that they have received messages from Sonos regarding this problem. Hifi Klubben swapped the faulty unit for an headphone from another batch after getting conformation from Sonos that this batch was good. This third unit was also faulty. I got my money back after this. 

All 3 had the same issue of the noise in the right ear?

That's correct. Straight out the box. 2 from the same batch and one from another batch, confirmed by Sonos Netherlands (their head office for Europe stands in Amsterdam) that this later batch doesnt have this issue. 

Managed to get through to support in the end, took nearly an hour, but escalated up to second level support, who will be in contact within one business day.

I really hope it is resolvable, I really would like to keep the Ace and love Sonos speakers.

If replacements are defective too, guess I will wait on next gen AirPods Max. My AirPods Pro are great for in ear commuting and walking the dog etc…. Just wanted to get Ace for better listening and more ANC when travelling.

Sonos has a problem at the top of their organization, in my opinion only, Poor Management! Apparently issues have developed with Ace! Todays  11am PDT Live Q&A June 11 never happaned with no acknowledge for those who registered. This is why I never place an early order. I understand problems happen with new products but inexcusable to just leave people in the dark and not have proper phone support. I guess Apple, Sony and others are way ahead of Sonos!