I received my Sonos Ace and spent a few hours playing with settings to try to get a good sound from them. I read in another thread someone recommending disabling volume normalisation within Spotify. That vastly improved the sound quality for me.
Unfortunately in my testing, I identified a buzzing noise. It is more obvious on some tracks. I wonder if others can replicate it. On “Shout” by Tears for Fears, the opening bars feature some metallic percussion. This is in the first ten seconds of the track.
Listening through the Aces, there is a noticeable and pronounced buzz/noise at the end of each of these percussive clusters. The buzz increases at the end of each cluster. I have tried the track on multiple devices and this is only apparent on the Aces. It should not be there.
I spent two hours - the first hour on hold - with Sonos support. The person I eventually spoke to was helpful enough, but all of the troubleshooting steps he suggested I had already done. He escalated the matter to a more senior staffer who apparently authorised a replacement.
He wasn’t able (for some reason, which was unusual for him and he couldn’t understand) process the replacement on the phone, but explained that it would be picked up after the call and I would be email.
I have since received one follow up email confirming the replacement would be carried out. But no promises detail as to how this would be effected. I have emailed in reply, but not heard further. I have sent several chasers, they have been unanswered.
I am a loyal Sonos customer, but this whole experience is leaving a really sour taste. The Aces are apparently faulty, and don’t match the high quality of hardware which I generally expect from Sonos. The customer service I have received from a company which pitches its products at the premium end of the consumer market (and charges prices accordingly) is atrocious.
I am disappointed to have to post here. Has anyone experienced similar?
