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I have the Beam working via HDMI on my TV and when I switch in my headphones to connect to the TV via Bluetooth, it works initially and TV says disconnecting Anynet+ device (the Beam) but then it seems to immediately reconnect the Beam and so not allowing me to switch to the Bluetooth headphones. Any ideas on how to get this working without having to switch Anynet off and on in the menu all the time? My Samsung is a 2015 UHD model.
Also very interested in this. Any update?
I have the exact issue with LG OLED65C7P with SONOS Beam via HDMI-ARC and Bose QC Bluetooth Headphones.



I paired the headphones to TV, but when I switch the audio output on the TV to "LG Soundsync / Bluetooth", the Bluetooth Headphones work momentarily (3 seconds), then automatically switches back to the Beam on HDMI-ARC. The Bose Headphones still show connected but Beam steals the audio back.



There is a workaround, by going to Settings, Sound, Sound Out, and turning off "Simplink (HDMI-CEC), but this is a pain to do every time I want to use the headphones. You have to re-enable this setting to use Beam again.



Any ideas?
Not that this should be hard for Sonos to reproduce, but it might help to have some diagnostic reports from your systems. If you could submit a diagnostic report after switching your TV's audio output and having Sonos take it back, then post the confirmation number here, I'll point a Sonos employee this way so they can dig into what's going on here.



Here's my diagnostic: 364484165



Samsung UN55KS800D TV

Sonos Beam via HDMI

Bose SoundLink Bluetooth headphones connected to TV



I make no guarantees that there will be a fix... this could just be how HDMI-CEC functions with regards to external audio devices... but I would think that if you switch away, it should honor that until you switch back.
Thanks MikeV. Sonos Team, Here is my diagnostics report: 1966860244



LG OLED65C7P

Sonos Beam via HDMI-ARC port

Bose QC35 Headphones
Sonos sent me a DM on this. They said the Beam was designed to work this way and the solution is to turn off HDMI-ARC on the tv when using headphones or unplug the cable from the Beam. Clearly not ideal - I think this should be able to be ‘fixed’ with a software update.
Yikes. Ok thanks for the update. That doesn’t sound right to me. Guess the best solution may be to program a macro into my Harmony remote to disable arc and switch to Bluetooth and back.
I wouldn't think this is a Sonos issue to resolve honestly. The Beam is completely unaware of the headphone/Bluetooth connection going on between the TV and the headphones. It's up to the TV to understand and determine where it should be sending audio.



I'd be curious to know if the TV turns off all other audio outputs when the ARC connection is active. I might see if connecting a Bluetooth transceiver to the RCA/optical output of the TV will work without manually turning off the ARC connection. You really shouldn't have to do this, but it might be a workaround.
I wouldn't think this is a Sonos issue to resolve honestly. The Beam is completely unaware of the headphone/Bluetooth connection going on between the TV and the headphones. It's up to the TV to understand and determine where it should be sending audio.



I don't think that is true Danny. Using another soundbar over HDMI ARC, when switching to the TV speaker or headphones on Bluetooth, it respects the change of speaker, where as the Sonos Beam reconnects itself as the speaker when a different speaker is selected. This is a Sonos issue and they have said that they have made this the behaviour by design. Which obviously sucks
I will add myself to this. Samsung Smart TV, 2 years old with one ARC port and a new Beam. The Anynet+ will not honour changing audio output when connected to the Beam via ARC. Bluetooth headphones? Connected for 3 seconds before the ARC connection resumes as the sound output and disconnects the headphones. Tested with all other audio connections, TV speaker, optical out, etc. with the same result. Turn off the Anynet+ CEC from Expert settings, all works as it should, but the Beam is no longer available as an audio output.

This is not an acceptable state of affairs, CEC is a very simple protocol that allows multiple input recognition, and support for BT headphones is as basic as changing channels. This needs a patch ASAP. The only workaround so far is to connect via optical and avoid the entire ARC ego tripping. Again headphone support is such a basic function, I am a little stunned that this was not addressed during testing! Otherwise, an excellent product, but Sonos really seems to have a thing hating on headphones!:P
Sonos sent me a DM on this. They said the Beam was designed to work this way and the solution is to turn off HDMI-ARC on the tv when using headphones or unplug the cable from the Beam. Clearly not ideal - I think this should be able to be ‘fixed’ with a software update.



Come on Sonos, you can't advice to "remove the cable from the Beam"... Come on
I’m having the same issue. Tried to turn off TV autoplay in the Sonos app, but this didn’t help. It’s definitely a software issue.
Here is the DM I got, for the record:



“The Beam is designed to always take audio priority when connected to your TV via an HDMI-ARC connection. The workaround of toggling Anynet off and on would likely be the best approach. Alternatively removing the HDMI connection from your Beam while using an alternative audio source should also prevent that behavior.”
I suppose since I'm in the menus to change the audio output to headphones, I may as well turn off AnyNet+ too... annoying, yes, but I suppose it'll work. I still consider this to be a bug though, and that's just a workaround, IMHO.
Exact same issue here:



Samsung QE55Q8CAM

Sonos Beam via HDMI-ARC port

Parrot Zik V1.10 Headphones and Bose SoundSport Wireless Earphones
Same issue here:

Samsung UE40MU6100

Sonos Beam via HDMI-ARC port

Tested with three headphones: Jabra Halo 2, JBL and Sony

This tv also has optical out. When the Beam is connected via Optical out, the Bluetooth connection remains stable. However, this is not the way I was hoping to use the Beam, because sometimes the internal speaker of the tv wants to add it's voice.

Most annoying to watch in the settings is the Samsung feature to have multiple audio output to internal speakers and Bluetooth, bus this option is greyed out when Anynet is on.
I have a LG OLED TV and have same issue - I use headphones quite a lot, and it is disturbing that someone thinks you that it is ok and designed well, that Beam completely disables possibility to listens TV with bluetooth headphones and recommends you to to disconnect HDMI every time you want to use headphones instead of Beam. I would be ok with it, if Beam had ability to connect bluetooth headphones, but otherwise ???
Thanks for the reports, everyone. We've been looking into this issue. It's caused by the way the TV handles a command the Beam sends as part of the process to issue CEC commands to the TV like "off" and "on".



I'll make sure to let the team know you're running into this and that it's causing you trouble. For now, the best solutions are to turn off CEC when you're using the headphones, or if you use them frequently, it may be to use the optical output instead of the HDMI. You'd lose the CEC controls from the Beam, but if you use the headphones a lot this may be worth it.



I would be ok with it, if Beam had ability to connect bluetooth headphones, but otherwise ???

I'll pass along this as a request too for the future.
Hi Ryan, very happy to hear you are looking into this and will be looking to fix it.



Can you please advise what functionality we will lose by using the optical adapter? It seems like the way I’ll need to go for now.
Just tried it - remote no longer controls volume on the beam so obviously that is way worse. Back to hdmi and plugging / unplugging the cable until there is a fix.
Just tried it - remote no longer controls volume on the beam so obviously that is way worse. Back to hdmi and plugging / unplugging the cable until there is a fix.

If your remote has the option to output IR, you can set it up in the Beam's settings > Room Settings which would work for remote control. The only functions you should lose with the optical are the CEC ones, being able to issue commands to the TV from the Beam.
Unfortunately my Samsung Universal remote doesn’t appear to have a IR blaster. I tried the TV remote setup in the Sonos app but it did not detect the volume button push.
The Samsung OneRemote does IR, but it needs to be set up in the "Universal Remote" functionality in your TV. See the support article linked below for more details on how to set it up...



Configure Sonos home theater speakers with Samsung One Remote
Thanks MikeV. It did help. One thing I noticed is when disconnecting the bluetooth headphones (turning them off), the TV defaults back to the TV speaker rather than the Optical Out. Anything that can fix this so when I turn off the headphones, it comes through the Beam automatically? I'm trying to make sure this is fool-proof (not that I'm calling my wife a fool...)
That I can't say... that would be up to Samsung. It seems like it would make sense that it would go back to whatever was selected before Bluetooth... but I don't know.
Hmm strange - now when I turn on the headphones, the sound comes out through the Beam at the same time. Sigh
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