Beam Gen 2 metallic/robotic

Hello ​@Stantana, welcome to the Sonos Community!

I am sorry to hear about the experience you are having with your Sonos Beam (Gen 2) producing metallic/robotic sounds.

Currently the only recommended workaround we can offer is to use the optical Songle, we fully understand that this is not ideal and our engineers are looking into resolving this as soon as possible.
If you are able to reproduce the issue on command, would you be willing to have one of our engineers reach out to you?
They will only ask you to reproduce the issue while they grab some audio taps and diagnostics from your Sonos Beam (Gen 2) as it is happening.

Please let me know and I’ll try and move some strings internally.

I hope this helps.

Thank you for your response, Sotiris.

I have already been in contact with a representative and have performed and sent various actions.

The “solution” is of course not what you want — I specifically chose a Sonos system for Dolby Atmos. This is not possible with an optical cable.

It is said that you are working on it, but this problem has been ongoing for over two years now. How much more time and how many more examples do you still need?

I’m curious. How can someone fit an Atmos signal through an optical cable? I was under the impression that there were limits on the amount of data that could be sent across optical. Are there other companies who can do this?

It is not possible to get Dolby Atmos through an optical cable. That is exactly my point, I do not consider this is a good solution (not even as a temporary one) especially since this issue has been ongoing and known to Sonos for two years.

Ah, thank you. I misunderstood your post. 

I have had this problem since January 2022. Very annoying. I think the sound is coming from the side speakers. I wish I could just deactivate those in the settings.

We’re all hoping this issue gets fixed at some point. Unfortunately, it’s been going on for years now, and it really doesn’t seem like it’s a priority for Sonos. Otherwise, how could it still be happening after all this time?

Especially since so many people are dealing with it and lots of users have already sent in examples. You’d think it would be a top priority, right?

Yes! Fixing this should undoubtedly be a top priority. Customers buying a premium audio product at this price point deserve quality, not defects like this. It's also baffling why Sonos continually asks users on forums to provide recordings demonstrating the issue. Given they position themselves as audio 'specialists', their own engineers should easily be able to replicate and diagnose this internally. Simply listening to the metallic sound in the crowd noise during a football match makes it obvious. To my ears, it sounds very much like a phase issue creating a chorus effect.

We are still waiting on a reply ​@Sotiris C. ?

Hello ​@Stantana,

While our engineering team is working to resolve this issue, I’ve been requested to inform anyone who is affected by the Beam (Gen 2) producing metallic/robotic audio to contact our Support Team.

We also have a technician who can reach out to you and take samples, if you’d wish to continue.

I do not have any further information to share, but please understand that the more information we gather, the faster we can get this process going into eventually resolving the issue.

I hope this helps.

I’ve already been in contact with Sonos Support.
I also sent them an example.

Their response: Use the optical cable and wait until the issue is resolved.

But thank you for your reply anyway, we’ll just wait and see. I still find it remarkable that there’s still no solution after two years. Thanks again for your response!

Hi, did you ever try using the optical cable or find another workaround?

I have the same issue and I still experience it even with optical cable, also I don’t think the issue only affects multichannel outputs like some of the affected people say. I swear I can still hear it on some stereo sources like the Nintendo Switch, although I can’t hear it from the PS5 in stereo mode, but I’ve been wrapping my head around this issue since I’ve bought my Beam 2 three weeks ago that I’m not even sure anymore. That’s why I’ve been hesitant to buy rear speakers as some folks suggested. 
 

I did try that, but unfortunately it didn’t fix the issue for me. I’m also using rear speakers and a sub, but the problem was still there.

A couple of weeks ago, I got in touch with Sonos again, and one of their reps offered me a replacement. I’m supposed to receive it today, so I’ll have to see if that solves it.

I thought it was pretty nice of them to offer that, especially since I’m already out of the warranty period.

Thanks for the reply, you saved me from buying some rear speakers that wouldn’t have solved it either.

Nice to hear your getting a replacement, hopefully it works. I’d appreciate it if you update this thread once you try it out. 

Hi ​Stantana, any luck with the replacement unit? I’m thinking about returning mine and look for another option with other brands, most likely Bose.

Just wanted to know first if your new Beam is working fine, or if this issue may indeed affect all units, which would surprise me because it’s so easy to notice and I’d think there’d be way more reports of this if that was the case, also most Beam/Arc reviews tend to be positive and I haven’t come across a single review that mentions this issue. If yours is working fine maybe I could try requesting a replacement of my own before dropping Sonos for good.

So far so good..I’ll keep testing over the next few days just to be sure! 

Nice to hear that! I guess I’ll ask for a replacement too.
​@Sotiris C. but now that raises the question, is this actually a software issue as the Sonos Engineers have mentioned? If so, why wouldn’t it affect all units?