Sonos Beam Gen2 Metallic Background

Hi @turboburro 

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

Sorry to hear of this audio quality issue you are having with your Beam.

First, as a very slightly delayed repetition of the audio feed can make it sound metallic, I want you to please ensure that the TV’s audio is not also coming from the TV itself. If it is, please see if you can disable the TV’s speakers in the TV’s sound settings.

Assuming that was not the issue, next, please unplug the TV from power for a full minute - this will make the TV’s software restart in a way that standby does not achieve.

Test afterwards - if the issue is still present, please reboot the Beam by removing power for a moment.

Please test again. As a last resort, if you still hear the metallic sound, please perform a factory reset of the Beam. You will then need to add the Beam back on to your Sonos system as if it were new - please ensure the Sonos app is connected to the reset of your Sonos system before setting up the Beam again.

If the issue persists, I recommend you get in touch with our technical support team who have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your Sonos system and what it reports.

I hope this helps.

Hi @turboburro 

I should also add that if the metallic quality is only heard under certain circumstances, it may be a result of the Beam trying to virtualise surround audio - changing audio format for these circumstances to stereo may help, or even adding physical surround speakers.

I hope this helps.

Hi @Corry P

Thanks for the reply. I did power cycle and factory reset both my TV and Beam, but still running into that metallic sound - specifically the background stadium noise in sporting events.

On my Sony TV, the digital audio out settings can be Auto 1 (output compressed audio without change), Auto 2 (output only compressed audio for multi-channel content without change), and PCM (always output in PCM). I currently have it set at Auto 1 and the Dolby Digital Plus output is active (I can also change this to just Dolby Digital). 

Is there another audio output format I can check or setting that may help? 
 

Thanks again. 

Hi @turboburro 

That’s the only likely setting that will effect the format of the delivered audio.

Thanks for trying those steps - as they did not work, I think I know the problem. We are aware of an issue whereby Beam Gen 2 will sometimes deliver metallic-sounding audio and are investigating. I have tagged this thread with the issue tracker and will inform you here when I hear of it’s resolution, but there's no estimate of when this might be.

In the meantime, it’s possible that you could workaround this issue by using the supplied optical adaptor to connect to your TV. Note that doing so will restrict you to PCM, Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 formats only, and positive results have not been 100%.

I hope this helps.

I am having the exact same issue. Good to hear that Sonos staff is aware of this problem. Is there any ETA of a fix yet? It seems like people have been reporting this issue for two years now.

Hi ​@wtorn 

I can’t provide you with ETAs for this or any other issue, I’m afraid - the time it takes to identify and resolve a software issue can be impossible to predict.

The Beam Gen 2 has not existed for 2 years.

Thanks for your quick response ​@Corry P .

I understand you are unable to provide an ETA. Are you able to confirm that it is still being worked on by any chance?

It is my understanding the Beam Gen 2 was released in October 2021, and I seem to be able to find references to this issue going back two- or even three years:

https://en.community.sonos.com/home-theater-228993/beam-gen-2-metallic-robotic-sound-since-update-6862879

https://en.community.sonos.com/home-theater-228993/beam-gen-2-disorted-metallic-sound-w-tv-earc-and-night-sound-mode-6871902

Hi ​@wtorn 

My sincere apologies! - I said that without checking. I guess I am getting old as that does not feel like two (or three) years at all! It was not my intent to gaslight.

I’ll see what I can find out for you.

Hi ​@wtorn 

Though we are still investigating the issue, it seems progress has been slow.

My recommendation to you would be to contact our technical support department - use an existing case number if you already have a related case (to illustrate how long you have been waiting), and ask for a replacement. If you are refused one, ask for a manager escalation and fight your corner a little - I think they will relent.

I hope this helps.

Thank you ​@Corry P , I really appreciate you following up on this so quickly. Can also relate to the feeling of years flying by.

I will give that route a try, but because my partner's Beam 2 has the same issue, and I have seen other reports of replacement units having the same issue, I'm not sure if it's worth the hassle to try a replacement.

I generally love my Beam and was actually looking to convert my whole home to Sonos, but finding out an issue seems to have gone unresolved for (potentially) years, kind of makes me want to hold off on doing that for now.

Thanks again for the update.

Hi ​@wtorn 

It’s certainly not all Beam Gen 2s that are affected, but that might be part of the problem - if the issue is not originating with the Beam, then a replacement would indeed be of no help. And this may be why it is not yet resolved - if we cannot replicate an issue, it’s pretty difficult to either fix or test then the fix. This is all presumption on my part, however - I don’t know the details of the issue. But, I do recommend that you try one replacement, at least. If that new unit has the same issue, I’d certainly have doubts myself about replacing it again, but at least we gave it a chance.

I hope this helps.