Sky Q audio going distorted/robotic with Sonos Beam + new Hisense TV

[Roo80]

Hi,

I’m hoping someone can help as I’ve been chasing an ongoing audio issue with my Sky Q box.

I’ve recently upgraded my setup to a Hisense 55U7QTUK TV with a Sonos Beam Gen 2 connected via HDMI eARC. Every so often while watching Sky Q the sound becomes distorted/robotic. Switching to another channel or opening an app (YouTube etc.) instantly fixes it, but it keeps coming back randomly.

A few important points:

My setup

• Sky Q box (older hardware revision — a few years old)
• Hisense 55U7QTUK
• Sonos Beam Gen 2 (HDMI eARC)

What I’ve already tried

• Tried Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, and Normal on the Sky Q audio settings
• Turned HDMI Control on/off
• TV HDMI mode set to Standard, Auto, and Enhanced
• Tried with eARC enabled and disabled
• Fully rebooted TV, Sky Q and Beam
• Confirmed that all TV apps (YouTube, Netflix etc.) have perfect audio with no distortion
• Issue only occurs on Sky Q channels

Despite all this, the audio still occasionally goes robotic. This makes me think the Sky Q box itself might be struggling with audio passthrough/HDMI handshake on a newer setup.

Has anyone else had this?

From what I’ve seen, some older Sky Q boxes had known issues with audio distortion and Dolby output. I’m wondering whether this could be down to the box hardware and if a replacement might be the next step.

Any advice appreciated!

[Roo80]

Just to add the model number of my sky q box is 32B12C. 

[BenJoBanjo]

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@Roo80 wrote:

Just to add the model number of my sky q box is 32B12C. 

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That's not one of the really old Q boxes so it should be fine with Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital+. 

One thing to check is that you're using the same speed and spec of HDMI cable between the Q box and the TV and the TV and the Sonos. Using mismatched HDMI cables can sometimes cause issues so, if you can, replace them with the same kind of certified high speed HDMI 2.1 cables on all parts of the chain. You can pick up excellent quality cables very cheaply on Amazon (<£10) which are fully certified and will future proof you for other devices. 

[Roo80]

Thanks for the reply. 

I don't think the supplied Sonos hdmi cable is 2.1 but I would need to double check. Between tv and sky it's a 2.0 cable.  But I will swap it out as a precaution.