Sony WF-1000XM4 metallic echo / pinging / bell / sound issue

[Ozmica]

I bought these earbuds 10 days ago and I noticed immediately this weird sound issue. The issue is already common for many people and it seems that it affects sometimes the left and sometimes the right earbud. 

In my case, I can hear a ringing or pinging noise coming from my left earbud whenever I'm in a call and someone is speaking, including me. It follows the higher notes of the voice and kinda sounds like an echo but a similar sound to the notification sound you have when you tap on the earbud to either change the NC on or off or to play or pause the music. What I noticed is that the issue can be reproduced also if I snap the left part of the teeth quickly.

If I turn off the NC, then I can't reproduce the issue when snapping my teeth but it still can be reproduced if someone talks in a voice call. Also, I can just listen to a podcast, and no matter if NC is on or off, the pinging is there. It just seems that if NC is off that the issue is less obvious. But again this is in my case, other people have the same issue but reproduce it a bit differently. These are the Reddit posts I found that reference the same issue:


https://www.reddit.com/r/sony/comments/obsdne/wf1000xm4_faint_pinging_noise_during_voice_calls/
https://www.reddit.com/r/sony/comments/ot5vqf/wf1000xm4_anyone_not_having_metal_sound/
https://www.reddit.com/r/sony/comments/oa0oy3/sony_wf1000xm4_hollow_ringingpinging_in_left_ear/
https://www.reddit.com/r/SonyHeadphones/comments/o1ah8m/tinnymetallic_noise_when_listening_to_speech...

Can anyone confirm if this is a design flaw with the hardware or some weird issue with the ANC and microphones that can be resolved with a future update? 

[Itcsuk]

Thank you, thank you, thank, you. i had to drop what i was doing and try this. It worked, no degradation of quality, which is what i worried about. go carful. Mine did not come out in a solid pill, but eased it back in a little bit at a time until the noise was gone.

Well done you, for finding the fix your better than Sony! and for sharing.  

[Itcsuk]

Thank you, thank you, thank, you. i had to drop what i was doing and try this. It worked, no degradation of quality, which is what i worried about. go carful. Mine did not come out in a solid pill, but eased it back in a little bit at a time until the noise was gone.

Well done you, for finding the fix your better than Sony! and for sharing. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/sony/comments/ot5vqf/comment/j1df507/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&co...

[Rokannon]

I am very happy it helped you. All thanks should go to that person (from Reddit) who originally found the solution. Nickname Neurodecker. I have just reposted his message to this forum. Enjoy your music!

[HannahEd01]

Hey Itcsuk, I'm glad to hear that this worked for you. As far as I understand, there were two fixes (One included removing the plastic cover, which definitely voids the warranty and I won't try) could you confirm which one you tried?

[MrBojangles]

I'm glad to see that people have been able to sort this issue out. I found a simpler fix: return them to the store and get the Sennheisers instead! 

[HannahEd01]

Hey MrBojangles, why would they do that while they can resolve it? The sound quality is magnificent on those.