Hissing noise with new Microsoft Surface Earbuds

For what its worth after updates to Surface Book 2, audio has improved drastically on my Teams calls (where I had most of my issues).  All other audio experiences (non-Teams and iOS) are solid.

Received response from Microsoft Customer Service:

I hope this message finds you well. Finally, I received an update from best Microsoft Engineers. We confirmed that When audio is stopped you will hear 1-2 seconds of white noise followed by a low volume clicking noise.  This occurs as the amplifier built into Surface Earbuds turns off.  This does not effect the functionality of your Surface Earbuds and is expected. Replacement wont help either because this symptom will occur on all Earbuds.

Best regards,

Ricky

So it looks like they are hissing by design! That is not acceptable for a brand new product - especially given that my 4 year old Bose SoundSport Wireless and the new Google Pixel Buds do not have this issue. Clearly it is possible to design headphones without a constant hiss from the amp.

I am very disappointed and will be returning the product.

They seem to think its only when audio is started or stopped but listening at a low level the hiss is still audible. Surely that is not by design on headphones that are meant to be used when presenting to people (as shown in their advertising for this product). I hope we can get a better response than what you received from support. I will also reach out that way and link this thread.

Received response from Microsoft Customer Service:

I hope this message finds you well. Finally, I received an update from best Microsoft Engineers. We confirmed that When audio is stopped you will hear 1-2 seconds of white noise followed by a low volume clicking noise.  This occurs as the amplifier built into Surface Earbuds turns off.  This does not effect the functionality of your Surface Earbuds and is expected. Replacement wont help either because this symptom will occur on all Earbuds.

Best regards,

Ricky

So it looks like they are hissing by design! That is not acceptable for a brand new product - especially given that my 4 year old Bose SoundSport Wireless and the new Google Pixel Buds do not have this issue. Clearly it is possible to design headphones without a constant hiss from the amp.

I am very disappointed and will be returning the product.

Same problem here.

Hello, everyone!

We apologize for the troubles you have to go through with the pop/hiss sound on your Surface Earbuds. We have raised this to our team internally. Your feedback is greatly appreciated and we will get back to you as soon as we get updates on this.

Regards,

Janette_Z

Could you also please internally raise the hiss/pop issue on the Surface Pro 7, that I reported 6 months ago, and re-open my thread?

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/all/intermittent-audio-pops-from-speakers-when-audio/38fa77d8-26b6-40f3-8188-0d6cafa7b7b0?auth=1

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/all/surface-pro-7-i5-8gb-audio-popping-and-crackling/b820909a-786b-4173-8b88-e20a09bca86f

And the Surface Pen pressure staircasing issue on the Surface Pro 7, X, Laptop 3, that I also reported 6 months ago?

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/all/surface-pro-7-pen-pressure-issues-with-palm/105fcbdb-0f05-4fde-a2df-804dfeafcb6e

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/surfprox-surfdrivers/pen-pressure-staircasing-issue-when-touching-the/8c28cff4-0fb9-4ac3-8781-c22fa2ace98e

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/all/surface-pen-staircasing-pressure-sensitivity-issue/d8b84085-d8b8-4ae1-a2dd-10100955369f

Thanks in advance.