Surface 2 Speaker/Sound Problems

Anonymous
2013-10-23T17:22:07+00:00

I just purchased two new Surface 2's and I am noticing a significant reduction in volume from the speakers compared to my old Surface RT.  The speakers also lack any kind of bass.  They are very "tinny" and shallow sounding.  When using headphones, there is plenty of bass sound and the volume level is not an issue.

I am also experienceing a significant amount of sound crackling (from the speakers and attached headphones) when streaming video from Amazon Instant Video using both the desktop and metro versions of IE.  I do not experience this crackling problem with other sound sources like Xbox music, gaming, or other website streaming video (i.e. YouTube).

Since I was experiencing this on two different Surface 2's, it seems unlikely that this is a hardware issue.  This is most likely a software/driver issue.  Is there anything that I can do to resolve this problem, other than wait for a possible software or firmware update?

Thanks.

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-11-11T23:58:13+00:00

    If it's worth mentioning i've had Surface 2 since day one and only noticed the sound issue recently as it was fine a few days ago. I don't think is hardware related as it was ok before. Pardon the pun but 'sounds' like a driver issue to me.

    I've had mine since launch and immediately noticed the tinny, bass-less sound compared to the original RT, so I don't think that's a recent driver update.  Once I found this thread and disabled the "audio enhancements" the sound quality was restored but at reduced volume, and the volume drops within the first half-second of audio playback using the built-in Music and Video apps, and MediaMonkey.  I don't notice the volume dropping with Flash content, however.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-11-11T21:36:15+00:00

    Crackling happens even on system sounds... in the external speakers properties where you can "test" the speakers, even THAT is making crackling sounds.

    Anyways, I don't think we should have to jump through hoops to listen to any sound. Although your solution of using plex (whatever that is :) ) could be a temporary solution until the drivers are fixed

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-11-11T21:07:32+00:00

    The crackling is NOT restricted to streaming content. I got a TV show video that I recorded on my PC and copied it to my Surcace 2. It's in TS Format, HD. The picture is brilliant, the crackling is horrible at any loudness setting.

    Try using Plex server on your PC to watch your recordings on your Surface 2 using the Metro IE..works great for me.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-11-11T18:16:41+00:00

    The crackling is NOT restricted to streaming content. I got a TV show video that I recorded on my PC and copied it to my Surcace 2. It's in TS Format, HD. The picture is brilliant, the crackling is horrible at any loudness setting.

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  5. Anonymous
    2013-11-11T17:51:06+00:00

    It seems that this thread describes several *different* issues. That (unfortunately) makes it less likely that all these issues will be fixed promptly.

    My main issue is incredibly quiet audio - I think the distortion I hear comes from having to turn up the volume very high just to hear it, and from the audio itself being almost entirely treble frequencies.

    If people are getting distortion limited to specific apps I'd expect that is a completely different issue from what I personally have (ALL sound on my device is quiet).

    I agree.  I was the original poster for this thread.  I think I am going to make two separate new threads to be very specific to the original issues that I posted about.

    1. The overall sound of the Surface 2 speakers is too quiet and hollow (compared with Surface RT).
    2. Crackling/popping sounds while streaming Amazon Instant Video through metro and desktop IE browsers.

    If it's worth mentioning i've had Surface 2 since day one and only noticed the sound issue recently as it was fine a few days ago. I don't think is hardware related as it was ok before. Pardon the pun but 'sounds' like a driver issue to me.

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