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
    2013-11-27T12:31:34+00:00

    I don't have the 10/22 but I have the 11/12 😐

    I guess try uninstalling the device and the codec and see what happens... something changed for me last night.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-11-27T12:28:57+00:00

    I had to do a refresh this morning....I can't seem to use anything but the 8/14 driver..if I uninstall the 8/14 and force the 10/13 driver my sound stops working and won't install. The only way to get it to work again is to refresh.

    The 10/22/2013 hardware update installs successfully... and I see the 10/13 driver there if I click on let me pick from a list... when I select it it says it installed, but the properties still say 8/14...argg...I HATE RT drivers.

    I must be doing it wrong, right Microsoft Surface Team?

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-11-27T12:15:59+00:00

    So last night, even though I had the "System Hardware Update - 11/12/2013" hidden, it automatically installed it, forcing 2 restarts. It did indeed kill the enhanced audio again so I did the usual uninstall device and delete drivers, but this time it froze twice on startup then gave me the special boot screen. I told it to restart and it had sound surprisingly. Checked the driver info and it was set to 8/14 driver. I tried to update it and there was no 10/13 driver to install. Checked for Windows Updates and found "System Hardware Update - 10/22/2013" was now available. Installed, restarted twice and the 10/13 drivers were installed. Checked Windows Update and don't have the "System Hardware Update - 11/12/2013" available like I normally would when running the 10/13 driver.

    Also had a lot of Office updates install last night along with the "System Hardware Update - 11/12/2013". I wonder if they went back to the 10/13 driver, reworked and re-released it.

    A quick sound check and it does sound better. Still scratching, but now on male voices rather than female voices... but only a lot at 100% volume, 80% I only heard a small scratch that was barely noticeable. 

    I don't have the 10/22 but I have the 11/12 😐

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-11-27T12:01:17+00:00

    So last night, even though I had the "System Hardware Update - 11/12/2013" hidden, it automatically installed it, forcing 2 restarts. It did indeed kill the enhanced audio again so I did the usual uninstall device and delete drivers, but this time it froze twice on startup then gave me the special boot screen. I told it to restart and it had sound surprisingly. Checked the driver info and it was set to 8/14 driver. I tried to update it and there was no 10/13 driver to install. Checked for Windows Updates and found "System Hardware Update - 10/22/2013" was now available. Installed, restarted twice and the 10/13 drivers were installed. Checked Windows Update and don't have the "System Hardware Update - 11/12/2013" available like I normally would when running the 10/13 driver.

    Also had a lot of Office updates install last night along with the "System Hardware Update - 11/12/2013". I wonder if they went back to the 10/13 driver, reworked and re-released it.

    A quick sound check and it does sound better. Still scratching, but now on male voices rather than female voices... but only a lot at 100% volume, 80% I only heard a small scratch that was barely noticeable.

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  5. Anonymous
    2013-11-27T04:40:05+00:00

    I refreshed my surface 2. Now it's got a better volume level. If you refresh, you'll lose some of your customizations, like background and tile sizes. To refresh, right swipe, settings, PC settings, update and recovery, recovery then refresh.

    Its a temp fix until MS can give us a working update.

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