Surface 2 Speaker/Sound Problems

Regarding the audio distortion, Surface 2 was designed to deliver a great quality audio experience.  For best results, use the Surface 2 speakers at a volume of 80 or less --

Steven,

The distortion is not simply a matter of people turning their volume all the way up. It is either a problem in itself or a by product of whatever is causing such incredibly low volume on the devices.

As an example I am currently playing some music through the Music app as I type this. I have the Surface 2 at 80 volume and the music app also at 80. The music is barely audible. If it weren't for the fact that my house is very quiet today I would struggle to hear the sound at all over any background ambient sounds. At 80 volume the music should sound similar to any similar portable device (obviously we don't expect very full, loud sound from a tablet), but it sounds like someone has plugged headphones in and you're hearing the sound from those headphones from several feet away.

The sound is 'empty', with no bass at all. This goes for ALL sound, not just music, including game sound effects, Windows sounds, notifications, etc. At this volume, as I type on my Surface 2 I can't even make out the singer's lyrics. This also happens to be music I'm very familiar with, so I can tell exactly what it should sound like.,

I always used my Surface  RT at around 20-30 volume. On my Surface 2 the volume needs to be around 70 or 80 *just to be audible*.

On a side note, I have very sensitive hearing, and generally like all volume to be low, yet I can barely hear my new tablet.

I was hoping that this issue was to be fixed this coming patch Tuesday, and I hope your dismissive response isn't a sign that Microsoft doesn't acknowledge that there is an issue here.

As my device currently is, it's not even suitable for its purpose. Listening to music or watching video is essentially pointless without earphones.

Steven, that's an unacceptable answer. The noise can be noticed at lower volume too.

Having the S2 at a constant volume I can hear the noise in one site or Apps and there is not any noise when listening to other sites. You have a noise when streaming a video from youtube and have not noise at all when you download the video and play it locally.

BTW, I was talking about Steve Jobs when I said that 'at least nobody came to say that users didn't know how to use their devices', something that happened when one of the iphone was released with a faulty antenna.

Well, you just have done that here. Bravo!

LOL I love the irony between this post and the one before it.

Ok, so that sealed the deal for me - this thing is going back. If I'm going to get a "you're holding it wrong" type of response from a company I've spent thousands with, I'm at least going to do it with one who has their products in order.

Can't say it I'll miss having to deal with this.

Greetings all,

Regarding the audio distortion, Surface 2 was designed to deliver a great quality audio experience.  For best results, use the Surface 2 speakers at a volume of 80 or less -- playing at higher volumes can result in distortion depending upon the audio content type. If you want louder sound, we recommend using external speakers or headphones.   Leaving audio enhancements “on” (default) optimizes your audio experience across all content types.

Well, at least we do not have anybody coming to say that we don't know how to use these devices like it happened with another company that I know 😉