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.

Surface | Other

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-11-09T04:55:07+00:00

    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.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-11-09T04:12:20+00:00

    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.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-11-09T00:44:51+00:00

    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 😉

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-11-09T00:32:51+00:00

    I have never seen a display issue on my S2, but my error log was full of the display driver crashing, two system refreshes later I now do not get this error anymore.

    No everybody get those but the display driver is constantly crashing and I bet in all Surface 2. The thing is that they haven't noticed because they haven't got the pixilated screen. If you go to event viewer, windows, system, you will see errors, look at them and you will see that when the S2 is on standby the display driver crashes every time there is a notification of any kind.

    Thanks for the info guys.... yea I have returned THREE Surface 2 tablets already and my girlfriend one more as well.... ALL FOUR Surface 2 tablets had issues, from loose volume rockers to crackling sound, to pixelated screens.... I dont know what the heck is going on but it seems like Microsoft released a ton of bad tablets.... hopefully they send some updates out soon to fix everything cause I still want a surface 2. it is such a nice tablet if everything works like IT IS SUPPOSED TO....

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  5. Anonymous
    2013-11-09T00:28:34+00:00

    Spot on....

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