Right Earbud discharges faster than left

Anonymous
2020-05-20T05:30:36+00:00

Hello.

I've been loving my earbuds but I've been noticing a trend that my right one discharges about twice as fast as the left. Battery life seems to be pretty good but, for example my left one is currently at 59% after 3 hours (as expected) but the right one is at 29% (lower than expected).

Is this normal? It seems like they should discharge at about the same rate, but this has been consistent since i received them. And the left one seems to be more in line with the expected battery life.

Thanks!

Surface | Surface Earbuds | Other

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

8 answers

Sort by: Oldest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2020-05-20T07:28:29+00:00

    Hi Scott,

    This has to do to the fact that the right earbud provides the reception for the left one.

    See also: https://www.engadget.com/surface-earbuds-single-bud-pairing-193004699.html

    Kind regards,

    Daniël

    Was this answer helpful?

    2 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2020-05-20T17:33:19+00:00

    I figured that this would be the answer. I'm not getting close to the expected battery life out of the right Earbud, but would be getting the right life out of the left one.

    Does Microsoft have any plans on figuring out how to balance this? At 4% on the right now, but over 50% on the left, which is a crazy difference in life.

    Was this answer helpful?

    3 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2020-05-20T20:06:47+00:00

    Daniel, 

    I have other earbuds, like the Sennheiser momentum 2, that also use the right earbud, yet they don't have the same issue.  Both earbuds are shown wrt battery life, so it isn't that the battery levels are masked somehow.  I originally thought it might have to do with the codec used to process the sound.  I haven't measured the battery life on my surface book 2 vs my iPhone.  Perhaps I'll test that next.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2020-05-22T13:13:14+00:00

    My new earbuds came 5/13 and it quickly became obvious that the battery life was quiet different and I wasn't sure if it was a problem or not.  I'm a little relieved to see others have the issue but it's still a little disturbing at the difference in the discharge rate.  The Engadget review listed by Daniel Etten at least explains why there is this issue.  My current buds show 20% on the right and 70% on the left.  My short experience with these buds seems to reflect this relative disparity that the right discharges about twice as fast as the left.  Annoying!

    Was this answer helpful?

    2 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  5. Anonymous
    2020-05-22T21:44:44+00:00

    So far, I don't get the rated battery life out of the right earbud (no more than about 5 hours), but plenty out of the left 😭

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments