The Microsoft Surface Earbuds – the company's answer to the Apple AirPods and the Samsung Galaxy Buds – have only been available to buy for a short time, but users are already experiencing problems.
One Microsoft Forum user V.Vaicys described a “white noise hissing”, which appeared every time a sound is about to be played through the true wireless earbuds – for example, “the start of a phone call or music”.
They also said that this hissing noise is sometimes accompanied by a “pop”.
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- Read our Apple AirPods Pro review
A few days later, another user named Benkly echoed these concerns, saying “I am an electronic engineer and have the exact same issue with my earbuds and this annoing [sic] hissing noise.”
They continued, “as electronican [sic] I can tell that this sound should come from the amplifier that is in the earbuds. As soon as this amplifier is turned on, this hissing noise is there. It sounds like a bad calibrated amplifier.”
A universal problem
A Microsoft Agent named Janette_Z replied to these concerns, saying “we apologize for the troubles you have to go through with the pop/hiss sound on your Surface Earbuds. We have raised this to our team internally. Your feedback is greatly appreciated and we will get back to you as soon as we get updates on this.”
However, Microsoft declined to give a comment when we reached out to them, meaning we might to wait a little while for an explanation – meanwhile, the thread is full of users experiencing the same problem.
The AirPods Pro (pictured) have been plagued by a similar issue.
It's not the first time that wireless earbuds have been plagued by issues with white noise. Apple has released guidance following complaints that the AirPods Pro generate a crackling noise, as well as reduced effectiveness of the noise cancellation.
The new support guides offer troubleshooting steps for those who are experiencing issues with the active noise cancellation feature, or for those who have noticed crackling or the sound of static coming from their AirPods.
Samsung has also come under fire for similar issues with the Galaxy Buds Plus. Not long after the Galaxy Buds Plus' launch, Samsung released its first update, after some users reported hearing the strange sound of white noise while using the true wireless earbuds.
According to TizenHelp, the firmware version R175XXUOATB5 is designed to fix this issue, as well as other problems including a “delay in pairing” and Bluetooth dropouts.
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Via Tom's Guide
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