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[Rant] External Speaker Blown/Sounds Like Garbage

So my external speaker stopped working properly after my alarm went off yesterday. Now it sounds like I'm talking to tech support in India using a Barbie walkie-talkie as a speakerphone. I think it's blown. Being the industrious engineer type, I took the whole phone apart to try to see if something rattled loose. No luck, but I did have fun going to a meeting at working with a pile of disassembled components for a cellphone. I think my external speaker is probably blown. It should be noted that I was using the ViperRom volume hack at the time (I've since removed it from Nebula Rom just in case that was the issue). I really doubt it is the root cause of the issue because it wasn't at full volume, and I rarely use the speaker for any prolonged duration other than alarms, notifications, ringtones. This is just a cautionary tale, a boombox is not a toy. Samsung said 6 business days for a turnaround on the RMA. Ugh. I might have to pay the bastards at Sprint for their $35 "convenience" charge. They conveniently bend me over on a legitimate warranty claim, or I don't have a phone for my business for over a week. I'll tell you what, I have never had a problem with the speaker on my iPod/iPad not working after 3+ months. Thank you Mr. Steve Jobs. You must be a genius for creating these magical products solely by yourself, crafted skillfully out of love and rainbows. Without this (and sacrificing unicorns), I can understand why the competition has such a hard time creating a device who's external speaker can withstand normal use for 3 months.
Long story short, my phone has DI18 stock on it right now. Wow does that make me sad. What's worse is that I couldn't find the 13th windows 95 floppy so I could install ODIN.

this happened 2 me once
and all samsung could say was to get me the repair going on but i had the full protection from s;rint so i just got a new phone at a cost of a hundred bucks of course

plapczyn said:
So my external speaker stopped working properly after my alarm went off yesterday. Now it sounds like I'm talking to tech support in India using a Barbie walkie-talkie as a speakerphone. I think it's blown. Being the industrious engineer type, I took the whole phone apart to try to see if something rattled loose. No luck, but I did have fun going to a meeting at working with a pile of disassembled components for a cellphone. I think my external speaker is probably blown. It should be noted that I was using the ViperRom volume hack at the time (I've since removed it from Nebula Rom just in case that was the issue). I really doubt it is the root cause of the issue because it wasn't at full volume, and I rarely use the speaker for any prolonged duration other than alarms, notifications, ringtones. This is just a cautionary tale, a boombox is not a toy. Samsung said 6 business days for a turnaround on the RMA. Ugh. I might have to pay the bastards at Sprint for their $35 "convenience" charge. They conveniently bend me over on a legitimate warranty claim, or I don't have a phone for my business for over a week. I'll tell you what, I have never had a problem with the speaker on my iPod/iPad not working after 3+ months. Thank you Mr. Steve Jobs. You must be a genius for creating these magical products solely by yourself, crafted skillfully out of love and rainbows. Without this (and sacrificing unicorns), I can understand why the competition has such a hard time creating a device who's external speaker can withstand normal use for 3 months.
Long story short, my phone has DI18 stock on it right now. Wow does that make me sad. What's worse is that I couldn't find the 13th windows 95 floppy so I could install ODIN.
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Click to collapse
i dont think anyone can make external speakers like apple
i have a mac and an ipod and the sound amazing
hope your epic gets fixed soon

You probably can just replace the speaker yourself
If you have the time and patience you can just order the original OEM part from ebay. Just search for "New OEM Samsung Epic Speaker Replacement" and they're like $13
Hope this helps.

It'd be nice if there was a speaker upgrade.
I had a blackberry 9000 (bold) before this phone. Had it for two years. The external speaker on it was amazing. Blew Iphones away. It actually had legitimate bass response. If RIM can do it, seems like Samsung should be able to too.
But then have you seen samsung's new led tvs? Awful picture!
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

Same thing happened to me. I wasn't using any volume hacks or anything like that... it just blew when my alarm went off.
Took it to the nearest sprint store and they didn't have the part so they called the only nearby sprint store that, according to their online inventory, did have it. On the phone, they confirmed that they had it so I drove another 30 minutes to get there. Finally, they take my phone, disassemble it, and realize that they don't actually have the part. They had a samsung moment speaker.
I took my phone and had to come back a week later when the part finally came in...
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

Happened to mine too. Sprint store fixed it. That was before the TAP policy change.
Looks like the DIY replacement is the cheapest way to go.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

After a phone lockup and rare battery pull this morning I thought this had happened too. The "beep" when turning volume to full was distorted and super loud, while ringtones were faint and almost inaudible. After a few minutes it stopped once I played a youtube video, but I'm puzzled and wondering if this will happen to me as well...

What is it with all these blown speakers? Are the speakers they use that much ****ty?
Sent from my Evo Killer!!!

Mine did this the other day. When i was charging the phone while plugged into my computer and I got a phone call, after the phone call was over everything sounded really bad. All my system sounds were distorted and loud. Even the shutdown sounds were crazy. After a reboot though it sounded normal. I've recreated it when im plugged into my computer, but on the regular samsung charger it doesn't do it. Weird...

My phone did this last week. I haven't taken it in yet. Sounds like somebody needs to get a class action going.

Happened to me a while ago, made a topic about it: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=885296
Not sure if it's the exact same problem, all of my media-type sounds were just making static noise, and I had to get the phone replaced.
I didn't have insurance, so it cost me $35, not a big deal. Except that the replacement phone had issues with the capacitive buttons not being very responsive, and they wanted to charge me ANOTHER $35 to get that fixed, when I brought it back in the next day, wtf! Luckily, they waived it just that one time, and I haven't had any issues since. (crosses fingers)

plapczyn said:
So my external speaker stopped working properly after my alarm went off yesterday. Now it sounds like I'm talking to tech support in India using a Barbie walkie-talkie as a speakerphone. I think it's blown. Being the industrious engineer type, I took the whole phone apart to try to see if something rattled loose. No luck, but I did have fun going to a meeting at working with a pile of disassembled components for a cellphone. I think my external speaker is probably blown. It should be noted that I was using the ViperRom volume hack at the time (I've since removed it from Nebula Rom just in case that was the issue). I really doubt it is the root cause of the issue because it wasn't at full volume, and I rarely use the speaker for any prolonged duration other than alarms, notifications, ringtones. This is just a cautionary tale, a boombox is not a toy. Samsung said 6 business days for a turnaround on the RMA. Ugh. I might have to pay the bastards at Sprint for their $35 "convenience" charge. They conveniently bend me over on a legitimate warranty claim, or I don't have a phone for my business for over a week. I'll tell you what, I have never had a problem with the speaker on my iPod/iPad not working after 3+ months. Thank you Mr. Steve Jobs. You must be a genius for creating these magical products solely by yourself, crafted skillfully out of love and rainbows. Without this (and sacrificing unicorns), I can understand why the competition has such a hard time creating a device who's external speaker can withstand normal use for 3 months.
Long story short, my phone has DI18 stock on it right now. Wow does that make me sad. What's worse is that I couldn't find the 13th windows 95 floppy so I could install ODIN.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Isn't it common for manufacturer warranties to be honored by the manufacturer and not the reseller?
2. Doesn't Samsung make 8 million different phone models a year while Stevie and the Rainbows make 1?
3. Are you serious about the 13th floppy?
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

Firmware?
Is this happening with stock D18 firmware, modded or stock Froyo?
So far it hasn't happened to me with the stock D18 firmware so I am curious.

Mushmaster said:
1. Isn't it common for manufacturer warranties to be honored by the manufacturer and not the reseller?
2. Doesn't Samsung make 8 million different phone models a year while Stevie and the Rainbows make 1?
3. Are you serious about the 13th floppy?
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) Yup. It is. But since phones are tied to a service they traditionally were covered by the service provider. This was the case with Sprint until recent changes.
2) True, but a speaker, really? I've NEVER had a phone speaker stop working on ANY phone that I have ever had. Perhaps I was just lucky. But I pretty much only use the thing for ringtones and alarms. I barely ever even use speakerphone.
3) Na. That was a joke. I have Vista...but using it is comparable to my 13th disk analogy.
I took one of the posters suggestions and bought a replacement oem speaker. For the record, Samsung was very considerate about the problem and issued an RMA right away. I just don't want to deal with not having a phone for over a week.

plapczyn said:
1) Yup. It is. But since phones are tied to a service they traditionally were covered by the service provider. This was the case with Sprint until recent changes.
2) True, but a speaker, really? I've NEVER had a phone speaker stop working on ANY phone that I have ever had. Perhaps I was just lucky. But I pretty much only use the thing for ringtones and alarms. I barely ever even use speakerphone.
3) Na. That was a joke. I have Vista...but using it is comparable to my 13th disk analogy.
I took one of the posters suggestions and bought a replacement oem speaker. For the record, Samsung was very considerate about the problem and issued an RMA right away. I just don't want to deal with not having a phone for over a week.
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Click to collapse
Do you mind sharing where you bought your external speaker and how you went about replacing it?

ya ive been had the crackling noise in my speaker for a while now. its serioulsy horrible. gonna take it to a sprint store for the free repair since i have insurance but im wondering if i can use an external speaker from a different device for better quality. givin id have to afro engineer it, still think its worth the time as opposed to replacing the crappy speaker every 3-6 months cuz it blows from regular usage. ive had quite a few people come to my work with the epic complaining about the same thing that have been on stock since day 1 so it obviously a hardware issue in its own.

[Q] Evo Hardware Differences

A few weeks ago my HW0004 Evo's USB port began to malfunction, so I unrooted, took it to sprint, where the agreed to send me a refurb. I got my refurb, pulled up ##786#, noticed it was considerably older than my old phone, and that is was HW0003, not long after I realized the vibrate was broken, and sounded higher pitched and crackly, unlike my old Evo which was quite but strong. I took it back to Sprint, where they again agreed to replace the device, with yet another HW0003, The strength of the vibrate is back, but the crackly high pitch noise still exists. Is this a known issue? Anyone else notice this? Is there any way to get sprint to send me a new phone or a 0004 refurb?

jostrander said:
A few weeks ago my HW0004 Evo's USB port began to malfunction, so I unrooted, took it to sprint, where the agreed to send me a refurb. I got my refurb, pulled up ##786#, noticed it was considerably older than my old phone, and that is was HW0003, not long after I realized the vibrate was broken, and sounded higher pitched and crackly, unlike my old Evo which was quite but strong. I took it back to Sprint, where they again agreed to replace the device, with yet another HW0003, The strength of the vibrate is back, but the crackly high pitch noise still exists. Is this a known issue? Anyone else notice this? Is there any way to get sprint to send me a new phone or a 0004 refurb?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They will keep sending refurbs(at least to a point I'm sure), but it's probably gonna be the luck of the draw which version you get. I would be surprised if there were any way to tell them to only send 0004s, particularly since the vast majority of the refurbs they have are probably 0003s.

robertroland said:
They will keep sending refurbs(at least to a point I'm sure), but it's probably gonna be the luck of the draw which version you get. I would be surprised if there were any way to tell them to only send 0004s, particularly since the vast majority of the refurbs they have are probably 0003s.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply, normally I wouldn't care but from day one i enjoyed the quite vibrate, and now it sounds like some cheap plastic phone. Once noticed, it can't be unnoticed.

jostrander said:
Thanks for the reply, normally I wouldn't care but from day one i enjoyed the quite vibrate, and now it sounds like some cheap plastic phone. Once noticed, it can't be unnoticed.
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Click to collapse
As someone who has Monk-like (the TV show) OCD, I feel your pain.
If you have a history of problems, and are at a "real" corporately owned Sprint repair center, you can probably talk to a manager and get a new one. Don't expect to be successful on your first try, but make your problems known, if they say refurb only, remember their name, accept it, and when the inevitably defective refurb comes in, make sure that same manager is working that day, and show him how you're STILL unsatisfied.
Two of my biggest pet peeves are: people using the term "pet peeve" ;P and when companies take RMA'd merchandise and stick it right back out onto the selling floor. The cycle repeats until finally some poor soul gets stuck with it.
When I briefly had a refurb HW 0002, I immediately noticed the smooth viiiibrrraaatte of my old HW 0002 was replaced with an annoying blip on the refurb. So it was more like vi-viiiibrrraaatte and was tremendously annoying, to me at least. And it would intermittently do that, so that made it even worse. Like something was falling apart inside the vibrator.

ffolkes said:
As someone who has Monk-like (the TV show) OCD, I feel your pain.
If you have a history of problems, and are at a "real" corporately owned Sprint repair center, you can probably talk to a manager and get a new one. Don't expect to be successful on your first try, but make your problems known, if they say refurb only, remember their name, accept it, and when the inevitably defective refurb comes in, make sure that same manager is working that day, and show him how you're STILL unsatisfied.
Two of my biggest pet peeves are: people using the term "pet peeve" ;P and when companies take RMA'd merchandise and stick it right back out onto the selling floor. The cycle repeats until finally some poor soul gets stuck with it.
When I briefly had a refurb HW 0002, I immediately noticed the smooth viiiibrrraaatte of my old HW 0002 was replaced with an annoying blip on the refurb. So it was more like vi-viiiibrrraaatte and was tremendously annoying, to me at least. And it would intermittently do that, so that made it even worse. Like something was falling apart inside the vibrator.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, the manager at the store was the one who told me straight up that this new vibrate was "FINE" and he insisted after my second phone I was just hearing things, and that they all sounded like this. I beg to differ, two of my buddies evo's were quite just like mine, and you can still hear the difference. I love to get my original hw0004 board back, but it had the broken usb. Oh well. Thanks for hearing me rant, at least I know I'm not the only one with OCD like this.

[Q] For those with their Nexus 4, is the earpiece making a screeching noise?

If I place my Nexus 4 against my ear, I can hear high pitched screeching and some popping coming from the earpiece, even when a call is not taking place. At first I thought it was a heat issue, maybe some capacitors or something getting a bit hot and whistling, so I turned the phone off and the noises stopped instantly.
This is pretty annoying and surely shouldn't be happening

Yes, mine too
losimagic said:
If I place my Nexus 4 against my ear, I can hear high pitched screeching and some popping coming from the earpiece, even when a call is not taking place. At first I thought it was a heat issue, maybe some capacitors or something getting a bit hot and whistling, so I turned the phone off and the noises stopped instantly.
This is pretty annoying and surely shouldn't be happening
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm glad you posted that, mine does it too - and I thought I had a faulty phone.
According to support I'm the first to report such a problem, have you called support about it? - 0800 328 6081.
The more of us that call, the better the chance it's sorted (if it's possible).
I can't live with that noise, it's too loud for me as I have sensitive hearing on interference like that.
So it looks like I'm sending mine back for a refund and go buy a S3
It does sound like poor build quality in suppressing electrical interference to the ear speaker, as you say capacitors or even a processor is leaking noise to that speaker in the same way cell/mobile radio causes to external speakers when brought close to them.

WOW so many problems already with this thing!!! I don't know about this phone right now

rshea said:
I'm glad you posted that, mine does it too - and I thought I had a faulty phone.
According to support I'm the first to report such a problem, have you called support about it? - 0800 328 6081.
The more of us that call, the better the chance it's sorted (if it's possible).
I can't live with that noise, it's too loud for me as I have sensitive hearing on interference like that.
So it looks like I'm sending mine back for a refund and go buy a S3
It does sound like poor build quality in suppressing electrical interference to the ear speaker, as you say capacitors or even a processor is leaking noise to that speaker in the same way cell/mobile radio causes to external speakers when brought close to them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I returned it to the store for a refund - they refused to swap it for another as they couldn't hear it . I've ordered another which I should get tomorrow, and if that has the same issue I'm not sure what to do - it doesn't really sound like something that can be fixed through software, does it?
I asked on another forum and one person replied saying that there's was ok, but maybe they're ears just aren't as sensitive as ours.
I remember as a kid, I could hear CRT TVs from a long way off (no sound was coming through the speakers) and nobody else could.

losimagic said:
I returned it to the store for a refund - they refused to swap it for another as they couldn't hear it . I've ordered another which I should get tomorrow, and if that has the same issue I'm not sure what to do - it doesn't really sound like something that can be fixed through software, does it?
I asked on another forum and one person replied saying that there's was ok, but maybe they're ears just aren't as sensitive as ours.
I remember as a kid, I could hear CRT TVs from a long way off (no sound was coming through the speakers) and nobody else could.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you're right, I too always heard a CRT working (I still can when I see one working!)
Maybe we're hearing interference the average user is not going to hear.
If anyone else is reading this and owns a Nexus 4, try calling your voicemail (which I assume would be free for you) - during the call wait for a few seconds and listen carefully, it's more obvious when you're not talking and in a call.
The noise is almost like having a small fly trapped between the phone and your ear at times, it also reminds me of the noise a hard drive makes at times and most of us know what that sounds like.

rshea said:
I think you're right, I too always heard a CRT working (I still can when I see one working!)
Maybe we're hearing interference the average user is not going to hear.
If anyone else is reading this and owns a Nexus 4, try calling your voicemail (which I assume would be free for you) - during the call wait for a few seconds and listen carefully, it's more obvious when you're not talking and in a call.
The noise is almost like having a small fly trapped between the phone and your ear at times, it also reminds me of the noise a hard drive makes at times and most of us know what that sounds like.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got it even when I wasn't on a call - a few seconds after powering up the phone and it was there

You guys are nerds
No, I can feel your pain! Hopefully you guys can sort this out and this is in general not a common problem with the N4.

i don't have this issue

It seems to be an issue with the electromagnetic shielding. I get this problem when I am next to my sound system and amplifier. Those things arent shielded. Now in school where theres basically nothing else here my earpiece is completely clean. Not even a hiss.

does it also emit a sound when it is swithced on, but the screen is off? i remember i had sth. like this (high-pitched sound) on my first google nexus s, but it was clearly coming from the screen rather than the earpiece.

Received a replacement today - it's A LOT better. There's still a very feint buzz, but it's barely noticeable.

Hallucinogen775 said:
does it also emit a sound when it is swithced on, but the screen is off? i remember i had sth. like this (high-pitched sound) on my first google nexus s, but it was clearly coming from the screen rather than the earpiece.
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Click to collapse
Yes, even did it without a simcard inside. Definitely coming from the earpiece, if I moved my ear down the phone it was quieter/silent.

What about in airplane mode?

jacklebott said:
What about in airplane mode?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Didn't test the previous one in airplane mode, but just tried this one and it's the same.

Definitely getting the same issue with my N4; screen on or off. Can't imagine this being fixed by firmware, sounds like a bad hardware design.
I'm also once of these people who gets irritated by the sound of DVD Players/VCR/TV etc. But two other people I have shown seem to think its an issue too.

It's good to read a replacement was better, that's made my day.
The problem is certainly a electromagnetic shielding issue with the earpiece, I can stand in a middle of a field and it has that sound you often get from PC or Hi-Fi speakers when you stand close to them.
But with the earpiece you can't move it of course - so clearly a design flaw, and hopefully only on a batch?
That said, it does seem to be an intermittent fault, I've also noticed it doesn't happen within the first 10-30 seconds of a call. I wonder if the phone stops all background processes during the start of a call, but then later kicks in which causes those noises.

losimagic said:
I remember as a kid, I could hear CRT TVs from a long way off (no sound was coming through the speakers) and nobody else could.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can hear the high pitched noise from a CRT from, like, 100'. Can a lot of other people really not hear them? Also, deer/dog/insect deterrents that people use in their homes and yard give me an instant headache from the sound. Great. This does not bode well. Oh well, I'll cross that bridge if/when I get to it.

Same here

estallings15 said:
I can hear the high pitched noise from a CRT from, like, 100'. Can a lot of other people really not hear them? Also, deer/dog/insect deterrents that people use in their homes and yard give me an instant headache from the sound. Great. This does not bode well. Oh well, I'll cross that bridge if/when I get to it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly that, those who can't hear those audible repellents for pets, or not hear the Apps available which also emit very annoying high pitch sounds - then would not be bothered by the noise we mention here.
I'm certain if I took my N4 into a shop, the typical response from staff would be "we can't hear it"

I have this issue with my phone as well. Screen on or off. Charging or not. Noise is still present.

Outgoing call quality

My girlfriend just upgraded from an S3 to an S5. Since then, the call quality on my end has been extremely bad. She is almost not understandable at times. This is worse when she calls my cell phone, but also happens on land lines. Not having had a chance to look in to this issue, I was curious if there were any settings that could possibly remedy this. I'll be seeing her in a couple days, and want to swap phones with her and let her hear what I'm hearing. However, if there is an easy fix I would like to be able to implement it then.
I'm not sure if root has been gained on this phone, but I'm pretty sure that she wouldn't be terribly interested in rooting or doing any other serious modifications. If this is an issue nobody else has, I'll probably suggest she take the phone back and get a new one.
Any help would be appreciated.

Idk where you are located, but my s5 was getting nothing but pretty wonky 3g and horrible calls for like 2-3 days straight, woke up this morning and everything was peachy .... wichita ks area. .. .... yes, we DO have 4g in ks... we are also nearing the end of bell bottom jeans and pretty close to getting cd players in all new cars brought into the state. ..
beav3r

FranzDages said:
My girlfriend just upgraded from an S3 to an S5. Since then, the call quality on my end has been extremely bad. She is almost not understandable at times. This is worse when she calls my cell phone, but also happens on land lines. Not having had a chance to look in to this issue, I was curious if there were any settings that could possibly remedy this. I'll be seeing her in a couple days, and want to swap phones with her and let her hear what I'm hearing. However, if there is an easy fix I would like to be able to implement it then.
I'm not sure if root has been gained on this phone, but I'm pretty sure that she wouldn't be terribly interested in rooting or doing any other serious modifications. If this is an issue nobody else has, I'll probably suggest she take the phone back and get a new one.
Any help would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My dad has this problem. He has an S3 mini and I had an S3, so I was pretty familiar with the setup. I did the research and found at least two things we could try. I can't remember one of them as I don't think it helped (might have been turning off Noise Reduction in Call Settings). Funny thing was that when I looked it up, only left handed people had the problem. Apparently, they were covering the mics with their pinkies. I think the mic has shifted sides now. Check and see how she's holding it. If she's right handed, her pinky could sit right over the mic to steady the phone. My dad still has this problem...when he forgets he's covering the mic with his finger.

FranzDages said:
the call quality on my end has been extremely bad. She is almost not understandable at times. .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I seem to be having the same issue. I've had folks tell me that they are only getting every 2nd or 3rd word when using the regular mic or speaker. However, when I use bluetooth, there are no issues. Seems like a microphone issue but cannot seem to find anyone else with this but you.

One Speaker on my 6P was louder than the other.

I received my 6P yesterday, and by this morning I dropped it into a UPS box to send it back.
So, I got the 64GB aluminum version, it arrived a day after I placed my order. I set it up and let it install its OS update, which took forever, then I started to use it. Right away I noticed that the top speaker seemed louder than the bottom speaker when the phone was playing notification sounds. In two phone calls, people complained that it sounded like I was underwater or had them on speakerphone.
I was a little concerned by the speaker issue, so I took the time to play back audio from NPR and then tried a few videos. While playing back video, I flipped the phone this way and that, and moved the phone back and forth from ear to ear just to make sure I wasn't deaf in one ear. The top speaker was definitely much louder than the other. With the mic being housed with the bottom speaker, I'm lead to believe both issues are related.
I contacted customer support and the lady who took my call said that another user had called with the same issue, but she couldn't recall which model they had. She had spoken with the design team about this and they said it was a defect, that both speakers should be firing at the same volume level.
We did the mandatory factory reset and I fired up YouTube - then I moved my old phone back and forth over the speakers of the 6P and she could hear the difference too, so I ended up mailing it back for a refund - I plan to buy another, but an exchange would entail a $549 hold on my bank account, so a refund it is.
So, that said, I'm curious - has anyone else had this issue? I searched the web but didn't find anything, but I've tweeted to some people who were opening new devices and one of them said he felt the top speaker was louder on his unit too (I didn't say which speaker, I just asked if one was louder than the other), while another person said she'd follow up.

It seems like it's a relatively common issue.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-6p/help/check-speakers-t3237050
http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-6p/help/uneven-speaker-volume-t3238144
https://www.reddit.com/r/Nexus6P/comments/3r6faw/nexus_6p_speaker_issue_strawpoll_please_answer_if/

Roxy said:
It seems like it's a relatively common issue.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-6p/help/check-speakers-t3237050
http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-6p/help/uneven-speaker-volume-t3238144
https://www.reddit.com/r/Nexus6P/comments/3r6faw/nexus_6p_speaker_issue_strawpoll_please_answer_if/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
:crying::crying::crying:
Oh dear... I wouldn't have minded it if it was just a tad louder, but it was bad - plus I was having some speaker overdrive issues as well. I guess I'll wait for Google to process my refund and keep an eye on these threads before deciding if I want to take the risk again... Which sucks, because I was loving the phone. Hell, I picked this over a Lumia 950 XL because I wanted to use some half decent apps and have access to Tap to Pay. Sure, Android still waits forever for iOS apps, but Windows waits for never. -_-

I kept my phone regardless of the volume issue... lol.
Here's more reddit post(s) regarding the problem:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Nexus6P/comments/3rjbbd/did_anyone_figure_out_if_the_top_speaker_being/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Nexus6P/comments/3r45jr/speakers_not_balanced/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Nexus6P/comments/3qrjp2/top_speaker_louder_than_bottom_one/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Nexus6P/comments/3qso4k/is_anybody_not_having_speaker_balance_issues/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Nexus6P/comments/3rak95/did_rma_fixed_uneven_speaker_issue/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Nexus6P/comments/3rajy4/can_someone_post_a_video_of_the_speakers_balanced/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Nexus6P/comments/3quee4/front_facing_speakers/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Nexus6P/comments/3rdslq/google_store_support_says_that_the_volume/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Nexus6P/comments/3rekuc/speaker_difference_an_intended_feature/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Nexus6P/comments/3rcumg/speaker_imbalance_based_on_volume_level/

Roxy said:
I kept my phone regardless of the volume issue... lol.
Here's more reddit post(s) regarding the problem:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Nexus6P/comments/3rjbbd/did_anyone_figure_out_if_the_top_speaker_being/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Nexus6P/comments/3r45jr/speakers_not_balanced/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Nexus6P/comments/3qrjp2/top_speaker_louder_than_bottom_one/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Nexus6P/comments/3qso4k/is_anybody_not_having_speaker_balance_issues/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Nexus6P/comments/3rak95/did_rma_fixed_uneven_speaker_issue/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Nexus6P/comments/3rajy4/can_someone_post_a_video_of_the_speakers_balanced/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Nexus6P/comments/3quee4/front_facing_speakers/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Nexus6P/comments/3rdslq/google_store_support_says_that_the_volume/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Nexus6P/comments/3rekuc/speaker_difference_an_intended_feature/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Nexus6P/comments/3rcumg/speaker_imbalance_based_on_volume_level/
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Click to collapse
I've blogged about this and have included all these links - thanks for the info! I really hope when I buy another one that it don't have the speaker issue. Google needs to step out and address Speakergate so users are aware of this issue.
https://tekmuze.wordpress.com/2015/11/04/forget-bending-the-nexus-6p-may-have-speaker-defect/

I see on Reddit that some people are hearing the exact opposite of what I was told by Google support - Google support is telling them that this actually "feature" and not a flaw, which brings to mind old comics about Windows 95 and 98 bugs being labeled as features... -_-

If it's a "fault" on all phones then surely it's an easy software fix. I'm surprised none of the reviews mentioned it?

Batfink33 said:
If it's a "fault" on all phones then surely it's an easy software fix. I'm surprised none of the reviews mentioned it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I too am amazed... But keep in mind that review units are hand picked and sent out by Google, so it's likely that phones without this flaw were sent to the press.