Out of the box, I wasn't impressed with the Surface Headphones. They lacked clarity and brightness, and it sounded like I was listening to music through a thick velvet blanket. Even tweaking the equalizer settings in Spotify didn't really help very much.
That changed a little after downloading the Cortana app on a smartphone, which is available for both Android and iOS. There, I could tweak the equalizer settings through the Cortana app and get closer to the brighter and clearer sound I was looking for. And the equalizer settings you set on the Cortana app apply to other devices you connect to, as well.
Still, the Surface Headphones produce a warm sound, if that makes sense. It means there's little brightness and clarity to them even after tweaking them with the Cortana app. And that warmth somewhat diminishes pretty much every type of music, in my opinion.
A warm sound signature might seem like a good thing with music like Jazz, but it feels like the Surface Headphones cut short some of the instrument sounds, especially higher pitched sounds like cymbals. Despite the tweaking in the Cortana app, that velvet blanket was still there, muffling some of the sound I'm used to hearing.
And the warmth cuts away the excitement of more up-beat music, too. I simply didn't appreciate my usual playlists as much while using the Surface Headphones.
They won't satisfy bass enthusiasts, either, and I feel myself wanting slightly better sound quality overall.