Speaking Peaking Out

Hey guys--

I just got my second g-nex. I had to return the first on a warranty claim because the microphone suddenly stopped working. I had read some people were having problems with it cutting out during a long call, but mine didn't work at all no matter what the duration of the call was. Voice Search couldn't even hear me. It was dead.

My new phone's mic seems to work loud and clear but the speaker sucks. It sounds like it's peaking out. Like what a really crappy speaker sounds like if you turn up the volume real high with that hissing noise and flat sounding volume.

I have it unlocked and rooted and installed 4.0.4 on it and didn't even think to try making a call before I did that. (It was a matter of out of the box, adb it up, and install 4.0.4.) So my question is... Is anyone else experiencing this? Any chance this is software related before I go through the hassle of un-rooting, re-locking, and returning to VZW (again)?

Thanks

BTW this is the earpiece speaker that's giving me grief. The speakerphone speaker sounds great.

I wasn't quite sure what to search for this one but just browsing around in the general thread I found another user with the same problem (http://www.droidforums.net/forum/gal...ing-sound.html) but the suggested solution didn't help me. I guess I'm going to have to assume it's hardware and go in for phone #3. Aw well.