Environment always matters for sound. That goes double for a laptop with speakers that face downward. Upward-facing speakers are less sensitive to environment, but they have their own drawbacks including acting as an intake for dust and dirt.
If you have your Framework on a hard surface, the audio is crisp and clean but lacks bass. Maximum volume is limited; it’s loud enough for desktop use but isn’t up to the task of filling a room. You will want a separate speaker for that. Good overall; a subwoofer would make it better but there is no room for one in a thin and light laptop.
Sound will be more muffled if you put it on a soft surface such as a chair or mousepad. You should be careful about using the Framework on such a surface in any case because it will limit air circulation; the system takes in air from a vent on the bottom. It will be fine for casual use, but if you plan to run anything that will push the system hard you should make sure that the airflow is unblocked.
Floating in air, the sound will seem less loud than on a suitable surface. The surface reflects some of the sound from the downward-facing speakers to the user. In my tests it also seemed a tad less crisp, though not as much as on the soft surface.
