Eeyyyup. Same for me OP. I gave my original 3DS away and dipped back in on an XL. After realizing that the speakers were so inaudibly quiet that I wasn't able to hear dialog in Soul Hackers if I had any background noise, like say a tv on in the background, I just kind of gave up on the system and sold it on craigalist.

I'd still be open to buying another one at some point but as you noted, they have a lot of shit to work through before I'd honestly consider it again. In my experience with the system it's just truly archaic to say the least.