srdavenport, no, you're not the only one. Bubbles in my face don't bother me, but the noise of them going past my ears seems very loud to me and a bit unpleasant. At first I wondered if it was just my reg (Zeagle Flathead VI), but looking at how other (single hose) reg's bubbles exit the second stage, I am guessing they all do that. Plus, I have read pretty much nothing but good reviews of the Zeagle.
On the "some regs have vents that push the bubbles further back," does that mean that you can buy different vents for some regs? Or that certain regs just do that in their stock form better than others? If it's the latter, I would love to know which ones they are - I did not see that mentioned in any comments when I was reg researching.
I hadn't appreciated that the DH reg's bubbles did not do that. Hmmmm....
If you look at my photo above, the upper divers bubbles (ScottyD) are exiting the reg in the photo. Instead of in your face, they come out by the tank valve as you see in the photo.