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New Sansa Clip-pitch is too low

post #1 of 13
8/10/09 at 3:09pm
Thread Starter 
Hi all,

I just got a new Sansa Clip yesterday and the pitch on music playback is too low. The song lengths are accurate, but for some strange reason the pitch is a semi-tone or tone too low. Anyone else notice this? I'm assuming there is no way to fix this, but just thought I'd ask. On music where there is no vocals, it's not a big deal. However, when there are vocals, it definitely does not sound right. This is comparing it against my Ipod, computer audio and CD player.

A side note, I use an Ipod Classic with line-out as my main music player. I run this into a Decware Zenhead headphone amp and Grado SR60 headphones. According to my ears, this Clip is way better than the Ipod in almost every SQ aspect. Also, soundstage is a lot larger on this little Clip. Cool. Just the blasted pitch issue is one of my only complaints. Thanks for any suggestions.
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Gear mentioned in this thread:

SanDisk Sansa Clip+ 2 GB MP3 Player (Black)
SanDisk Sansa Clip+ 8 GB MP3 Player (Black)
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SanDisk Sansa Clip+ 4 GB MP3 Player (Blue)
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post #2 of 13
8/10/09 at 5:53pm
It's a known issue with the Sansa Clip v2 - I read that it's because its set to 48000 Hz, for playback (and most digital files are 44000 Hz).

The Sansa Fuze had the same problem, but was fixed with a firmware update - no word on whether the Clip will get updated, however.
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post #3 of 13
8/10/09 at 6:17pm
It's a known issue for clip v1 too. Seems to vary depending on the format of the file being played. Some people have reported tempo issues as well.

1st problem with 8GB Clip already... - Sansa Clip - Welcome to SanDisk's Sansa Community
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post #4 of 13
8/27/09 at 8:24pm

Latest firmware has a fix

I don't own a Clip, but it looks as if Sansa Clip Firmware 01.01.32 and 02.01.32 include the following fixes:

Bugs Fixed:

•Playlists redirect to GoList when there are many playlists on device
•Device hangs up during Voice recording
•Add to GoList at Artist level does not work if Rhapsody Channel is present
•Intermittent loss of resume position for long MP3 Audiobooks.
•Certain FLAC file tag info is not displayed on device UI
•Music plays slow – mp3 192kbps 44KHz CBR
•Long files skip after fast forward
•Device auto-reboots after UI formatting
•Device shut off during FM recording
•Device cannot connect to PS3 if started from OFF condition in MSC mode

See: Sansa Clip Firmware Update - Sansa Clip - Welcome to SanDisk's Sansa Community

Mike
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post #5 of 13
8/27/09 at 8:52pm
I think the low end model can't offer you what you want.
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post #6 of 13
8/27/09 at 11:58pm
Interesting that you can pick that out. I'm not sure if Rockbox is out for the Clip like it is for the Fuze, but on my rockboxed fuze there's an option to adjust the pitch.
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post #7 of 13
8/28/09 at 2:08am
Quote:
Originally Posted by zilch0md View Post
I don't own a Clip, but it looks as if Sansa Clip Firmware 01.01.32 and 02.01.32 include the following fixes:

Bugs Fixed:

•Playlists redirect to GoList when there are many playlists on device
•Device hangs up during Voice recording
•Add to GoList at Artist level does not work if Rhapsody Channel is present
•Intermittent loss of resume position for long MP3 Audiobooks.
•Certain FLAC file tag info is not displayed on device UI
•Music plays slow – mp3 192kbps 44KHz CBR
•Long files skip after fast forward
•Device auto-reboots after UI formatting
•Device shut off during FM recording
•Device cannot connect to PS3 if started from OFF condition in MSC mode

See: Sansa Clip Firmware Update - Sansa Clip - Welcome to SanDisk's Sansa Community

Mike
I had a Sansa Clip v2 with the 02.01.32 firmware - it didn't fix the problem. It was actually the reason why I ended up returning it.

Looks like they still haven't fixed this, yet.
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post #8 of 13
8/28/09 at 11:15am
Quote:
Originally Posted by roebeet View Post
I had a Sansa Clip v2 with the 02.01.32 firmware - it didn't fix the problem. It was actually the reason why I ended up returning it.

Looks like they still haven't fixed this, yet.

The Clip plays about a fifth of a semitone flat when playing files with a 44.1 kHz sample rate. (I work around this by resampling everything I put on the Clip to 48 kHz. This makes it play slightly sharp, but it's hardly noticeable.)

See here for more info:

Re: Before buying: songs playing at a slower speed? - Sansa Fuze - Welcome to SanDisk's Sansa Community

No, they haven't fixed this problem yet. It's been six months since the Clip's last firmware update. A Sandisk rep announced earlier this month on the Sansa Clip forum that Clip firmware development is continuing, but who knows if that's really true.
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post #9 of 13
8/28/09 at 12:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by fuzhenyun View Post
I think the low end model can't offer you what you want.
The low-end model has the same chips in it as the high-end model. Just a much smaller screen and 1/4 the memory, and no sd slot.

It can play it right, it just doesn't. It's a software problem.
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post #10 of 13
8/28/09 at 3:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by roebeet View Post
I had a Sansa Clip v2 with the 02.01.32 firmware - it didn't fix the problem. It was actually the reason why I ended up returning it.

Looks like they still haven't fixed this, yet.
Bummer.

Thanks for this follow-up to my post,

Mike
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post #11 of 13
6/7/10 at 11:54am

Does this problem also exist on the Clip+? I just bought the 4GB refurb off of Woot for $25 shipped and now I'm nervous that I'm going to get this pitch problem. Do all the the versions have this problem?

 

Also, would installing Rockbox fix the issue? I definitely don't want to have to convert all of my files to 48khz, too big of a pain.

 

Also, since the last post in this thread is 10 months old... Has Sansa fixed this issue in an updated firmware since Aug 2009?

 

Thanks!

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post #12 of 13
6/7/10 at 1:21pm
Thread Starter 

I sold mine a few months ago.  The limited storage and pitch issue got to be too annoying.  Not sure if this has been fixed yet. 

 

Cory

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post #13 of 13
6/7/10 at 1:28pm

AFIK the OF still has the problem to a small degree.  I forget the exact percent, but there is a long thread about it on the sandisk forum.  They basically decided that because fixing it completely would reduce battery life by 3 percent or something, and then the marketroids won't have a nice round 15 hours to plaster all over the box.  I think rockbox does fix the problem though.  You might want to check here if you haven't already.

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Gear mentioned in this thread:

SanDisk Sansa Clip+ 2 GB MP3 Player (Black)
SanDisk Sansa Clip+ 8 GB MP3 Player (Black)
Powered by NexTag
SanDisk Sansa Clip+ 4 GB MP3 Player (Blue)
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