Demonstrating Audio Problem When Display Turns Off

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1

Would anyone be willing to take a few moments to see if this audio playback problem occurs on their Sansa Express unit?

Here are the steps to reproduce a problem found I found on my original Sansa Express and my
replacement Sansa Express (via RMA):

1) Download ‘48_kHz.zip’ from http://members.localnet.com/~kmmp/Sansa%20Express/

2) Unzip ‘48_kHz.zip’ (it contains a WAV file – a 30 second 440 Hz sine wave tone encoded at 48 kHz via Cool Edit 2000)

3) Copy ‘48_kHz.wav’ to your Sansa Express

4) Reset the settings:
    Settings ==> ‘Reset All’, hit enter then select ‘Confirm’ and hit enter.

5) Play the ‘48_kHz.wav’ file

6) After the display timeout expires (10 seconds) and the display shuts off you should
    hear the audio get real distorted and choppy (decimated) after a few seconds.

7) Before the 30-second WAV file ends, press enter on the Sansa Express to turn the display
    back on – the audio now sounds fine.

As these steps demonstrate, something is clearly wrong with the
Sansa Express playback functionality when the display shuts off.

The Sansa Express has no problem playing this WAV file when the
display is on, but when the display shuts off the audio quality is horrible.

Now play the ‘48_kHz.wav’ on your PC using an audio playback program such as Windows Media Player.
You will notice that it plays fine which proves the WAV itself is not at fault.

The tried the following firmware versions and the problem still occurs:
        01.01.01A
        01.01.05A

Thanks very much for anyone letting me know if they can reproduce this problem or not.

Best regards,

Ken

2

This screen shot shows why the Sansa Express’s audio is distorted when the display turns off:

For some reason my Sansa Express cannot faithfully playback the sine wave (440 Hz tone) after the display shuts off – every so often the audio “flat lines” for approximately 5 ms and this causes severe audio distortion and a subtle audio “slow down” effect. Turning the display back on causes this problem to go away.

Something is wrong with the Sansa Express playback functionality with regard to the display turning off. I’m hoping SanDisk will offer a firmware fix for this soon.

(The ~5 ms of dead zone is ~240 samples of data missing at 48 kHz encoding rate.)

Best regards,

Ken

3

I dont even need to do that. The stupid thing starts moaning like a cassette player out of battery whenever my display goes off.