Fuze incorrect playback speed - my test results

I very recently purchased a Fuze, based on excellent reviews I found on the web.  Yes, it’s an excellent little player for the money, but I’ve found a serious shortcoming - this player refuses to play at the correct speed.  I was syncing up the Fuze to a CD player (just comparing the audio difference/quality), both playing the same track (and carefully matching the beat with a little pause button dancing!), one earphone from the Fuze and one from the CD player, and the Fuze marginally slipped ahead.  Obviously, this was becoming more noticeable as the track wore on.  Just to be sure, I tried again and the Fuze marginally slipped ahead again.  I grabbed my old Creative Nomad Jukebox harddrive player, did the same test with the CD player and it was synced as close as you’d ever want.  I grabbed an iPod Nano and, once again, synced the Fuze audio with the CD audio and the Nano stuck with the speed of the CD player.  I tried my old Lexar flash MP3 player and it played in time with the CD.  What’s going on with the Fuze?

I’m on V02.02.26F.  Out of curiosity I thought I’d get an older firmware and try it.  I found V02.01.17, installed it and tried again.  Thie Fuze was playing back just as quickly.  This is not way off, but it’s off.  I’m no expert, but is it not easy to give the Fuze some firmware to make it play at the right speed?  The Nano can do it!  I didn’t want an iPod…but maybe I should’ve got a Nano?  I have my MP3s as LAME V0 VBR files at 44.1kHz.  I tried a FLAC file - fast, just like MP3.  I tried a 320 CBR MP3 - same again.  128 WMA - same.  It’s just slightly fast.  I resampled a 44.1 MP3 to 48kHz, but it made no difference.

Do I have a duff player, or is there a known issue that Sansa will be putting right?

Like I said, I noticed a few posts about speed concerns, but some were about the playback of audio books and one, with a similar point, seemed to drift off topic and then dry up.  A definitive answer from Sansa would be nice; preferably one saying that the next firmware will get it right; even a workaround.  And please, if I’ve missed a relevant previous post regarding this speed concern, point me in the right direction, so I can add to that discussion.

I emailed SanDisk and after days of waiting, the reply from their customer service rep was less than helpful - ‘email this department instead’.  Why the rep couldn’t have forwarded me there in the first place was beyond me.  Anyway, I just returned the Fuze to the retailer, got a refund and bought a Sony S639.  Great player and it plays at the correct speed!

Message Edited by brotherdeluxe on 08-09-2009 11:16 PM

Peruse this thread. Sandisk responded to this with a fix in their very next firmware release. Maybe they still don’t have it quite right yet. But for the majority of us, it’s close enough. :smiley: