Clip Zip has loud burst of static at the end of some tracks

Recently newly purchased Clip Zip 8Gb will have a loud burst of static at the end of some tracks. This happens on tracks that I have put on the device or with tracks that came on the device. I have a 8Gb microSD card, and it seems tracks from both the internal and external memory have this problem. I am not sure what the problem is, any feedback is welcomed.

This occurred with the Zip when it first came out 2 years ago. It was fixed with a firmware update shortly after. Recently, we’ve heard from people with new players that have a slightly different firmware version (01.01.21) than what is listed as the latest here.

Sometimes they change the firmware on the players coming out of the factory slightly but deem it un-necessary for the rest of the players already out there. Other times the factory is just ahead of things and we see a new update come out shortly after.

It’s possible this different firmware version ‘broke’ the fix that was in place for this glitch. As this is the 2nd issue noted with this firmware version, I have notifed SanDisk of the situation. I would suggest that if your player does indeed have the firmware version 01.01.21 (check it in Settings > System Settings > Info on your player), you manually re-apply the latest version posted here, 01.01.20. Note: Do not try the Updater, install this manuallly via the instructions in the firmware post.

Please let us know whether the issue goes away after applying this firmware version.

As noted above, simply re-apply the latest firmware–that most likely easily will fix matters, and is simple to do in just a few minutes.

I have heard some people say that this can happen if anything is in any of the comment fields in your tags. The Sandisk players can choke if anything is in any comment field. Problems might also occur if you have tags the player doesn’t support like album artist and composer. It seems like the player is trying to play tag data thinking it is part of the music.

Interesting . . . .

I updated the firmware to 01.01.20A and it seemed to solve it, or at least the tracks that were having the issue do not. I am considering it solved. Interestingly enough, my wife bought another clip zip just last week, 4Gb, and it was at 01.01.20A.

Thanks for reporting back–great to hear!

Glad to hear that worked for you. I reported your issue to SanDisk earlier, and their engineers just reported back saying they were unable to replicate the problem. :confounded:

Of course not, they don’t have my player.

@insanity wrote:
Of course not, they don’t have my player.

Well said!   :slight_smile:

I just got my ClipZip 4GB today.  I downloaded a playlist (.m3u) and its associated music files (.mp3, .wav).  I get the burst of static at the end of every .wav (Windows .wav) file but do not get the burst at the end of the .mp3s.  The burst comes whether the .wav file is followed by another .wav or a .mp3.

The unit came with the latest firmware (V01.01.21) and downgrading to V01.01.20A did not fix the issue.  Any help appreciated.

@miatamike1 wrote:

I just got my ClipZip 4GB today.  I downloaded a playlist (.m3u) and its associated music files (.mp3, .wav).  I get the burst of static at the end of every .wav (Windows .wav) file but do not get the burst at the end of the .mp3s.  The burst comes whether the .wav file is followed by another .wav or a .mp3.

 

The unit came with the latest firmware (V01.01.21) and downgrading to V01.01.20A did not fix the issue.  Any help appreciated.

My suggestion…don’t use .wav files. Turn them into mp3 files,. and save yourself  a ton of space. 

Not an option!  I have a ton of .wav files I use for DJing on my PC and storage is so cheap I don’t care about saving space…

You might consider FLAC format then. Same sound quality (lossless) but no playing issues. And they do conserve space regardless of whether you need (or want) to or not.

The Sansa players are really not designed to play .wav files other than the recordings it generates (FM Radio & Voice) even though the specs list it as a supported format.

Tapeworm wrote:

You might consider FLAC format then. Same sound quality (lossless) but no playing issues. And they do conserve space regardless of whether you need (or want) to or not.

 

The Sansa players are really not designed to play .wav files other than the recordings it generates (FM Radio & Voice) even though the specs list it as a supported format.

Again, the issue is not whether the WAV format is good or bad.  My problem is that I have a large number of WAV files and the Clip Zip, _ which is advertised to support WAV files _, has a bug which causes a burst of static at the end of the song. None of the music players I have run under Windows, Android or IOS have had this problem.

I would hope this would be a simple fix for the developers.  If they are unable to recreate the problem I would be more than happy to share a WAV file that consistently fails.

I don’t think the clip is advertised to support wav files. It works with a few of them but as far as I can tell its just a very simple parser meant to play the wav files its own microphone creates.

Check out the “Features for Consumers” section of this announcement:

http://forums.sandisk.com/t5/Sansa-Clip-Zip/SANDISK-INTRODUCES-SANSA-CLIP-ZIP-MP3-PLAYER/m-p/242594/highlight/true#M1

Ah that’s interesting. The official documentation doesn’t mention wav so I tend to think that’s a mistake. Fwiw I put some effort into the Rockbox wav parser so if you’re dead set on wav you could try that.

saratoga wrote:
Ah that’s interesting. The official documentation doesn’t mention wav so I tend to think that’s a mistake. Fwiw I put some effort into the Rockbox wav parser so if you’re dead set on wav you could try that.

Thanks for the reference, I’ll try that to see if it fixes this one glitch.  Other than that, the unit works perfectly for me.

I tested Rockbox and it does not do the loud static burst at the end of a WAV file.  However, the Rockbox user interface is a little much for me.

I give up!  There are too many other low cost MP3 players, that will play both MP3 and WAV files, for me to justify messing with this unit any further.  Too bad … it’s a nice unit otherwise at an outstanding price.