FM radio volume set too high?

I have 4 other Sansa’s and none of them have this volume problem…including my two plain Sansa Clip’s.   I can only conclude the “Clip+” has a manfufacturing glitch on the radio volume control.  My “Clip+” playback volume works smoothly from zero to full volume, and back down.

Agree, the radio volume glitch is Sansa’s problem.  Buying NEW earphones/buds with volume control is Not a solution for me nor hould it be for anyone.  I have invested quite a bit in just the right earbud that matches almost equally my 4 other Sansa’s…and it matches perfectly the music library playback for my new Clip+.  Why should I have to shop for new earbuds???    THis is a glitch.  However, I am going to play around with the gain control just for kicks to see if that helps.  

I assume here is no chance of turning this Clip+ in as a defective product since all the Clip+'s have the same problem???

Message Edited by resonanz on 12-05-2009 03:41 PM

Message Edited by resonanz on 12-05-2009 03:45 PM

resonanz wrote:
I have 4 other Sansa’s and none of them have this volume problem…including my two plain Sansa Clip’s.   I can only conclude the “Clip+” has a manfufacturing glitch on the radio volume control.  My “Clip+” playback volume works smoothly from zero to full volume, and back down.

That was an early issue with the original Clip, that was corrected in a firmware update, if I remember correctly. There has been no update yet for the +, so I imagine it will be corrected when there is.

This idea came via another thread, but I thought it might be useful to note here…

Rather than putting a volume control between your phones and your Clip, you could try using the EQ to lower all bands – you could then use the custom EQ for radio, and switch back to normal otherwise.

turnstyle wrote:

This idea came via another thread, but I thought it might be useful to note here…

 

Rather than putting a volume control between your phones and your Clip, you could try using the EQ to lower all bands – you could then use the custom EQ for radio, and switch back to normal otherwise.

From what I recall, the EQ doesn’t work with the radio.

@marvin_martian wrote:


@turnstyle wrote:

This idea came via another thread, but I thought it might be useful to note here…

 

Rather than putting a volume control between your phones and your Clip, you could try using the EQ to lower all bands – you could then use the custom EQ for radio, and switch back to normal otherwise.


From what I recall, the EQ doesn’t work with the radio.

You’re right, bummer, nevermind!

I also look forward to this issue being resolved with a firmware update.  They did it for the original clip, They should do it for the clip+ as well.

I’m surprised they didn’t think to fix it from the get-go.

I sent a message to their support people.  I recommend others do as well, maybe that’ll encourage them to fix this.

http://kb.sandisk.com/app/ask/session/L3NpZC9MbE9VUDJRag%3D%3D/sno/0

This is the response I got:

Dear Michael,

Thanks for emailing SanDisk Technical Support. It is our goal to make sure you have all the resources you need to get the most from your product.

There is no firmware update available for the Clip+ for the moment. However if the volume of the FM radio is too loud then you can adjust this by pressing the volume buttons on the right side of the Clip+. You can also change the volume settings of the Sansa Clip+ under Settings > System Settings > Volume.

Also, you can visit http://kb.sandisk.com, our online keyword searchable Knowledgebase, to easily find answers to your Technical Support and Customer Service questions for all of SanDisk’s products. Simply enter your search terms and our Knowledgebase will search an extensive database of commonly asked questions as well as our online forums at http://forums.sandisk.com/sansa to provide you with the most complete answers possible.

Should you have any other concern with our products, please reply to this email.

Best regards,
Edward Mariano
SanDisk Technical Support

This is the reply I sent: 

_I tried all that, and it did not take the volume down enough to be comfortable to me.

By the way, I truly resent being advised to fix the volume problem by using the volume keys on the side of the player.  I recognize that some people you deal with are probably idiots, but I am not one of them.

As I said before, this problem was addressed with older clip models.  Please tell me when it will be addressed for the clip+

Mike_

And here’s the latest email I got from them:

Dear Michael,

Thanks for emailing SanDisk Technical Support. It is our goal to make sure you have all the resources you need to get the most from your product.

Unfortunately there is no new firmware available for the Sansa Clip+ player. Please check our forums site: http://forums.sandisk.com/sansa from time to time since any new update on the Sansa Clip+ would be immediately posted on this site.

Also, you can visit http://kb.sandisk.com, our online keyword searchable Knowledgebase, to easily find answers to your Technical Support and Customer Service questions for all of SanDisk’s products. Simply enter your search terms and our Knowledgebase will search an extensive database of commonly asked questions as well as our online forums at http://forums.sandisk.com/sansa to provide you with the most complete answers possible.

Should you have any other concern with our products, please reply to this email.

Best regards,
Edward Mariano
SanDisk Technical Support

The new Clip+ firmware includes components from both the original Clip and Fuze.  The radio (analog) gain is adjustable, and no doubt will be trimmed a wee bit in the future, when firmware updates become available.  No worries!

The FM chip feeds an analog signal to the processor.  Based upon the past revisions, it looks like the original gain setting was used for the first release.

Oh, and your response seems to be referring to the original Clip too, as we now have the volume buttons on the left side.

To err is human…

Bob  :smileyvery-happy:

Message Edited by neutron_bob on 12-24-2009 11:00 PM

Just got this message from Sandisk technical support regarding this issue (FM volume too high at lowest setting) with the Clip+:

“Please be informed that we are aware of this issue. We already forwarded this case to our firmware development team and we are expecting that the issue will be resolved on the next firmware update.” 

I didn’t read all of the replies, but I totally agree with turnstyle. I was listening to the radio and thought it was too loud, so kept pressing the volume button down, not noticing any change until it became mute, because the volume was zero. Every time it’s that way, as if the radio volume really is louder than mp3 volume by default. I just got used to it…

While waiting for mine to arrive I did some more research on the clip+ that included battery life and other things. One thing I stumbled on was multiple people saying that after the 50% mark the volume when using the FM tuner no longer drops until you real 0%.

I had my regular Clip stolen after owning it for only 1 week. I loved it and remember the volume control worked perfectly in the very low volume ranges. I bought a Clip + thinking that, WOW, this new one is bound to work better.

NO WAY. Just as everyone on this thread agrees, the volume control just does NOT work properly.

Is there any recent firmward update that addresses this vexing problem? $70.00 for an MP3 player that doesn’t work correctly is NOT RIGHT!

COME ON SANDISK! FIX IT.

Archedemus wrote:

I had my regular Clip stolen after owning it for only 1 week. I loved it and remember the volume control worked perfectly in the very low volume ranges. I bought a Clip + thinking that, WOW, this new one is bound to work better.

NO WAY. Just as everyone on this thread agrees, the volume control just does NOT work properly.

Is there any recent firmward update that addresses this vexing problem? $70.00 for an MP3 player that doesn’t work correctly is NOT RIGHT!

COME ON SANDISK! FIX IT.

There’s no problems playing mp3’s.:stuck_out_tongue:

Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever used the radio. But I do hope that they fix it, for those that do use the radio.:smiley:

Not to worry, gentle Sansa listeners. There are a few other kinks to be ironed out, but the FM gain issue has been noted.

Now, if I could only figure out why my printer is being a curmudgeon, tonight will be all the better.

Speaking of FM, I found a cool Philips FM transmitter, just slightly larger than the wee Clip.  It’s quite useful to generate a null FM carrier too.

Bob  :smileyvery-happy:

SanDisk likely will cover this in an upcoming firmware upgrade.

In the meanwhile, you might want to just pop into a Radio Shack and get an inexpensive short headphone extender cable with volume control (which actually is convenient to have), or to purchase a FiiO E5 mini-amp which has a volume control, also nice and nifty.

C’mon SanDisk… do the right thing and fix this soon!

(me ears can’t stand much more!)