Has any one tested the Clip + to verify weather or not the pitch problem has been fixed for any/all formats and sample rates.
Here is why that is such an important question…
Let me explain in more detail.
Speed and time are related in music playback because when you play music at a faster speed, the song ends sooner and sounds as though it is being played at a higher pitch. (for an extreme example, think Alvin and the Chipmunks).
When a musical instrument is tuned up, it is done to an international standard reference.
for example the note A should be exactly 440 Hz.
The reason for this is so all musicians can play their instruments together wherever they travel, and have them sound good together (in tune with each other).
Thus, all properly recorded music played back at the correct pitch/speed should have the music be in tune (at the proper pitch) with any other properly tuned instruments.
The Clip plays back music at the wrong pitch/speed so that it is noticeably out of tune when compared to original recording played back on any other equipment.
This is most noticeable to people like me with critical listening skills, who play a musical instrument along with the music from the clip.
Jamming with the music coming from the clip is like playing two instruments that are out of tune with each other
Unfortunately it is impractical to retune instruments to match them to the Clip, especially instruments like the piano. This also would require you to retune again for normal playing.
The reason the problem has gone unnoticed by most people is, that they would not normally play the Clip in an environment where they could also hear the correct version at the same time to compare to, and they don’t play a musical instrument along with it, to compare to.
So you see that it is not the change in playback time that bothers me, as much as the “off pitch/out of tune with the rest of the world” problem which is unacceptable to me and which could be fixed by Sansa with a firmware update.
No other portable Mp3 or CD player I’m aware of has this problem, and I have had quite a few over the years.
I hope this explanation helps non musicians appreciate how serious this problem is for us, and why we are so vocal about it.
After all, We are the people who make the music you might like to enjoy listening to on your Clip.
Throw us a bone