Does your eDGe play "out of tune"?

I've noticed this really since I got my eDGe in May, and it has stayed the same through several updates. Does it seem like the edge always plays media just slightly slower than normal to the point it alters the pitch of the audio? I would not have noticed this except situations where I am playing a song I have heard many times, or a podcast whose host's voice I am very familiar with.

So far with my testing, this crosses all players (built in and third party), and occurs regardless of it being video or audio. It's not so much a technical problem as a minor annoyance. But I wonder if any other users experience this too.

I made some recordings using my PC's Line in, and compared the exact same mp3 file using two different players on the eDGe: Built in and Astro Player. I then played the same song through the line in using a Sanza Clip+, a dedicated mp3 player. The two players on the eDGe play the song about 5% slower, noticeably off-key for those with musical ears.

Here's the ~30s clips:
Astro Player - http://www.mediafire.com/?mrj3ly754l9i2nr
eDGe "Music" player - http://www.mediafire.com/?920595s45hgj5wo
Sanza CLip+ - http://www.mediafire.com/?oeazz6kea6wiqjc

The song is Jonathan Coulton's RE: Your Brains

Anyone else? Any solutions?

Can't say I've noticed. My ear isn't that finely tuned, perhaps It's possible of course, but only Tech Support would be able to determine why and a fix.

Can't say I've noticed it in the sense you are talking about but, I can say, that the sound quality is pretty poor. I would describe it as thin and hollow... which could account for the pitch problem you are talking about. But, then, I didn't buy the Edge for 'fine music listening'.

Some files are worse than others. This Week in Science is so slowed down it sounds like a pen of hogs.

Wow. I have to check this out. It would drive me nuts if it happened on my eDGe. I will try to recreate your sound woes... I use a bluetooth transmitter to send audio from my eDGe to a mixer. Additional audio is sent from my computer to another channel on the mixer. I switch between the sources regularly but have not noticed any change. Do you still have this problem?

Something I *think* I've noticed while playing streaming radio is a subtle drop or rise in pitch as a song is playing. It doesn't happen often and it's subtle (half a tone, perhaps), but similar to the effect you got with cassette tapes if there was a speed problem. It could be the CPU clock is slightly wobbly, which could cause this effect. It probably would have no noticeable effect on any other app, though.

I haven't noticed any pitch issues with music. But, everything I have is in ogg, not mp3 format. Maybe that makes a difference.

Originally Posted by OncTech

I've noticed this really since I got my eDGe in May, and it has stayed the same through several updates. Does it seem like the edge always plays media just slightly slower than normal to the point it alters the pitch of the audio? I would not have noticed this except situations where I am playing a song I have heard many times, or a podcast whose host's voice I am very familiar with.

I played some songs already in mp3 format (old files that I've repeatedly listened to over the years) in my eDGe just now and OncTech's was right. It does play it slower, very discernible especially in the clavinova recordings of songs that I also play in the keyboards. The bass sounds actually drag. One song goes through a series of subtle key changes in a single playthrough. Has anybody informed tech support about this issue?

Originally Posted by Hopi

I played some songs already in mp3 format (old files that I've repeatedly listened to over the years) in my eDGe just now and OncTech's was right. It does play it slower, very discernible especially in the clavinova recordings of songs that I also play in the keyboards. The bass sounds actually drag. One song goes through a series of subtle key changes in a single playthrough. Has anybody informed tech support about this issue?

I tried and got a weird canned response about installing the latest update. But I was updated already the whole time, so that's not it. I'm going to bother them again.

I'm pretty sure it's a clock issue (a computer's clock is more or less the same as in a quartz wristwatch, where you see it losing or gaining time).

I did several small computer music generation projects many years ago when you basically had to toggle the speaker on/off at the right frequency for each note. You had to determine how long to keep the speaker on and off for each note. So, let's say it's 10 cycles on, 10 cycles off. This works great - assuming the cycles take exactly the same time every time. If the hardware clock "wobbles", going a bit faster or a bit slower sometimes, then the cycles will execute correspondingly faster/slower. Since the cycles are now longer/shorter, the pitch will change. If you run such a program on a faster computer, the pitch will shoot up the program is assuming the clock speed is supposed to be the same.

So, a wobbly clock would explain the subtle pitch shifts I've noticed. If the clock is slightly slower than it's supposed to be all the time, then you get what OncTech describes.

As to what causes the clock discrepancy, it could be the software enTourage has been working on for sleep and low power modes, which might involve the clock being slowed (like Intel's SpeedStep), or it could be the system hardware drivers need a tweak, either by enTourage, or by Marvell if Marvell provided them for their chip.

Originally Posted by kenjennings

I haven't noticed any pitch issues with music. But, everything I have is in ogg, not mp3 format. Maybe that makes a difference.

Me too. I didn't realize at first but most of my audio is ogg.

What player are you using with your edge? Have you tried other players?

Originally Posted by canezila

What player are you using with your edge? Have you tried other players?

Me? I used the built-in one and Astro. But all my audio files I tested were mp3, so I need to test some oggs.
I did notice the low pitch audio for a few mp4 podcast videos too, which used mVideoPlayer . Specifically (if anyone wants to attempt replication) The Buzz Report; host Molly Wood's voice was definitely lower than it should be, and I confirmed by playing the same videos on my PC.

I used the player that comes with the eDGe. I also noticed the pitch changes with some videos in mp4 format. Like Onctech, I know the difference because I played them first in my laptop before I played them in the eDGe.

I spent an hour or so listening to various bits of music -- all ogg format -- specifically to catch these pitch problems. Found nothing, no pitch changes. The worst is a short click or very short pause when volume is changed with the physical button. Working with the Reader app on the eInk display or the Kindle app on the LCD screen (which scrolls pages horizontally) paging as fast as I could tap the screen/buttons didn't introduce any variation in the audio.

This is interesting, because I had been under the impression ogg playback required more resources than mp3.