Why does cubase play the track faster than the export

This may be a crazy question, but when I play the track on Cubase it sounds fast. The time stamp is correct i.e. the time stamp shows the track at 3min 7 sec, the export is 3min 7 sec, however when I time the track playing in Cubase with an external stop watch it plays in 2min 52 seconds (even though the time stamp says 3 min 7 sec). Why does this happen? How can I correct it so that the time stamp and the actual play time are the same?

Well, something is strange, but the difference between 3 min 7 sec and 2 min 52 sek is what you’d get if the sample frequencies are 44.1 and 48 k respectively. No idea how cubase can play it back faster, unless maybe you have cubase at 44.1 k and the soundcard is locked at 48k?