Sandisk Sansa Clip 2GB mp3 player review.

[carzy]

@Mods: I'm reviewing an individual player so thought a new thread would be appropriate. Please move to appropriate thread if required.

Recently bought a Sandisk Sansa clip from Croma –Juhu, just found time to unpack it Cost: 3.5K. A friend later told me that Alfa (Irla) has it for around 3K (not sure if bill and warranty are included in this). So I got a one year warranty, need to take it to Croma itself for repairs. But when I opened the box back home, I did not find a warranty card (need to check on this).

Have posted some pics of the Sansa, pardon me for the image quality and fingerprints. The photos really don’t do justice to the player's display. It’s really amazing when you switch it on in complete darkness. Extremely small and lightweight so you can carry it around your neck or clip it anywhere. They only had it in black so I really had no choice.

When it comes to build quality, it’s complete plastic – doesn’t feel awesome like the shuffle. The shuffle scores hands down in terms of looks. Anodized aluminium body feels great, Sansa should have done something similar.

I needed a 2-4 GB player for my not-so-daily walks and jogs, a music-only player – I wasn’t looking out for video players. The shuffle was not even in contention as it lacks FM, and a much needed screen. I already have an ipod nano (again it lacks FM) and earlier had a creative zen nano powered by a single AA battery. Google found a few helpful sites which have some
sensible reviews on mp3 players:

Anything But iPod - MP3 Player Reviews & News
TrustedReviews - The UKs premier source of Technology News and Reviews and Amazon.

Anything but Ipod has a good comparison between the Sansa and the Shuffle, also the Zen Stone (which is faceless too). The clip is coming out in a 4gb capacity by june or july – It’s already just out in the US and is silver in color. It’s got flash memory like any low capacity player so I don’t need to worry about moving parts and minor accidents and skipping. The box comes with the player, sansa earphones, (haven’t checked these out yet), USB cable, quickstart manual and installation CD. I haven’t used the CD for anything yet. Just plug in the player to the PC – drag and drop and you’re done, no proprietary software needed which is a relief. It doesn’t support .aac formats, I don’t really care as all my songs are in mp3 anyway.

Support: wav, mp3, wma, audible

It’s also got voice recording and recording from FM (wav format) – there’s a built-in mic located just on top of the player which looks more like a pinhole. Anythingbutipod has a detailed review of the player’s most features so I’ll stick to what I’ve found out so far. http://www.anythingbutipod.com/archives/2007/10/sandisk

I use Sennheiser CX 300 earphones and the combo with this player is really amazing at least for my ears. I’m the average Joe when it comes to sound – I realize the difference between bad sound and good sound so as to speak. The bass sounds nice on the player – I listened to teriyaki boyz, RACE, Nelly – Err Time etc. It doesn't squeak and squeal, is crisp and clear and feels good to the ears. It has a custom EQ in addition to 5 standard EQ settings. I've only listened to the radio when inside my house, reception is good though at this time I cannot comment on how good it will be at other locations.

The main concern for me was sound quality and this player definitely scores. Shuffle could be better sounding, I really wouldn't know, but I'm not buying until they put in FM and a screen.

It charges through the USB once connected to the PC (Electric and car charger can be purchased seperately). Can't comment on the battery life yet. Will post more once I really get to know this player.

[carzy]

On paper, the Sansa clip is supposed to have a battery life of 15 hrs but in my opinion the maximum is 13 hrs (approx). This after reducing the display brightness to the bare minimum (not that bad), not using the display for more than 60 sec out of those 13 hrs - Those who like to keep switching stations or changing songs often like me, would find the battery life lower.

Also the volume was constant at 20% (6/30) to achieve those 13 hrs using Sennheiser cx 300 in-earphones with the following specs:

Freq response 18 Hz - 21KHz
Min terminating impedance 16 ohm
max spl (sound pressure level) 112 db (1Khz, 1Vrms)

[carzy]

On paper, the Sansa clip is supposed to have a battery life of 15 hrs but I found the maximum battery life to be approximately 13 hours. This was achieved by lowering the display brightness to the bare minimum, maintaining the volume constant at 20% (6/30). IF you like changing stations or songs often, that will use up the battery life more as the display comes into play.
Following are the specs of the earphones used:

Freq resp. 18Hz - 21KHz
Impedance 16 ohm