Slightly confused with all the different models and hardware revisions, some of which seem to have issues like background noise / hiss / clicks. I primarily care about audio quality and Rockbox compatibility. Which model and hardware rev should I aim for?
Clip+ is still great.
Slightly confused with all the different models and hardware revisions, some of which seem to have issues like background noise / hiss / clicks. I primarily care about audio quality and Rockbox compatibility. Which model and hardware rev should I aim for?
If you are interested in rockbox, the best source of information about hardware compatibility with rockbox would be the rockbox site.
I prefer my Fuze over my Clip+ because the larger size is a little easier to work with. I have gotten quite a bit of good out of my Fuze as a video player.
That depends on if you need to see your album art or not. The clip+ is super cheap and provides near linear frequency respopnse. Also having a microsd slot makes it even more outstanding. Its also 100% rockbox supported I've been using it for months bug free. The clip+ has recently been replaced by the clip zip and I can only *assume* it has the same outstanding audio hardware the clip+ has. The clip zip has a real screen on it, whereas the clip+ has a simple text display. Either way you can't go wrong, sandisk has an active forum and actually listens to people unlike other companies (apple)
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Further reading here (Clip+) (http://nwavguy.blogspot.de/2011/02/sansa-clip-measured.html) and here (Fuze) (http://nwavguy.blogspot.de/2011/02/sansa-fuze-mini-review.html). If you like the Fuze, you should look for version 2 (Firmware begins with "02."). Here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SanDisk_Sansa#Sansa_Software_Overview)'s an overview.
Greetings, ...
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I owned the clip+ before getting a Fuze v2. Two less obvious things you may want to consider:
1) The Fuze uses a proprietary connector, the clip+ has a standard mini usb connector
2) The fuze has greater battery life (~25 hours compared to ~15 hours for the clip+)
2 outweighed 1 for me, so I have a fuze!
I own 3 Sansa e280(1 new, 2 factory refurbs(in perfect condition)), you might still be able to find some refurbs, I bought mine through Tiger Direct a few years ago.
All rockboxed, they accept 64GB micro SD cards, so thats 72GB total. Great sound and size for portable use, plus they can record and play FM radio.
The only annoyance with the CLip+ for me is no physical lock button. I've managed to switch it on a couple of times in my pocket accidentally
The only annoyance with the CLip+ for me is no physical lock button. I've managed to switch it on a couple of times in my pocket accidentally
Rockbox allows you to lock the clip+
I own a Fuze+ and I dislike the touchpad control, it doesn't always do what you want and sometimes it does things you don't want...
But apart from that it's a nice player with Rockbox support already (it's experimental but useable). It has a standard mirco USB socket and a microSD-slot. As SDHC and SDXC are almost fully compatible, in theory this allows you to upgrade your storage above the 32GB limit of SDHC by using microSDXC cards. The biggest microSDXC cards have 64GB, plus the 16GB of the biggest Fuze+ means you might get a maximum storage capacity of 80GB. Of course it comes with a price and I don't know if it works.
The technical specs are nice and it's even capable of playing decently compressed videos. Too bad Rockbox doesn't support video playback, at least no up-to-date video playback of H.264 material, who's got movies in MPEG still?
On a last note though: Somehow I managed to destroy the bootloader and the original firmware so I recently had to unbrick it via Linux, the complete show with downloading official firmware, Rockbox git sources, compiling the bootloader and tools and using them to get everything in order again.