Review of SanDisk Sansa Clip + mp3 player
This sheet can not be read
I read with interest how Boomburum describes various funny features, however, I never caught myself thinking that I want to spend my miserable pennies on one of the pieces of iron under consideration. All these round speakers and leather laptops are not for normal people, and not even for geeks (there’s practically nothing to pick into them anyway). Let's be honest: they are for those who absolutely have no idea what to spend a certain (often considerable) amount of money on, because for much less money you can buy things that perform their functions at least as well (even if not with such a design).
I want to talk about one thing for real living people, about an mp3 player, in which:
- NO large color touch screen;
- NO touch control;
- NO cameras;
- NO video playback;
- NO cool program to synchronize with the music library on the computer;
- NO wireless interfaces;
- NO beautiful animated screensavers;
- NO games and widgets;
- NO accelerometer and compass;
- There is nothing that could impress a girl *;
- There are NO alternative firmware with which you could poke around with interest **.
* This is not specifically your girlfriend, but the average spherical girl in a vacuum.
**
As you can see, sheer boredom.
But, you know, this is exactly what I wanted a long time ago.
Once upon a time I formulated for myself the requirements that a good portable mp3 player should satisfy:
- High-quality reproduction of music;
- Small size;
- Battery operation
- Simple black and white screen;
- Buttons (no sensors!);
- Connect to a computer like a regular flash-drive (no extra programs!);
- USB connector (own) or miniUSB (for wire);
- Slot for memory cards (SD or miniSD);
- Play flac;
But for some reason, electronics manufacturers for many years did not heed the arguments of reason and stuffed into a miserable plastic and metal boxes a bunch of functional lying dead weight. Excessive software complexity, bright large screens, smooth animation, playing video and cameras did not affect the price for the better. In this case, the main component - high-quality (with reservations on portability) music playback, more and more pushed into the background.
Of course, it was possible to buy a Chinese noun and get a flash drive for absolutely ridiculous money. But this is only if you are a fan of Russian pop music, thugs, or you just don't have ears (which, in principle, is the same thing).
Everything changed when the SanDisk company, known mainly for its production of various memory cards, released the first generation of its Sansa Clip clothespins ( its review is in Russian ). Small inconspicuous figovinka: cheap plastic, strange ergonomics, not very high volume, low memory, one of the options for coloring (oh, horror!) Stylish pink - one of those budget players like the orphaned iRiver line or an incomprehensible craft from Transcend (competitor SanDisk on the area of flash drives).
But this did not stop SanDisk Sansa Clip from taking the first place in the ranking of a well-known site with the funny name anythingbutipod.com, jumping along the path of competitors such as the Sony Walkman A720 / A820, Samsung P2, Cowon iAudio D2, Microsoft Zune 120 and a bunch of others that did not reach to the finals (article Top 5 mp3-players of 2008 ).
It was almost him, the Grail, a balm for a tormented heart, but ...
The small amount of memory (1, 2 or 4 GB), especially when listening to flac (this function was added in the latest firmware), did not allow much to go around. There was no memory card slot, it was impossible to get to the file being played through the directory tree (which is deadly if the tags are not spelled out), the volume control was too close to the headphone jack (so if the connector on the wire was L-shaped, you had to twist the wire before making it louder or quieter).
And finally, the guys from SanDisk worked on the bugs and released a new generation of Sansa Clip players, which received not a proud two in the title, but a modest plus sign.
And now, in fact, the review of the hero of the article itself.
Dry facts
official page on the Internet
3d-demonstration on flash
| Sizes, mm | 55 × 35 × 15 (with clip) |
| Weight | 24 grams |
| Body material | plastic |
| Colour | black, blue or dark red |
| Type of | flash |
| Screen | OLED, 1 inch, 4 rows |
| The amount of internal memory | 2, 4 and 8 GB |
| Memory card slot | microSDHC (up to 32 GB) |
| Fm radio | there is a memory for 40 radio stations |
| Dictaphone | there is |
| Audio Format Support | mp3, WMA, WMA (DRM), OGG, FLAC, Audible, WAV |
| Tag support | ID3v2.4 (with Unicode support), there is support for Replay Gain |
| Playlist support | yes, m3u |
| Interface languages | from English, Spanish and French to Arabic and Hebrew, including Russian (31 languages total) |
| Operating modes | MTP (Media Transfer Protocol), MSC (Mass Storage Device) |
| Battery | inline |
| Operating time on a single charge | 15 hours |
| Connecting to a computer via mini-USB, charging through it | |
| Equipment | player, headphones, USB cable — mini-USB |
| Prices * | $ 39.99 for the 2 GB version $ 49.99 for the 4 GB version $ 69.99 for the 8 GB version |
Appearance, ergonomics.
The first impression is deceptive - the player seems too small, and the clip is disproportionately large (almost the entire back cover), from the glamor traces, upon careful examination, only the glossy front panel was found (and this could not be done!). In general, the little thing is rather plain-looking. The menu is organized somewhat illogical and often requires unnecessary actions, although even my second cousin, an eighth grader, did not have problems with development. Getting used to it is pretty easy.
The plastic is quite soft and after a while wearing the player in my pocket, I found a shallow scratch on it. However, for me this is not critical.
The clip is really convenient: it is firmly fixed on clothes (from underpants to jackets) and leaves no residue. The player is comfortable to wear anywhere from the pocket to the collar of a T-shirt. The weight is so small that it is almost not felt. Very convenient for those who like to run around with music. For all athletes there is the opportunity to order a pocket in your hand.
Complete headphones are not bad for complete headphones, but still very complete.
Sound
I listen to this player on Sennheiser IE8 headphones. The sound is good (subjectively better than that of the Cowon iAudio D2), but it does not reach my Kenwood HD20GA7 (but it wins in functionality by one gate).
The sound is clear, very detailed, but the volume margin is not very large. Although I never listened to it at maximum, some Sansa headphones will not be able to swing for sure. In addition, in the default settings, the maximum level is set very quietly (which, however, is easy to fix). The most suitable for the player will be headphones such as IEM (in ear monitor), dynamic or reinforcing - choose yourself.
The equalizer is monstrous, it is better to never turn it on at all. Both presets and manual settings turn the sound into some kind of terrible mess, then buzzing, then whistling.
Support for formats, interaction with a computer, firmware functionality.
Of course, mp3. As for flac, neither cue nor embeded cue are supported, so you have to translate whole images to trek. The rest of the supported formats are described without necessity due to their non-proliferation, I just want to note the support of the Audible format, in which audio books are distributed. The format allows you to adjust the speed of the narrator’s speech, and I don’t know anything more about it. I don’t like audio books (I prefer the text), and I haven’t seen any such files in my eyes. I would especially like to say about Replay Gain support - you don’t have to change the volume from song to song if the RG levels are predefined in the tags.
In the settings, select how the player appears to the system. MTP format - for systems where Windows Media Player 10 or higher is installed. The player seems to be a portable device to the system, can interact with the library and WMP playlists. MSC mode is a banal flash drive, two removable drives (own memory and a card) appear on the system, on which you can use the usual file manager. Naturally, I chose the second option.
After you change something in the file system, or after you insert a memory card into the slot, the player scans the tags of all files (the larger the total volume of files, the longer this process takes, sometimes up to two minutes). Fortunately, this does not happen every time you turn it on.
You can browse the library by artists, albums, songs and genres (information is taken from tags), the tracks downloaded by the last are highlighted as a separate item, and (hooray!) Navigation through folders. The Russian font is pleasant in appearance and does not look alien.
Radio. Radio is like a radio, it catches well. Navigating through radio stations is somewhat inconvenient. You can record radio broadcasts. I have never recorded it, so I don’t know what format. I can’t say anything else, since I don’t listen to the radio.
Dictaphone. There is. Writes well. Why do I need - I do not know.
There is such a menu item as Slot Radio. It is understood that you buy a thousand tracks on a microSD card at once and carry your radio with you. In our realities, the thing is more than useless.
General conclusion, pros and cons.
Be that as it may, the SanDisk Sansa Clip + series has no analogues yet. Despite the fact that the sound cannot be called uncompromising, the best quality from portable devices can be achieved only from Kenwood players listed in the red book on hard disks (which are much larger in size and much less convenient), player + portable amplifier bundles (there is also little fun to carry this with you), portable devices for audio recording (this is for maniacs, and you would see their size!) and vintage CD-Audio Walkmen (and this is generally for maniacs from maniacs). Harvesters from COWON, Samsung, Sony and Apple graze nearby, but everything is slightly behind.
So, in fact, there is nothing to compare directly with, especially considering the weight, size and price.
The main advantages:
- Sound;
- The size;
- Price;
- Play flac;
- Connection as a flash drive;
- Slot for memory cards.
Minuses:
- Minor flaws in ergonomics;
- Cheap plastic
- No support for cue and embeded cue;
- Not very large margin in volume;
- Disgusting equalizer.
- As it turned out, the clip breaks off very easily, so you need to be careful with it.
Z. S. Sorry for the wall of text.
Z.Z.Z.Y. Someone will say that there are not enough pictures and will be right, but it seems to me that the link “3d-demonstration on flash” completely exhausts all questions about the appearance.