Sansa Clip performs (Sandisk Sansa Clip 2 GB)

Member Name: roktimdutta

Product:	Sandisk Sansa Clip 2 GB
Date:	08/10/09 (43 review reads)
Rating:

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SanDisk enjoys a position of great reputation for churning out cost competitive memory chips and portable audios. But Sansas has really any reputation to boast of in terms audio quality but surprisingly and encouraging they have been producing progressively getting better probably reaching its pick with the release of Sansa Clip 2 GB. It's SanDisk's latest addition to the supercomact low capacity MP3 player to take the consumer market by storm. What sets apart Sansa Clip 2 GB from the rest of its releases is its amazing sound quality.

It is true that it has to face high level competition from Shuffle and some Creative Lab products but it has the class and muscle power to give them a run for their money, probably notches behind Apple. It's price tag is remarkable compared to its peers. The Sansa Clip has a very respectable signal to noise ration of 92 dB.

DESIGN

The Sansa Clip's exterior is made entirely of plastic with basic housing being glossy and scratch resistant with a hint of metal finish. The back removable clip is made of opaque colored plastic. The Sansa Clip at 2.2in1.4inx0.5in (belt clip not considered) just a little bit on the up considering a match box. May be a notches larger than the Creative Zen Stone Plus and even shuffle. But it does not have the navigation problem as much as of Stone, which is a big plus. Probably because of its 1 inch rectangular screen to Stone's circular display but it does not provide a valid technical explanation though.
Sansa's track organization is far better than the Stone's. As for variety of colors it is similar to Stone. The best part of the Clip is the clip can be clipped and match color with the players color. Although it looks like a toy its tolerance to shock is reasonable.
To be very candid and I honest I have never been blown away the audio quality of Sansa Clip. I would go to the extent of saying that it competes very well eve with Sony NWZ-A810 may not even terms but definitely Stone Plus admirers are in for a big surprise. You can customize the EQ to get quality bass, mid-range and high frequencies. The bass is not booming but very subtle.

The big negative is the headphone jack which is a bit on the colder side, even not in the proper place also. The voice recording is bit subdued and FM sound quality only about average, there are problems with FM preset also.

Officially it states that The Clip is only compatible with windows XP SV-2 and above I have successfully used it MTP/MSC OS meaning thereby MTP protocol is absent when used with Linux or Mac systems. It is true that has got far better compatibility with MTP device like Windows user files can be dragged and dropped files. It has multiple media player support like Windows Media Player 11 Win Amp (these I can assure you).

It's time that we had quick browse of the technical specifications

PC interface(s) supported Hi-Speed USB
Flash memory installed 2 GB Integrated
Software type Drivers & Utilities

Digital Player / Recorder

Supported digital audio standards Audible, FLAC, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, WMA, WMA DRM
Built-in Display
Audio system built-in display OLED
Audio Features
Sound output mode Stereo
Additional features FM radio recording capability
Radio

Tuner type Digital Radio tuner
Station preset qty 40
Tuner bands FM
Tuning display OLED display
Microphone

Microphone type Built-in
Sound output mode Stereo
Battery / Power
Battery Rechargeable Player battery Internal
System Requirements

Peripheral / Interface devices CD-ROM , USB port
Operating system Microsoft Windows Vista , Microsoft Windows XP SP2

SOUND QUALITY

The SanDisk press release it self boasts ".....one of the best sounding mp3 players on the market" and being a music lover I must admits they are pretty close to the truth. If you notice I reviewed headphones number of times to drive home the simple fact that get the best out of a player a good pair of headphones is a priority, and please for God's sake don't use those cheap earbuds or useless upgraded headphones spend money and get a quality stuff and check out what music quality Sansa Clip is capable of. No I'm not recommending the expensive "Bose" stuff just a decent one.

EQ
The 5-band custom equalizer is very effective and responsive unless you use too demanding a headphone ("Bose" headphones might not be a good choice for the Clip) with some great presets. I have got excellent performance through the audio spectrum hardly any detail is lost.

BROWSING
Those who has used or using Sansa Clip will definitely agree that it has a browsing problem, it lacks the ability of fluid browsing through files and folders. The recent firmware update might just be useful.

Just the sort of MP3 player you have been waiting for and the price is great, decent £26.5 but take my advice spend a little more and get at least a pair of mediocre headphones. The headphone that the Sansa Clip 2GB is supplied with simply does not do justice to it's quality.

I wish they could just have a upgrade of 4 GB. Or why not just chip in with microSD slot which almost every Sansa has.

(This review is also available at ciao.co.uk under the same user name)

Summary: A whole lot of quality at a reasonable price

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