CNet's Unenthusiastic review of the Fuze

[JK98]

A proprietary connector? Why did they do that? The reviewer was not enthusiastic about the sound quality. Oh well. A full sized SD card slot is much more useful than a micro SD slot. Cowon players, the Creative Zen, and the 2 gig Clip as a budget player all seem much more interesting.


http://reviews.cnet.com/mp3-players/...tml?tag=return

[CrowdAds]

[HipHopScribe]

If ABi or DAPReview says the audio quality isn't stellar in a review, I'll lend that some credence, I don't really trust CNET's reviews beyond giving some basic info about the player.

[JK98]

Originally Posted by HipHopScribe

If ABi or DAPReview says the audio quality isn't stellar in a review, I'll lend that some credence, I don't really trust CNET's reviews beyond giving some basic info about the player.

I wouldn't say I don't trust them as far as sound quality is concerned, however I am now thinking that perhaps they judged the sound quality using the included earphones rather than using high quality earphones or headphones? Ideally reviewers should comment about sound quality using a few different high quality headphones, then later comment about sound quality using the included earphones. Even so, and even if other reviewers say the sound quality is nice with high quality headphones, that still doesn't change the fact of a proprietary connector, and comments t made about the screen. The reviever still gave it a very good rating in spite of its faults. Very good would be okay for me for a $50 4 gig player, but for $90 or more for a 4 gig player I want it to be superb.

[dfkt]

Enzo said the Fuze sounds good (similar to the Clip). This is just an "inofficial" statement though, since he only had the player for a day or so.

SE310 (not "E310") are so-so phones, and the Aurvana are pretty bad. CNET should use some better phones to test sound quality. This whole paragraph tells me nothing:

Let's be frank: the Sansa Fuze doesn't offer the sparklingly stellar audio quality presented by the likes of the Sony NWZ-A810 or the Samsung P2. It also wasn't quite as encompassing as the sound coming from the Creative Zen V Plus--but it comes close. The Fuze is no slouch, to be sure. We tested it out with the Shure E310 earphones and the Creative Aurvana Live headphones and were not disappointed in either case. The Fuze powered through with reasonable--though not super thumping--bass response; nice, rich mids with smooth vocals; and an impressive amount of high-end detail. Across genres, we were greeted with clear, solid sound.

Since when is the P2 "sparklingly stellar"?

[EnzoTen]

I have been listening to the fuze for about a day now on my HD650s and switching between the Clip, Fuze, and iRiver E100... I can say so far that there is no difference is sound quality between the Clip and the Fuze.

Also i want to make a point. The same system chip does not always mean the same sound quality. Although it happened to work out to be the same with the clip and the fuze, we can never assume that the a player will share the same sound quality based on its SOC.

[sumx4182]

i don't get why they complain about the connector, the same one is prolly used on the View and the e200...they know the deal by now...

[Mikerman]

Actually, I thought the review was very positive to the Fuze. Sound was seen (heard) as good (although not "stellar") and the build noted very favorably. The only issues I read were the proprietary connector (which even the reviewer noted as not an issue); the slightly fugly/older GUI; and some dullness to the screen due to an applied screen protector.

Once again, the value and price were noted very favorably. And the micro-SD card slot was noted very favorably as well.

If only it had folder view.

[Eredor]

they complain about the propiotary connector, so would would you, even though it's a sansa trend. so shush, who cares if that's how they've been doing it, they should change it.

they call the sound quality "solid", which from a review by cnet is probably as far as i'd care to care about.

other than that they had a very positive review, sure, fullSD is better, but considering the size of the player, microSD makes some sense.

[sumx4182]

Microsoft does it, Apple does it...why is it a big deal if Sandisk does it. I have an e200, i don't mind the proprietary connector...you know who complains...people that are dumb enough to lose the cable and can't just buy a cheap easy replacement...don't lose the cable and the connector doesnt matter...

[EnzoTen]

Proprietary connects have their pros and cons, just like anything. One thing i like about them is i can use a dock stand. But i think one way to make the propr connect more palatable is to have a standard between brands, but that is very unlikely

[JK98]

It would be annoying though to break or lose the proprietary cable then have to bother finding the proprietary cable and perhaps pay $20+ for it, especially when one has a number of standard cables with a mini USB connector just lying around from past purchases of mp3 players and digital cameras.

[Mikerman]

Actually, eBay for under $5 shipped.

[KRONOS]

That's a nice player. I don't think I'll be getting that one anytime soon as I just purchased a 280 v2 a few weeks ago.

About the proprietary cable. What's the difference proprietary or not? Most if not all MP3 manufacturers have proprietary cables on their players. If you lose or break the cable I'm sure you'll be able to buy a new one somewhere.

[EnzoTen]

For discussion about proprietary vs standard cables, i started a thread so we can discuss =)

[The Little Guy]

Originally Posted by Mikerman

Actually, I thought the review was very positive to the Fuze. Sound was seen (heard) as good (although not "stellar") and the build noted very favorably. The only issues I read were the proprietary connector (which even the reviewer noted as not an issue); the slightly fugly/older GUI; and some dullness to the screen due to an applied screen protector.

Once again, the value and price were noted very favorably. And the micro-SD card slot was noted very favorably as well.

If only it had folder view.

I agree, but I have 2 reasons for why I do not like Cnet's reviews.
1.They always complain about proprietary connectors
2. They seem to be very biased and favor Ipods

[The DarkSide]

Face the facts: cnet tends to be VERY biased when it comes to any other company besides apple. Unless there's a piece of fruit backing it they tend to always downplay the rating. Still, thats why people are starting to turn to sites like abi and dapreview because they like to hear TRUE reviews. NOT fanboy rants. Look at the iRiver W7 - Enzo could have said it was GREAT but decided to tell the truth about the product. Thats what cnet is afraid to do - be honest. The Samsung P2 get a score of 7.7 yet users give it an 8.1 presently. You figure it out. The Fuze is turning out to be a MUCH better player than they claim. Glad I stopped going to the site as of late -