Fuze sound quality - is it good

[bluxa]

Hi,

I currently have a sansa e280 but its on its way out and I am looking for a replacement. I have never been happy with the sound quality of the e280, it is mediocre at best. I also have a kenwood MP3 player and the sound quality difference is very big (I takes regular batteries and the battery life is short so it doesn't get much use these days).

I had decided not to buy another sansa player but have read some good things about the fuze, so I have decided to reconsider. I only listen to music so the sound quality is the most important aspect for me, so I thought I would find out what people who currently have one think - especially if you can compare it to the e280.

Also the 'refresh' time on the e280 is frankly silly, especially if it has a micro sd card in it - is this the case with the fuze?

Your comments are greatly appreciated. many thanks.

[CrowdAds]

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by bluxa

Hi,

I currently have a sansa e280 but its on its way out and I am looking for a replacement. I have never been happy with the sound quality of the e280, it is mediocre at best. I also have a kenwood MP3 player and the sound quality difference is very big (I takes regular batteries and the battery life is short so it doesn't get much use these days).

I had decided not to buy another sansa player but have read some good things about the fuze, so I have decided to reconsider. I only listen to music so the sound quality is the most important aspect for me, so I thought I would find out what people who currently have one think - especially if you can compare it to the e280.

Also the 'refresh' time on the e280 is frankly silly, especially if it has a micro sd card in it - is this the case with the fuze?

Your comments are greatly appreciated. many thanks.

Frankly, the sound quality of the Fuze is *bleep*-ing awesome. The refresh time only comes into play when you switch up your music. With the internal memory it isn't bad at all, and when I deleted my whole microsd and put 6 gb of fresh music on it, plus re-did my internal memory, it took 4 1/2 minutes....IMO, a small price to pay for great sound and nearly 12 gb of music. However, you can buy a Fuze with 8gb internal, mine has 4gb. I chose the 4gb because with that plus the 8gb microsdhc card I got a 12gb flash player for $100 US.....not too shabby IMO

[OddBob]

My ears aren't all that great but even I noticed the difference in sound quality. The Fuze and the E280v2 both have a different sound chip from the old E280, and it works really well.

As for refresh, the time it takes seems comparable to the E280 but with one important difference: it doesn't refresh EVERY TIME YOU TURN THE DAMN THING ON!! As you might guess, this is very important to me.

I recommend the Fuze highly. If you could put Rockbox on it, it would be perfect.

[zickZackMann]

Yeah, the Fuze is great. But wait a minute - the E280v1 refreshes the database every time its being turned on? OMGWTFLOL.. This kind of renders that player useless IMO.

[curiouswonderer]

yes, but one bad thing is...
in the newest firmware, alotta songs have this annoying sttutturing sound that pops out sporadically...

also, if you only wnat music, look at the clip, it has the same sound quality as fuze (very very good), but its cheaper.

[sansaguy]

Originally Posted by curiouswonderer

yes, but one bad thing is...
in the newest firmware, alotta songs have this annoying sttutturing sound that pops out sporadically...

also, if you only wnat music, look at the clip, it has the same sound quality as fuze (very very good), but its cheaper.

hmm...I haven't come across the 'stuttering' sound but I hear that the problem will be fixed in the next firmware upgrade due out in November?.

[WalkGood]

Originally Posted by zickZackMann

... But wait a minute - the E280v1 refreshes the database every time its being turned on? OMGWTFLOL.. This kind of renders that player useless IMO.

Not if you are running rockbox

[bluxa]

Hi Guys,

thanks for the comments - I think will take curiouswonderer's advice and maybe pick up a clip - the consensus seesm to be the sound quality is good so I'll give it a go - esp. since they have 8gb models now. Only problem is that I have just realised that in Japan (where I live at the mo) they only seem to sell the e200 series, and not the fuze, clip or view. I may have to order from the UK and get someone in my family to mail it over for me - no idea why its not available here.

[DarkCloudInc]

I'd say the sound difference is significant enough to know the when switching between the two players. I've came from a year of listening on the e200 series and switched to the Fuze and it was remarkable.

[TNO]

I have a Clip and a Fuze. The Clip is the first player that really made me happy. Then I got the Fuze and it's freakin' perfect. The Fuze interface is much more enjoyable to use.

[WalkGood]

Originally Posted by bluxa

Hi Guys,

thanks for the comments - I think will take curiouswonderer's advice and maybe pick up a clip - the consensus seesm to be the sound quality is good so I'll give it a go - esp. since they have 8gb models now. ... ...

Congrats, I'm sure you'll enjoy it

[Oery]

I use Fuze for several months....
then bought iBasso P3 Heron...
mod my Grado SR60 with woody housing
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/pos...ml#post4912055
...those combined ---> heaven on earth........

[fluxam]

I saw this thread Monday night and was at B&H Photo at 9 AM Tuesday to get mine.
Yes, audio quality is vastly much better than on my version 1 e280. I've been impressed by clarity/realism of guitar-plucked notes. The $300 Westone earbuds I use clearly expose differences.
I'll still favor the much more expensive Cowon D2 for music, largely because of the BBE tweaking.

[HulkSmashNow]

I also love the sound quality of the Fuze. I decided on getting my 4GB version only after learning that it would sound the same as my 4GB Clip, which was running low on space. The expandability of the Fuze is really a terrific feature. The ability to have an 8GB player just like that is great, and then being able to turn it into a 12GB, 20GB, or even, maybe someday soon, a 36GB player is pretty incredible to me. But, then again, I'm easily awed. Great thread and great comments, everyone!

[JK98]

The sound problems seem to be with some 128 kbps mp3 files. If you use 192 kbps or 256 kbps you won't have that problem. Some have reported some problems using lower bitrate variable bitrate mp3.

[fluxam]

@JK98
You're talking about the codec decoding process. But, what impresses me is the low noise and transparency of the audio amplifier part. I don't experience the listening exhaustion which one gets with lo-fi players. The more I listen, the better I like it!
I was thrilled that NHK Japanese language lessons at 40kbps CBR, sampling rate 24khz, play very well. Such small files aren't hi-fi (though I can hear their stomachs rumble!), but these same files play badly (stuttering) or not at all on other players. My Rio Carbon had excellent MP3 decoding, but the Fuze is at least as good.
I have yet to hear any problems in Ogg Vorbis decoding of q5 44khz sample rate or 56kbps VBR at 32khz and 22khz.

[JK98]

The Fuze is also good since it has played every mp3 and wma file I have tried playing on it, including 12 kbps wma and 16 kbps mp3 files(they are lectures, not music).