Fuze and Volume

[Albinoni]

I recently bought and decided to add a 4GB Sansa Fuze to my MP3 collection of players. First off I will have to say this would have to be one of the nicest little flash players out there and very nicely built. Also I will have to say the SQ of this thing is awesome and to me personally up there with alot of the other players but at a cheaper cost.

The only small slight thing I am dissapointed about is its Volume as I find it to be slightly too wear, though not overly too bad. For eg I have to crank it up bit more than half way to get good decent listening level, where as with my others players like my Creative Zens, I can turn it up to a quarter of the way (eg Vol Level 15 or 14) and I get a good comfortable listening. Like I said I just find the Vol on this to bee a bit slight too weak.

Overall I love this player.

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by Albinoni

I recently bought and decided to add a 4GB Sansa Fuze to my MP3 collection of players. First off I will have to say this would have to be one of the nicest little flash players out there and very nicely built. Also I will have to say the SQ of this thing is awesome and to me personally up there with alot of the other players but at a cheaper cost.

The only small slight thing I am dissapointed about is its Volume as I find it to be slightly too wear, though not overly too bad. For eg I have to crank it up bit more than half way to get good decent listening level, where as with my others players like my Creative Zens, I can turn it up to a quarter of the way (eg Vol Level 15 or 14) and I get a good comfortable listening. Like I said I just find the Vol on this to bee a bit slight too weak.

Overall I love this player.

You aren't by chance using the custom EQ are you? If so, try the Normal setting and the volume usually goes up a bit. And there's a Normal and High Volume selection in the settings, Normal is a cap of sorts.

[Albinoni]

Originally Posted by Marvin the Martian

You aren't by chance using the custom EQ are you? If so, try the Normal setting and the volume usually goes up a bit. And there's a Normal and High Volume selection in the settings, Normal is a cap of sorts.

No, I have the EQ set to Normal and not using custom.

I did see this High/Normal Vol selection in the setup menu but havent tried it, will do so and see how it goes.

Thanks

[JK98]

Use more efficient headphones. With a more efficient headphone, the maximum volume will be higher. An efficient 16 ohm earphone will give the highest maximum volume. Look for a 16 ohm earphone that is at least 112 db/mw if you want the highest meximum volume. You didn't mention which headphone you are using.

[Burns11]

You said your listening level is less than the player produces at max, so what difference does it make if it's at 10% or 80% as long as it's loud enough?

[JK98]

The sound quality is much better as the player's headphone amp has more headroom, and is putting out much less distortion when it is not run close to its maximum. One will also get better battery life with much more efficient headphones. Headphones vary greatly in efficiency.

My Sony E888 earphone(16 ohms 108 db/mw efficiency) can produce earsplitting volumes from my Fuze, while my Fuze just barely powers my Sony V6(63 ohms, 106 db/mw) to a decent volume. Both the V6 and the Fuze aren't at their best though when the two are combined, and I don't recommend this combination. My Fuze is also not that great with the Koss Portapro(60 ohms, 101 db efficiency) and Sportapro. The Fuze works best with 16 ohm earphones or headphones, and I suggest using earphones or headphones 32 ohms or less with it.


One popular model(which I don't recommend), the Bose Triport in ear headphone is only 97 db/mw. An earphone that is 110 db/mw will put out 20 times as much sound for the same power input. One other consideration is the headphone impedance. A player will put out much more power into a lower impedance headphone.

This thread on the Sandisk message board is interesting.

http://forums.sandisk.com/sansa/boar...=125486#M13919

[saratoga]

IIRC dftk tested the fuze/clip amp and found the max output level at clipping is a few dB quieter then most mp3 players, so you may need to increase the volume a bit more then some players.

[Albinoni]

Originally Posted by JK98

Use more efficient headphones. With a more efficient headphone, the maximum volume will be higher. An efficient 16 ohm earphone will give the highest maximum volume. Look for a 16 ohm earphone that is at least 112 db/mw if you want the highest meximum volume. You didn't mention which headphone you are using.

I am using AKG K416P's, Sennheiser's PX100's, Audio Technica's ATH-ES7's, if you look at my profile it will list the headphones I own or use.

[Albinoni]

Ok what I am saying here is that it seems that my Creative Zens, this means my Zen Vision M's, Zen Jukebox Nomad Xtra and Zen Touch seem to be more powerful players.

For eg lets say if i were to place the Vol level of the Fuze on 15 and did the same with the Zen, the Zens would be louder at that Volume level.

I dont know perhaps the Zens are a more powerful player, plus I think my Zens have a 32Ohm output whereas the Fuze is a 16Ohm output.

[JK98]

The PX100 should give you decent volume with the Fuze. The AKG K416P is listed as having a sensitivity of 126 db/mw? I haven't seen a sensitivity number this high before. It should play very loud with the Fuze.

http://www.akg.com/personal/K_416_P,...how,specs.html

[JK98]

The Fuze and Clip do seem to put out so much more power with 16 ohm earphones than with those 32 ohms or higher.

The Fuze does seem to put out a bit more power than the Clip, although the difference doesn't seem huge.

[nezbleu]

Originally Posted by JK98

The PX100 should give you decent volume with the Fuze. The AKG K416P is listed as having a sensitivity of 126 db/mw? I haven't seen a sensitivity number this high before. It should play very loud with the Fuze.

http://www.akg.com/personal/K_416_P,...how,specs.html

Thee is an asterisk there, and the legend seems to indicate that that is 126 dB/V, not per mW. The impedance is 32 ohms, so that would imply that 126dB output is achieved with about 30mW. Quick (probably inaccurate) calc indicates about 112dB/mw, which is probably pretty average.

Another way of looking at it is that the Fuze has a battery rated at (I think) 6.4V, so clipping is probably around +/-3V p-p, maybe a little less, and that assumes it can drive enough current into 32Ohms. I have 16-ohm phones and the Fuze can be driven into clipping at levels whch are not outrageous when there is a lot of low-frequency content.

[nezbleu]

Originally Posted by Albinoni

Ok what I am saying here is that it seems that my Creative Zens, this means my Zen Vision M's, Zen Jukebox Nomad Xtra and Zen Touch seem to be more powerful players.

For eg lets say if i were to place the Vol level of the Fuze on 15 and did the same with the Zen, the Zens would be louder at that Volume level.

I dont know perhaps the Zens are a more powerful player, plus I think my Zens have a 32Ohm output whereas the Fuze is a 16Ohm output.

The output impedance of an amplifier is generally less than 1 Ohm. The power that an amplifier can produce is limited by its max voltage swing and the impedance that it is driving, assuming that it can supply sufficient current. A sufficiently low impedance (like a short circuit) will require more current than the amp can provide and it will clip at a lower voltage.

Do try the "High" volume setting on the Fuze. Set to Normal it is pretty quiet.

[Popcorn]

I don't notice any volume difference between these headphones: Creative EP630s, Sennheiser PX200's, ATH-CK7's, and a pair of Griffin earbuds (unk if they have a model number). I have the equalizer set to 'normal', and am using MSC mode.

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by JK98

The PX100 should give you decent volume with the Fuze.

I can attest to this....that combo will go very loud!

[Popcorn]

I just took my headsets/earbuds and switched among them leaving the player at the same volume and not changing any settings. Did not notice anything. I assumed from what I read that I should have more volume from some of the headsets compared to others (like my cheap Griffin earbuds). Maybe I misread this thread.

[nezbleu]

Originally Posted by Popcorn

I don't notice any volume difference between these headphones: Creative EP630s, Sennheiser PX200's, ATH-CK7's, and a pair of Griffin earbuds (unk if they have a model number). I have the equalizer set to 'normal', and am using MSC mode.

Well, the EP630's and ATH-CK7's have almost identical impedance and sensitivity, so there should be no noticeable difference in loudness. The Senns are more efficient but have a higher impedance, plus they are supra-aural rather than in-ear, so pretty hard to compare. On paper the Senns should play about 6db louder for the same volume setting, but I think the design difference would swamp that.