Would you advise me to buy a Sansa Fuze?

[zach2010]

Hey all, great site you have here. Very interesting and informative
I'm an iPod user but I'm getting tired of the poor sound quality. I'm aware that audio quality is mainly dependent on earphones but my father has a Samsung PMP (I think it's a 'Q2' or something... it has blue touch controls and a chrome-style border) and I could hear quite a large difference in the sound of songs using the same pair of earphones.
I was thinking of picking up a Sandisk Sansa Fuze (V1) for £44 from Amazon in the 4GB model and buying a microSD card for additional storage. I was also thinking of grabbing a fairly decent pair of earbuds to accompany them.
I've heard many positive things about the Fuze but before I go for it, I was wondering if I was making the right decision. I'd like to keep to the cheap price and having 'unlimited' storage dependent on me buying microSD cards seems really appealing.
Two things about the Fuze I've read are bugging me a little:
1. Is the clickwheel abnormally loud? Buy "abnormally", I mean like... offputtingly loud. Is it a reason for me not to buy the Fuze?
2. Is the battery life bad? I've heard that it's not great but from the review I can apparently get a day out of it. But then I read on another thread that half a day is what another user got out of it, which seems quite disappointing.
Thanks in advance all. I'm certainly no expert so forgive me if I sound arrogant or what have you.
Zach.

[CrowdAds]

[Adub]

The odds are the sound difference you heard was because of sound enhancements or volume difference more than the quality of the devices themselves.

You definitely get a lot more sound enhancement wise if you choose to move away from the apple brand, as they come with a weak EQ preset system that really doesn't sound very good.

The fuze is held in high regard by most of the dap community and you will definitely prefer it to the ipod if you liked the performance of the samsung.

I would suggest purchasing a V2 fuze over the V1 as you can use a 3rd party firmware called rockbox in the future if you choose to which really improves upon the stock firmware. The V1 fuze on rockbox doesn't have the battery life of the V2, making the V2 a better choice imo.

[McDougal]

I agree w/Adub..if you liked the Samsung performance better than your iPod's performance then you will be pleasantly surprised with the Sansa Fuze, however, I also agree that IMHO it is VERY important that you get a V2 over a V1. The V1, while pretty much the same as the V2, is older, and the V2 is more reliable, as well as has more battery life with Rockbox installed. Another newer option and maybe better option if you would prefer not to install Rockbox is the Sansa Fuze+. The Fuze+ has a better screen, interface, and sound quality/EQ than the original Fuze. BUT, the original Fuze Rockboxed is still better than the Fuze+. So....get a Fuze v2 instead, install Rockbox if interested, if not interested in Rockbox, get the Fuze+. Good luck, let me know if you need any more help/info! I have a Fuze v2 Rockboxed myself and I am enjoying it more than any other PMP I own, I highly recommend it.

[zach2010]

Thanks for the replies all!

Originally Posted by Adub

The odds are the sound difference you heard was because of sound enhancements or volume difference more than the quality of the devices themselves.

You definitely get a lot more sound enhancement wise if you choose to move away from the apple brand, as they come with a weak EQ preset system that really doesn't sound very good.

The fuze is held in high regard by most of the dap community and you will definitely prefer it to the ipod if you liked the performance of the samsung.

I would suggest purchasing a V2 fuze over the V1 as you can use a 3rd party firmware called rockbox in the future if you choose to which really improves upon the stock firmware. The V1 fuze on rockbox doesn't have the battery life of the V2, making the V2 a better choice imo.

I'd say that was more than likely - I'd been playing around with the EQ settings on the earlier version of the Samsung device and I felt a little cheated because I couldn't do any of that stuff with my iPod. I was impressed by the device but one thing I couldn't stand were the touch controls. They were too sensitive and I just couldn't live with them.

Originally Posted by McDougal

I agree w/Adub..if you liked the Samsung performance better than your iPod's performance then you will be pleasantly surprised with the Sansa Fuze, however, I also agree that IMHO it is VERY important that you get a V2 over a V1. The V1, while pretty much the same as the V2, is older, and the V2 is more reliable, as well as has more battery life with Rockbox installed. Another newer option and maybe better option if you would prefer not to install Rockbox is the Sansa Fuze+. The Fuze+ has a better screen, interface, and sound quality/EQ than the original Fuze. BUT, the original Fuze Rockboxed is still better than the Fuze+. So....get a Fuze v2 instead, install Rockbox if interested, if not interested in Rockbox, get the Fuze+. Good luck, let me know if you need any more help/info! I have a Fuze v2 Rockboxed myself and I am enjoying it more than any other PMP I own, I highly recommend it.

From that post I would say that a Fuze V2 sounds like my best choice. I'd seen the Fuze+ but those touch controls look too much like the ones on my both my sister's and father's Samsung devices and I found them to be a little fiddly and impractical for when you're walking around. I ended up skipping songs I was listening to accidentally too many times.
The Fuze I'd been looking at is here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-Sans..._ob_ce_title_3
I was under the assumption that it was a V1 but come to think of it, it doesn't really specify that anywhere. How would I tell the difference between a V1 and a V2?
Also, I'm not sure if this is even possible but does the Fuze support FLAC files when Rockboxed?
Thanks for the replies so far everyone =).

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by zach2010

How would I tell the difference between a V1 and a V2?
Also, I'm not sure if this is even possible but does the Fuze support FLAC files when Rockboxed?
Thanks for the replies so far everyone =).

The only way to tell is to actually turn the player on and look in the settings menu.

And yes, it supports FLAC files even without Rockbox, but without Rockbox FLAC really sucks the battery dry quickly....with Rockbox it is much better. I only use mine with Rockbox.

[zach2010]

Originally Posted by Marvin the Martian

The only way to tell is to actually turn the player on and look in the settings menu.

And yes, it supports FLAC files even without Rockbox, but without Rockbox FLAC really sucks the battery dry quickly....with Rockbox it is much better. I only use mine with Rockbox.

Thanks for letting me know Marvin, that's great. If I can only tell what version I end up with by playing around with it, then I guess I'd have to just send it back if it was a V1 since Amazon do that refund thing. Is it likely that I'd get a V2 right now? I was thinking that maybe they'd be more common than the V1 since they're an improvement but I'm not really sure.

[Marvin the Martian]

If you're buying it brand new then it would almost certainly be a V2.

[zach2010]

Fantastic, thanks! I'm excited about getting one of these though it might not be for a while. Can I just ask if in your opinion, the clickwheel is too loud on the Fuze? By too loud I mean like, a reason not to buy the device?

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by zach2010

Fantastic, thanks! I'm excited about getting one of these though it might not be for a while. Can I just ask if in your opinion, the clickwheel is too loud on the Fuze? By too loud I mean like, a reason not to buy the device?

Not too loud at all....certainly no reason to not buy it.

[zach2010]

Well then the player sounds good overall to me, thanks everyone for the advice and help .