Advice to a newbie please

[Steve90102]

Hi all,

Discovered this site a few days ago which is great but still a bit baffled by the enormous choice of players out there.

I'm quite new to mp3 players since I bought my first one about a year ago - a Philips Go Gear Mix 4GB. Since for many years I've been something of a hi fi nut I am a total mp3 sceptic, so was very pleased to discover that my Philips will play WAV and FLAC files. The FLAC files in particular sound fabulous - nearly as good as my hi fi for acoustic music but it struggles a little when playing full electric rock band type stuff. Also, I am listening on very good Sennhesier HD595 over ear headphones which make a big difference too - I hate all those flimsy crappy in ear phones that just sound like total garbage to me (sorry!)

So I got to thinking- is it worth spending a bit more on a better player ? Would it sound better than my lowly Philips player (which you've all probably had a good laugh at by now I expect

I dont want to listen to music whilst going to the gym, running, mountain climbing, skiing , scuba diving or any of that stuff, I just want the best quality sound and I dont want to watch videos on a tiny screen either so..

I've read good and bad reviews of the Sandisk Sansa Clip+ and the Philips RAGA which seem to be good contenders or it worth spending more on something else - but what?

I'd be grateful for any advice you can give! Thanks for reading

[CrowdAds]

[WalkGood]

Originally Posted by Steve90102

Hi all, Discovered this site a few days ago ...

Hello and welcome to abi

The Clip + is inexpensive enough for you to buy it, a 32GB card for expansion and start testing to see how you like it. IMHO it’s a great little player for the price and there are plenty of members around that will tell you how great it is as well, but there’s nothing like first hand experience which I see you’ve done with the Philips Go Gear. Regardless if you don’t like it you can always return or sell it.

I would also recommend you convert some of your FLAC’s with something like Foobar2000 and test to see if you can hear any difference. This is easy to do with their ABX Comparator plugin, I’d start out trying files at 192 VBR and work your way up. I think most people are surprised and who knows you might be able to carry more files with you.

Lastly, after getting well acquainted with the SanDisk original firmware and feeling comfortable. I would recommend to rockbox your player for better codec support and the wonderful sound setting features (parametric equalizer, crossfeed, stereo width, etc. … ). If you don't like it, it can always be removed.

[FreeZ5]

Originally Posted by Steve90102

So I got to thinking- is it worth spending a bit more on a better player ? Would it sound better than my lowly Philips player (which you've all probably had a good laugh at by now I expect

I dont want to listen to music whilst going to the gym, running, mountain climbing, skiing , scuba diving or any of that stuff, I just want the best quality sound and I dont want to watch videos on a tiny screen either so..

I've read good and bad reviews of the Sandisk Sansa Clip+ and the Philips RAGA which seem to be good contenders or it worth spending more on something else - but what?

I'd be grateful for any advice you can give! Thanks for reading

Based on feedback here at ABi, the Sansa Clip family family players are the best little players on the market. Not sure what bad reviews you have read but in all likely they are bad luck, or the reviewer did not take the time to learn about the player.

You could consider the Cowon players, particularly the J3, which is well respected, but more money and more features than interest you.

For most people, investing in better earhones/headphones is the best way to improve sound quality. So you would appear set to go there. BTW "flimsy, crappy in-ear phones"? You may have been using the wrong in ear phones. If you are referring to the ones that came with the player, you definitely have been using the wrong ones. And don't expect the Sansa ones to be any good either.

Steve

[The DarkSide]

We always see that "someone read" or "someone heard" the Sansa players are bad/defective/etc. With the exception being the fuze+ (it's pretty shoddy in the controls dept.) the Sansa players are a sure bet for reliable & cheap excellent sq.

[Steve90102]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I was having a play on my Go Gear Mix player yesterday and noticed again how little difference the 'Real sound' option really makes, so I'm thinking the Philips RAGA is out. It probably wont sound much different to the Mix.

Yes I know there are some great ear bud phones out there, it's just that I don't personally like them very much.

Also, yes I agree the bad reviews of the Clip+ seem to be from people who were unlucky, or didn't know the solution to the EU volume problem etc. Since so many people recommend it, I think I'll order the Sandisk and report back what I think. Thanks again.
Steve

[skip252]

Unless Philips let the sound quality slip with the GoGear you have I wouldn't expect that there would be a big difference between the player you have and a Clip. I've heard the older Raga, Aria, Spark and a Clip and couldn't find a difference when I volume matched them and turned the effects off. That's my subjective opinion of course but I haven't seen any reviews by a knowledgeable reviewer that pointed out any obvious problems with the SQ on a Philips player.

My problems with Philips players has been reliability, not sound quality. I got tired of returning to the vendor and shipping them back to Philips so I gave up. Most of the issues were firmware related and their firmware updater didn't work well. They may have straightened that out but looking at recent Amazon complaints I don't think so.

I don't believe anyone was trying to steer you to in ear headphones. They were pointing out that since most quality players sound alike the difference will be the headphones. You've got good headphones so you should be good to go.

If you're going to be out and about you might want to look at some closed headphones. I've found open sets let so much outside noise leak in it ruins the great sound they put out.

[Steve90102]

Well, here we are a few days later and I now have my Sansa Clip+! Got it for a good price very quickly from a trader on Ebay. Loaded it with lots of FLAC and have to say I'm very impressed with the sound. I'm pleased to say it actually does sound better than my Philips Go Gear Mix, a wider fuller sound with more detail and that's before I start playing with the EQ.

The Clip+ sounds another step closer to my hi fi, in fact so close at times with certain music I forget I'm listening to a tiny box that cost me £28 compared to two big boxes costing around £450! How long before the end of hi fi?

[FreeZ5]

Originally Posted by Steve90102

that's before I start playing with the EQ.

Don't bother playing with the EQ unless you put Rockbox on the player.

Steve

[The DarkSide]

Originally Posted by FreeZ5

Don't bother playing with the EQ unless you put Rockbox on the player.

Steve

I agree!!! Rockbox really DOES make the player EXCELLENT!!!

[Marvin the Martian]

Originally Posted by FreeZ5

Don't bother playing with the EQ unless you put Rockbox on the player.

Steve

True that....the EQ in the Sansa firmware pretty much sucks.

[sideways]

Hi-Fi is just a marketing term. Good to hear you got something you like and made some room in your pockets!

[skip252]

Good to hear you found a DAP to fill your needs. Don't let these guys tout you into Rockbox right away. As you're finding the Clip+ is very decent as is. Rockbox does give you another step up in the EQ department and some really nice customization options. I'd think about it while you enjoy the sweet sounds you have now.

The EQ in the OF isn't anywhere near the 5 band parametric in Rockbox but I actually find the more recent ones much more usable than the one in the earlier Clips. Those truly sucked, instant distortion if you activated them in any way. The volume dropping off a cliff didn't help any.

[meanwhile]

Originally Posted by skip252

Good to hear you found a DAP to fill your needs. Don't let these guys tout you into Rockbox right away. As you're finding the Clip+ is very decent as is. Rockbox does give you another step up in the EQ department and some really nice customization options. I'd think about it while you enjoy the sweet sounds you have now.

The EQ in the OF isn't anywhere near the 5 band parametric in Rockbox but I actually find the more recent ones much more usable than the one in the earlier Clips. Those truly sucked, instant distortion if you activated them in any way. The volume dropping off a cliff didn't help any.

The Clip+ EQ is at least semi-decent but I'd still Rockbox for playing FLACs - my memory is that the battery life increases considerably for FLACs. Not that FLACS sounded any better than even quite moderate bit rate mp3s when I finally got around to testing them, but that's another matter!

[WalkGood]

Originally Posted by Marvin the Martian

True that....the EQ in the Sansa firmware pretty much sucks.

No need to hold back Marvin and say "pretty much sucks," as it does suck!! I don't have any problems when peeps don't want to run rockbox, but I'd recommend that you just don't use the EQ on the OF to hear how good the Clip performs. Ok I did heckle lestatar and Marvin into trying it but in the end it was their own choice

[Steve90102]

Originally Posted by FreeZ5

Don't bother playing with the EQ unless you put Rockbox on the player.

Steve

Yeah, having played with the EQ a bit now, I found it sounds better on 'normal', although I will experiment a bit more with the custom setting.
Will also look into the Rockbox option too - thanks!

[Steve90102]

A few months later I thought I'd report back on my Sansa Clip+:
No complaints from me, in fact I love it. As I hinted above I've always been really fussy over sound quality but after much experimenting and comparisons etc I've decided that overall it does sound better than my hi fi, in fact I'm now listening to more music than ever - the Clip+ has made me want to listen to all my music and really enjoy it again!

Sure everyone has different ears and sound preferences but I cant recommend it highly enough.

[skip252]

Glad to hear you're liking how things are working out. Amazing how something so small and inexpensive can sound that good isn't it?

I'm not surprised about the observation it sounds better than your hifi system if you're listening with headphones. I've noticed the same thing on a few systems that were very good through the speakers. I've read that the headphone out on a some systems is more of an afterthought and isn't well designed. Of course I don't know if that applies to your system but it might be why there's such a difference.

[WalkGood]

Originally Posted by Steve90102

... I cant recommend it highly enough.

Good to hear you like it and it's meeting your needs, what IEMs/headphones you using? The better the pair the better the Clip sounds IMHO, also I'm still a firm believer that the EQ on Sansa's suck compared to rockbox.