Sansa Fuze+: First Impressions

[glove4]

Received it in the mail today, looks good so far. First things first, it does not cure cancer or end world hunger as we all expected it would, so big disappointment there (sorry if you don't get the joke).

Otherwise, very nice looking player. Feels a little less weighty in your hand by comparison with the Fuze. Some may say it feels "cheaper" than the Fuze, but that is a subjective issue. I'll do a very quick rundown of my overall first impression:

Really like the new UI, SO MUCH BETTER than the utterly outdated UI of the Fuze. You can now choose any image for your background or let the UI create a collage of album artwork. You can customize the menu, in which I promptly unchecked the Podcasts and Radio menus as I will never use them. Swiping and scrolling is going to be take a few minutes to get used to as I am finding it very easy to scroll too far in the artist or settings menu, but its not a huge deal, not anything you can't get used to, though it will undoubtedly annoy some people on here, again a subjective thing. Sound quality doesn't seem to have changed at all, which is a great thing, but I do not test this kind of stuff, so I'll leave that to a professional reviewer. Screen looks very nice, big improvement I think, in size and quality. Music playback is sweet looking, nice big album art (I was hoping they would do this, thank you Sandisk). You can scroll through an album by swiping left and right or by pressing. One con I am noticing is that it takes a long time to boot up for some reason, but again, hardly a big deal as it is no more than 8 seconds I think. I'm certain I'll think of some other things as I go through the player. Also, the black is a fingerprint magnet, no surprise there, very glossy plastic, and again, very lightweight. I like it a whole lot better than my Fuze so far.

[The DarkSide]

Actually looks nice,....

[McDougal]

Actually looks better than I thought it would be. I'm still not getting it though, due to lack of Rockbox capability. But other than lack of Rockbox, looks like a very nice player, and I'm impressed with it so far. Could you maybe post a video?

[dfkt]

Thanks for the first impressions, Glove4. Do you have any gapless tracks to test if this time it's really gapless, without clicks or tiny pauses, like the "gapless" Clip+ has?

[multi-user]

@glove4: Thanks for the first impressions. Glad I ordered one now; looks pretty good.

[deadohiosky]

hellaluvah, that was lightning fast. you ordered it yesterday and it was already delivered to you?

i'm fairly impressed by sandisk (or better the parcel service)

have a good time and keep us updated.

[McDougal]

I'm confused...Amazon says its not released yet, and Best Buy doesn't even have it listed. How did you get it? From the SanDisk website?

[deadohiosky]

Originally Posted by McDougal

I'm confused...Amazon says its not released yet, and Best Buy doesn't even have it listed. How did you get it? From the SanDisk website?

yup, have a look at the other fuze+ thread.

[Marvin the Martian]

Looks better than I thought it would....customizable menus are sweet, too. Will the gapless be real, and will the EQ work well.....these are the two big questions I have left.
Thanks glove4!

[glove4]

Originally Posted by dfkt

Thanks for the first impressions, Glove4. Do you have any gapless tracks to test if this time it's really gapless, without clicks or tiny pauses, like the "gapless" Clip+ has?

I did listen closely to confirm whether it has gapless, and I can say for certain that there is a slight click between songs, so it is not true gapless. This is on mp3 files. It is far better than the Fuze, however, similar to the "gapless" on the Clip+. That is disappointing certainly, but I can deal with it as I have with the Clip+. I could be giving misleading info, however, since I am uncertain as to whether the tracks I am listening to are gapless themselves. So I supposed I can't give a definitive answer to this.

Also, there is some slight laggyness/sluggishness I am noticing, but nothing that can't be fixed via firmware updates. It's a decent upgrade for the most part, but anybody expecting something stellar is going to be disappointed, it is still a budget player through and through. I will take it over the original Fuze though (still getting used to the controls, I have been spoiled badly by the smooth rolling click wheel). I don't want to give the impression that is really bad sluggishness though, it runs smoothly for the most part, but not super smooth at this point.

One issue I noticed is the way in which FLAC files show up, very similar to the way they showed up on the Creative Zen X-Fi2, with a TIST in front of the artist name. Again, there are some cons with this thing, but the pros are outweighing the cons for the most part since some of these issues will hopefully be addressed via firmware eventually.

[EggyCuppy]

I know its asking alot, but could you give us a review of batt life with
mp3
ogg
flac file types

I would like to know if sansa fixed their ogg and flac decoders like Saratoga recommended or if they just blew off the fix(wouldnt surprise me at all)

Just wanting to know because I am seriously considering swaping one of my fuzes for one at bb(its under bb extended warr!!!) and would like to know how well all the players features work and if im going to loose batt life by grabbing a + b4 it has rockbox

[WalkGood]

glove4 thanks for the info and update on gapless

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by glove4

I could be giving misleading info, however, since I am uncertain as to whether the tracks I am listening to are gapless themselves. So I supposed I can't give a definitive answer to this.

If they play truly gapless in Foobar2000, Winamp, Rockbox, then they should be the real deal. Thanks for the info so far, Glove4.

[Marvin the Martian]

http://www.cnet.com/sansa-fuze/9742-1_53-50092499.html


It does look like there is a slight lag between a finger swipe and actual scrolling.

[EnzoTen]

Thanks for the first impressions. I posted it to the front page! http://anythingbutipod.com/2010/09/s...t-impressions/

[Ultimate Viking]

Congrats on the new toy glove4. I might just have to get one of these my damn self. I never did think it too bad. It is a bit bigger than the original Fuze, but still not a bad size.

BTW, congrats on making the front page too.

[lestatar]

Excellent glove4, indeed congratulations! Look forward to hearing more of your impressions as the days go on...Thanks for filling us all in.

And yeah, I did get the joke in your first paragraph

PS: Any chance you can take edge on shots of the Fuze and Fuze+? I am curious as to the thickness of the Fuze+ as compared to the Fuze. And that's a nice all black Sandisk player family photo

EDIT:
Thanks for the cnet link Marv - I got a better idea as to the thickness of the Fuze+. Seems kinda hefty

[Whatthehel_vetica]

Originally Posted by glove4

You can scroll through an album by swiping left and right or by pressing.

Can you press any direction? As in, could you opt out of the touch-controled finger sliding?

[glove4]

Originally Posted by lestatar

Excellent glove4, indeed congratulations! Look forward to hearing more of your impressions as the days go on...Thanks for filling us all in.

And yeah, I did get the joke in your first paragraph

PS: Any chance you can take edge on shots of the Fuze and Fuze+? I am curious as to the thickness of the Fuze+. And that's a nice all black Sandisk family photo

Here is a comparison of thickness. Also, a few more random photos, plus I threw whitey in with my extended family panoramic for no particular reason whatsoever. He was sad because I left him out the first time, claims I don't play with him anymore.

[glove4]

Originally Posted by Whatthehel_vetica

Can you press any direction? As in, could you opt out of the touch-controled finger sliding?

Yeah, you can press on the directional pad or swipe.