SanDisk Sansa Clip review

SanDisk Sansa Clip Review

Reviewed by: Jasmine France

Reviewed on: 1 November 2007

The Sansa Clip also comes with a built-in mic for making voice recordings -- WAV output only -- and an FM tuner, from which you can record, as well. The radio offers up to 40 presets -- the autoscan function is somewhat buried in the 'view all presets' menu, but it's a handy feature and worth using.

As with any decent MP3 player, you get shuffle and repeat playback modes and an equaliser -- we like that there's an adjustable five-band setting. More plusses: you can add songs to an on-the-go playlist, rate and delete songs on the device and mark subscription tracks for purchase at next sync.

Finally, there's the autoresume function, which picks up where you left off in a track, even if you paused before shutdown. This is particularly handy for those who listen to long, spoken-word tracks, such as podcasts and audiobooks.

Performance
Although most SanDisk devices sound passable, we've never been blown away by the sound quality of Sansa players. The Clip is actually a bit of an exception -- this player sounds great. 

In our tests -- using the Shure SE530s -- music sounded rich and clear, with a present bass brought out more by tinkering with the custom EQ. Fiona Apple's soft pop track The First Taste was encompassing, with buttery mids, sparkly highs and subtle bass. Mellow electronic music (eg Hot Chip's The Warning) was similarly pleasing, but even the Deftones' Bored -- a heavy and riffy rock track -- offered impressive clarity.

All in all, we could find very little to complain about in the audio quality department -- unless, of course, you decide to use the included headphones, which are not so hot.

In other performance areas, the Clip was passable. Voice recordings were a little muffled sounding, and FM reception was about average. A couple of our regular stations wouldn't come through completely. The rated battery life of 15 hours is nothing to write home about, but perhaps the Clip will surprise us in testing. Check back soon for those results.

Conclusion
The SanDisk Sansa Clip is a great player, if you use some decent headphones. It can certainly compete with the Zen Stone Plus.

Additional editing by Shannon Doubleday