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
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Art Dented 17 June 2011
Good: Just about everything.
Bad: How to boost the volume levels unclear.
Comment: I really like this dinky MP3 player, my portable music goes back to bright yellow plastic tinny radios so I have some experience. The Sanza replaced my Philips Go Gear HDD6320 30GB which died after 5 years hard use, I chose the Sanza 8Gb as it had the option to expand the memory and I added a 16Gb Micro SD card (I use a high bit rate for MP3s so the file size is larger but the quality is so much better. Sound quality using decent headphones is really good and both my headphones help the Sanza shine.
The volume was incredibly low until I found that it was due to Europe being set up in the settings. To fix the problem change the settings by Settings > System Settings > Reset Factory Settings > Yes.
Then when asked for region select North America.
Don't forget to change your Radio Settings option (if you use it) to Rest of the World of you may have problems picking up UK radio stations.
I like the earlier advice about USB mode but I haven't had a problem using drag and drop and I don't use slot radio. Hope this helps.
Highly recommended.
holly 2 December 2010
Good: The size, the clip, good sound quality when it works
Bad: Everything else
Comment: I am very tech literate, but my Sansa Clip is not user friendly at all! Can't figure out how to upload music and audio's in different folders, they all wind up in the same folder. Now, my volume does not work-I turn it up where I want it and it drops right back to the lowest point and therefore cannot hear anything. I have tried to get help from the company, they reply, but don't solve my problem and it takes a lot of time to deal with them. I received an email and replied to it as they said I could in there email to me and it came back undeliverable. So, I use there Chat, spent an hour and my problem is still unresolved. I may need to invest in a different mp3 player, and it won't be a Sansa.
Nyadach 31 March 2009
Good: Huge capacity, sound quality.
Bad: A little plasticy
Comment: The capacity is punching well above its size, with the 8GB version which is simply amazing. Add to that its 8GB and under £40 and its a very cheap solution. The sound quality was another huge surprise, even on the basic bundled headphones this thing is sounding better than an a full size iPod, buy some proper headphones and its pretty much the perfect MP3 player to cart around with you all the time. Add the fact that it has a screen for ease of use and full complete control, and also a radio and you will wonder what the hell anyone see's in a shuffle. The Clip has everything!
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