SanDisk Sansa Clip+ 8 GB MP3 Player (Black)

I got a sansa clip+ for my pair of custom iems. Really small, really portable, big nice clip to clip on something while training. Almost perfect sound, some audible noise (really really low, like really low, with balanced armatures, other headphones are ok - I'll accept it, some folks may not), price - almost nothing, 10 hours battery, ugly as hell, crappy screen, fm radio, recorder, flac support, microsd card, perfect. Not much else to say, really. The thing has 1 ohm output impedance and flat frreq response, and packs some serious power. All that for the cheepy price, you can't go better, imo. Installing rockbox and the classic theme corrects some very small issues, and basically makes this perfect for music and audio. Face it, you don't need extra bulk in your pockets for a screen the size of a smartphone, eating your battery.

Hello,
I own the current Sansa for about 3 years, so I can say I am very familiar with it.
 
Bad start
 
 
So...
When I happened to own Cowon Iaudio 9 I took this guy for a minute and thought to myself - what a simple sound, it's far less powerful and enjoyable than the Cowon, I must not forget that the Cowon is a premium player and this guy is just cheap and tiny. But time passed, J3 replaced my Iaudio and at some point of time magically disappeared. When I looked for a new DAP immediately I thought about the Sansa, with all the god reviews it's getting. So sansa was bought and I was very happy with it. At one stage I found a bargain on Cowon D2, so I sold the Sansa and tried to enjoy the Cowon, but could not, in spite of it having much more powerful amplifier, battery and touchscreen as well as buttons. So D2 was sold, and I bought another Sansa that I am enjoying still.
 
What I like about my Sansa?
 
Obviously the sound. The sound is great "as is" without any manipulations whatsoever. And it's with many decent headphones.
Format support - this thing can process so many formats, that it's really hard to find unsupported ones for it.
Rockbox - this thing is just absurdly good. Many many options (not just equalizer and crossfeed) that make life so much easier
Reliability - my player have fallen so much and there are hardly any scratches on it
 
What I don't like ?
 
Recently it started to develop problems with being recognized by PC in order to transfer music. I have to turn it on and off several times.
Volume - there are almost no reserves. I am using Koss KSC-75 and Sennheiser PX80 (re-issued PX100 first edition) and at the gym I almost have to max it. Also with Koss TBSE1 at home I have to listen at 90-95% from the maximum volume.
Batery life - only about 10 hours, not so great
 
 
Bottom line
 
Iconic player, one of the best at it time. I think now there are better options around (for budget-conscious audiophiles) but this one surely is exceptional, mainly because of Rockbox. I know it's not ideal player, but considering it's price and features it's very close.

The reason I went with the 8gb model was because I previously had another Clip+ that had compatibility problems with my storage expansion card, so I went with more onboard capacity.
 
Also problematic with my previous Clip+ was OS instability, causing me to return it. To this, I attribute poor quality control.
 
These are the reasons why I subtracted 1.5 stars.
 
It gets 3.5 stars because when it's non-defective, it works well; It's dirt cheap, it has a clear, uncontaminated sound quality, you can sync files with any software, it's tiny and virtually weightless making it ultraportable, it clips onto your person so you can wear it with workout clothes that typically have no pockets, etc.
 
So cheap and so good, there's nearly no reason to not try it at least once. Just go with the 4GB model.