Sansa Clip and Cowon j3

I think this question was addressed in an earlier thread: http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/561569/cowon-bbe-bbe-good-sound-quality-is-it-a-myth

Basically without enhancements, the Sansa Clip+ sounds more analytical/accurate than the Cowon J3, but if you like to use EQ's or other enhancements (BBE/BBE+), then the J3 is the better choice....don't quote me on that though since I haven't heard the difference between the two myself yet (I'm looking to purchase the J3 because I'm not too thrilled about the Sansa Clip's user interface).

I actually prefer the rockbox'd Clip+'s sound quality. And the Clip+ performance for the money is unbeatable. The player is dirt cheap!

The Sansa clip VS Cowon J3 has become a debate more about battery life/Cost as opposed to sound quality. Depending on your IEMS/Phones - You wouldn't really be able to tell THAT great of a difference. You would have to have a decent pair of analytical ears - And you would have to be concentrating.

Thus: No huge difference. If you think the extra battery life + UI is worth the price difference - then go for it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dreamLRG 

I know there is a huge price difference, but how does the sansa clip+rockbox match up with the cowon j3, in comparison with sound quality. Is there like a huge difference?

**The following post only matters if you care about storage space and in need of more than 36gigs**

I thought that the Sansa clip was great because its "cheap" but here in Canada (not sure where you're from), its actually not that cheap considering a 4gig clip is $50 and a 32 gig J3 is $280

4gig x 8 = 32gig

so

$50x8 is $400

and also considering that j3 has much better battery life, UI, screen. Go for the J3

Quote:

Originally Posted by dreamLRG 

I know there is a huge price difference, but how does the sansa clip+rockbox match up with the cowon j3, in comparison with sound quality. Is there like a huge difference?

i've had my rockbox'd clip+ for a while and i loved the sq and thought it was bloody awesome, but i just bought a used 8gb dmb version of J3 for around $69 and holy crap the sound quality was a big difference for me. especially with my balanced, neutral, and slightly boring sounding ba iem (soundmagic pl-50) it made it more fun without muddying the sq. the sound enhancements on j3 is a huge difference from the sound enhancements on clip+

i just love the fact that my beloved pl-50 can sound neutral and analytical, or punchy and fun sounding like an m50, depending on the music and what i feel like.

i'm visiting korea atm so that's why i was able to buy it for such low price but now that i know how great it sounds, i would gladly pay $200+ for it.

i don't think i'll ever give up my J3. i'm taking this one to the grave with me lol

I own both the Sansa Clip+ and Cowon J3. Both are great sounding DAPs but I think my Rockboxed Clip+ has the better SQ. The thing I don't like about the Cowon DAPs is that IMO it has poor instrument seperation and soundstage compared to my other DAPs (Clip+, Fuze, Sony X1060 and S639F and iPod Nano 6G) which has really good soundstage and instrument seperation.

I think cowon have better SQ build and battery