CFZC Benjie

Sincerity Store very kindly offered to send me their latest CFZC Benjie Micro MP3 player for review - so I jumped at the chance.
 
Physical Description
 
The player comes supplied in a rather plain cardboard box (which isn’t really a bad thing) and features a set of earbuds (with 2 pairs of foamies - yay!), a Micro USB charging cable and a very minimal instruction leaflet (which I did actually read through and actually is quite well produced) and of course the player itself.
 

 
 
Physically the player is almost like a large domino and constructed of metal and glass. The front has a black area which contains the basic player touch controls and tiny screen. At the bottom is a larger button which is used for PLAY/PAUSE and there are additional buttons either side for volume/track skip, power ON/OFF and a hold switch and a Micro SD card slot.  I tried a 64gb card pre-formatted with music already on and it worked without any problems.  There’s a slot at the top of the unit which doesn’t really have a function but could be used with a lanyard if required (I wonder if it could be used to open beer bottles as well). At the bottom of the unit are sockets for micro USB for charging and data transfer and a headphone socket. It’s a really nicely made unit that is perhaps aimed at competing with Fiio’s M3 player. The Benjie has one definite advantage - it’s made of metal and not plastic.  I cannot comment on any other differences between the players though because I don’t have any experience with any of the Fiio players.
 

 
 
The player does have a couple of interesting features which are not present on the AGPTek IMP player - the volume controls can also be used for track skipping when the display is off which is useful as you can use this whilst out and about without having to get the player out of your pocket and activate the display in order to select the next or previous track.  Unfortunately the player doesn’t support any kind of remote control but I believe Apple has seriously prevented any hardware manufacturer from using their control system on players - so you’re not likely to see this on any other non-Apple players anyway. The player also features voice recording capabilities and a basic FM radio - neither of these features I would personally use though. Battery life appears to be OK but I have yet to run the unit down so I cannot really comment on longevity.
 

 
 
As with all the other Micro SD card driven players, care will need to be taken when tagging your MP3 collection in order for you to be able to properly navigate by album or artist on the SD Card appears to be more than adequate - I haven’t yet run the battery down so I cannot really report any precise figures yet.
 
Sound Quality
 
This is a really nice little player. It compares well with the AGPTek IMP and costs about half the price.  There are some differences between the two players though.  The IMP has a finer level of volume control at 50-steps against the 31-steps on the Benjie. I think the IMP is perhaps slightly more powerful - but there’s really not much to choose between them in this regard. The Benjie features a nice clean output that worked really well with my Ultimate Ears Triple Fi 10 IEM’s producing a clear and clean bass and a detailed top-end which was a pleasure to listen to. I briefly tried the player out with my Audio Technica ATH M50x’s to see if they could drive these bigger headphones and it did a valiant job - going reasonably loud but not deafening by any standards. It’s fair to say that this player is aimed at users of earbuds and in ear monitors - fair enough.
 

 
 
The sound signature of this player is mostly neutral but the top-end appears more detailed and slightly brighter than the AGPTek Imp player. There’s no artificial enhancements to any of the frequencies unless you activate the basic EQ presets - always a welcome feature. There are plentiful details within the music and there’s absolutely no noise floor that I could detect - it has pretty much inky black silence between tracks with the headphones I used. Access times are quick - not only when jumping between tracks but also when jumping to different artists or albums.
 
The supplied earbuds are a nice touch - as is the 8gb of built in memory. This means that the player could be given as a gift and there’s not necessarily anything else to purchase in order to get it working. Whilst the supplied earbuds didn’t really do anything for me in all fairness they didn’t actually sound offensive - having a similar sound signature to the Apple Earbuds. One thing I did notice is that the player tames the Sony XBA H1 hybrid balanced armature headphones which can sometimes sound rather strange with some players. The player perhaps benefits from being paired with slightly darker headphones to compensate for the slightly brighter character of the player.
 
Pros:
Decent power output. Compact size. Can be used effectively without having to switch on the display once music is playing. Price. Build quality. Comes complete with headphones so would make an excellent gift.
 
Cons:
Slightly brighter output than the Imp.
 
Conclusion
 
All in all, I really like this player. It’s half the price of the Imp and yet offers pretty much the same quality and features. Keep in mind it’s a basic player and it’s focus is music playback. Whilst I did have problems reading the display without my glasses, I am an old git so it’s only to be expected. For the price, this little player is a real gem and deserves a definite five stars.