Some Background:
I’m currently 18 years old which as little as that matters to me seems to be interesting to many people in this community. I’ve always liked music and sound equipment but I never really got into the head-fi hobby until I discovered the Live Sound field from my schools drama club. From there I began to appreciate sound quality as it was just satisfying for me both from listening but also the engineering and everlasting ability to tweak and work on such.
I have worked with home audio, car audio, theater/show systems, portable/personal audio, digital audio (IP-LAN(uhg…) and DSP) and lots and lots of DIY projects. I’ve gone as far to make some of my own speaker cabinets and sound systems from various components too – most notably a very large 2 driver, 4 voice coil, 16ohm, band-pass subwoofer box that I’m quite fond of for its bass quantity and quality.
I’ve owned many headphones/IEM and related gear. Ill list some here but this certainly isn’t all; Shure SE846, Shure SE315, Shure SE215, Westone UM3x, Westone UM3x RC, Westone UM1, Earsonic SM3, Sansa Clip Plus, Sansa Clip Zip, Bravo Tube AMP v3, Sennheiser IE80s (the fake ones) and Sennheiser HD420s
So while I don’t like to be arrogant I do feel qualified to judge products effectively and share my opinion and I hope you find my opinions and ideas entertaining and helpful.
Prelude:
I bought the Sansa Clip + for my very first set of IEMs (fake IE80s) as I wanted something cute in size that sounded good. I read all about rockbox and thought that was super cool so I ordered on amazon. I had a 32gb Micro SD with some flacs on it so I figured it would be perfect. This was at the youth of my Audiophile adventure. And it was cheap… So…
First Impression:
Good size. Good Clip. Screen was kinda silly but good overall – I didn’t get screen on anxiety.
I very quickly rockboxed this as I was not into dealing with the limitations of the stock software. I wanted EQ and I wanted a file explorer where the stock software was not interested in that. Rockboxing it was very easy and took only a few minutes. It was so easy that I think I only spent like 5 minutes using the stock software right after I got it before I switched to rockbox. So if you do buy one of these put rockbox on it ASAP.
Sound:
When I bought these for my IE80s I was satisfied – but as my headphone collection grew more and more intense and vivid I noticed various flaws of the Clip. The sound is pretty flat – I would say very close to flat. But I do notice that sometimes detail can be lost and sibilance is prone on certain IEMs. Hissing and noise is a problem on sensitive IEMs such as my 846 which makes me not want to use the clip as much.
The clip works well when connected to a stereo system but can be annoying to tune the EQ depending on the setup you are using. The lack of Line Out is a problem but I mean you cant complain for a $30 mp3 player. Many people claim that the headphone output is very close to a Line out though. Depends on your application I guess.
The Rockbox EQ is very good. I was able to provide a lot of bass to my UM3x and 846 without too much distortion – I liked giving a boost to the sub bass as I just find it exciting to do. I did find myself adding some highs at times. The parametric EQ is nice.
I prefer the sound of this to the sound of the clip Zip.
The clip will struggle to power larger headphones that have higher impendence so an amp might be nice.
Features:
As I said the EQ is cool but can be confusing to use. This is more rockbox fault than the clips. The EQ sounds well.
Your features will depend on Rockbox so remember this review is told from Rockbox entirely on the clip.
Gapless playback works well if setup correctly – your mileage will vary.
It has FM Radio… and a voice recorder. Both sound nice but the voice recorder is only Mono and meh. I don’t really use these features anyway.
Awkward Navigation:
I like the clip because I find it more reliable to use than my computer sometimes for shows. But at the same time this introduces a new sense of awkwardness that Im fighting with… Turning the device on while it’s playing can be confusing. Ill go to navigate the menu or queue a song up but end up accidentally pausing or skipping the song. This is terrible when Im trying to use it for a live even so its gotten to the point where I just don’t use it for that anymore. The lack of buttons make it hard to navigate sometimes but you can make due.
Battery:
Pretty good. Lasts several hours but I often find myself charging it after some use. It doesn’t charge very fast but its not worth being upset over. I am not a fan of the USB port as it’s the old style Mini USB in our world of Mico USB.
Durability:
Alright this is where the clip shines. Ive abused this thing so much, Ive thrown it , sat on it, cracked the case, and kicked it a lot. My friend even pretended to eat it once and put it all up in his mouth (gross) – he’s just that edgy dude. None of this has phased it.
BUT what has phased the clip is plugging headphones in and out. I noticed that I would loose sound on one side or both if I moved – the headphone jack was falling apart and the contacts were all bent out of shape. I cracked the clip open and re-soldered the jack on and all was well. Apparently this is quite common amongst clip owners. The problem returned and I soon realized the jack was toast as the plastic was broken and I couldn’t fix it. I had to solder my own cord on or buy a new clip. I bought a new one at this point.
Overall:
The clip plus is a solid companion MP3 player. It sounds better than most devices and I often find myself bragging about how cheap and cool it is. IT CAN PLAY DOOM! But for your more advance headphones you might find it lacking. I also desire more features at times and better hardware. But again… Its $30.
The buttons and navigation can be a bit difficult. I do wish it had a click wheel or some sort of analog input but meh.
If you are rocking an old ipod or something lame I’d recommend the clip. If you crave something more crazy and advance you might want to look other places too but don’t you dare turn a blind eye to the clip.
I’m currently 18 years old which as little as that matters to me seems to be interesting to many people in this community. I’ve always liked music and sound equipment but I never really got into the head-fi hobby until I discovered the Live Sound field from my schools drama club. From there I began to appreciate sound quality as it was just satisfying for me both from listening but also the engineering and everlasting ability to tweak and work on such.
I have worked with home audio, car audio, theater/show systems, portable/personal audio, digital audio (IP-LAN(uhg…) and DSP) and lots and lots of DIY projects. I’ve gone as far to make some of my own speaker cabinets and sound systems from various components too – most notably a very large 2 driver, 4 voice coil, 16ohm, band-pass subwoofer box that I’m quite fond of for its bass quantity and quality.
I’ve owned many headphones/IEM and related gear. Ill list some here but this certainly isn’t all; Shure SE846, Shure SE315, Shure SE215, Westone UM3x, Westone UM3x RC, Westone UM1, Earsonic SM3, Sansa Clip Plus, Sansa Clip Zip, Bravo Tube AMP v3, Sennheiser IE80s (the fake ones) and Sennheiser HD420s
So while I don’t like to be arrogant I do feel qualified to judge products effectively and share my opinion and I hope you find my opinions and ideas entertaining and helpful.
Prelude:
I bought the Sansa Clip + for my very first set of IEMs (fake IE80s) as I wanted something cute in size that sounded good. I read all about rockbox and thought that was super cool so I ordered on amazon. I had a 32gb Micro SD with some flacs on it so I figured it would be perfect. This was at the youth of my Audiophile adventure. And it was cheap… So…
First Impression:
Good size. Good Clip. Screen was kinda silly but good overall – I didn’t get screen on anxiety.
I very quickly rockboxed this as I was not into dealing with the limitations of the stock software. I wanted EQ and I wanted a file explorer where the stock software was not interested in that. Rockboxing it was very easy and took only a few minutes. It was so easy that I think I only spent like 5 minutes using the stock software right after I got it before I switched to rockbox. So if you do buy one of these put rockbox on it ASAP.
Sound:
When I bought these for my IE80s I was satisfied – but as my headphone collection grew more and more intense and vivid I noticed various flaws of the Clip. The sound is pretty flat – I would say very close to flat. But I do notice that sometimes detail can be lost and sibilance is prone on certain IEMs. Hissing and noise is a problem on sensitive IEMs such as my 846 which makes me not want to use the clip as much.
The clip works well when connected to a stereo system but can be annoying to tune the EQ depending on the setup you are using. The lack of Line Out is a problem but I mean you cant complain for a $30 mp3 player. Many people claim that the headphone output is very close to a Line out though. Depends on your application I guess.
The Rockbox EQ is very good. I was able to provide a lot of bass to my UM3x and 846 without too much distortion – I liked giving a boost to the sub bass as I just find it exciting to do. I did find myself adding some highs at times. The parametric EQ is nice.
I prefer the sound of this to the sound of the clip Zip.
The clip will struggle to power larger headphones that have higher impendence so an amp might be nice.
Features:
As I said the EQ is cool but can be confusing to use. This is more rockbox fault than the clips. The EQ sounds well.
Your features will depend on Rockbox so remember this review is told from Rockbox entirely on the clip.
Gapless playback works well if setup correctly – your mileage will vary.
It has FM Radio… and a voice recorder. Both sound nice but the voice recorder is only Mono and meh. I don’t really use these features anyway.
Awkward Navigation:
I like the clip because I find it more reliable to use than my computer sometimes for shows. But at the same time this introduces a new sense of awkwardness that Im fighting with… Turning the device on while it’s playing can be confusing. Ill go to navigate the menu or queue a song up but end up accidentally pausing or skipping the song. This is terrible when Im trying to use it for a live even so its gotten to the point where I just don’t use it for that anymore. The lack of buttons make it hard to navigate sometimes but you can make due.
Battery:
Pretty good. Lasts several hours but I often find myself charging it after some use. It doesn’t charge very fast but its not worth being upset over. I am not a fan of the USB port as it’s the old style Mini USB in our world of Mico USB.
Durability:
Alright this is where the clip shines. Ive abused this thing so much, Ive thrown it , sat on it, cracked the case, and kicked it a lot. My friend even pretended to eat it once and put it all up in his mouth (gross) – he’s just that edgy dude. None of this has phased it.
BUT what has phased the clip is plugging headphones in and out. I noticed that I would loose sound on one side or both if I moved – the headphone jack was falling apart and the contacts were all bent out of shape. I cracked the clip open and re-soldered the jack on and all was well. Apparently this is quite common amongst clip owners. The problem returned and I soon realized the jack was toast as the plastic was broken and I couldn’t fix it. I had to solder my own cord on or buy a new clip. I bought a new one at this point.
Overall:
The clip plus is a solid companion MP3 player. It sounds better than most devices and I often find myself bragging about how cheap and cool it is. IT CAN PLAY DOOM! But for your more advance headphones you might find it lacking. I also desire more features at times and better hardware. But again… Its $30.
The buttons and navigation can be a bit difficult. I do wish it had a click wheel or some sort of analog input but meh.
If you are rocking an old ipod or something lame I’d recommend the clip. If you crave something more crazy and advance you might want to look other places too but don’t you dare turn a blind eye to the clip.
1) The clip zip and plus have the same internals. I currently own the clip, clip+ and clip zip. While there is something I cannot put my finger on between the clip and clip+, the zip and + sound identical to me.
2) Where you said the EQ being confusing was "rockbox's fault". While I do agree the advanced EQ could be confusing, I really appreciate the fact that they have put in the effort to include a simple EQ and a graphical EQ. So, the user can decide what works for them.
3) I didn't exactly comprehend what you meant to say in the "Awkward navigation" section.
"Turning the device on while it’s playing": Do you mean waking it from sleep? If so, you can set it so that the first click only wakes the screen.
"The lack of buttons" : What extra buttons would you like to add, discounting the size of the player. On/off, power, volume, 4 way nav, select, play/pause, next/prev, menu.
PS1: DOOM ftw!
PS2: Take a look at the rockbox manual. There are so many functions that remain undiscovered.