Impressions of the Sandisc Sansa e250

[Joshatdot]

My dad got one of these for his birthday afew weeks back, and I had a chance to visit him and audition this unit.

First impressions of the Sansa e250 .. it is heavy for a flash DAP, compared to my Memorex MMP8640 and my friends Yepp YP-T9J.

Listening to Ultrasone S-Logic Demo CD (LAME -V4) with my SR80's with Flats, no amp, straight out of HP jack.

- Frequency response is meh, a tad warm/dark, high end seems cut low (my SR80's don't sound as bright as they should).
- Sound stage is pretty flat. There is left & right separation..but hardly any 3D depth. Usually when I listen to the Fireworks track on the Demo CD I can hear spatially where the fireworks are coming from, but its very flat on the e250.
- UI & controls are very intuitive, except I keep on pressing left or right on the ring (like you would on a iPod), instead of the left or right keys. But after awhile I got used to the UI & ring.
- microSD slot is a nice plus. In MSC mode the e250 acts like a removable Mass Storage Device with 2 drives (internal memory & microSD slot)

Overall I would not get it for myself, cause of the flatness of the sound, and frequency response. Maybe a op-amp mod would fix that

I have not looked into if there is a newer firmware to possibly fix the SQ issues...maybe the ROCKBOX would, I'll try that when I visit my dad around X-mass.

 

[Caribou679]

I bought 2 Sansa 6 gb for gifts for xmas. I listened to them first and like you I found the SQ very deficient.

Also the firmware is not very strong.

The way to go with this player is to Rockboxe it. Then it becomes a player that is listenable. I had no problem doing this and I know it is now a gift that will be enjoyed.

regards,

 

[Amblin]

Oh lordy, I too found the sound quality of the e200 to be lacking in....well...quality. Rockbox helped, but there is only so much a software platform can do to fix deficiencies in hardware.

 

[GreatDane]

I got my pair of 250's from the Woot sale just yesterday after a 2 week delay. I gave one of them to my son for his Bday and the other is for my wife. They're pretty good for $30, decent build quality and sound. I've only listened with 325i for a short time.

I was going to RockBox them but that would only confuse my wife/son I think.

 

[Caribou679]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreatDane /img/forum/go_quote.gif I got my pair of 250's from the Woot sale just yesterday after a 2 week delay. I gave one of them to my son for his Bday and the other is for my wife. They're pretty good for $30, decent build quality and sound. I've only listened with 325i for a short time. I was going to RockBox them but that would only confuse my wife/son I think.

I loaded some music my wife likes and when 3-4 albums of the same artist are present all the songs are jumbled together under that artist. This was confusing enough to decide me to to install Rockbox.

My wife is used with a Creative and Cowon where the file tree system is workable, like the Rockbox file handling.

I think the Sansa Rockbox must have been built by a basshead freak! In the EQ setting under Bass it goes from -24db to +24db.I tried a setting of 16db and over and I feel the displacement of the air by the membrane's driver!!.

These headphones are really shacking!Very surprising!
The ipod video Rockbox Bass setting only goes to +9db!!

The Sansa Rockbox needs EQ setting/tweaking to bring it listenable.

I got 6gb size and it is plenty for the daughter and wife needs. And what is great is the microSD slot to swap more music!

I don't want to highjack the thread but another advantage of Rockboxing this Sansa e200 is the theme availability. Some of these display are quite nice!

I think the developpers of Rockbox should receive more credit cause it's a very nice hacking!!

regards,

 

[marvelusjd]

I also just picked up one of these from that sale and from what I've seen, Rockbox is the only way to go. Should have it early next week to start playing!

Thanks for the tips on the EQ, I'll definitely have to set that properly.

 

[Dyoel182]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caribou679 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I loaded some music my wife likes and when 3-4 albums of the same artist are present all the songs are jumbled together under that artist. This was confusing enough to decide me to to install Rockbox.

You must not have it organized with albums in their own folder then. I got a 2gb model on sale a few weeks back just to goof around with and eventually give away but my albums and artists are very well organized even with drag/drop adding.

 

[Caribou679]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dyoel182 /img/forum/go_quote.gif You must not have it organized with albums in their own folder then. I got a 2gb model on sale a few weeks back just to goof around with and eventually give away but my albums and artists are very well organized even with drag/drop adding.

yes probably, and I don't care! I did what I do for all my others players since a few years and never had that confusion before. So bye bye Sansa here come Rockbox...

 

[GreatDane]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caribou679 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think the Sansa Rockbox must have been built by a basshead freak! In the EQ setting under Bass it goes from -24db to +24db.... The ipod video Rockbox Bass setting only goes to +9db!! regards,

I have my 5.5G iPod RockBox'd and the EQ gain allows for +24dB so I'm not sure what's up with that.

I loaded one of my 250's with music and listened through the headphone out into my Eclipse HU in my truck today and what I heard tells me that the 250 is bass heavy! (this was not using any EQ...or RockBox)

I loaded my wifes 250 with her music but I didn't look at her library enough to confirm any problems that you comment on re artists.

 

[Caribou679]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreatDane /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have my 5.5G iPod RockBox'd and the EQ gain allows for +24dB so I'm not sure what's up with that. I loaded one of my 250's with music and listened through the headphone out into my Eclipse HU in my truck today and what I heard tells me that the 250 is bass heavy! (this was not using any EQ...or RockBox) I loaded my wifes 250 with her music but I didn't look at her library enough to confirm any problems that you comment on re artists.

rockbox ipod 5.5 gen = bass gain of +24db
rockbox ipod 5 gen = bass gain of +9db
rockbox sansa e200 = bass gain of +24db

I am not home presently but I will reverify my settings, but if correct my ipod has low bass gain.

Yes the rockbox Sansa is bass heavy.
No joke! I use + 20db gain on the bass (for testing)and the headphone were pulsing like crazy!!

I was very surprise of the effect at +20db as I listenned usually with +2db or +4db bass gain.


regards

 

[Joshatdot]

If you could rate the SQ difference from stock e200 & Rockbox e200, what would it be? Did the Rockbox help the sound stage at all?

 

[sinner6]

This is kind of like a discussion on "what is the best way to polish a turd?"

 

[Caribou679]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sinner6 /img/forum/go_quote.gif This is kind of like a discussion on "what is the best way to polish a turd?"

yes! What's your point?

regards,

 

[Joshatdot]

The e200 series has all the features I like...but the SQ & sound stage is funky.

So how did the ROCKBOX help, besides the EQ for sound?

Did the soundstage change for the better?

How hard would it to mod the op-amp?

 

[dap_pad]

Well I have the E260. Yes the stock SQ is horrible. It's mostly the flat as a piece of paper soundstage. It just sounds really dull. Rockbox-ing it helps alot. It improves the soundstage a bit, increases the height mostly. The SQ is almost almost on par with my Clix2 with the Atrio M5s, although the Clix2 has more "body" and fullness to it as well as a bigger soundstage. Overall, a pleasant experience although Rockbox is a bit funky on mine, alot of bugs. I'm using the Cpchan's build and keep getting "codec not found" & Database errors. Nothing a quick refresh doesn't fix although it's pretty annoying. I think it's a $30 well spent on my part