[Head Injury]

Quote:

The clip is mediocre in sound quality.  Rockbox de-grade the sound even more to digitalized and robotic sound. 
 
The headphone out has poor power output due to it's size.  You might be good with low impedance earphone.

Cute!
 
It's mediocre in sound quality if you like coloration.
 
Rockbox doesn't even do anything to the sound unless you mess with the EQ and other settings.
 
"Digitized and robotic". I don't even have to comment 

 
The headphone out is fairly powerful, capable of nearly half a volt into 15 ohms. It won't drive orthodynamics to ear-splitting levels, but it's enough for any headphone that prioritizes portability. It puts out more power than an iPod Touch before clipping. Its low output impedance means low impedance headphones of any kind are fed a healthy amount of power and remain uncolored.
 
The fact that you assumed it was weak because of its size is ridiculous. The Fiio E6, a tiny little portable amp, can handle 2Vrms into high impedance loads. That'll drive an HD800 to 108dB.

 

[eke2k6]

Quote:

The clip is mediocre in sound quality.  Rockbox de-grade the sound even more to digitalized and robotic sound. 
 
The headphone out has poor power output due to it's size.  You might be good with low impedance earphone.

 
Mediocre compared to what? 
 
I'm using a 50 ohm IEM right now that runs beautifully through the clip.

 

[LFF]

Quote:

The clip is mediocre in sound quality.  Rockbox de-grade the sound even more to digitalized and robotic sound. 
 
The headphone out has poor power output due to it's size.  You might be good with low impedance earphone.

The clip+ is only mediocre if you need a colored sound or if you can't hear.
 
Rockbox fixes the pitch error in the original firmware...makes it sound better.
 
The headphone out is more than powerful enough to drive anything that can be considered portable. IMHO, the Clip+ is among the best sounding portables out there if you appreciate the sound of music and not the sound of equipment.
 

 

[Achmedisdead]

Quote:

The clip+ is only mediocre if you need a colored sound or if you can't hear.
 
Rockbox fixes the pitch error in the original firmware makes it sound better.
 
The headphone out is more than powerful enough to drive anything that can be considered portable. IMHO, the Clip+ is among the best sounding portables out there if you appreciate the sound of music and not the sound of equipment.
 

+1

 

[Eagle_Driver]

 
Quote:

it is a great little player, but i was let down by the build, the headphone jack came loose, and i fixed it 3 times, utill one of the capacitors came off the last time i tried. Im getting an iPod classic now.

I have not tried the Clip + (and almost bought one last year). But I can tell you that the iPod Classic would not be my first (or even second) choice in a portable music player: That player's headphone output impedance is relatively high (although still typical of most portable music players). Most headphones with a nominal impedance rating of less than 63 Ohms sound somewhat murky and confused out of the iPod Classic (based on my own listening). My 4G iPod Nano's output impedance is even higher than the iPod Classic: Efficient low-impedance headphones sound pretty murky while the Sony MDR-V6/7506 sounds thin and shrieky (most likely due to the Nano's headphone out being unable to quite deliver the current required to properly drive that headphone). That makes it fairly tough to find a headphone that sounds both good and adequately loud with either of the above iPods.
 
By contrast, my recently acquired iPhone 3GS sounds pretty good with efficient low-impedance headphones (most likely due to its relatively low output impedance).
 

 

[faichiu]

For those of you that think that when you listening to clip, you are listening to no colored music.  You are totally wrong!
Take a look at your earphones and none of them produce flat frequency response.
 
So no matter what player you use, you end up with colored music by your earphones.
 
By the way, Sansa series's bass response does go deep but it's muddy.

 

[Willakan]

Erm, I don't think anyone is talking about headphones and the obvious colourations they tend to induce.
As to your comment on the bass response, seems unlikely - the Clip boasts a very low output impedance for cheap portable player, so boomy bass is not on the agenda even when driving very low impedance headphones.

 

[eke2k6]

Quote:

For those of you that think that when you listening to clip, you are listening to no colored music.  You are totally wrong!
Take a look at your earphones and none of them produce flat frequency response.
 
So no matter what player you use, you end up with colored music by your earphones.
 
By the way, Sansa series's bass response does go deep but it's muddy.

Only when you have a rockboxed clip+ on hand will I consider you qualified to make comments like that. Just because of your comment about the bass, I went and listened to Wait by the Yin Yang twins. Result: deep bass with no muddiness
 

 

[extrabigmehdi]

I prefer the sq, of the cowon s9, to the sansa clip+; and this with a flat eq. I  managed to get more clarity out of the cowon when testing my srh940.
However it still doesn't reach the sq, of a dedicated soundcard.
I  like the sansa clip because of its size , price, rockboxing, and that's all.

 

[nicholars]

Hmm I suppose it is pretty good for what it is...
 
I am comparing it to a desktop amplifier / Dac which isnt really fair...
 
Considering the size and price and durability overall it is a good player.
 
I just find it a bit questionable that people say it sounds jsut as good as a cowon or other more expensvie players?

 

[extrabigmehdi]

Quote:

Hmm I suppose it is pretty good for what it is...
 
I am comparing it to a desktop amplifier / Dac which isnt really fair...
 
Considering the size and price and durability overall it is a good player.
 
I just find it a bit questionable that people say it sounds jsut as good as a cowon or other more expensvie players?

I don't think any  portable mp3 player is able to reach the sq of a good "desktop amplifier / Dac".
 
 

 

[Willakan]

Some very expensive portable players are rather worse at producing music than an iPod (looking at you Hifiman...)
 

 

 

[kite7]

Quote:

 IMHO, the Clip+ is among the best sounding portables out there if you appreciate the sound of music and not the sound of equipment.  

And there you have it folks.
 
If you prefer a colored source, look elsewhere.
 

 

[extrabigmehdi]

Quote:

And there you have it folks.
 
If you prefer a colored source, look elsewhere.
 

 
1) How do you know that the sansa clip is less colored that any  other player.
2) it's not as if coloration is the only criteria . For instance if the sound is muffled...
 
 

 

[kite7]

FR measurements with a low load
 
The perception of muffled sound is not the fault of the player if its FR is flat which the clip is. If you think more treble means the sound is clearer then it's obvious the source's FR is not flat and more tipped towards high frequencies.
 
The measurements back up the clip's performance and I'll take objectivity over subjectivity especially when it comes to talking about what devices performs better for a specific load.
 
I only want to hear the headphone's FR so ideally the source and amp must have a flat FR as if headphones aren't already colored enough. If you prefer the "does it mix?" mentality by all means, color everything on top of the headphone's already bumpy FR to achieve the sound you want. IMO, if you hear "muffle sound" from a flat source and amp with exceptional low noise and distortion measurements then it's the headphone. You'll be lucky to find any measurements on these forums though for various reasons.