[epithetless]

Quote:

I just got a Zip. Love the sound quality, have not installed Rhapsody. What is the deal with Rhapsody and the Zip? The manual says "You can download anything in the catalog to your new MP3 player, as long as you remain a member." Does this mean with paid membership you can download unlimited songs for NO additional charge and put them on the Zip, or do you have to buy the songs individually in addition to the monthly fee? (If that is the case I don't see why it is a big deal since you can do that with any player, right?)

 
If you're a paying member of Rhapsody, then yes, you can copy unlimited songs from Rhapsody over to your Clip. The files are DRM-protected with built-in expirations and require the player to be connected to the Rhapsody service periodically (monthly?) in order to validate that you're still a member and then extend the expiration date.

 

[jvandyk]

I just picked up a clip zip to replace my original clip. I must say that it works very well. It likes JRiver very much also (doesn't everything like JRiver except Apple?).
 
The put together is perhaps a little cheezier than the original clip, but it is very user friendly and a nice improvement. The sound quality is once again very nice for such a cheap player. 
 
Compared to my Nano 5g, it is the far superior player at 1/3 the price.(The Nano's screen shattered first time I dropped it on the floor). One good thing about plastic, it isn't heavy and doesn't shatter.
 
Bravo Sansa!

 

[miceblue]

Does using Rockbox have a difference in sound quality from the stock operating system?

 

[jvandyk]

Does using Rockbox have a difference in sound quality from the stock operating system?

It shouldn't unless the eq settings you prefer are in rock box. Same dac, same analog output. I'm not sure it sounds as good as the original clip...but it sounds good out of the box...every bit as good or better than a iPod nano.

 

[Jakkal]

Great little player, must say I'm very impressed by it. The sound is on par with my iPhone4 which is great. When first started it I chose location Europe, played the first song, tried to rise the volume up and WTHSDFJH!@#. I thought that it doesn't have power to feed GR07, but I knew this is not possible and start looking online for a solution. Of course was not the Clip, but the stupid European regulations, changed the location to "rest of the world" and issue solved, plenty of volume. Installed rockbox and now browsing through the hundreds of options.
BTW there is new firmware out 1.1.21:

1. Bugs Fixed

1. Device hangs up after finished playing special mp3 files, which contain CRC error at the end of frames

It is not supported by Rockbox yet

 

[Achmedisdead]

Quote:

Great little player, must say I'm very impressed by it. The sound is on pair with my iPhone4 which is great. When first started it I chose location Europe, played the first song, tried to rise the volume up and WTHSDFJH!@#. I thought that it doesn't have power to feed GR07, but I knew this is not possible and start looking online for a solution. Of course was not the Clip, but the stupid European regulations, changed the location to "rest of the world" and issue solved, plenty of volume. Installed rockbox and now browsing through the hundreds of options.
BTW there is new firmware out 1.1.21:

1. Bugs Fixed

1. Device hangs up after finished playing special mp3 files, which contain CRC error at the end of frames

It is not supported by Rockbox yet

Once you learn all that you can do with Rockbox you'll never go back to the Sansa firmware.

 

[Jakkal]

Quote:

Once you learn all that you can do with Rockbox you'll never go back to the Sansa firmware.

 

[7wolf]

Didn’t find rockbox with integrated patch not to light screen while changing volume, so I compiled it myself. It’s stock Rockbos Sansa Clip Zip FW with patch #9305 “Context sensitive backlight on key press “ (by Vladyslav Shtabovenko (vlad-sht) - Sunday, 15 September 2013).
http://goo.gl/gAAZ5L

 

[n0str3ss]

Good job man, but why don't share those things with the rockbox development team, maybe they could make that a perma option.

 

[7wolf]

It's 7th popular patch on official Rockbox pathces tracker, probably they know about it and hopefully will integrate it soon.
I'm not a developer, I just couldn't find FW with this wonderful patch, so according to their "dummies" manuals I compile it myself

 

[lisagorbin]

My only pmp ipod touch is now dead, so now i'm also considering the clip zip and the 2012 sony walkman e series (e474). i dont need to have both, and i don't think i want them both, so which should i choose? and i'm aware that the walkman costs twice as much but, is the walkman better than the clip zip? ( i don't think i need lossless files because im just using vsonic iems, the vsd1 ans gr06, so obviously not high end to really notice v0 from flac, i guess. My music collection is young and 4gb is more than enough.) Aesthetically, the walkman looks better of course. In what way will the clip zip be better? or is paying more for the walkman worth it? Thank you.

 

[hogger129]

  My only pmp ipod touch is now dead, so now i'm also considering the clip zip and the 2012 sony walkman e series (e474). i dont need to have both, and i don't think i want them both, so which should i choose? and i'm aware that the walkman costs twice as much but, is the walkman better than the clip zip? ( i don't think i need lossless files because im just using vsonic iems, the vsd1 ans gr06, so obviously not high end to really notice v0 from flac, i guess. My music collection is young and 4gb is more than enough.) Aesthetically, the walkman looks better of course. In what way will the clip zip be better? or is paying more for the walkman worth it? Thank you.

 
i'm perfectly happy with my clip zip.  install rockbox on it for free and it's a great pmp.

 

[Barra]

  My only pmp ipod touch is now dead, so now i'm also considering the clip zip and the 2012 sony walkman e series (e474). i dont need to have both, and i don't think i want them both, so which should i choose? and i'm aware that the walkman costs twice as much but, is the walkman better than the clip zip? ( i don't think i need lossless files because im just using vsonic iems, the vsd1 ans gr06, so obviously not high end to really notice v0 from flac, i guess. My music collection is young and 4gb is more than enough.) Aesthetically, the walkman looks better of course. In what way will the clip zip be better? or is paying more for the walkman worth it? Thank you.

 
Even though I have much more expensive DAPs, the Clip Zip is my go to device for on the go due to its form factor. Clip this tiny DAP to your shirt collar with IEMs or CIEMs and you will forget it is there. It doesn't require a case or even an amp to sound good and battery life is fantastic.
 
In terms of sound, it is the standard that I compare everything else to. It makes my iPhone 5 and iPod Classic sound like junk in comparison. I'm not sure I like my DX50 any better as DX50 feels under powered and seems to clip sounds giving me mixed results with different parts of the music feeling full sized or miniaturized. However, I find the Zip is consistently clear, neutral, and audiophile sounding with consistent rendering of music. It provides me with hours of bliss with my Hidition NT6 Pro CIEMs without fatigue. For $30 or even $400 you cannot beat the sound, just get different signatures.
 
The best I have in terms of sound quality is my $200 C3/BH2 combo, but even though it is very small you lose portability. I only use that setup when I can afford to sit still. To me, the C3/BH2 is miles ahead of my DX50 which is said to best the AK100. It adds punch, slam, and euphoric qualities across the spectrum while maintaining a fairly neutral sound, maybe a little north. But at $30 or even $15 refurbished on Amazon, the Zip would cost the same as the tax on the C3/BH2 or DX50.
 
Get the Clip Zip and Rockbox it for a much quicker startup, not to mention the ability to chose an even better interface personalized to our needs. You will not be sorry. For $30, if you don't like it you can just throw it away. 

 
 
 
BTW, done correctly a lossless flac file should provide an obvious difference in sound quality with even crappiest headphones and DAP. It was a biggest sound quality upgrade I made in my personal audiophile pursuit and it is free if you own you own CDs. However, CD quality 16/44 is all you need in my opinion, higher resolution gains are more subtle with the difference typically related to better song mastering. Do yourself a favor and create a folder of 10 of your favorite songs ripped directly from your CDs in FLAC 16/44 and give them a listen.

 

[lisagorbin]

 

I appreciate your comprehensive response

  you even covered the flac-mp3 stuff. thanks. BTW, i notice you have a fuze+, is it still a bad player, like most people say? especially now that its rockbox firmware is close to 100% im considering it because of the bigger screen, i guess im a sucker for album arts

and can you comment about its build quality? will it last at least for 2 years?

 

[miceblue]

 

  My only pmp ipod touch is now dead, so now i'm also considering the clip zip and the 2012 sony walkman e series (e474). i dont need to have both, and i don't think i want them both, so which should i choose? and i'm aware that the walkman costs twice as much but, is the walkman better than the clip zip? ( i don't think i need lossless files because im just using vsonic iems, the vsd1 ans gr06, so obviously not high end to really notice v0 from flac, i guess. My music collection is young and 4gb is more than enough.) Aesthetically, the walkman looks better of course. In what way will the clip zip be better? or is paying more for the walkman worth it? Thank you.

 
In terms of sound, it is the standard that I compare everything else to. It makes my iPhone 5 and iPod Classic sound like junk in comparison.

I find that hard to believe. The Clip Zip is good, but so are the newer iDevices. The iPhone 4S has better instrument definition and a weightier bottom to me. Otherwise the differences are pretty minimal and anything but large enough to make one sound significantly worse than the other.