[Gordo68]

Okay, so I have a Sansa Clip original, a Philips Raga, and most recently a Sony S764 walkman as my portable players. I am considering picking up a Sansa Fuze (not a plus) off of a local craigslist ad because I am not entirely happy with the results I am getting on my Monoprice 8320 and 8323 with the Sony. I am waiting on a Fiio E11 with an L5 LOD for my Sony but I am afraid that the Fuze will be long gone before I can evaluate the sound of the walkman with the E11. I like the idea of expandable memory even though I have a pretty good selection of my music on the Walkman's 8 gigs, I wouldn't mind getting my whole collection on a player, so that is a consideration. I listen to acoustical stuff (mariachi, latin, country) mostly and some 70's and 80's rock. Does anyone have any experience between the Sony and Sansa that might sway me? If i get an LOD for the Sansa would it be the same thing source-wise as the Sony?  What would seem to be a fair price for a Sansa Fuze by the way? The guy is asking $45 for an 8 gig.

 

[Ari33]

A true line out should sound the exact same bit for bit as the Sony, the only factor that could affect quality between the two is 'jitter'
 
Jitter- http://www.stereophile.com/reference/1290jitter/

 

[Gordo68]

Quote:

A true line out should sound the exact same bit for bit as the Sony, the only factor that could affect quality between the two is 'jitter'
 
Jitter- http://www.stereophile.com/reference/1290jitter/

I kind of felt that they would source the same  with LOD cables although I had never heard of jitter as defined in that article. I am pretty sure that i am going to get the fuze anyways as I think they are going to take my offer. This will probably be my main player if I can find an L6 lod cable somewhere. The Sony might make the move to be a workout player with its bluetooth headset. 
 
P.S. Thanks for taking the time to spread your knowledge.

 

[JK1]

The problem with buying a used Fuze is that you don't know how much wear the battery has had. If remaining battery life is quite low, then the player has little value, as replacing the battery in the player is quite difficult. While the player might still work being powered by usb battery packs if the player's battery has little capacity left, powering it via usb battery pack is awkward.

 

[Gordo68]

Quote:

The problem with buying a used Fuze is that you don't know how much wear the battery has had. If remaining battery life is quite low, then the player has little value, as replacing the battery in the player is quite difficult. While the player might still work being powered by usb battery packs if the player's battery has little capacity left, powering it via usb battery pack is awkward.

Wow, I hadn't even considered that! If I had to use an external battery then that would eliminate any chance that I had to use an LOD cable thus rendering the whole thing moot. I guess I will wait until Thursday when I am supposed to get my E11 delivered and see how pleased I am with that setup. There is a brand new Fuze on an auction site for like $189 but I think I might just get a Clip+ instead and hope that by turning the volume down to 0 like I read on here that it acts like an LOD output. Thanks for bringing up that point.

 

[Achmedisdead]

Quote:

Wow, I hadn't even considered that! If I had to use an external battery then that would eliminate any chance that I had to use an LOD cable thus rendering the whole thing moot. I guess I will wait until Thursday when I am supposed to get my E11 delivered and see how pleased I am with that setup. There is a brand new Fuze on an auction site for like $189 but I think I might just get a Clip+ instead and hope that by turning the volume down to 0 like I read on here that it acts like an LOD output. Thanks for bringing up that point.

Even a "brand new" Fuze's battery could be suspect, given how long ago they were discontinued.
 
And the Clip+ "volume to 0" that you've read about here is not turning it down to 0. It involves installing the Rockbox firmware, and the volume control then reads in increments of db. If you  want to  use a Clip/Clip+/Clip Zip with an amp and you don't want to install Rockbox, then just set your volume at about 95% and disable the equalizer.

 

[Gordo68]

Ok, so I must be destined to have a Fuze as I found an ad for someone selling 2 Fuze (not sure what the plural is) 

 for $10 each. A black 2gb and a red 4gb so I am picking them both up tomorrow to hope I get at least one good one. I was looking for an LOD online and I saw one that ended in a 3.5mm female jack that talked about the quality of the caps used and other code words that made the maker sound knowledgable so I might get that off ebay.

 

[corkyduke]

Well, can only comment on the Fuze side of the equation. I've had one since original release and have been really happy with it. The quality of build and sound cannot be beat for the price. $45 is more than fair for one currently. They are being sold on e-bay now for $80 and more, which is crazy.
It is easy to use and navigate and can support RockBox if you want further options available for config and skins.

 

[ZV3]

I have the Fuze and theres a good reason they still fetch high prices pre-owned on Ebay, they are great! I have an Ipod 5.5g with a LOD and flashmod and I keep going back to the Fuze for it's fantastic SQ. Only place to get a Fuze LOD is off Ebay, which I have been looking at getting, but I hear the difference is almost negligible since the headphone-out sounds really good as-is.
 
My Fuze is dual-boot with Rockbox, but I actually think the basic Sansa interface system sounds pretty good, Rockbox has too many settings and doo-dads for me to play with, but if your up to tweaking it then good luck! The Fuze is great at ANY price and to me, trounces any Sony I've ever had. The Fuze is a great, simple player devoid of lots of DSP crap! I've had every type of expensive portable players and nothing really beats the basic Fuze.
 
Maybe some of the higher end players are better, but when I look at the reviews for them some owners were not as impressed with their X3's and Astell and Kerns as the price would have you think they should be.
 
I sold my previous Fuze on Ebay for almost $100.00 only to miss it and buy ANOTHER pre-owned Fuze for about the same price! Oh, and I would not worry about the battery that much,
have not heard about many problems with it and it loosing capacity. My Fuze runs far longer then I need it to before I recharge it! I run mine for a couple days on and off, no issues. Ipods
need new batteries far more frequently then the Fuze would.