[Guidostrunk]

 
 
Well , this is my current setup. Sansa Fuze-- LOD by ( average_joe)-- Stepdance---Earsonics Sm3. I just love the sound. Still looking to upgrade my source, but very happy at the moment. Cheers friends.

 

[dfkt]

I'd love to hear that setup, Guidostrunk. Those are some real quality devices you put together there.

 

[Guidostrunk]

Thank you. A lot of time buying and selling different IEM'S and Amp's to get to this point. I know a lot of people would prefer a better source to go with the rest , but the Fuze sounds great IMO and have been doing a lot of reasearch to take the plunge on a better source. For now I'm happy and can not wait for my LCD-2's to get here. I wish you lived a little closer as i would have no problems letting you borrow for a few days to get your opinion on it. And thanks to average_joe for the high quality LOD he has been a big help to me since i joined here. Thanks again dfkt. Cheers
Quote:

I'd love to hear that setup, Guidostrunk. Those are some real quality devices you put together there.

 

[dfkt]

I don't think there's anything "better" as far as sound goes - the Fuze is perfectly capable of reproducing audio material faithfully. There might be nicer looking players, with better build quality, of course - a matter of personal taste.

 

[SoulSyde]

I agree.

 

[Guidostrunk]

Thats one of the reasons why i still use it and haven't bought anything else. I figured i would get minimal gains if any with a higher cost in buying a different source. I think the Fuze is a great little DAP and am very happy with it. Most of my focus has been on finding the right Phones and Amp to  satisfy my taste, and i think I'm finally there. Might look into customs down the road after the LCD-2's which will be my first set of can's. Thanks again for the nice comments.
Quote:

I don't think there's anything "better" as far as sound goes - the Fuze is perfectly capable of reproducing audio material faithfully. There might be nicer looking players, with better build quality, of course - a matter of personal taste.

 

[Achmedisdead]

 
Quote:

Thank you. A lot of time buying and selling different IEM'S and Amp's to get to this point. I know a lot of people would prefer a better source to go with the rest , but the Fuze sounds great IMO and have been doing a lot of reasearch to take the plunge on a better source. For now I'm happy and can not wait for my LCD-2's to get here. I wish you lived a little closer as i would have no problems letting you borrow for a few days to get your opinion on it. And thanks to average_joe for the high quality LOD he has been a big help to me since i joined here. Thanks again dfkt. Cheers
Quote:

I'd love to hear that setup, Guidostrunk. Those are some real quality devices you put together there.

 

Guidostrunk, how much of a difference do you hear with the LOD vs. the headphone-out at max volume with EQ disabled?

 

[Guidostrunk]

IMO a huge difference. Imaging, soundstage, just an overall cleaner more detailed presentation. The LOD has a lot to do with it also. I have 2 different LOD'S, and the one in the pic sounds better than the other due to better film caps that were put in it. Dont get me wrong the other one i have is of high quality also built by average_joe, just different caps inside resulting in a different presentation. I would have to say the imaging is most noticed between the 2.
Quote:

 
Quote:

Thank you. A lot of time buying and selling different IEM'S and Amp's to get to this point. I know a lot of people would prefer a better source to go with the rest , but the Fuze sounds great IMO and have been doing a lot of reasearch to take the plunge on a better source. For now I'm happy and can not wait for my LCD-2's to get here. I wish you lived a little closer as i would have no problems letting you borrow for a few days to get your opinion on it. And thanks to average_joe for the high quality LOD he has been a big help to me since i joined here. Thanks again dfkt. Cheers
Quote:

I'd love to hear that setup, Guidostrunk. Those are some real quality devices you put together there.

 

Guidostrunk, how much of a difference do you hear with the LOD vs. the headphone-out at max volume with EQ disabled?

 

[GeorgeGoodman]

There are definitely better sounding players than the Fuze, but they are bigger and might not have as good of the user interface the Fuze has. Something from Hifiman would probably be an improvement, how much of an improvement I don't know. I am sure that rig it sounds excellent right now! 

 

[rawrster]

hmm I thought the fuze (and all sansa players I've tried) interface was absolutely horrible and the only reason I would get any of them is because I could load the rockbox firmware on them.

 

[GeorgeGoodman]

Still, it is better than the S:Flo2 or a  QA350. I am not sure about the Hifiman players, but I think their interfaces are probably slightly below the level of the Fuze.

 

[rawrster]

I think the interface on the 601 and the Fuze are equally bad but the 601 is a bit more intuitive while the Fuze has the advantage of playing all your music instead of by folder. Rockbox is great for the fuze and all sansa players. I never would have gotten the clip+ or fuze if not for rockbox.

 

[pejayjay]

What are you doing on the Clip's three row LCD that you need a better UI?  
 
Quote:

I think the interface on the 601 and the Fuze are equally bad but the 601 is a bit more intuitive while the Fuze has the advantage of playing all your music instead of by folder. Rockbox is great for the fuze and all sansa players. I never would have gotten the clip+ or fuze if not for rockbox.

 

[dfkt]

The interface of the HM-801 is worse than *everything* I've ever seen, by far (well, except the AMP3 one, I guess). I sure hope the 601 is less ridiculous to operate.

 

[rawrster]

I've never seen the 801 so wouldn't know but I expected much worse on the 601. It's nowhere near an ipod or my J3. Maybe I just have higher standards for user interface. The only dap I've owned that was good without using rockbox firmware has been an ipod and J3 although I haven't had that many dap's as some others here. The only main ones I've had was the clip+, fuze, e260, sony a818, d2+ and the 5.5G ipod and J3.
 
Well the clip+ had pretty much the same interface as the other sansa players I've had with a few changes due to the smaller screen. Navigation wasn't that great and although it's been a while iirc one annoyance was when going into the music folder expecting to go to the music folder but it would go into last played folder or something similar to that. I put rockbox on the clip+ after around 10 minutes.