In all honesty, the Clip+ is great for the money, there's nothing in that price range ($30-$50) that comes close, it measures well and in some ways I agree with scuttle, I used a Clip+ when I started out in this hobby for many months. I was coming from an old iPod and
really happy, even the thought of having custom EQ had set me free at the time, but the problem is with this hobby you're always lusting for more, I believe if the addiction hadn't set in I could of happily stopped there, truth is everything has limits and my ears are open enough to see those limitations. It lacks detail, soundstage and especially instrument separation, also.. there's not much of a black space behind the music. it does however have high amounts of clarity which Is one thing I believe people listen for / or notice straight away when A/Bing two players.
And to me since moving on it does remind me of listening to an FM radio, because I have heard other gear I enjoy more. You can check my profile inventory to see I have tried enough sources to realize Clips+ limitations, that includes Sansa, Cowon, Ipod, Colorfly Hifiman, Sony, Creative, in different models, but that shouldn't stop you from enjoying your player, it's more people are lead to believe the Clip+ is MUCH more than it actually is and comments like this are just insane, they take it to far blowing the Clip+ into something it's really not besides the good measurements.
And it's threads like this where members like scuttle push their biased opinions so hard you end up with nOObs thinking things like this.
At the end of the day I don't want anyone to stop enjoying their Clip+ or Sansa product but some people come to Head-Fi looking for great sound quality but only touch the border of what's out there thinking it doesn't get any better.