Sansa Clip Sport



Sansa Clip Sport

Indlægaf Solderdude » 18. aug 2014, 19:58

Billede

The GUI is not the simplest to navigate but with properly tagged files (mine are) it works O.K.

As my 'higher quality' player I use a FiiO X3 and always found the sonic differences (when not playing very loud) were small compared to the Sansa Fuze.

Billede

On direct comparison (same song, about the same volume) when plugging a headphone between them I noticed the clip sounded noticeably different from the X3.
The cymbals etc. lacked definition and presence and the sound was less refined.
Having read some reviews stating it has lesser sonic qualities than the clip I was curious how it measured.
The players are NOT loaded with a low resistance as I always use these players with my portable amp.
Will measure them under load as well one of these days.

[center]left plots/data = Sansa Clip Sport < ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Right plots/data = FiiO X3[/center]

Billede

Hmmm. no roll-off in the frequency range... in fact the Sansa Clip is even slightly flatter.

What do the generated specs have to say.

Billede

Ah ... The FiiO X3 seems to be the better player after all (not surprisingly).

THD looks different.

Billede

What's most interesting in these plots is the base near the noise floor which widens in the Sansa. It indicates jitter is higher than the other players.
Also the Sansa seems to generate more harmonics and slightly higher in amplitude.
SOME of the higher frequency spikes MAY not even be present but could also be caused by the used SB1240 soundcard

Needless top say this player sounds quite good, certainly suited for usage while exercising or non critical listening and less than the older Sansa Fuze (which is technically identical to the Clip).
Wouldn't recommend the Clip Sport for hifi enjoyment although it does sound quite good for the price (around $ 60.-)
Oh... for those that like to know the output resistance .. I measured the output R and it's 0.7 Ohm. (Exactly the same as the Fuze)
The X3 measured 0.2 Ohm by the way.
For all 3 players... no clipping even when loaded with 30 Ohm.

Full RMAA reports of http://www.mediafire.com/view/108kbakq8fgih2b/RightMark_Audio_Analyzer_test_clip_sport.pdf and http://www.mediafire.com/view/ed3735p7i30tutj/RightMark_Audio_Analyzer_test_FiiO_X3_16-48.pdf
[center]
Sansa Clip Sport versus the, a few years older, Sansa Fuze.[/center]

Billede

First lets compare the generated RMAA data, Left = Clip Sport, Right = Fuze

Billede

The Clip Sport measures better than the Fuze .... in numbers

What does the FR look like ?

Billede

The Sport is slightly 'flatter' and is filtered steeper after 20kHz.
The Fuze shows a slight 'lift' in FR between 10kHz and 20kHz... < +0.1dB where the Sport is very flat and the X3 shows a slight decrease there.
Again +0.1dB is inaudible (at least it is to me and most others).
For those that noticed all 3 players show the exact same amount of gentle roll-off in the lows.... this is caused by the soundcard used for these tests (SB1240) and it is very safe to say all 3 players are completely flat from 20Hz upwards.

Now the Harmonic distortion plots...

Billede

Something interesting to notice.
A: The Fuze has higher 2nd harmonics, the Sport higher 3rd harmonics. The harmonics spread and higher harmonics is better in the Fuze. The Fuze spectrum is 'nicer' to the ears but also very low in level (below what most consider inaudible)
B: The 'spread' at the base is better in the Fuze and more similar to the X3 albeit much higher in levels.
SOME of the higher frequency spikes MAY not even be present but could also be caused by the used SB1240 soundcard and is difficult to say for sure.

Sound comparison Fuze vs X3:

As I noticed earlier the Sport doesn't sound as 'realistic' in the treble as the X3.
I own the Fuze for much longer and was always impressed by its sound quality.
I had compared it before to the X3 and said they sounded very similar to me.
Having performed the listening test with the Sport vs the X3 I made the same 'recording' from the Fuze and compared these 3.
The Sport was again easy to pick as the 'tambourine bells' in the test file gave the Sport away each and every time reliably in a blind AB test.
Going from the specs one would think that SQ of the Sport would be better than the Fuze.
Well... it isn't.
Perhaps the most important give away is the broad base in the THD plot of the Sport which isn't seen in both other players.
In fact I wasn't able to tell the Fuze apart from the X3.
I had noticed this before though.
The X3, however, has a bigger display, is capable of more formats/sampling rates, has SPDIF out, can be used as a DAC and can play a LOT louder and effortlessly drive 600 Ohm headphones.
Sonically (at the same undistorted SPL) they are impossible to tell apart.

Does this mean the SQ from the X3 is mediocre ? Is the Fuze simply that good ?
Well.. the differences start to show at higher impedances and on higher levels where the Fuze runs out of voltage while the X3 goes on and on and sounding lovely.
At lower levels both players simply reached the 'border' of my hearing capabilities and are equally 'transparent'.
When used with a portable amp even the max SPL problem is solved.

For completeness the RMAA results of the http://www.mediafire.com/view/g8639qn5v1996y1/RightMark_Audio_Analyzer_test_Sansa_Fuze_16-48.pdf

verdict Sansa Clip Sport:
Nice player but the SQ is slightly less than its worse measuring, but better sounding, predecessors (Fuze and Clip).
With v1.17 firmware the sound quality has improved (so are the measurements slightly). Also the random generator is improved and button-lock is present.
Gone is the 'genre' selection option and the max number of songs is reduced from 2x4000 to 2x2000 songs.

v1.17 RMAA report: http://www.mediafire.com/view/4ihmwgpiii0mify/RightMark_Audio_Analyzer_test_Clip_Sport_v1.pdf

You cannot put more than 2000 songs on the uSD card unless you use a program and a tutorial on the Sandisk website (original FW has 4000 songs limit).
But as said there seems to be a workaround.
It does play WAV and FLAC as well so the uSD card could be filled with higher SQ songs in WAV format?
Haven't checked, but think 48kHz is the max sample frequency so no 96 and 192kHz files (need the X3 for those).
Even though the X3 can play 192/24 it does downsample to 96/24 and does the same on its SPDIF out.
Senest rettet af Solderdude 20. aug 2014, 11:52, rettet i alt 1 gang.
Use your ears to enjoy music, not as an analyzer.
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Re: Sansa Clip Sport

Indlægaf Claus-DK » 20. aug 2014, 01:16

WOW
You blow me away everytime you do these things..

rullw3 rullw3 rullw3 rullw3 rullw3 rullw3
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Re: Sansa Clip Sport

Indlægaf gumleguf » 4. okt 2014, 07:46

'Love these honest review threads. Thank you.
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Re: Sansa Clip Sport

Indlægaf Solderdude » 4. okt 2014, 09:48

There is also this very annoying 'feature' it has.
Basically it can read 'tags' from internal and uSD memory and sort the files by artist, album etc. BUT it does NOT read both memories.
So when you want to listen to songs on the player it scans these songs once.
This takes some time rendering the player useless at that moment.
However, when you want to listen to songs on the uSD card AND use the artist, album etc. thing it starts to scan those songs again.
This takes a lot of time on bigger cards. Time you will have to wait.
The problem lies in the fact that when you want to listen to the player again (or accidentally push the 'back' button one time to much it starts scanning the 'internal memory again.
If this was by accident (pressed the back button one time too much) you will have to wait till it finishes scanning and then go back to the uSD and scan that again.

Here is where the used sorting program comes in.
In case you do not want to use the sort by album/artist etc. function you have to use the 'explorer' instead.
This works similar to normal explorers and you can look for maps.
If that is organised neatly it is no problem.
BUT Windows for instance copies maps on the disc being NOT in alphabetical order or when you later add folders they aren't displayed alphabetically.
The maps are displayed in the time order the folders have been written to the disc.
On larger cards this may make it hard to find folders as they aren't in a logical order.

2 Ways around it.
Use the program that copies the files to the card in the same order as shown on the windows screen or copy each folder in the correct order individually.

Annoying... the Fuze scans both internal and uSD memory and 'combines' the 2 lists which makes looking for songs really easy.
If you value the search song/album sorting function and are using uSD cards look for another player.
Use your ears to enjoy music, not as an analyzer.
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Re: Sansa Clip Sport

Indlægaf Claus-DK » 4. okt 2014, 09:56

Seems to me that the old clip is a much better choice..
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Re: Sansa Clip Sport

Indlægaf Solderdude » 4. okt 2014, 11:13

I think so too....

The clip can also be Rockboxed but like the Fuze Rockbox has some serious problems with 48kHz files.

44.1kHz = Rockbox rules
48kHz = original firmware rules

Dual boot may have its perks.
Use your ears to enjoy music, not as an analyzer.
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Re: Sansa Clip Sport

Indlægaf Claus-DK » 4. okt 2014, 12:46

Rockbox can not handle DRM and I listen to a lot of audiobooks that are DRM protected, so I guess I will get my third Clip, they tend to die on me after a years beating, they do not like being dropped in soapy water or liquid margarine.....
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