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The best MP3 (and FLAC) player ever made is the Sansa Clip+ with Rockbox firmware. $50 when new. Size of a matchbox -- not the car, the small thing that restau
by dsr_ 4y ago
The best MP3 (and FLAC) player ever made is the Sansa Clip+ with Rockbox firmware.
$50 when new. Size of a matchbox -- not the car, the small thing that restaurants and bars used to hand out as advertising. MicroSD slot for storage. 20+ hours of playtime, recharged via USB. Appears as a USB Mass Storage device, too. 3.5mm headphone jack. Small 2-part monochrome OLED display. Physical buttons: D-pad, OK, Menu, power, and volume up and down. After a day you don't need to look at it to pause/play, skip a track, change the volume or turn it on and off.
With Rockbox installed (ten minute process), you can play FLAC, use a parametric equalizer, customize the display, change playback speed for audiobooks, and generally do a few dozen things more than the factory firmware.
Rockbox lets you do the same on a large number of devices, but the Clip+ is the best.
- gfaregan 4y agoI had a Sansa clip of some type and it lasted about as long as the cheap $5 mp3 player I bought next. These days I find it more convenient to use my phone. You can play mp3s just fine on a phone.
- pera 4y agoPhones are awful if you are doing exercises though.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- iamacyborg 4y agoDepends. I use my phone to control music when I'm in the gym but when I'm out running or cycling then listening to music is generally a bad idea, IMO, as you lose spatial awareness. I suppose that's more or less important whether you're running in a busy city or out in the countryside though. Either way, recent high end smart/sport watches usually have some sort of music playback support for folks who want to exercise with music but don't want to lug around a phone.
- PaulHoule 4y agoYou can get good deals on Garmin watches that play music at their factory outlet store. I compress music with AAC Pro on my mac and then upload it, I really can't complain about the sound quality given that the gym or outdoors is usually noisy.
- i_am_jl 4y agoGarmin really undersells their music functionality on their fitness watches. I wasn't expecting the depth of music features on their newer stuff, like being able to automatically sync Spotify playlists to your watch for offline play, or being able to use the watch as a remote for your Bluetooth-connected phone.
- s0rce 4y agoAs you said, losing spatial awareness is only an issue if you are forced to share space with cars where drivers often don't pay attention and try to murder you. If you are on paths/trails or in the middle of nowhere then its not a big deal. You don't hear the mountain lion stalking you regardless if you are listening to music.
- mantas 4y agoAwareness is important without cars too. Be it cyclist to cyclist or runner to cyclist. You may not hear mountain lion, but you may hear stray dog.
- Zancarius 4y agoThat latter part is important. I live out in the country, and I've had more than a couple of encounters with aggressive dogs. Occasionally other wildlife, but as I like to posit: The forest reveals its secrets if you listen closely enough.
- iamacyborg 4y agoIt’s not just cars, helps to just hear what else is happening, if other runners are behind you, cyclists, etc.
- rjsw 4y agoThe display on my exercise bike has broken, so it has been useful to have a stopwatch as well as a music player on my phone, I don't have a good way to carry it for any other kind of exercise.
- nradov 4y agoHow are phones awful? In the gym I just stick my phone in the corner and the Bluetooth radio has enough range to reach my headphones. For running I just put my phone in my pocket. I have a Garmin smart watch that supports audio playback but it's a hassle to use because I have to load or sync recordings in advance. Streaming audio on my phone is much more convenient. Plus I have my phone with me anyway in case I want to take a picture due Strava or something.
- 2devnull 4y agoYou obviously don’t care if your phone gets stolen or your Bluetooth headphones get ruined by sweat or have a plate dropped on them. I will personally attest to the Sansa clip + $10 earbuds being the best workout audio combo available.
- nradov 4y agoI am fortunate enough to be a member at a gym where theft isn't a problem. Good Bluetooth headphones aren't ruined by sweat (and I sweat a lot). If you drop a plate on your ear then you have bigger problems than ruining your headphones.
- 2devnull 4y agoFair enough! I’ve been a member at some more… high risk gyms, and I’m unusually hard on earbuds and like. Cheap and replaceable may not be optimal for everyone’s use case.
- stronglikedan 4y agoSure, but there are use cases where you can't play MP3s on a phone, and this is where MP3 players fill the need.
- themadturk 4y agoI have a friend who depends on her Sansa Clip+. Sure, she has a phone, but the clip is tiny, the battery lasts forever and it has a headphone jack.
- rekoil 4y agoBlast from the past, loved playing around with rockbox back in the days of the early iPods! Glad to hear its still somewhat alive!
- mg 4y agoIt is a nice device, but I would be missing noise-cancelling when using the Sansa Clip+. Noise-cancelling is a must-have for me. It significantly increases quality of life to have it with you, wherever you go. And I like the high-quality look and haptic feeling of the NWZ-E585. It looks like a classy audio device. And it feels really good in your hand.
- alex_duf 4y agoOut of curiosity how does noise canceling works when on the device? I assumed it was only possible when on the headset as it needed to be measured and cancelled based on the direction of the sound. I'm failing how a device in your pocket can cancel any ambiant noise
- dreamoffire 4y agoIf I’m reading the specs right it looks like their headphones are required. I’m guessing mic’s are on each side and offloaded to the player? Either way, I wouldn’t want to be forced to use their headphones.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- mellosouls 4y agoNo reason you can't have noise cancelling with wired earphones to the Sansa, Bose QC20s etc. I assume also there are jack-to-bluetooth adapters for wireless.
- mg 4y agoQC20 are not an option for me because of the extra device that is built into the cord close to where you plug it into the mp3-player. It makes handling of the whole system cumbersome. I guess the noise-cancelling has to be built into the mp3-player to avoid this. I have not seen elegant in-ear headphones with built-in noise-cancelling yet.
- antihero 4y agoWhat’s the DAC/amp like on it?
- datpiff 4y agohttp://nwavguy.blogspot.com/2011/02/sansa-clip-measured.html http://nwavguy.blogspot.com/2011/02/sansa-clip-measured.html Very good
- WithinReason 4y agoShame it was discontinued around 2013
- emptyfile 4y ago[dead]
- rjh29 4y agoI owned one (with Rockbox), unfortunately it broke after 2 years and then they were discontinued.
- mellosouls 4y agoAbsolutely the best, I use my phone these days as I have it on me but replaced the Sansa with another as I couldn't find anything as good even after it was discontinued.
- hyperpl 4y agoI agree. There was something magical about these especially how good the sound quality is for its size and portability. I use mine at the gym and when running since you can barely feel it. It has a nice selection of apps too. I've collected 3 over the years in case any of them die off. While the battery life is still good I should probably get around to researching replacement batteries/cells while I still can.
- theandrewbailey 4y agoI just ordered 2 batteries for each of my Sansa Clips. I'll have to unsolder/solder the wires to the mainboard to replace, but that's a small price to pay for keeping such a great player alive longer.
- JansjoFromIkea 4y agoCan't you just put any 3.7v lipo battery with a protection board that'll fit? The only failure I've had with one so far was the front buttons; and I bought a broken one for parts years ago that had the exact same issue...
- lazlee 4y agoI second that. I'm a commercial painter and more then once I've had my sansa mp3 player fall into a paint bucket. Fish it out, clean it up and the damn things just kept on working. Instant brand loyalty after that. Shame they stopped making them.
- indigodaddy 4y agoLooks like Best Buy and other retailers still sell a line of Sandisk “Clips” ?? https://www.bestbuy.com/site/sandisk-clip-jam-8gb-mp3-player-blue/4396004.p?skuId=4396004 https://www.bestbuy.com/site/sandisk-clip-jam-8gb-mp3-player...
- dsr_ 4y agoSadly, not the same. Rockbox makes a real functional and usability difference.
- lazlee 4y agoCool. It's been so long since they disappeared in my neck of the woods that I have stopped looking. I'll check this out. Thanks.
- jdmichal 4y agoFrom the Rockbox devices page: > Sansa Clip Sport / Clip Jam / Clip Sport Go / Clip Sport Plus > These are based on an Actions Semiconductor ATJ2127 chips, with under 100KB of available memory and all audio decoding happening inside dedicated hardware. A rockbox port to these (and other ATJ2127) targets will not happen, as it would require an immence undertaking and due to resource limitations, the end result would lack most of the features that rockbox users have come to expect.
- 31337Logic 4y agoSame here. Still use my Sansa every single day!
- jrockway 4y agoYeah, the Clip+ with Rockbox was just incredible. Got me through a lot of workdays in the corporate "no software allowed on your computer" days. I was using mine in the very early days of Android existing. Some people had them, but I didn't yet. I got my first Android phone, moved my music over, and was ... massively disappointed. My favorite phone incident was sitting on some flight, trying to listen to music, and my phone wouldn't play it through the headphones, speakers only, annoying everyone nearby. I didn't listen to music on that flight and promptly switched back to a device that did not have a physical speaker. Over time, phones rebuilt trust and I got a lot of use out of that, until Google Play Music got shut down and deleted all my music (no problem, I have it all locally). Now I have no idea what people do and simply go without. I guess people don't have music libraries any more and just listen to the radio for $10/month? No thanks. (I use foobar2000 on my desktop, and don't listen to music away from my home anymore. Thanks technological progress?)
- spindle 4y agoSorry, but the best MP3 (and FLAC) player ever made is the Sansa Fuse with Rockbox firmware.
- bookofjoe 4y agohttps://www.ebay.com/itm/195360366923?hash=item2d7c62a14b:g:eowAAOSwLpVjKKjB&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA8BgFIKFL%2Fd5kvnHsb%2FPGH%2BGq6JKrXXoUUKl%2BKaksAa8OuGee09ciSjB%2B7pCD9Ft5oDUOYAUJDh9ARuUwVMIwua5w%2BOZoixHCT9AFdSXRIwcMUPLL%2FZuXvEHDczrlQ1pS%2F%2BTnM03VHg8J1aKMJSPkCGjRM4rkBJme4OMHg8tdJShCGUj8%2F9H0H%2B%2FvNIsBsJNd8yEt4C1RPrJtVGvqnuL2oC4AV3AkHydQHYctfpV%2BYqn%2FkPnNrXLJE%2FigNiYaW6oxlGINOpJCt%2FykegEyD9yT3xQ%2BkVPtO7DIsC64LnewNVFaF5VwPsFLV6gsQid2CCREEQ%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABFBMkJzoyrdh https://www.ebay.com/itm/195360366923?hash=item2d7c62a14b:g:...
- dsr_ 4y agoBut it's so big!
- spindle 4y agoCarrying all that weight helps keep me fit.
- iszomer 4y agoI still have my original Clip+. The OLED display is showing it's age with dimmed pixels but it is still a great -stealth- recording device. It is also still my go to music player for long flights.
- theandrewbailey 4y agoThe latest Rockbox (3.15, I think) supports Opus on Sansa Clips, and I've loaded mine with transcoded Opus files. (I keep FLAC files in my archive.) I know, Opus is not FLAC, but I'm likely to be listening in noisy environments where it's impossible to tell the difference, and the vastly longer playtime is a good trade.