Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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116 of 119 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding Value Proposition - I'm Wired for Sound, March 24, 2007
I picked one of these up for work yesterday at a major retailer/e-tailer that seemed to have it "first", because I was really feeling the necessity of a device like this and the feature-set sounded promising. I frequently have to crawl around in ceilings for insane numbers of hours doing networking and cabling jobs. I needed something to fill the dead-space in my brain.
Light-weight, feature rich. Very attractive (and user-intuitive) design. The surface is black mirrored finish. Very shiny, but prone to fingerprints. The "finger print problem" isn't a big deal for me. Everything gets grimy and icky up there anyway.
The battery life is insanely good. I don't run the volume way up, so I'm not over-driving the amplifier - probably one reason. Anyway - I worked for 16.5 straight hours, and never stopped it. It was on shuffle/repeat all. It was still showing 1/4 on the charge indicator when I went to bed. I plugged it in before I fell asleep, and it's fully charged now.
The included earbuds sound pretty darned good, but they aren't terribly comfortable, and they don't stay in my ears with any kind of activity. I'll be immediately replacing them.
I also couldn't believe the thing is so feature-rich but doesn't include a clock! A few bits of scratchpad nv and a few bytes of code. This surely has to be on the to-do-list for Sansa...
Capable of playing both MP3 and WMA (Windows Media Audio) at a much improved size-for-quality (to simplify: WMA is effectively MP3 at 50-60% of the size), this is far superior to my view than Apple's "Shuffle" being primarily limited to iTunes/AAC.
The FM receiver had moderate sensitivity. Not much of a groundplane for that antenna, so I guess it's to be expected. It works fine for strong stations. I wasn't really buying it for the FM tuner anyway. That said, many gyms have an FM broadcast of the TVs over the equipment. That's probably what this is designed for primarily - and it'd be perfect for that.
The display is awesome. VERY readable and it's downright gorgeous in a totally darkened space, as are the blue backlit buttons.
I transcoded 293 songs out of my MP3 collection to 64kbit/sec WMA. It required just under half the device's storage. So at that bitrate, 600 songs may be a fairly accurate accounting with the types of music I listen to at work. I'm sure the sound may lack a bit, but when you're just using it as background filler - who cares? It's about the amount of music stored at that point...
Just for kicks, I encoded a 384kbit MP3 track from an SACD (Charlotte Church. Very demanding.) utilizing a commercial well-reviewed MP3 CODEC implementation, and plugged the Express into my More Headroom headphone amp, and that into my HD580 Sennheiser headphones.
There was some identifiable amplifier noise on the Sansa. It didn't punch the lows or lift the highs. Probably 75% of SNR that I get on the Creative Zen NX. A friend's Shuffle shows similar characteristics to the Sansa Express (by seat-of-pants method). The Shuffle seems to carry the bass a bit better, the Sansa a bit cleaner on the highs. But that's just my "golden-ear" opinion. I don't think I'd want it as my only MP3 option for more audiophile-type listening. But again: It's a "micro-device".
The one niggling "gotcha" that is common out there: Why put the lanyard attachment point on the cheap and disposable cap section rather than the actual "business end"? Hmm. Maybe I answered my own question. ;) I like the idea of the lanyard, but wouldn't use it given the probability of losing the device and keeping the cap.
With all that said, I am *super* happy with this device; for its purpose and value proposition. In fact, I'm ecstatic. I would give it a 9.25/10 rating. Earbuds are a very personal thing. I'm only docking them 0.25 for the earbuds. I have no problem replacing them. I'd like to hit them another 0.25 for not adding a clock - but heck, the Shuffle doesn't even have a display. I'm going to hit them another 0.25 for apparent SNR/THD/Amplifier quality, but I'll apologize for it since other similar micro-players have similar apparent performance.
Honestly, a "fairer" rating is probably 9.90/10 when all factors (cost, size, battery life, display quality, quantity of music stored, overall feature-set, etc.) are taken into account.
This is truly a ShuffleKiller. I just hope SanDisk can push the marketing and advertising hard enough to upset the Apple cart [sic].
Yeah, scratch that... I'd give it a "10" on the emotional scale for a day and a half of use. ;)
With apologies to Cliff Richard:
"Walkin' about with a head full of music, MP3 in my pocket and I'm gonna use it-stereo, out on the street ya know whoa whoa whoa, [...] I feel so ecstatic, it's music I've found, and I'm wired for sound"
--- Jodie
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31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best I've owned so far ..., April 21, 2007
I've owned several MP3 players, including the Rio Karma, Creative Zen Micro, and a number of smaller capacity players. This is hands-down the best player I have come across. Excellent sound, sturdy and compact, color OLED display, plenty of battery life, compatibility with online music services, FM radio, recording, driverless functionality with Windows ... all of the features you would expect. The Micro-SD expansion slot, along with my past experiences with SanDisk products in general are what sold me. The most important feature to me is that the player has the functionality I want, at a price where I can afford to lose it ... so I have it with me whenever I need it. This is by far the most bang for the buck with regards to MP3 players, "entry-level" or otherwise. I'd give it 6 stars if I could.
Don't forget some extra storage space! Sandisk Micro SD 2 GB works like a champ in my player.
-- UPDATE --
Still have it, it still works, and I still love it. One note, though ... since I bought this player, microSDHC cards have become readily and cheaply available ... this device, as far as I know, only supports microSD, so you're limited to cards with a max capacity of 2GB.
An update to support up to 16GB microSDHC would compel me to buy a new one in a heartbeat.
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24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A very nice entry level MP3 player, April 11, 2007
I bought my Sansa Express a bit more than a week ago and I have made use of it just about every day since. Overall I am quite pleased with it. Its positive attributes include:
Appearance -- To rip off J.K. Rowling there is only one word for the physical appearance of this MP3 player: Cool. It has a silver colored body and a black mirror face. The controls are back-lit in a cool blue and the display is primarily blue-green. The brightness of the display is adjustable which is very important if you take it out for a walk on a sunny day. It is the size of a pack of gum and weighs about the same.
File Formats -- Supports MP3, WMA, Protected WMA, WAV, and Audible files. Caveat: I could not find any information in the Sansa Express documentation or on line about what bit rates are supported. According to a telephone technical support person it supports 128KBS MP3 which is OK for "Jump'n Jack Flash" or the like but not so good for more complex art/alternative rock, jazz or classical. However, I have downloaded 128, 192, and 320KBS MP3 files to the Sansa Express without a hitch and they seem to work fine, so I am inclined to believe that the unit supports all standard bit rates.
File Formats Update 4-22-07 -- I have been in contact with Sandisk technical support via email and they gave me the following information on Sansa Express supported bit rates:
WMA - 64 to 128 kbps.
MP3 - 96 to 320 kbps and VBR.
(VBR = variable bit rate, a CD ripping option in some media player encoders that varies the bit rate based on the dynamics of the music, increasing the efficiency of the compression process [if its properly done])
Sandisk technical support responded with an answer to my question in less than 24 hours.
Sound -- The MP3 sound is good enough that I have not felt the need go back to my portable CD player although I have been using 192 and 320KBS music files rather than 128KBS files which reduces the amount of music that can be stored on the device. This, I should say, is a matter of personal choice; alot of Napster-To-Go rock and roll sounded fine at 128KBS.
Radio -- The radio is a nice feature and I would rank its quality as roughly comparable to a pocket radio I have used for quite some time, but you should not expect it to pull in weaker stations or work in places with a lot of radio frequency interference.
Controls -- I found the controls to be easy-to-use. If you do get lost or take a wrong turn you can always press the power/menu button again and quickly get to where you wish to go. I will mention one thing to guard against: the radio has a feature that will automatically scan the FM band and set presets to the strongest stations -- a nice feature but if you activate it by accident say goodbuy to all your own presets; and also it skips stations that you may want preset that can be received just fine (the radio search function has the same problem.)
Compatibility with Windows Media Player 11 -- I have had no problems at all using Windows Media Player 11 with the Sansa Express.
Compatibility with Subscription Services -- I have used the device with Napster-To-Go with no problems at all (exploiting a free-trial offer by Napster). After importing my ripped CD's to the Napster library I could download any music regardless of its source (ripped CD or downloaded Napster-To-Go) to the Sansa Express by simply dragging the desired track(s), album(s), artists(s), or playlist(s) to the MP3 device window. You can select multiple items to be dragged using standard MS Windows techniques (for example mouse click, followed by as many cntrl-clicks as you need). Its a piece of cake.
Mini USB cable -- I plug my Sansa Express directly into one of the front-mounted USB ports in my desk-top computer where there is plenty of space, but if the only USB port you have available is located in the tightly crowded space in the back of your machine Sandisk includes a mini USB cable with the Express that allows you to use a USB port where physical space limitations prevents a direct connection.
Not so positive attributes:
Ear Buds -- the ear buds that come with the Sansa Express are OK as far as sound goes but they do not cover the ear canal so they do not block out local ambient noise at all. Also they are not particularly comfortable. However, the earphones I was using with my portable CD player work fine with the Sansa Express and they do not seem to adversely effect battery life.
To sum up:
Overall I am very pleased with the Sansa Express. I am particularly pleased with its size and looks, that it includes an FM radio, support for subscription music services, expandable memory, and costs just 59 bucks.
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