Sansa Fuze accessories

I have a Sansa Fuze and was checking on Amazon for additional accessories and want to make sure I am going to order what I need. Am I understanding that there is something that will let you connect your Fuze to your car and listen? Have a long road trip coming up and that would be nice. I already have a small travel speaker, but this would be nicer.

Opionions? Experiences?

Thanks!

I would get this: http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/itripautosansa

It also charges your Fuze.

Message Edited by parker on 05-29-2010 04:46 PM

Message Edited by parker on 05-29-2010 04:46 PM

The accessories I’ve found useful are a protective case http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001IOR2TY/ref=oss\_product and a wall charger http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001UCJOYK/ref=oss\_product

I also added a 16GB microSDHC and some better earphones.  I’d say that better earphones are necessary to fully enjoy the good sound quality the Fuze offers.  The charger is useful because it allows playback while charging.  The case is much more convenient than the slip case which came with the player.  I’ve had my Fuze since July 2009, use it daily, and the display hasn’t even the tiniest scratch.

Message Edited by Takla on 05-30-2010 03:01 AM

I like that flip case, and it’s not available in the US! 

Thanks, I hadn’t seen this one. Like it!

Thanks for the information. Curious, what earphones did you get? I find the ones that came with it a bit uncomfortable and I wondered if the sound quality would improve.

@saxmaster765 wrote:

I like that flip case, and it’s not available in the US! 

USA: same case, different name, lower price: Amazon.com

Actually not just a much lower price than UK, you also get a wrist/neck strap.

Message Edited by Takla on 05-30-2010 03:24 PM

@shawney59 wrote:

Thanks for the information. Curious, what earphones did you get? I find the ones that came with it a bit uncomfortable and I wondered if the sound quality would improve.

I got these Sennheiser Eco which are actually last year’s (end of line) Sennheiser CX 300s in supposedly eco friendly packaging.  I also have some Sennheiser CX 95s (old style, bought very cheap as end of line product).  Both are excellent and very comfortable.  Recently I tried Klipsch Image X1 but despite the hype they are distinctly inferior in terms of sound and comfort.  And somewhere I have a set of Razer ProTones, not bad but not quite up there with the Sennheisers.  All of the above, even the Klipsch, are better than the phones that come with the player.  The Klipsch and the CX 300s are the cheapest. The CX 300 are a very surprising combination of truly impressive sound and comfort and low price.

If you’d like to see good, objective reviews of earphones and headphones try  http://www.headphoneinfo.com/   They have a great testing method based on real measurements, not on opinion or advertising revenue or keeping the free samples coming.

Message Edited by Takla on 05-30-2010 03:36 PM

Message Edited by Takla on 05-30-2010 03:37 PM

The Sennheiser CX300 are nice earphones for the price, especially if you REALLY like your bass - they bleed bass, seriously. But, buy them from a reputable seller (like Amazon direct, but I would avoid Amazon Market Place sellers) as there are tons and tons of fakes.

For the Fuze, I rotate with UE TF10, Grado SR225, Altec Lansing UHP606 (bought them on a whim and they’re decent for the lowered price), and Sound Magic PL30.

edit - stupid link!

Message Edited by parker on 05-30-2010 01:55 PM

I’m a very long way from being a fan of excessive bass and I don’t find either the CX 300 or 95 offer grossly exaggerated bass.  There’s a good, detailed test on CX 300-II at Sennheiser CX 300-II Headphones Review 

_ "What we found: _
The CX 300-IIs had a good frequency response - it wans’t amazing, but it was solidly above average. They had good bass, which is something all good in-ears have to struggle for (bass requires moving a lot of air around, so the smaller the ear bud, the harder this is to do). The curve drops off a bit towards the mid-section, at which point the curve becomes slightly erratic, but manages to stay within the lines. After that the curve drops off a bit. Typically frequencies above 10,000 are used to add “brilliance,” “luster,” and a handful of other rather intangible qualities to sound. If you notice the loss at all, it’ll likely manifest itself as softer vocal sibilance.

The only other issue here is that the bass might actually be slightly boomy for some. Many in-ears tend to over-correct the bass due to their aforementioned hardships at replicating it."

So if they sound too bass heavy this is almost certainly an issue with individual fit, something that affects every in-ear model and varies from person to person and model to model.  In other words your mileage may vary.

I find that Head-Fi.org is a reliable site for headphone/earphone impressions. These people have tried everything from top-tier to budget, generic brands and this site has been around for over a decade. Hundreds of individual impressions as opposed to a 1.5-year old blog of an unidentified group of people.

Just 2 threads after a quick search. If you do a deeper search on HF for “Sennheiser CX300,” you will see that many agree with the bass impressions.

http://www.head-fi.org/products/sennheiser-cx300-b-earbuds-black/reviews

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/289751/shure-e2c-scl2-vs-senn-cx300

Also, I wasn’t saying that a lot of bass is bad. Just saying that if you like bass, then the CX300 is the most affordable way to get it.

By the way, the CX300 and CX300II (you linked 2 different earphones in 2 of your posts; your linked blog’s site does not even review the older CX300) are reviewed here and seem to be sonically different: http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/433550/a-mini-review-sennheiser-cx-300-vs-cx300-ii

Yes, YMMV, but after reading dozens to hundreds of impressions, I’d have to agree to disagree with you. :wink:

@parker wrote:

I find that Head-Fi.org is a reliable site for headphone/earphone impressions.

Actually it has a reputation for amazingly subjective “audiophile” nonsense.  It’s a site whose owners, admins, and members (in general)  abhor objective measurement, blind testing or any other assessment method that doesn’t depend on knowing the price, brand name, existing subjective opinion of peers, and probably the advertising budget of the vendor.  Caveat emptor.

Takla wrote:


@parker wrote:

I find that Head-Fi.org is a reliable site for headphone/earphone impressions.


Actually it has a reputation for amazingly subjective “audiophile” nonsense.  It’s a site whose owners, admins, and members (in general)  abhor objective measurement, blind testing or any other assessment method that doesn’t depend on knowing the price, brand name, existing subjective opinion of peers, and probably the advertising budget of the vendor.  Caveat emptor.

+1

@takla wrote:


@parker wrote:

I find that Head-Fi.org is a reliable site for headphone/earphone impressions.


Actually it has a reputation for amazingly subjective “audiophile” nonsense.  It’s a site whose owners, admins, and members (in general)  abhor objective measurement, blind testing or any other assessment method that doesn’t depend on knowing the price, brand name, existing subjective opinion of peers, and probably the advertising budget of the vendor.  Caveat emptor.

I would rather read impressions of people who listen to different types of music, have different players, or different audio equipment instead of a site that uses special electroacoustic laboratory equipment to test whether or not an audio setup will or should sound good. Numbers, graphs, ABX-ing don’t always figure into good sound quality as everyone has a personal preference.

If someone enjoys X music and liked Y headphones to listen to it, then I will try Y out with my X music. If someone said, “Oh the frequency response curve looks like this and notice the drop-off,” that means nothing to me as I am not an engineer. Music is a personal thing and I much prefer reading opinions on headphones instead of scientific jargon and figures. So far, I’m pleased with the headphones/earphones that I’ve bought based on what I’ve read and heard myself at Head-Fi meets.

To each their own.  :smiley:

If this is indeed the case then perhaps,you should let your own ears determine what sounds best for your own “personal” listening expeirience.What other people “hear” should be of no consequence.

Hundreds of individual impressions as opposed to a 1.5-year old blog of an unidentified group of people…

 

I would rather read impressions of people who listen to different types
of music, have different players, or different audio equipment instead
of a site that uses special electroacoustic laboratory equipment to test
whether or not an audio setup will or should sound
good. Numbers, graphs, ABX-ing don’t always figure into good sound
quality as everyone has a personal preference.

 

What strikes me as odd and pejorative is the phrase “a 1.5-year old blog of an unidentified group of people”

Here’s why:

headphoneinfo.com is not a blog.

An objective test is valid whether it was made 1.5 years ago ago or 1.5 minutes ago. On the other hand a purely subjective opinion is likely to vary a lot over time, for all kinds of weird and wonderful reasons, despite the assessed product remaining the same.

“unidentified group of people” - surely this most accurately describes anonymous posters on a forum?  I don’t know if headphoneinfo.com is perfect but they have an ethics policy, a linked blog at which the journalist writes under his own name, and they describe in detail their testing method. This is accompanied by nice plain English explanantions.

There is no need to be a rocket scientist to understand those tests, they are accompanied by plain English descriptions of what they mean, comparisons with similar tested products and subjective assessment, an opinion, of how they sound is also offered.

Personally I want to get both objective and subjective assessments of products.  When people describe an audio product as danceable, warm, harsh, bright or similar I sometimes think I understand what they mean and sometimes not, and anyway what are they comparing it to?  It’s not very helpful, it has no specific meaning and is just as likely to have been a description or result of the author’s feelings on his/her personal life that day as anything else.  And peer pressure is a powerful thing in a community.  It’s quite hard to go against the flow.  It’s probably even more difficult to go against advertising revenue.  So measurement has its place.  It’s especially good for identifying products which have little or no chance of performing well, and those products which come with a lot of bogus claims.  It’s also extremely good for comparing products.  But I also want to get subjective opinions. Is the cord tangly/too short/too long?  Does the product seem poorly assembled?  Does it make you look like you wear spangly jewellery or are pretending you’re in the secret service?  Is it easy to maintain?  Does it fit? Is it comfortable?  The fit/comfort issue is totally subjective but if someone finds the same products fit well and are comfortable as I do then I’ll listen to what they have to say on stuff I didn’t try yet.

One of the most interesting things about good objective testing is that it doesn’t depend on price, opinion, mood, the weather, monies received, or peer pressure.  Sometimes all it takes to blow received opinion out of the water is a single person to be objective.  It’s very very hard for someone who just spent $100 or $150 on some earbuds to accept that they are outperformed by products that cost $30 or $50.  Similarly it’s far too easy and satisfying to buy something really cheap and feel/assume/claim that it’s just as good as those expensive products. Encountering both types of opinions (and all varieties) is extremely problematic for someone who wants to get a reasonable assessment before making a purchase.

If enjoyment of an audio product is derived in great part in your purchasing decision being approved of by peers, or by having a product that is aspirational/cool/expensive/great value/<whatever> then that’s fine (we’re all like this to some degree), but that’s a different thing than saying product a sounds better than product b.  When people claim expertise and ability to discriminate it’s very fair to ask “what are your credentials?”, and to insist that they describe how they came to their conclusion.  If they can’t offer any credentials or describe a reasonable and repeatable method they use for assessment then in fact they have no more credibility than any random person and their opinion has no particular value.

Yesterday I read through a thread here on the subject of Fuze playing back at the wrong speed (issue long since resolved by firmware update).  It was very interesting.  Some people identified the problem and others doubted it existed.  The people claiming there is a problem then came back with comments about how they are professional musicians or engineers and they know what they are talking about.  People were sceptical and countered them with a bunch of opinion and anecdote.  Of course this is dar intarwebs and anyone can say anything.  But then the complainants did the needful.  They came back with detailed and measured evidence and described how they had identified & measured the problem.  Other people were able to replicate the results.  Now they had real objective evidence that went way beyond saying “I claim to have perfect pitch and I think there is an issue”.  The result was that Sansa engineers took it on board and got it fixed.  The other result is that those people who had identified the problem and demonstrated it gained a whole lot of credibility.   Of course they had perfect pitch before and they have perfect pitch now.  That didn’t change.  But now we can safely believe them :slight_smile: So some demonstration of expertise and objectivity, a deserved reputation, adds a lot of add weight to someone’s expression of opinion.  But opinion alone, or a reputation based on being the biggest/loudest/longest member of a board instead of anything factual, is entirely worthless.

Message Edited by Takla on 05-31-2010 02:28 PM

I was happy to learn about headphoneinfo.com . They look serious, and they do far more extensive tests and comparisons than the professional electronics magazines that are supposed to show that kind of expertise. The frequency response graphs of the 'phones I have correlate quite well with my experience listening to them–and most manufacturers don’t post that basic information. 

But I also like head-fi.org just for the hurly-burly of it.  The interesting thing about the internet is that people quickly reveal their brains or lack thereof, and their psychology comes through too. The real fools get slapped down pretty fast on head-fi. I wouldn’t take advice from the first post to the first thread that comes up in a search, but if you read for even a few minutes, it’s pretty clear who knows what they’re talking about.

Let a hundred schools of thought contend, as Mao Zedong said.  

@shawney59 wrote:

… Am I understanding that there is something that will let you connect your Fuze to your car and listen? Have a long road trip coming up and that would be nice. …

For your car, there are 3 situations: your car radio has an “AUX” (auxiliary) jack/input, it has a tape player, or it has neither.  If it has an AUX input, use a 1/8" stereo cable to plug from the Fuze headphone jack to the radio AUX jack.  If not an “AUX” jack, but a tape player, use a tape adaper (aka cassette adapter) - the Griffin is well regarded.  eBay has them cheap.  If neither AUX nor tape palyer, your last resort is an FM adapter.  I had terrible quality from an FM adapter that I tried, but my car’s antenna is at the rear.

Bob

OK, feeling a bit dumb! Not sure what I have. My car has a CD player. I do have the ability to charge my phone. Is that the same area you are discussing?

An AUX-in jack looks like your headphone jack, so no, it’s different.

What kind of connection does the phone make? Is there a USB jack on the car stereo?

Even so, unless your car stereo is smart enough to read a USB drive, you’re probably stuck with the FM transmitter method–about $25-30.

Or, I know this is radical, but you could also get a new car stereo with AUX-in. Mine (replaced for other reasons, but I made sure it had an AUX-In) was about $150 installed.  And then in the future you could use any player via AUX-in.