How old are these battery reports you are talking about? I noticed the Fuze+ did at one point get worse battery life with Rockbox than with the Sandisk firmware.
However, there’s been quite a few improvements in the Fuze+ version of Rockbox, including (ongoing) power enhancements. As of when this was posted, tests showed that it’s quite possible to get just under 43 hours’ worth of playback on a single charge, whereas Sandisk boasts (using the Sandisk firmware) only 24 hours playback. See HERE, for more battery benchmark information. Please note that the tests are in date order, starting with the oldest first. You’ll see how things have steadily improved.
As for sound quality, Rockbox has some pretty neat sound-enhancement features, such as a full 10-band parametric equalizer. I personally feel the quality can be quite good, especially if you take the time to play with the toys given to you. Of course, the quality of the headphones and individual files can have a bigger impact than anything else.
