Sansa Fuze accessories

I have used some FM transmitters and they can be very good, even the cheap ones.  The usual cause of poor sound is interference from broadcast FM and this varies from place to place.  In a rural area no problems, in an urban area it can be quite bad.  The easiest thing to do is to find one with lots of choices for the frequency you use.  Different devices can have slightly different ranges of available frequencies.  Probably this should be subject to regulation but in practice I’m sure nobody is paying much attention to what passes through ebay and similar.  $25 - $30 sounds rather expensive to me.  I used to sell these things for about half that price.  Here’s a typical one Wireless Stereo FM Transmitter for MP3 MP4 Player You will often notice that the more expensive ones are the exact same product as the generics, only the branding is different.

Takla wrote:
I have used some FM transmitters and they can be very good, even the cheap ones.  The usual cause of poor sound is interference from broadcast FM and this varies from place to place.  In a rural area no problems, in an urban area it can be quite bad.  The easiest thing to do is to find one with lots of choices for the frequency you use.  Different devices can have slightly different ranges of available frequencies.  Probably this should be subject to regulation but in practice I’m sure nobody is paying much attention to what passes through ebay and similar.  $25 - $30 sounds rather expensive to me.  I used to sell these things for about half that price.  Here’s a typical one Wireless Stereo FM Transmitter for MP3 MP4 Player You will often notice that the more expensive ones are the exact same product as the generics, only the branding is different.

I’ve never heard one that sounded good. I have heard one that was better than nothing, though.:wink:

 They only have to be good enough to match your car radio :-)  And most cars are noisy.  There is rumble from the road, engine noise, wind noise, noise from other traffic. Even very nice cars are noisy compared to most people’s homes.  These FM transmitter devices seem very good for that kind of environment.  I wouldn’t expect them to sound great through your home audio system.

Takla wrote:
 They only have to be good enough to match your car radio :-)  And most cars are noisy.  There is rumble from the road, engine noise, wind noise, noise from other traffic.

Don’t forget windows rattling, junk rolling around in the trunk, struts, shocks & brakes squeaking and that muffler with the hole in it.

Oh, wait . . . you said _ most _ cars, not my car! :smileyvery-happy:

And don’t forget adjacent channel interference.  My experience has been that it’s impossible to find an FM channel in any urban area that is free from interference.

That being said, after trying three different brands, I finally found one that works “good enough” for my primary use case of audiobooks and podcasts (I’m guessing it’s putting out more than the legal power limit).  But it really isn’t good enough for music other than punk and thrash metal which is full of distortion anyway, so a little more doesn’t really matter.

@shmincev3 wrote:

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.

@parker wrote:

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.

Dear Shmince:

Read carefully before replying. Thanks!

 

@takla wrote:

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

 

An objective test is valid whether it was made 1.5 years ago ago or 1.5 minutes ago.

 

My point for stating the youngness of the blog is that their repertoire of tested equipment is significantly smaller than what Head-Fi reviews. Plus, the number of reviewers is also significantly smaller. Again, it is personal preference. You like the small, “ethical” (Wall Street, banks, and the government also have “ethics” :smiley:) - lol one would be foolish to believe that a small group of headphone reviewers is completely ethical “because THEY say so.” Me, I prefer to start from a large pool, filter out opinions that I feel aren’t reliable, and buy according to the reviewers that I have met IN PERSON and trust as well as trusting my own ears when I’m at national/local meets - you know, where you actually get to listen to stuff in person as opposed to looking at frequency graphs from an “objective” audio testing lab setup. When headphoneinfo gets enough funding to listen to things like Sennheiser HD800, Grado HP-2, Orpheus, etc., as well as budget, generic brands like Coby, Sound Magic, etc., then perhaps I will take them more seriously. But, as it stands, their 1.5 year old blog has very little experience compared to places like Head-Fi or anythingbutipod or avsforum even. You couldn’t even get the reviews straight when you tried to point someone in the direction of the CX300 and CX300ii. Very reliable indeed.  :wink:

 

@takla wrote:

 

“unidentified group of people” - surely this most accurately describes anonymous posters on a forum?

 

Again, please see my suggestion to Schmince. I have met a large group of those “anonymous” posters from Head-Fi at their yearly meet as well as smaller, local meets. You, sir/maam, and your headphone blog are more anonymous than a lot of the Head-Fi community as Head-Fi tries to become more personable and sociable as opposed to spouting credentials and the ethicalness of their testing set-up.

 

 

@takla wrote:

 

 

<*SNIP* ramblings of a disgruntled, possibly former Head-Fier *SNIP*> 

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

I’m sorry that you are so against Head-Fi. Perhaps you tried to peddle that little headphoneinfo website (I see that the site owners are still looking for advertisers) and Head-Fiers did not like your advertisement, probably mocked you, and you got your feelings hurt. So, you came to Sansa (a DEAD forum) to try and peddle the blog here. Good luck to you and the Sansa forums. 

Farewell Sansa Forums! This site needs a lot of work.

I am not and have never been a member of head-fi forums (or the communist party), disgruntled or otherwise.

I am not “peddling” anything.  I linked to headphoneinfo for one reason only: it is very unusual to find a source of objective, measured reviews accompanied by a thorough explanation of method and plain English explanation of the results.

 Frankly speaking, your avoidance of engaging with facts and preference for unpleasant ad-hominem disputation, your personal insults, pejorative language and casting of unjustified aspersions on people who don’t share your view with you says more than you imagine about the merits of subjective evaluation.

@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.

Hiya, I went with Skullcandy in ear buds, I previously owned the Sennheiser CX 300-II and I feel this blow them away.

 Amazon.com