Introduction
The original Sansa Fuze achieved legendary status among music lovers since its inception. The SQ was a class apart and many people considered it the best sounding portable media player at any price point.
The main reason was that there was no deficiencies in the sound. The frequency response was ruler flat and 'neutral' was the best way to describe its sound.
However there were a few shortcomings of the Fuze. First and foremost was the lack of a decent screen. The 1.9" screen on the old Fuze was less than adequate and the player lagged behind in the looks department and UI.
The main differences between the Fuze+ and the older Fuze are the touch controls and the brand new interface. Other differences include a larger player with a bigger screen (2.4 inches 320 x 240 screen vs the old 2 inch 224 x 176 screen found on the Fuze). Another difference is that the Fuze+ no longer uses the old propriety connector and instead it uses a micro USB connector to both charge the
player as well as transfer music. The transfer speed is greatly improved compared to the older Fuze.
The Fuze+ supports the same amount of battery life as the old Fuze (24 hours of audio and 5 hours of video)
The Fuze+ was a loaner from Pristine Note.
Specifications
* Capacities**: 4GB, 8GB, 16GB
* 2.4" bright QVGA screen (320 x 240, 30 FPS) LCD screen
* Audio formats: MP3, WMA, Secure WMA, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, AAC, Audible, Podcasts
* Video formats: MPEG-4***, H.264, WMV and Flip Videoâ„¢***
* Photo formats: JPEG and BMP; photo formats can be further extended with Sansa Media
Converter PC software download∞, enabling TIFF, GIF, and PNG formats
* Digital FM Tuner with record functions
* Rechargeable battery lasts up to 24 hours for audio playback and 5 hours of video playbackâ€Â
* Hi-speed micro-USB 2.0 port
* Expandable microSDTM card slot and microSDHCTM card slot
* Ready for slotRadioâ„¢ & slotMusicâ„¢ memory cards
* Sleek industrial design with “invisible†capacitive touch control and highly intuitive graphical user interface
Photos and comparison with the original Sansa Fuze.
Supported formats
Sansa players are among the few budget players that support the lossless FLAC format among a plethora of other formats.
If you are planning on getting the Sansa Fuze+ for video then you might find it a bit lacking due to the relatively smaller screen size. The Fuze+ comes with a Sansa Media Convertor which converts different video formats.
Getting Music on the Player
Sandisk doesn't have any software for transferring music to your PC ala Apple with their itunes.
Those of you who have a large collection of music that would be difficult to manage can use the MTP(Media Transfer Protocol) mode which allows you to use Windows Media Player to manage music and playlists on the device. If you wish to just use the drag and drop facility then you can select the default MSC (Mass Storage Mode) which turns the Fuze into a portable drive.
Another major plus point of Sansa players is that they include a micro SD slot to increase the capacity of the drive. Currently micro sd cards of upto 32 GB are supported.
The UI
There are five touch sensitive buttons that you swipe to scroll left - right and up - down. Touching the control in the middle acts like a select button to go deeper into the menu. There is another touch control to go back.
The only physical buttons on the player are the on/off button and the volume buttons. Pressing the on/off button for a second locks the screen and another press unlocks the screen.
Earlier versions of the Fuze+ caused a lot of problems for users as the controls were too sensitive and not very precise. The player got bad reviews due to the laggy UI and a host of other niggles. Sandisk took these criticisms to heart and released many firmwares to fix most of the problems.
Using the latest firmware (02.37.01) I am happy to report that most of the issues are solved. However there are a few caveats, the player is still a bit sluggish if you try to scroll through very fast. For most people using the controls sparingly its not a big problem but for those who like to use their players controls frequently might get annoyed at the lag.
The one positive thing about the interface is that it is much better looking than the old Sansa Fuze interface and looks much more modern. The wallpaper can be changed to any photo of your choice and you can hide menus you don't want or need like Podcasts or FM radio.
FM Radio, Voice recorder and Podcasts
RDS is supported and you can record radio clips in the WAV format. Podcasts play just like any other normal mp3 file though you can speed up or slow down the playback. Bookmarks are not supported on the Fuze+.
The Voice recorder does a good job and the inbuilt mic on the Fuze+ is up to the task of capturing the audio pretty clearly. Like with the FM radio, audio clips are saved in the WAV format.
Sound Quality
According to information available online Sandisk revamped the hardware under the hood when they created the Fuze+. With the original Fuze being very popular purely due to its sound quality I was a bit apprehensive about Sandisk's decision to revamp the hardware. However on the first listen I can safety say that it sounds every bit as good as the old Fuze. The sound is ruler flat and neutral with no peaks, dips
or roll offs at either end of the spectrum.
The sound can be tweaked via the built in EQ which offers the popular EQ presets like Rock, Pop etc as well as a 5 band custom EQ. However the EQ works in such a way that if you increase a particular band, instead of increasing the dB of that particular band the Fuze+ decreases the dB of all other bands.
Another important feature that Sansa supports is Gapless playback which means non stop music.
Conclusion
The Fuze+ is a fantastic sounding player and better than any other player in its price range (Rs 4500) . However
those looking out for a PMP rather than a music player are probably better served by spending more on
a player with a bigger screen. The lag experienced when scrolling through your album or changing settings
can be a bit annoying for those that like to fiddle with their player frequently.
Even for those who don't like to fiddle with the player much can get annoyed at first when using the
touch UI (I know I did !). But after getting used to the controls it becomes second nature to use them
and now I am very comfortable using the controls.
What I liked: Fantastic sound quality, no propriety connectors or software required.
What needs improvement: Sansa needs to fix the slight lag that pops up from time to time when using
the player.
ALTERNATIVES :
For Music - If you need something that sounds just as good and in a smaller form factor then consider the Sansa Clip+. Same great sound but in a much smaller package. Cons are worse battery life and a rather tiny screen. However for around 2.5k for the 2 GB version (with option to expand to upto 32 GB) its great VFM.
There are others like Apple Shuffle and players from Transcend/Philips etc but none of them will offer the same sound quality of the Clip+/Fuze/Fuze+
For Video - For video something with a much bigger screen size is recommended. However no player in this price point offers a bigger screen. Best option is to spend aroun 9k for the renowned Cowon J3 with its 3" screen.
The original Sansa Fuze achieved legendary status among music lovers since its inception. The SQ was a class apart and many people considered it the best sounding portable media player at any price point.
The main reason was that there was no deficiencies in the sound. The frequency response was ruler flat and 'neutral' was the best way to describe its sound.
However there were a few shortcomings of the Fuze. First and foremost was the lack of a decent screen. The 1.9" screen on the old Fuze was less than adequate and the player lagged behind in the looks department and UI.
The main differences between the Fuze+ and the older Fuze are the touch controls and the brand new interface. Other differences include a larger player with a bigger screen (2.4 inches 320 x 240 screen vs the old 2 inch 224 x 176 screen found on the Fuze). Another difference is that the Fuze+ no longer uses the old propriety connector and instead it uses a micro USB connector to both charge the
player as well as transfer music. The transfer speed is greatly improved compared to the older Fuze.
The Fuze+ supports the same amount of battery life as the old Fuze (24 hours of audio and 5 hours of video)
The Fuze+ was a loaner from Pristine Note.
Specifications
* Capacities**: 4GB, 8GB, 16GB
* 2.4" bright QVGA screen (320 x 240, 30 FPS) LCD screen
* Audio formats: MP3, WMA, Secure WMA, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, AAC, Audible, Podcasts
* Video formats: MPEG-4***, H.264, WMV and Flip Videoâ„¢***
* Photo formats: JPEG and BMP; photo formats can be further extended with Sansa Media
Converter PC software download∞, enabling TIFF, GIF, and PNG formats
* Digital FM Tuner with record functions
* Rechargeable battery lasts up to 24 hours for audio playback and 5 hours of video playbackâ€Â
* Hi-speed micro-USB 2.0 port
* Expandable microSDTM card slot and microSDHCTM card slot
* Ready for slotRadioâ„¢ & slotMusicâ„¢ memory cards
* Sleek industrial design with “invisible†capacitive touch control and highly intuitive graphical user interface
Photos and comparison with the original Sansa Fuze.
Supported formats
Sansa players are among the few budget players that support the lossless FLAC format among a plethora of other formats.
If you are planning on getting the Sansa Fuze+ for video then you might find it a bit lacking due to the relatively smaller screen size. The Fuze+ comes with a Sansa Media Convertor which converts different video formats.
Getting Music on the Player
Sandisk doesn't have any software for transferring music to your PC ala Apple with their itunes.
Those of you who have a large collection of music that would be difficult to manage can use the MTP(Media Transfer Protocol) mode which allows you to use Windows Media Player to manage music and playlists on the device. If you wish to just use the drag and drop facility then you can select the default MSC (Mass Storage Mode) which turns the Fuze into a portable drive.
Another major plus point of Sansa players is that they include a micro SD slot to increase the capacity of the drive. Currently micro sd cards of upto 32 GB are supported.
The UI
There are five touch sensitive buttons that you swipe to scroll left - right and up - down. Touching the control in the middle acts like a select button to go deeper into the menu. There is another touch control to go back.
The only physical buttons on the player are the on/off button and the volume buttons. Pressing the on/off button for a second locks the screen and another press unlocks the screen.
Earlier versions of the Fuze+ caused a lot of problems for users as the controls were too sensitive and not very precise. The player got bad reviews due to the laggy UI and a host of other niggles. Sandisk took these criticisms to heart and released many firmwares to fix most of the problems.
Using the latest firmware (02.37.01) I am happy to report that most of the issues are solved. However there are a few caveats, the player is still a bit sluggish if you try to scroll through very fast. For most people using the controls sparingly its not a big problem but for those who like to use their players controls frequently might get annoyed at the lag.
The one positive thing about the interface is that it is much better looking than the old Sansa Fuze interface and looks much more modern. The wallpaper can be changed to any photo of your choice and you can hide menus you don't want or need like Podcasts or FM radio.
FM Radio, Voice recorder and Podcasts
RDS is supported and you can record radio clips in the WAV format. Podcasts play just like any other normal mp3 file though you can speed up or slow down the playback. Bookmarks are not supported on the Fuze+.
The Voice recorder does a good job and the inbuilt mic on the Fuze+ is up to the task of capturing the audio pretty clearly. Like with the FM radio, audio clips are saved in the WAV format.
Sound Quality
According to information available online Sandisk revamped the hardware under the hood when they created the Fuze+. With the original Fuze being very popular purely due to its sound quality I was a bit apprehensive about Sandisk's decision to revamp the hardware. However on the first listen I can safety say that it sounds every bit as good as the old Fuze. The sound is ruler flat and neutral with no peaks, dips
or roll offs at either end of the spectrum.
The sound can be tweaked via the built in EQ which offers the popular EQ presets like Rock, Pop etc as well as a 5 band custom EQ. However the EQ works in such a way that if you increase a particular band, instead of increasing the dB of that particular band the Fuze+ decreases the dB of all other bands.
Another important feature that Sansa supports is Gapless playback which means non stop music.
Conclusion
The Fuze+ is a fantastic sounding player and better than any other player in its price range (Rs 4500) . However
those looking out for a PMP rather than a music player are probably better served by spending more on
a player with a bigger screen. The lag experienced when scrolling through your album or changing settings
can be a bit annoying for those that like to fiddle with their player frequently.
Even for those who don't like to fiddle with the player much can get annoyed at first when using the
touch UI (I know I did !). But after getting used to the controls it becomes second nature to use them
and now I am very comfortable using the controls.
What I liked: Fantastic sound quality, no propriety connectors or software required.
What needs improvement: Sansa needs to fix the slight lag that pops up from time to time when using
the player.
ALTERNATIVES :
For Music - If you need something that sounds just as good and in a smaller form factor then consider the Sansa Clip+. Same great sound but in a much smaller package. Cons are worse battery life and a rather tiny screen. However for around 2.5k for the 2 GB version (with option to expand to upto 32 GB) its great VFM.
There are others like Apple Shuffle and players from Transcend/Philips etc but none of them will offer the same sound quality of the Clip+/Fuze/Fuze+
For Video - For video something with a much bigger screen size is recommended. However no player in this price point offers a bigger screen. Best option is to spend aroun 9k for the renowned Cowon J3 with its 3" screen.
