^^^^
Faheem, not to contradict what u mentioned above, but honestly mate i think the cowons r better then the Sansas when it comes to sheer user experience imho. Let me explain why i feel like that.
@ original op and Ritvik, ill try and answer ur questions since i own a Cowon s9, Sansa clip+ (rockboxed now) which i recently purchased from ebay and had an ipod classic 80 gb.
First of all, ill safely keep aside the ipod for honestly its simply no match to the cowons and the sansas in terms of SQ..
Now if vfm is the way to go and all you want to do is get the best option for SQ @ the lowest price, Sansa clip + is the way to go, eyes closed..
If you want to crank up the budget, this is where it changes a bit..
In terms of a sansa fuze vis a vis a S9/D2 the biggest difference to me is the built in equalizer..(yes i know i can get murdered here for raising this point
).. The cowons have something called a bbe sound mode which to me is simply awesome. Yes you can make changes to the equalizer in the sansas and make it sound like the 20 odd bbe settings that the cowons give you, but dude honestly, how many of us are ever gonna do that.
@ normal, there aint much difference between the sansas and the cowons, but once u start playing with the equalizer, the difference really kicks in.
S9 battery life claimed is @ 55 hrs audio playback, mine gives me ard 40 hrs
Comparing the 2, and purely by personal experience here, i rate the Cowons much higher as a pmp.