Fuze vs Clip+ vs Fuze+?
Jul 26, 2012 at 3:22 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 17
Siva108

Siva108

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I know that the Fuze has pretty much a ruler flat frequency response. Does this carry on to the Clip+ and Fuze+? Also in terms of sound quality, is the Clip+ or Fuze+ better than the Fuze?
 
Jul 26, 2012 at 3:59 AM Post #2 of 17
Quote:
siva108 said:
I know that the Fuze has pretty much a ruler flat frequency response. Does this carry on to the Clip+ and Fuze+? Also in terms of sound quality, is the Clip+ or Fuze+ better than the Fuze?
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The Fuze and Clip+ have the same sound chip inside them and so sound just the same. The Fuze+ has a different chip yet still seems to sound remarkably similar to the others.
 
Jul 26, 2012 at 4:10 AM Post #4 of 17
I found the Fuze+ to be a downgrade in SQ from Clip+ They sound similar, though I could hear a difference personally.
 
Aug 6, 2013 at 4:23 PM Post #8 of 17
Quote:
julian67 said:
http://anythingbutipod.com/forum/showthread.php?t=71807 will probably be helpful.

The difference that RMAA tests will not pick up is that the older Sansa players have a bug so they play back at the wrong pitch unless you run Rockbox. The Fuze+ and Clip Zip should be OK in this respect even in the original firmware.
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The Clip Zip is indeed OK in that regard. Even so, I haven't booted mine into the OF since November of 2011. 
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Aug 6, 2013 at 4:49 PM Post #9 of 17
I got an old fuze v2 in new condition.  I'm just curious if I ever need to replace it will the fuze+ sound identical or different.  I know people say different in general, but is that just their impression or is there any fact to back that up or measurements?  Especially frequency response?  Figure I might as well start researching now :wink:
 
I think this thing is amazing.  I with it used a standard usb connection and was still in production.  I don't know if i'd want the touch sensitivity...  After using and ipod classic for years, switching to a touch and going back to a wheel and buttons with the fuze I forget how much better it is for music.  I don't need to see the screen or take it out of my pocket.  I love it.  Rockbox makes it that much better...
 
Sep 17, 2013 at 3:56 PM Post #11 of 17
luisdent said:
I got an old fuze v2 in new condition.  I'm just curious if I ever need to replace it will the fuze+ sound identical or different.  I know people say different in general, but is that just their impression or is there any fact to back that up or measurements?  Especially frequency response?  Figure I might as well start researching now :wink:
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Frequency response of Fuze v2 vs Fuze+ is not identical but the differences are so tiny that they are probably inaudible (bear in mind that almost any headphone will have tracking differences much greater than the small deviations in the following chart). The only loaded measurements I've seen of Fuze+ are by skamp http://outpost.fr/rmaa/Fuze-D2000.htm. This is RMAA in 24-bit mode whereas most measurements of Clip+ and Fuze v2 are in 16-bit. It's not a good idea to directly compare RMAA by different people using different soundcards but anyway you can see that the Fuze+ is almost certainly at least as good as the older Sansas, and maybe a bit better - lower distortion, lower noise, wider dynamic range - I think that the aprox. 5dB wider dynamic range might be to do with the bit depth difference, not sure. Anyway subjectively I think the Fuze+ sounds astonishingly good, better than my previous Sansa players and better than my slightly archaic iRiver players. Its sound is tonally closer to my home audio kit (Yamaha RX-V496 Home Theatre amp) than my other players. The Fuze+ sounds really clean - the infamous Sansa collection of noises is absent and there are no clicks from button presses or volume changes or screen activity. I wouldn't advocate upgrading for the sake of it unless you experience noise on your old Fuze and it annoys you, but if you do change you are not going to be disappointed by the sound.
 
Sep 17, 2013 at 4:51 PM Post #12 of 17
julian67 said:
Frequency response of Fuze v2 vs Fuze+ is not identical but the differences are so tiny that they are probably inaudible (bear in mind that almost any headphone will have tracking differences much greater than the small deviations in the following chart). The only loaded measurements I've seen of Fuze+ are by skamp http://outpost.fr/rmaa/Fuze-D2000.htm. This is RMAA in 24-bit mode whereas most measurements of Clip+ and Fuze v2 are in 16-bit. It's not a good idea to directly compare RMAA by different people using different soundcards but anyway you can see that the Fuze+ is almost certainly at least as good as the older Sansas, and maybe a bit better - lower distortion, lower noise, wider dynamic range - I think that the aprox. 5dB wider dynamic range might be to do with the bit depth difference, not sure. Anyway subjectively I think the Fuze+ sounds astonishingly good, better than my previous Sansa players and better than my slightly archaic iRiver players. Its sound is tonally closer to my home audio kit (Yamaha RX-V496 Home Theatre amp) than my other players. The Fuze+ sounds really clean - the infamous Sansa collection of noises is absent and there are no clicks from button presses or volume changes or screen activity. I wouldn't advocate upgrading for the sake of it unless you experience noise on your old Fuze and it annoys you, but if you do change you are not going to be disappointed by the sound.
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Luckily I don't have any noise on my fuze v2.  And I REALLY like the button/wheel interface for music personally.  I wouldn't be using it for anything else.
 
Interesting thing is that compared to the clip+ http://outpost.fr/rmaa/Clip.htm  which is the same sound as the fuze v2 and zip clip, the fuze+ looks superior in pretty much every way EXCEPT frequency response.  However, the deviation is VERY small.  .3-.4db.  Now I know for a fact I can hear a .5db change in volume from testing I've done.  But A) it's not an "easy" thing to hear, B) I can't say I'd hear it when it is only one small part here and there taken out of the whole spectrum of frequencies and C) even if it were audible, with so many other factors it will probably never be noticeable.  I DO notice the noise on the fuze though.  It is more noticeable at high volumes with any IEM.
 
The fuze+ looks a little better in regards to noise.  Hmmmm.  I'd have to hear it I guess.  I know looking at the graph can make you think "that's not flat", but you're really looking at a zoomed in range of frequency amplitude.  At full scale of amplitude range it would look as flat as the clip+.  It isn't technically as flat though, so I'd love to try it one day.  I guess that depends on the life of my v2 :wink:
 
Sep 17, 2013 at 5:27 PM Post #13 of 17
luisdent said:
   
Luckily I don't have any noise on my fuze v2.  And I REALLY like the button/wheel interface for music personally. 
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I would like the wheel if only there was a separate volume control....I don't like having that integrated with everything else. Several times back in the day I blasted my ears out by accidentally spinning the wheel at the wrong time. 
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Sep 17, 2013 at 5:30 PM Post #14 of 17
achmedisdead said:
   
I would like the wheel if only there was a separate volume control....I don't like having that integrated with everything else. Several times back in the day I blasted my ears out by accidentally spinning the wheel at the wrong time. 
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That's never happened to me, but I wish you could cycle through volume, track scanning and nothing by clicking the center button.  Then no accidents would happen, and I hate scanning a song by holding buttons down.  I like controlling the scanning speed with the wheel like an ipod classic.
 
Sep 17, 2013 at 6:05 PM Post #15 of 17
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