SanDisk Sansa Express

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http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/digitalmusic/0,39029995,49291856,00.htm

Reviewed 31 July 2007

Reviewed by Nate Lanxon

The Sansa Express is part of a new line of Sansa players from US flash-memory juggernaut SanDisk. Its previous players, such as the Sansa e260, have scored well with our editors and even earned our prestigious Editor's Choice award.

The Sansa Express comes in 1GB (the model reviewed) and 2GB breeds, with prices starting at £30. Are budget players just too rubbish or has SanDisk got some sneaky tricks up its sleeve with this shiny scoundrel?

Design
It's not unusual for super-cheap players to look super-cheap, so we were pleased to see that this affordable model has a look of professionalism about it. It's a sleek player that's seen some polish. It also doesn't need any cables -- the USB plug is built into the player. In case your USB sockets are surrounded by casing or other devices, SanDisk provides a very short cable to extend the socket.

All navigation is done with a comfy four-directional keypad and a simple four-line display. Dedicated volume controls are on the player's underside, with power and hold controls on the top. These, along with the headphone socket, microSD slot and microphone, are all crammed into one side of the chassis, meaning a curious bulge protrudes in order to encase the electronics inside. It's a well-built player though, and feels rugged in spite of its feather-like 30g weight.

Features
As an MP3 player, you might not be surprised to learn it plays MP3s. It'll play WAV and WMA files too -- protected or unprotected -- but sadly that's where the format support ends. We'd love to have seen AAC support. Still, Audible audiobooks will play, making this a functional choice for commuters who enjoy spoken-word productions. Sadly though, the popular and free Podcast Ready software isn't compatible.

A digital FM tuner -- no, not DAB -- will scratch that broadcast-hungry itch inside your skull, but it also lets you record directly to the player's internal memory. A built-in microphone will satisfy your dictation needs by squeezing your voice into its adequately capacious digital bowel.

Customisation of the Sansa Express is minimal. There's an equaliser with five presets and an on-the-go playlist system, plus shuffle and repeat options.

Probably the most unusual feature about the Express is its microSD expansion slot, allowing you to up the player's memory by as much as 2GB. At a cost of around £8 each, using multiple 2GB cards for different types of music could allow you to carry significant amounts of data around without buying a player that comes with more built-in memory. Internal memory and microSD memory appear as two separate drives inside the Sansa Express icon in Windows, potentially allowing you to use the Express as a disk drive and a music player at the same time.

Performance
Music can be dragged and dropped on to the player through Windows. Whether you put music on the expansion card, the internal memory or both, the Express builds a central database so you don't have to decide where to look for music. The player is compatible with Macs, so we could get our tunes on the device using OS X.

The player produces some excellent, skull-rumbling bass alongside well-defined mids and clear highs. The sound 'feels' like a Creative player, which we believe to be among the best-sounding players available. We pumped some tunes through Denon's terrific C700 earphones. Yeah Yeah, the dance track that makes Granny tremble with hysterical panic, explodes through the 'phones, bass pounding into our ear canals with the fury of a thousand imploding suns. Following this bass extravaganza, Glosoli by Sigur Ros lulled us into a dream-like trance with its crystal-clear ambiance, deep bass and emotional Icelandic falsetto vocals.

The FM radio seeks signals very quickly, and upon finding a strong signal reception is good. The voice recorder also works well -- the microphone is sensitive and recording quality is more than acceptable. There's no option to adjust the quality of the recording, but SanDisk has picked a decent bit rate. Recordings are outputted as WAV files and a minute-long recording gives a file of around 650KB in size.

Battery life is rated at 15 hours. Our monkeys are furiously slaving away in our labs checking for themselves. Pop back soon for their results. Also, the headphones are typical of bundled 'phones: rubbish. Some better-quality buds will give you a significantly improved sound.

Conclusion
The SanDisk Sansa Express is a really smart player, with nicely implemented features. The excellent sound quality and ease of use should please most people, and the snazzy design will appeal to teens and adults alike. With its native support for audio books and its low cost, it wouldn't surprise us to see commuters and business-folk using it to catch up on Harry Pot... sorry, Stephen King on their way to the office.

If you want something cheaper still, but crave that great audio quality, consider Creative's Zen Stone. At £25 it's a solid hit for the price-conscious music fan. Don't expect the same professionalism in the aesthetics though.

Edited by Jason Jenkins
Additional editing by Nick Hide