SanDisk Sansa e270 Review

Reviewed by K.C. Kim

Best known for being the world’s largest supplier of flash memory cards, Sandisk seized an opportunity to jump into the DAP market when prices of large compacity flash memory was affordable enough for Sandisk to take advantage of their strengths. Sandisk being a flash memory card maker used their advantage to cut the middleman out and offer competitive prices compared to competitors. With this advantage Sandisk quietly surpassed competitors Sony, Iriver, Creative and the rest to become the number 2 digital music player only behind the Apple Ipod.

Description:

The Sansa e200 Series MP3 players are the flagship products of SanDisk’s audio line. Created by the leaders in flash memory, this flash-based player provides everything you need for music, photo, and video clip playback.

Sansa™ e280 MP3 Player 8GB(Price: $249.99)
Sansa™ e270 MP3 Player 6GB(Price: $219.99)(Reviewed Here)
Sansa™ e260 MP3 Player 4GB(Price: $179.99)
Sansa™ e250 MP3 Player 2GB(Price: $139.99)

Feature List:
Features

Sleek, thin design with large 1.8” TFT color screen for easy viewing
Strong alloy back casing provides excellent durability and scratch resistance
Simple to use, backlit controls for fast device interface navigation
User replaceable and rechargeable Lithium Ion battery for up to 20 hours of battery life (Battery Life Based on Continuous, Standard Playback, 128 Kb MP3 file)
Features microSD™ expansion slot for additional memory capacity
Supports SanDisk TrustedFlash and Gruvi content cards
Digital FM tuner, on-the-fly FM recording**, and voice recording
No FM-tuner is available in Europe
Supports Subscription Music Stores, does NOT support .aa (audible.com)
One year warranty

Minimum System Requirements

Windows XP
Windows Media Player 10+
Intel Pentium class PC or higher
CD-ROM drive
USB 2.0 port required for hi-speed transfer

Package Contents
Sansa e200 Series Player
Travel pouch and lanyard
Stereo headphones
Lithium Ion rechargeable battery
USB cable
Quick Start Guide, CD with User Guide, & additional flyer inserts

Note: 1 megabyte (MB) = 1 million bytes; 1 gigabyte (GB) = 1 billion bytes. Some of the listed capacity is used for formatting and other functions, and thus is not available for data storage. Read more.



Accessories
Included inside the box are earphones, lanyard, usb cable (proprietary), software, and pouch. SanDisk included basically everything you need to get started but if need more SanDisk has partnered with top accessories makers to create “Made For Sansa” accessories.



Design – The Sansa e270 feels nice in hand with a solid built construction. The back is made of a strong gray alloy back that seems less prone to scratching and fingerprints. The front is a glossy black plastic that makes the unit attractive but tends to show fingerprints. The face is dominated by the 1.8” LCD screen that is a pleasure to watch videos on. And there are four tactile buttons on the front along with an on button and tactile scroll ring that glows blue. Overall this one of one of the most attractive digital music player out there.

Function
GUI and Interface – The interface works flawlessly with GUI for almost perfect controls. All the controls are tactile so there will be less error compared to touch sensitive controls, which lack accuracy. The scroll wheel has tiny plastic grooves to give better traction for scrolling through songs but tends to be a bit rough on the thumb. The icons on the GUI are large so you know what you’re selecting and rotate in a half circle coordinating with the scroll wheel.



Sound - The sound quality on the player was on par with competing flash players. The sound was clear of distortion and had good bass. There is no custom equalizer instead coming with seven equalizer presets: Rock, Pop, Jazz, Classical, Funk, Hip Hop, Dance.



Video – Even at 15 FPS I found the video quality to be very sharp and smooth. While the 1.8” screen is larger than most other flash players are it will never be as good as watching video on a dedicated video player that has a 4-inch screen. Thus I would recommend viewing videos of music videos and short films.



Photo - You can transfer over photo in most formats using the included Sansa Media Converter.

Battery – Often the case the battery ends up dying long before the lifespan of the electronic. I am not in favor of electronics that have built in non-replaceable batteries. As they tend to last a year or two and after that you end up with an expensive paperweight. Or end up sending the unit back to manufacture for repair at a high cost. Fortunately the Sansa offers user replaceable batteries so if your battery no longer holds a charge. You simple remove 4 screws and install a new battery. In battery tests I found the 20hr battery life to be accurate when playing 128 Kb MP3 files.



FM Radio & Recording - FM radio is a nice feature to have built in and the Sansa reception was very good in picking up my favorite rock stations. You can also record while listen to the radio by pressing the record button. But keep in mind that the quality is not terribly great at 32kbps WAV format it is saved in.



Voice Recording – Another feature that Sansa has is voice recording, which can be saved in 32 Khz WAV files. Not exactly a feature that I will use much.

MicroSD Slot – On the side of the device there is a slot to add even more expansion.

Conclusion –The Sansa e270 has become my favorite player and I do have a few (5 to be exact including the Nano). What it offers in terms of compacity, price, build quality, features, accessories (Made for Sansa), as well as working with subscriptions services like Rhapsody make this one of the most attractive players on the market. If there is anyone who I can see challenging the dominance of the Apple Ipod it would be SanDisk (Not M$) with their Sansa line of players.

See also SanDisk Sansa™ e200R Series MP3 Players here
http://www.sandisk.com/Products/Catalog(1220)-SanDisk_Sansa_e200R_Series_MP3_Players.aspx

Rating 9.7 out 10

To purchase this item online click HERE