Performance of SanDisk Sansa e270 (6GB)
A fistful of features and supercompetitive pricing are hallmarks of SanDisk products. While many may argue that SanDisk's build and sound quality have been traditionally on the value end of the spectrum, the SanDisk Sansa e200 is no slacker when it comes to performance. The physical build is obviously nicer than that of the m200 or e100 series, but beyond that, the unit's sound quality has improved as well, though picky listeners will notice some system noise.
SanDisk is one of the first manufacturers, if not the first, to use a PortalPlayer chip designed specifically for flash players. The Nano and the iPod Video use a PortalPlayer chip as well, but those are optimized for hard drive-based players. Audio sounds bright, and the unit gets loud, driving our Grado SR80 well beyond normal listening levels. SanDisk has added a custom five-band EQ to the mix, so now there are 11 on-the-fly EQ options, including Full Bass, Full Treble, and the typical set of genre-based settings. The EQs aren't that spectacular but certainly better than the iPod's wimpy EQs. The e200 may not sound as beautiful as a Cowon or a Sony player, but it comes close. SanDisk has addressed an earlier issue wherein we detected clicks during volume changes and general system processing; electrical interference is much less detectable with the latest version. The only misgiving we have is still a slight but noticeable hum when the system is processing (for picky ears at low volumes). FM radio comes in loud and clear, and recording quality is decent. The device also works reasonably well with subscription applications such as Rhapsody and actual subscription playback. Unfortunately, the device cannot pipe video out to a TV.