KLANGTOP Bluetooth MP3 Player 8GB Digital Clip Music Player with FM Radio Voice Record Function Special Design for Sport and Music Lovers

I always use SanDisk Sansa Clip+, and still use it for years. However, it's time to move on to replace a finally broken one. So I can only compare KlangTop with SanDisk Sansa Clip+. 1) Its sound is as good as SanDisk Sansa Clip+, which is the most important thing; 2) Its overall structure seems slightly less pleasing than SanDisk Sansa Clip+, and not as solid as SanDisk Sansa Clip+; 3) The earbuds coming with it, are a general purpose one, with mediocre sound quality - for total of $30, what else one could expect? 4) I like its BlueTooth function that SanDisk Sansa Clip+ didn't have when I bought them. This is my main purpose of purchasing KlangTop; 5) Never used other functions of SanDisk Sansa Clip+ for FM radio, recorder. I don't believe SanDisk Sansa Clip+ came with e-book or sleep timers functions; 6) SanDisk Sansa Clip+ claimed to have battery, vs KlangTop's 30 hours, never did side by side comparison; 7) Both reported have 0.6" thickness, although KlangTop looks about 15%+ thicker; 8) SanDisk Sansa Clip+ seems to have a better pushing inward on-off button control while KlanTop relies one pushing forward and backward. And it didn't feel more durable, that on-off switch's life is worrisome, so is all its functioning buttons, they don't feel very durable. However, with its price and acceptable quality, and more functionality, I still feel it's a good buy.

The Bluetooth transmitter in this device works... but the software is practically broken. BUT you will find total satisfaction (as I have) if you do not use the Bluetooth... and instead jumper the audio of this device into with a round "Havit" Bluetooth transmitter. I have done this, taping them together on a backbone piece of plastic and slipping them into a small plastic bottle with bottom cut off that slips into a pants pocket. AUTO RESUME of the file you were listening to is CRUCIAL to use with audiobooks. And this device does it as long as you follow these two rules: 1. Never use the power switch. Always power it off and on by pressing and holding the PLAY button for 3 seconds; and 2. DO NOT use the Bluetooth feature of this device. These devices use flash memory to store your current file/position, but it cannot repeatedly store position info to memory as you use it without wasting energy and degrading that memory. So think of your current position as a bookmark, and holding the PLAY button 3 seconds to turn it off as the only way to store this bookmark. Usually the power switch also does this but apparently KlangTop engineers forgot to implement it. Also -- tragically -- Bluetooth support was a badly designed afterthought in this device, with its own menu item. It doesn't remember which device it was connected to. You have to diddle with the BT menu always. And there is no way to AUTO-RESUME with Bluetooth. I delayed this review because I found it hard to believe that the Bluetooth for this device could be broken in such a silly way, but it is true. So my suggestion is, do not use it as a Bluetooth device. Use it with a short wire to a separate Bluetooth transmitter. This device is tiny to clip onto your clothing. Don't do that, you'll just lose it. Don't put it directly into any pocket, it will just be destroyed and buttons pressed by anything else in there. Don't think of it as a Bluetooth device, but as a compact wired player with EXCELLENT battery life. Buy a separate "Havit" Bluetooth transmitter and mount them wired together with shot USB cords plugged in permanently for charging. Wind the wires around and tape them permanently onto a rectangle of plastic so that none of the plugs are ever stressed or moved. Cut the bottom off a plastic bottle that fits easily in your pants pocket, and slide the 'contraption' into the bottle so you can run or stoop or bend over without pushing buttons. By building this not-so-ugly contraption you will get amazing reliability, superior battery life, and a ruggedness that is completely MISSING from any single MP3 Bluetooth player you could buy. They are all designed to fail. Even if they are usable, constantly plugging them to charge causes them to fail. By building a contraption that fits into a rectangular bottle in your pocket, with its charging USB cords attached, you can cheat these engineers of obsolescence.

This is a pretty good MP3 player and I like it. This said, it has a very odd menu system. I bought it for the Bluetooth connection so I could use it with my DDOS V4.0 Bluetooth speaker and it does an excellent job with it. I own a number of Sandisk Sansa Clip MP3 players and while the two models look similar, the menu system on the Sansa is much better and more intuitive to use. The menu system for the Klangtop suffers from a variety of issues: 1. Poorly designed and not intuitive. 2. Spelling and capitalization issues and unusual wording for features. 3. Bluetooth function and playback are strange in that the playback for songs with Bluetooth is different than normal playback for headphones. 4. The provided headphones are not very good. Basically something to toss - fidelity is bad. A good set of quality headphones or earbuds makes this sound much better. 5. The controls suffer from not having an "escape" button (like the Sansa has) to navigate easily back to the appropriate menu. It is VERY clear that the menu system was designed by someone who really doesn't understand efficient menu design and didn't understand English. And given the number of other languages this device supports, it is absolutely my bet that most of the other languages, save for Mandarin Chinese would likely have the same issue. When will China employ or check their language with experts on each language so they get the wording right in their manuals and for the language on these devices? As for the manual - Practically worthless. It missed covering the meanings on the OLED display and much more. The Bluetooth playback also suffered one other issue. - The songs would only play in 10 - 13 second playbacks and skip to the next song until I found that pressing the "Up" button and selecting "Play mode" and "Repeat all" would let the songs play through correctly. This is not an issue with the normal non-Bluetooth playback. It is a REALLY annoying thing and one hopes they would update their firmware to fix this along with the other issues I have pointed out. This player appears to have a number of different brandings based on the same hardware device and the names are... well... strange. "Klangtop"??? Really? In English that means banging two pieces of metal together. Hardly a great name. If these guys named this thing something with a name that makes people thing of something wonderful rather than two pieces of metal banging together they would be ahead of the game. I strongly suggest that these companies that make these get help from outside to help better market and name their products. I plan to paste over the name with something like "Digiclip" - Anything but "Klangtop". For the good - The sound quality is as good as the Sansa. The battery life is amazing and the overall design is well done for the ergonomics. The power switch feels solid and the menu buttons seem like they will last a long time. The back clip is very durable and this is a device that will last a long time despite the low prices. Once you get used to the odd menu system, it is a pretty good little MP3 player. If they choose to fix the issues I've pointed out I would be more than happy to review the improved device. The normal Music playback menu system is the best designed part of the menu system and is similar to the Sansa. It mostly makes sense in the way it is laid out. Very solid and if they ever figure out how to integrate the Bluetooth playback to use this same menu, it would be a real boon to make this device shine. They would do well to add an "escape" button like the Sansa to improve the menu navigation. I like the recording functions - It does record voice from a built-in mic and even records FM. The FM receiver is a little weak on reception in the countryside where I live, but it does work. The player also has a feature the Sansa Clips I own do not - A nice clock with the date/time. The recorder also gives you your choice of formats to record with as well as the quality of the recording. I think this is a really neat feature and it is a big plus for this unit. The "Folder" function is pointless. They would do better to get rid of it. This is an MP3 player. Not a computer. Get rid of it. It doesn't really do anything but duplicate the playback menu. The "E-book" function is REALLY weird. I imported a book in text format and it does display, but the display is WAY too tiny and to read a book on this thing is utterly a pointless exercise. They missed the REAL usefulness of this however - For short notes and things like phone numbers or reminders, this is a perfect use for this function. They would do better to rename this to "Notes" and forget the eBook idea So - to conclude - Nice bit of tech. Needs work to make it go from good to excellent. Firmware is the big issue along with a missing escape button to improve the navigation. Solid design and ergonomics. Product names stinks and the company would do well to hire a branding company to name this something that inspires. Even in current form, this is a good player and if you can get past the weird and repetitive functions, it is an excellent buy.