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Will a cheap portable Walkman CD player produce better sound quality than my iPod?

post #1 of 18
11/15/09 at 9:39pm
Thread Starter 
What is the best portable CD player I can get? Will any cheap one produce better sound than my iPod since it will be playing a real CD?
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post #2 of 18
11/15/09 at 11:23pm
No not all Portable CD Players (PCDP) sound good.
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post #3 of 18
11/15/09 at 11:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sparky191 View Post
No not all Portable CD Players (PCDP) sound good.
QFT. Also, portable CD players nowadays are at the very bottom of the portable digital audio player chain. They may have more powerful headphone outs than recent iPods, but are let down by their crappy analog output stages and crappy anti-skip compression alogarithms. Most of them now squeeze a whopping 1 minute (60 seconds) of anti-skip into only a 2MB memory buffer, with degraded sound quality to match. And even with the anti-skip turned "off", many of these players still buffer the output into memory since without the buffer they are extremely prone to skipping on their own even when they're merely touched by a feather.

For each and every generation of portable CD player, the best-sounding models in a given line are generally one or two steps below the top of the line. Unfortunately, the only models being produced today are comparable to the bottom-of-the-line models which were offered when manufacturers last offered significantly higher-quality models in the same line. These bottom-of-the-line models suffer all too often from significantly rolled-off treble and somewhat murky overall sound.

As a result of all that, most of today's portable CD players produce sound quality that's roughly equivalent to that of the average MP3 player that's playing fairly low bitrate (96 to 128 kbps) files--and worse than that of even the worst MP3 player that's playing high-bitrate files.
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post #4 of 18
11/15/09 at 11:36pm
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Originally Posted by Eagle_Driver View Post
QFT. Also, portable CD players nowadays are at the very bottom of the portable digital audio player chain...
So what you're saying is to buy a then-high-end portable CD player from the 90s?
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post #5 of 18
11/15/09 at 11:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Halftrack View Post
So what you're saying is to buy a then-high-end portable CD player from the 90s?
Yes. That's generally the period when the manufacturers used good components and (usually) good designs. After the mid '90s, the quality started going downhill for portable CD players (though there are some diamonds in the rough in this category in later years).
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post #6 of 18
11/15/09 at 11:47pm
Thread Starter 
So can you give me some examples or links as to the models I should be looking for, Eagle Driver? Thanks.
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post #7 of 18
11/15/09 at 11:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ThePope3290 View Post
So can you give me some examples or links as to the models I should be looking for, Eagle Driver? Thanks.
I have not had experience with all of the models since the only ones I had access to are those models which were available in the brick-and-mortar electronics stores which were in my area during the years when the good players were available. As a result, I was very late to the high-end PCDP game, and the only models that I owned which came anywhere near the so-called "high-end" were those later-generation $100+ models from Panasonic and Sony. Panasonic no longer markets PCDPs, and Sony now offers only one basic model (and its car-adapter-equipped sibling and maybe its AM/FM radio equipped and MP3-supporting models which all share the very same basic electronics and form). And based on my testing on a slightly earlier Sony which began to use the exact same internal electronics as the current Sony model, expect somewhat grainy sound even with the anti-skip turned to the so-called "Off" position.
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post #8 of 18
11/16/09 at 12:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eagle_Driver View Post
I have not...
So to summarize, look for then-expensive Sony products?
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post #9 of 18
11/16/09 at 12:04am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Halftrack View Post
So to summarize, look for then-expensive Sony products?
One possibility. Also, look for then-expensive Panasonic models, except for some ultra-slim models.
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post #10 of 18
11/16/09 at 12:05am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eagle_Driver View Post
One possibility. Also, look for then-expensive Panasonic models, except for some ultra-slim models.
Great, thanks for the info
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post #11 of 18
11/16/09 at 12:08am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Halftrack View Post
Great, thanks for the info
Be careful. Some of the "good" models are now selling on you-know-what for a lot more money than the amount that you're willing to spend. A few are selling for nearly as much as or more than the price that they were originally sold at.
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post #12 of 18
11/16/09 at 12:19am
80's and 90's Sony Discmen sound good...when they work. I've had a few that were made between 1989 and 2003, and the older ones sounded better (and had line outs) but were less reliable. They have all skipped or frozen up at some point (with factory pressed CDs and CD-Rs). Look at thrift stores, yard sales, flea markets and such before you go all out on a mint condition one off ebay.
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post #13 of 18
11/16/09 at 12:19am
The problem is, I don't know how much I'm willing to spend since people my age don't buy old electronics.

Say the original PCDP sold for $150-$200 - what would be a fair price for it?
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post #14 of 18
11/16/09 at 2:12am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Halftrack View Post
Say the original PCDP sold for $150-$200 - what would be a fair price for it?
IMO, no. Look at thrift stores, yard sales, and flea markets first. If you look around enough, you can find one for $10 or less. You can either pay $10 for a Discman that works fine 90% of the time, or you could pay $200 for one with the original box that could start skipping an hour after you get it. See what I mean? For something that old with that many moving parts, it's not worth it to invest a whole lot of money in it. You'll probably get better sound (how much better depends on your headphones, amp, ears, and tastes), but you'll be giving up portability, lots of space, and battery life. Plus, if you slightly bump the player or the table it's sitting on, it'll skip. Some call it a flaw, but others call it a feature.
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post #15 of 18
11/16/09 at 11:26am
The problem with old PCDPs is that the laser pickup mechanism has a limited lifespan. Sony's best PCDP models are over 15 years old. These parts degrade and are no longer reliable. They certainly aren't portable. For the insane prices on these players, it is worth exploring other options like full size cd players or different digital audio players. Also, different models, even ones with similar model numbers sound very different. At one point I bought and sold many Sony Discmans to find my favorite. My favorite by far was the D-311. There is a D-515 on ebay that is one of the better units but not as great as the D-311.

FWIW, I have a Sony X1061 DAP and the fullness and dimensionality of the sound reminds me of the better Sony Discmans. I highly recommend it.
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