After reading some posts about how the mfrs. have "cheapened" the headphone jacks, I went poking around the house looking at some of the old electronics that had been placed in "purgatory". I forgot I had my wifes old compact (Portable doesn't seem to fit this one) Citizen CD player. Made in Japan circa 1988. Case is made of metal, weight 1.4 lbs. Wasn't sure if it worked, but it was still in the original box and the specs were printed on it. The headphone jack outputs 40mW, which seemed to be a great deal more than newer CDPs. It also requires a 6V power source (manual says 4 AA batteries will power it for 2.5 hours - what a hog!).

Well, I was not sure if it still worked, so plugged it in and put in a disc. Low and behold, it powered right up and read the disc no problem. I plugged in my Senn 497s to see how loud they would get, and I turned the CDP up to about 3.5, because thats about all my ears could take. Then, tried my new Sony CDP, 4...5...6...7; there, now its about unbearable. However, there was still a difference in the sound, the Citizen seemed to produce more bass than the Sony. This was confirmed by blasting some Rush; the drums and bass leapt out.

I initially took this out of the box to see if it worked so I could Ebay it. After listening to it though, it may stick around, and not in purgatory. Why the hell can't Sony et al go back to putting decent jacks in their portables?? I mean, they have cheapened all the other components over time, and I know they are trying to make money, but how much more can it cost to put a decent jack in a CDP? 5-10 cents a unit?

It isn't the jack that is the problem, it is what is powering the jack. It seems that all the recent Sony and Panasonic (and most others) PCDP's are forgoing internal amp power for longer battery life. Those two things are directly connected. Although there probably isn't a direct corelation, just think if your Citizen PCDP had 1/4 the power to the headphone jack, yet got 10 hours of battery life instead of 2.5? That is the compromise that the manufacturers are making now. My old (NOS) D-25S gets 4-6 hours of battery life, yet can easily power any headphone I have (even the AKG K-501's), yet my brand new Sony D-EJ1000 gets around 100 hours of battery life but needs an amp to get much volume out of many of my cans.

-Keith

Meith, understand your points completely. And, yes, the laws of physics suggest you need more power to generate more volume, thus making it impossible to get 30+ hours from AA batteries. However, I would think that in the past 13 years, some genius engineers at Sony or Panasonic would have figured out a way to maintain the mW output on a PCDP AND improve battery life.

Switching gears a little, what about NiMH batteries? Considering they are designed for "high-drain" devices, its seems that the mfrs could possibly start putting more power back in their portables. Anyone out there have experience with using these batteries, and do they really make a difference??

yeah, NiMH last longer. a few hours longer, nothign really spectacular. given battrylives are usually for when using NiMhs.

My 6 year old Kenwood runs about 2.5 to 3 hours on 2 alkaline AAs. Nicds give me one CD. Am trying Panasonic 1600 mah NiMhs now. Don't really have a feel for life yet.

Don't know any specs on it. However, what it does with KSC35s is almost magic. Drives my HD600s like a dream. The TA adds a little, but I'm not sure what, just something. It's better. Just by itself it's aswesome though.

I think they put enough guts into these older ones. I was thinking about maybe a new Panasonic. I kept reading about battery life in these threads. Hell, I can swap out the NiMHs easily enough.

I used it on an Orlando to Los Angeles flight. Had to change the batteries in flight. AA alkalines. NBD.

I DON'T think I'll "upgrade".

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I just wish they gave us an option, maybe a switch on the player that would maybe give 10mW output and 25 hour battery life, or 5mW and 100 hour battery life. I really think most people could live with 20-30 hour battery life, I can't think of many circumstances I would be in that I would actually need 100 hours of playback time.

-Keith

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How about 30 mw and 5 hours. I don't mind having a spare pair of batteries in my pocket on an airplane or just about anywherethat I would need more than 5 hours play time. and 30 mw is just like having 250 watts on a big system that rarely uses more than 10. DYNAMICS.

40mW!!!!!

I wonder @ what load . . .

Years ago I've heard that PCDP that delivered 0.005mW of headphone power and a measly 2.5 hours of battery life (even on six AA alkaline batteries)... What a piece of crap it was!!!

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I checked the box again, it reads 40mw @16ohms from headphone jack, and 1V @ 15ohms from line out.