Best Portable CD player currently?
Jun 23, 2004 at 5:30 AM Post #18 of 40
Quote:

Originally Posted by jacago
SONY D-EJ01


I agree, I think it has a good anti-shock system and still offers a great batt. life and portability!
biggrin.gif
 
Jun 23, 2004 at 6:46 AM Post #20 of 40
Quote:

Originally Posted by D-EJ915
...except for the fact that it's horrendously expensive, even more expensive to repair than usual, sounds bad and scratches CDs.



I forgot how much I paid for it, but I remember there was a sale in Hong Kong's sony pro shop a long time ago and these d-ej01s were sold for roughly 1000 HKD, which is only a bit more than 100 USD. It may scratch CD, but I do not see any major scratches on my CDs myself. It doesn't sound bad at all IMO, unless you compare it with lefendary PCDPs, which are hardly portable. I have no clue on repairing cost becuz it works perfectly fine and flawlessly from the day I owned it!

Though the little hiss at low volume annoys me, but I am using line out mainly with a headamp so again it's not a big issue for me.
 
Jun 23, 2004 at 6:48 AM Post #21 of 40
Quote:

Originally Posted by jacago
SONY D-EJ01


You have to watch out. Certain production runs had more powerful amps. The sliding CD mechanism makes the pcdp builkier than it needed to be. I don't think the G-Protection can be subdued or turned off unless the line out is used.

Frankly, I think the sound quality of many sony pcdp's hit rock bottom around the EJ01 era. Not that the EJ01 itself was bad, but the other high end pcdp that were sold at the same time all sounded really thin and bubbly to me.
 
Jun 23, 2004 at 7:40 AM Post #22 of 40
Quote:

Originally Posted by pedxing
You have to watch out. Certain production runs had more powerful amps. The sliding CD mechanism makes the pcdp builkier than it needed to be. I don't think the G-Protection can be subdued or turned off unless the line out is used.

Frankly, I think the sound quality of many sony pcdp's hit rock bottom around the EJ01 era. Not that the EJ01 itself was bad, but the other high end pcdp that were sold at the same time all sounded really thin and bubbly to me.


Actually, the sound quality of Sony PCDP's have dragged along the rock bottom for a couple of years even after the EJ01 era. The high-end Sony PCDPs in 2001 and 2002 - the D-EJ925 and the D-EJ1000 - both sounded seriously rolled off in the treble. (And that's not to mention that they were both thin and lacking in the bass as well.) In fact, the D-EJ1000's headphone out only extended to about 7~8 kHz before the treble output reached -3dB down from the average reference level. The 2003-model D-EJ2000 sounded better, but still a bit thin.

In other words, when it comes to the 2000~2002 model Sony PCDP's, "The Name Dragged On As The Quality Went Down" (the contrapositive of the old Zenith TV slogan "The Quality Goies In Before The Name Goes On").
 
Jun 23, 2004 at 9:36 AM Post #23 of 40
? My D-NE1 has 2 batteries.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bangraman
I should add that the upper end D-NE's are lighter than the iRiver due to the single battery.


 
Jun 23, 2004 at 10:01 AM Post #24 of 40
Quote:

Originally Posted by dhelm
But the 550 does sound better than the earlier models correct? I heard that with the firmware update it sounds much better. I'm getting mine in in about 4 hours so I will write up my thoughts.




This is a new statement for me. I always read that the sound quality was exactly the same as previous models, as the parts used are exactly the same.
A firmware upgrade can improve sound quality for compressed formats, but I think it can't for audio cds!
 
Jun 23, 2004 at 5:07 PM Post #26 of 40
Quote:

Originally Posted by Fafner
This is a new statement for me. I always read that the sound quality was exactly the same as previous models, as the parts used are exactly the same.
A firmware upgrade can improve sound quality for compressed formats, but I think it can't for audio cds!


Well the firmware does for compressed and for EQ. A note to Fafner, make sure you get the latest firmware from the international that is labeled with (US), it is way ahead of the America Site.

And an earlier thread someone claimed to own 350 and 550 and that the 550 was much better.

I have owned the 550 for a day now, and it at times seems thin in my 580s, but with certain adjustments in the firmware everything is alright, Im not happy that I listen with "Extreme3D" but at times it makes that MP3 and headphones thinness fade away.
 
Jun 23, 2004 at 5:33 PM Post #27 of 40
Quote:

Originally Posted by Ceep
Sony D-NE300.


i agree--this player is pure class. no line out, but great sound, and cheap.
 
Jun 23, 2004 at 6:35 PM Post #28 of 40
The D-ej01 does have a terrible headphone out, but it also has a very warm, smooth line-out- one of the best of any player i've used (not very many)... Even Keven Gilmore used a D-ej01 with his portable STAX setup....

So if you're using an amp, its one of the best players- not very many players have linear antishock, and most that do don't offer the same level of skip protection. And if you're using it with an external DAC, you still get full skip protection, something that panasonics can't do.

It is a bit big/heavy compared to modern players (but much smaller than of the "classic" players) and not very durable/reliable. But i do find the slot loading useful for quickly changing discs, and would rather have a slightly larger player to have this feature.

Still, the crappy headphone out and poor reliablity seriously limits its usefulness, so i wouldn't recommend it unless it was used mainly with an amp or external DAC.

(BTW, i really can't figure out the cause of the poor headphone out quality, the headphone amp chip used is virtually identical to the one in my ~1996 "classic" discman- i'm guessing it's largely due to the use of surface mount tantalum coupling capacitors and large amounts of powersupply noise)
 
Jun 23, 2004 at 8:20 PM Post #29 of 40
I haven't really used my 2000 a lot yet (or my 915 in a long time), but for the short comparo that I did (like 10 min tops), I noticed that the 915 has a much warmer sound and has bass compared to the 2000, which sounds flat in comparison, but decent and better than the D-E880's midrange nastiness (all there is on it). Oh, Mclaren said that the 915 is leagues above the 01 when he had them both, I forgot exactly how he described it as it was a while ago.
 
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