[kelly]

Can anyone recommend the best current production portable CD players that have mini-optical out? Which ones are thought to be good?

I'd like to give in and find an old EJ01 but I'm told that case can bend easily and cause CDs to become scratched. I liek the loading mechanism, though.

For this application, I don't really care about the quality of the DAC(s). I'm only interested in it being a good solid working portable transport with a clean digital out. And I'd rather not have to pay collector's prices for some 80s model player to get it.

Thanks

 

[jpelg]

kelly,

I just picked up a brand new D-EJ721 for $80 at buy.com. This model is still relatively easy to find on the net at this price. It is the successor to the D-EJ6x1 series that also had an optical out.

The 6x1 series can be found refurbed even cheaper, but after some research I found that there were reliability problems with thier headphone jacks (hence the reburbs), so I went for the 721. Some posts here have said that the 721 is similiar to the famed D-777, but I have never seen one of those so I cannot say.

Not quite as slick as the D-E01 slot load, but the sapphire blue model is pretty nice looking.

-j

 

[aos]

I wonder why you need it kelly

I use Sony 725 which was recently discontinued but can still be found in many places, it costs about $150 Canadian here which is less than 100 US greenbacks. I paid CDN$200 for it last Christmas. It is an excellent player on its own - I don't like its styling myself but some people (my sister for example) think it's cool. This player was higher end model at the time. Batteries last a good while even thogh they are NiCd, not NiMH (you can buy NiMH but NiCd is what comes with the unit), even if using strictly optical out. It also has the switch to turn G protection on or off.

I believe choice in the US is much wider than here so you shouldn't too much trouble.

 

[jpelg]

I believe the 725 is the same as the 721 except it includes a wired remote.

kelly has posted before about creating a portable setup including an external DAC, which I why I suspect this topic is being revisited? How's that coming?

 

[purk]

Kelly,
I would pick up Sony D-EJ925 up. You should be able to find it somewhere or in ebay for 120 bucks. This player shares components to the EJ-01 and it is great looking unit. The line out supports digital out, and has clean sounding.

Purk

 

[dparrish]

If you want a current model, I can recommend the Sony DE-J1000, the current top-of-the-line USA-available model (the J2000 is available from Audiocubes).

I haven't used it as a digital/optical out, but as an analog out, it is quite good, so I would assume the digital out to be of similar quality.

My experience has been that the EJ-925 is not so easy to pick up on Ebay, unless you're willing to buy either a very used unit or pay quite a bit (read new prices or more) for a barely used/never used unit.

 

[KingNothing]

I'm sorta confused but is this 925 the japanese 999?

 

[halcyon]

Panasonic 570, which I have has an optical out.

It has an internal rechargeable battery advertised as giving 40+ hours of playback. It also has an external battery pack for normal AA size batteries that you can use.

The size is small and sound qualit has been assess (by measurements and listening in a Finnish technical magazine) to be better than comparable Sony model (can't remember model type). The build quality is quite sturdy, except for the remote (part of the headphone cable) that is the same cheap plastic nonsense as every other portable cd player.

The anti-skip was the best 1,5 years ago of all the models I've tested. You still can't jog with this unit for more than c. 40 secs though.

Caveats: the headphone out is still not very good and the 1-bit direct stream DA is not to my liking as I can detect intermodulation components on it using specific test tone.

I'm looking for a good cd player with line output that bypasses headphone output internal op-amps and offers good sound quality. I'd be using it with Porta Corda II.

Any tips?

cheers,
Halcyon

 

[setmenu]

Hi Kelly
I use a Sony 925 as a transport in my portable system[to supply
the outboard dac I use] and it has performed superbly for
the year it has been in use.
Nice slim profile as well.

Recommended

Setmenu

 

[aos]

Oh, and it should have the G-protection switch, to turn it off when needed. Electrical noise generated by drive spinning up and down is audible through optical out (i.e. can cause garbage data). I had to give up D-EJ915 and get 725 instead last Christmas solely for this reason.

 

[neb]

Quote:

Originally posted by KingNothing I'm sorta confused but is this 925 the japanese 999?

Yes - but production of the 925 was moved to Malaysia. I doubt there is any significant difference. I'm quite happy with mine - sound quality isn't as good as my md unit but its just as small as the latest Sony players.

Neb

 

[KingNothing]

thx

 

[kelly]

So which models have the G-Protection able to be turned off? Can the 1000 and 925?

I only found one dealer that had the 725 in stock on the net and it was $119.

 

[Kubernetes]

I have an EJ01 and have never had a CD get scratched from the frame. The top lip of the slot can bend a bit, but I think the player is designed that way (the magnesium alloy is somewhat pliable). It is a great player that sounds great out of the line out and fairly passable through the headphone.

I also have a D955, which is one level below the D1000 (but I believe they share the same electronics). I actually prefer the 955 to the 1000 in terms of looks. It too has a great line out but the headphone out is plain terrible (much worse than the EJ01 IMO). The headphone out is just nasty bloated in the midrange.

Someone told me that when the AC adapter is attached to the EJ01, the anti-skip turns off. Not sure if that's true, but I believe the anti-skip buffer is not compressed anyway, so it probably wouldn't make a difference. IIRC, the buffer is actually pretty small, but the player relies instead on very fast laser recovery to prevent skipping. It takes a lot of continuous bumping around to make it skip.

 

[dparrish]

G protection CAN be turned off on the D-EJ1000.

I got mine new from J&R for 169.00.

I know alot of folks like to knock the headphone-out sound on the Sonys, but it's really not too bad. The DAC has a nice mellow sound to it (I guess some don't like mellow). It IS a bit woolly (not real clean) and you can't turn it up too loudly before distortion sets in, but for most CDs, it's loud enough for me.

However, the line out is QUITE good going into my Cosmic. I assume you'd be using the line out anyway, right?

Are you going to try to rig up some sort of portable DAC for your system, Kelly?