Da helluva fast review - Grundig SQUIXX CDP 4100

[lini]

Da cost: 49 Euro (bought in Saturn, Neuhauserstrasse/Munich)

Da package: cardboard, plain and simple

Da content: pcdp, wallwart, thick and good multi-language manual, earbuds

Da looks: plain, no-nonsense, plastic case in grey with grey-metallic laquered lid

Da features: no antishock (10s in CDP 4101 AS10, 40s in CDP 4102 AS40), line-out, headphone-out with 2x 15 mW (!), bass boost

Da power: 2 x AA (used for test: Accucell NiMH 1800 mAh)

Da use: fairly easy; CD removement could be a little easier, though...

Da test: a) line-out -> Moster Interlink 200 -> Corda HA-1 -> AKG K240S; b) headphone-out -> AKG K240S; CDs used: Propellerheads "Decksanddrumsandrocknroll", Faith no more "Angel Dust", Tuntablerockers "Classic"...

Da sound: Hooray - at last an el cheapo player with good sound and juicy headphone output, that brings solid, detailed sound well above SL-CT570(A)-level on both outputs. And it throws bass helluva far. Thanks Grundig!

Da drawback: Chrisb has also tested one, recently (we've talked via pm), and he had got two units with skipping problems on the last track. Mine works flawlessly, though... On the other hand I've got two Philips EXP-201 units here with a speed problem...

Da conclusion: Cheap enough to dare a try, I'd say...


With da greetings from Munich, suckers!

Lini

P.S.: This Mr.T-itis is a helluva fast virus...

 

[blr]

Thanks lini for the info. I've been looking at Gruding several times, and even managed to hear one in Berlin (Saturn again).
Although I expected more from Grundig in terms of build quality, the sound seemed very good from the headout and 2x15 mW is surely impressive. Please post some more impressions on the sound when you get to hear it for a longer time.

 

[lini]

Well, after further listening and comparing the basic results stay the same. More details: Using the headphone out I notice some lack of speed, control and precision compared to the Corda HA-1 , but with the line-out even against my oldie but goldie Sanyo CDP-55A the Grundig has a good standing. The presentation is a bit more detailed and slightly brighter, but there's still that solidity of instruments and voices, that I like so much with the Sanyo. The only problem you might run into when using full-sized headphones as the K240S are older - especially AAD recorded - CDs with a very low recording level, because then you might run out of gain if you desire a high listening level. All in all not bad for 49 Euro (incl. 16 % VAT), I'd say. Battery life test still running, btw...

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

P.S.: Grundig's build quality used to be fairly good until the early 80s (the portable booboxes used to be great and had a professional look!), but then slowly but steadily degraded to cheap standard quality... But they are still about to try to rearise with completely new product lines and new management (separated from Philips). Their DVD players are already getting very popular over here...

 

[martioz]

Da picture of Das Grundig would be much appreciated.

 

[lini]

martioz: The you go: http://www.grundig.de/produkte/audio/cd-portables.html - as you could guess from the link, the page shows the complete line of their cd portables.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

 

[martioz]

Lini
very interesting stuff
Danke!

 

[blr]

Just a quick question about the Grundig.

How does it resume. Most of the cheapies I've seen do not have a resume, i.e. every time you hit stop the pickup returns to the begining of the disc. Is this the case with the Grundig?

 

[lini]

blr: This is not a function I need, but if you do, the 410x-series won't work, because it's not there. Sorry.

Battery life with the Accucell 1800 mAh NiMHs was about 8 hours in mixed use (line/headphone out), btw. If you're interested in Friwo 2000 mAh NiMH or Fuji 1600 mAh NiMH, though, I could try these, too.

(I took a stroll to Saturn again, today... Oh my, not only a 4-pack of the aforementioned Friwos, also 4 CDs (Aphex Twin, Badmarsh & Shri, Crystal Method (I only had this one on CD-R, before...) & some lounge music sampler (because there's the Pink Panther Theme & some Nina Simone stuff on it...)), Vivanco Mini-to-Mini & Mini-to-RCA cables & two more Squixxes (one for the office, one spare))... Argh - collectitis... <sigh>

)

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

 

[sapphiremodena]

Here's a bigger photo of the Squixx 4100.

I like the looks of the Planixx 4103

 

[lini]

sapphiremodena: Thanks for the picture(s) - on the one of the "aero-grey" Squixx CDP 4100 you can also see the unlabeled button that is used for toggling the anti-shock on the CDP 4101 AS10 and 4102 AS40.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

 

[Onix]

Hi Lini. How sensible is the player? I mean, can you walk with it without skipping or is it as ofensive in that regard as a Panasonic with the antishock off? Anyway, it looks nice. How do you rate it against your other PCDP's?

 

[lini]

Onix: Sorry, I haven't checked for shock sensitivity, yet, because that's not a concern of mine - but I could try that for you tomorrow. Soundwise the Grundig seems better to me than all of my other PCDPs except the old Sanyo CDP-55A, which seems more or less equally fine using the line-out. Anyway, in your case the CDP 4101 AS10 would probably be the better choice. I already tried to get one, but Saturn only had the 4100 (49 Euro) and the 4102 AS40 (69 Euro) - and I didn't want to try the 4102 AS40, because I guess the anti-shock is compressed, whereas the 4101 AS10 should have an uncompressed anti-shock...

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

 

[Onix]

Thanks Lini. It would be hard for me to find hit here anyway. I have the phone number of the Mexican Grundig dealer, but I think he carries the same products as the U.S. dealer. I'll check out anyway. Take care.

Onix

 

[lini]

Onix: I totally forgot to ask, how you carry your pcdp, when you carry it with you. I guess, I should know that for simulating your usage... Apart from that: If you'd like to get one, but can't find it in Mexico, I could probably send you one over - I guess we could find something nice from Mexico for 49 Euro, you could send me in exchange...

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

 

[Onix]

That would be nice Lini. Thanks. I am looking to have another player for use at home and the office and really would like to have a new exotic player, maybe for Xmas or around November, just after my kid's first B'day.

I mostly use my player for the car, so the antiskip is allways on. Whenever I don't drive, I take the subway, bus or just walk. I carry the player either on my hand, one of my jacket pockets or one of those bags with belts (I forgot their proper name, but I think yu got the idea) The player is so sensible that sometimes when I use it in the office, if I type too hard I can get it to skip. I can even sneeze on it and it will jump. So, I have to use the antishock even when not moving. Go figure. If you can walk and maybe take a bus with not a lot of skipping with the Grundig I'll be interested.

I am thinking that sending stuff from Mexico to Germany and the other way around would be around 20 dollars, making it all for around 75 dollars for each of us. I am looking here for a Radioshack 3904, which sounds very good to me, and the price is around 75 dollars too, so I think I can take the Grundig instead. But first let me know how does your test ends. And then let me know what would you like from Mexico. BTW, tequila is very hard to send overseas from here, so if you were thinking about it, perhaps you should make another choice

.

Take care Lini and thanks a lot.