High-end Portable CD Player?

[Overheat]

Hi all,

I posted this at another hi-fi forum and got pointed here, so I hope you lot might be able to help me - here's what I posted before:

Quote:

Originally Posted by me Hi there, I'm hoping someone on this forum will be able to help me. I'm looking for a high quality portable CD player, but the reviews appear to be absent or at least very well hidden. I'm an avid reader and subscriber of What Hi-Fi? magazine, though unfortunately it seems as though they have dropped portable CD players as a dead technology in favour of MP3 players - of which I have little interest. I have tried to jump on the MP3 Player jet-propelled bandwagon, but I just don't like having to convert my music before I can listen to it - it's simply not convenient enough for me - so as long as my pockets are big enough for them, the drop-it-in-and-play-it world of CD players is where I want to be. So, basically what I'm looking for is either a link to a big database of CD player reviews, a hint of a source of such information perhaps in magazine form, or best of all, some advice about portable CD players. I only have Sennheiser PX100s so quality doesn't have to be at Primare standards, well, not yet at least, though options would be nice. I hope you can help me out as I'm really stuck now! Best Regards, Paul (aka Overheat)

If you guys could help I'd be really grateful - in the meantime, I think I'll start exploring these forums - they seem very in-depth! Thank you in advance!

 

[sidewinder]

Overview

 

[Overheat]

Thanks for the link

Are these the only models really worth considering then? None of them really seem ideal, what with the majority of them lacking anti-shock. I guess modern players are useless compared?

 

[warubozu]

The review written by Duncan in that link are a few of the notable and sought after vintage PCDPs. Yes, most of them don't have anti shock but many of them sound better than what's currently being offered. What you need to decide for yourself is do you need anti shock and are you planning on taking the PCDP on the go often. If portablility is of a concern then you might want to pass on the vintages and go for something more current like the Sony D-NE10 or D-NE20 as they do have a decent sound for current offerings with anti shock.

 

[Duncan]

As a follow on from warubozu, if you can find one for cheap, definitely check out the Sony D465 - Not the best player overall, but the combination of 20 second anti-shock, half decent battery life, and pretty decent sound make it quite a winner if you don't want a deskbound setup...

...In all practical terms, the other leaders of the pack (D777 and D-E905 - especially the latter) are too expensive for their overall worth on the used market.

I really will have to try one of the newer generation Sonys at some point (but NOT an EU version with their pathetically low outputs) to see how they compare to some of the better units in my roundup

 

[sidewinder]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Overheat Thanks for the link Are these the only models really worth considering then? None of them really seem ideal, what with the majority of them lacking anti-shock. I guess modern players are useless compared?

No problem

I own the Sony D465, D11 and Philips AZ6831 (same as AZ6832 but without incar remote and stuff). The first one has 20 sec antiskip and decent SQ, while the D11 has no antiskip but sounds better, and the AZ is king of the hill for SQ, and although is hasn't got antiskip, it does have a terrific system that allows to read the CD very quickly. I do have to note, in case you start wondering about these players, that I use the AZ as my portable player and has rarely skipped (it skipped because it got hit by me). The D465 allows you to bump onto it a few times, but in the end it'll skip after all.

 

[Overheat]

So, I'm guessing that anti-shock reduces quality then? Sorry if my lack of knowledge on this subject is irritating to anyone btw - I'm new to the audiophile scene, though I'm really excited about getting into it all. Unfortunately my budget doesn't allow for a really impressive system yet - richness will come later *fingers crossed*

My home (static) system is a Goodmans 1104SDAB - which I'm really happy with especially seeing as it only cost about £70-80, and as I've just subscribed to What Hi-Fi magazine, I should be getting the aforementioned Sennheiser PX100s in the post soon. Unfortunately, I currently only have a PSP to plug them into, though it is a brilliant gadget, I really don't like MP3s and consequently, as I don't really use it for much else, I'll try and get it sold b4 the November price drop.

I've heard good things about the Bose PM-1 player and it seems quite popular on eBay. I've searched through threads on it on this site and the conclusion seemed quite popular. Is the quality really laughable compared to the D465 though?

***EDIT - just found a D465 on eBay for £8 - I didn't realise that it would be so cheap - this is brand new too - surely this can't be as sonically impressive as say, a Shuffle or a YP-U2 can it? Is it just that no-one wants PCDPs anymore?

 

[milkpowder]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sidewinder Overview

Thanks for the link. That is probably one of the most informative posts ever to be made on Head-fi.

 

[warubozu]

The D-465 is a decent PCDP and at the price you see it in that Ebay auction it's not a bad deal if it's indeed new as you say it is. As far as it being compared to the Shuffle I would say that it sounds as good not far from it.

 

[sidewinder]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Overheat So, I'm guessing that anti-shock reduces quality then?

Yes and no. The D465 just has a big memory to store the information, but it doesn't compress anything. This does happen however with newer PCDP's like my Aiwa. A PCDP having a memory buffer doesn't necessarly mean inferior music quality. The DAC (digital to analoge converter; CD = digital, real life sound = analoge) inside the D465 isn't of that great quality in my opinion, but still beats a lot of recent players on the market. The high-end Sony models right now are probably on par with it, and even an iPod or Shuffle have great DAC's inside.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Overheat ***EDIT - just found a D465 on eBay for £8 - I didn't realise that it would be so cheap - this is brand new too - surely this can't be as sonically impressive as say, a Shuffle or a YP-U2 can it? Is it just that no-one wants PCDPs anymore?

I bought mine for $30, so get them while the're cheap. Some people swear by their Shuffle, but in general more and more people swear by portable HD players. It's not that PCDP's are of inferior quality, but they are be inconvenient to carry around (unless you don't care at all, you want to be out of the ordinary and you give about SQ also).

PCDP's aren't any longer what they're supposed to do, namely bringing good SQ to the masses. Now it's all about weight, portability, batterylife, etc. and SQ as one of the final aspect, cause who's listening with decent earbuds/headphones/IEM's?

If you can get a HD player with a decent DAC inside and perhaps a line out for (portable) amp, and are willing to pay a (hefty) price for it (compared to cheap vintage PCDP's), then you're free to do so. Sure, just about any HD player can playback WAVE (original sound file on CD, and thus very big), then it'll probably sound good, but that depends on the quality of the player itself. You pay a lot of the price for the portability of the item, not especially for the SQ, which was the case with vintage PCDP's (they are literally stuffed with equipment to make the music sound good).

Some vintage PCDP's are overpriced though, and it's better to get along with a new high-end PCDP or HD player, cause the're brand new and won't manfunction that fast compared to vintage ones. But as long as you treat your equipment nice, like everything else, it'll last a long time.

EDIT: I'm listening my D465 right now with KSC75 (Koss headphone for $15 and highly regarded here at Head-Fi, just as the PX100), and it sure sounds great! Lots of power also compared to my European capped Aiwa player. For $45, this has got to be a killer rig.

 

[Overheat]

Bought the D465, decided to go for the Buy It Now option, so ended up paying £19 inc postage. It's this one: http://tinyurl.com/g6uqt

I hope I did the right thing! If not, well, it's only £20

 

[Duncan]

Looks like a winning auction to me

Congrats

 

[Overheat]

Got my new toy today

It's in very good nick - and listening with the supplied Sony headphones, it's pretty good. Looking forward to taking it to the next level when I get my PX100s though

Haven't tried it on the move yet - guess that's the next step. I'm really glad to see that it came with a nice Discman pouch, which should inevitably save the players good condition. Currently testing with Postal Service's Give Up

By the way, when I do get my new cans, should I both with the remote - will it degrade quality sufficiently if it has to go through the remote first?

 

[sidewinder]

The remote only works with the stock earbuds that came with the player.