Just bought the DE-J725...
Aug 1, 2001 at 10:15 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 25

fiddler

Headphoneus Supremus
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Well, after playing a couple concerts in Guatemala (!) with my trio, I earned enough cash to buy myself a new portable CDP
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So, today I ran out and got the Sony D-EJ725.. Here's some initial impressions:

Package:

It came with an AC adapter, a cheapo remote, a pair of cheap earbuds (MDR-E805), the external battery case (which doubles battery life when used in conjunction with the internal batteries) and a pair of NiCads (which I've already replaced with NiMH)
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The only gripe I had was the lack of a mini to mini optical cable.. Ah well.

Design/Build:

Well it's a helluva lot prettier than my old Panasonic Shockwave (SL-SW202).. You know, the ugly yellow kind. It has a silver lid with a grey body. I was initially disappointed by the fact that the lid was made of plastic as opposed to metal, which is what I had anticipated it to be..
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However, the build quality is quite solid.. not flimsy like the Pana SL-CT580. The buttons feel pretty solid too, except for the slightly wobbly digital volume buttons. The external battery pack is a bit disappointing too, as it doesn't attach to the CDP itself; it plugs into the DC in jack and the black cylinder just dangles by a 6 inch long cable. It's a very inconvenient design IMO, but then again, I won't really ever need 86 hrs of continuous playback either. Overall it's pretty well built and it's very attractive looking, although it doesn't have the 'unbreakable' feel of the Shockwave.

Features:

It has a superb battery life (well, so I believe.. I haven't had it long enough to test if the manual is telling the truth)
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But according to the manual the manual it can play for up to 38 hrs on 2 AA alkalines, and up to 86 on 4 AA alkalines. BTW, the manual seems to indicate that the battery life INCREASES when G-protection is enabled.. I would've thought the opposite.. Can somebody explain this? Anyway, I'll do a thorough battery life test later on..
It has 4 play modes.. normal, single track, shuffle, program. The repeat function can be applied to any of these play modes. The megabass REALLY screws up the sound, so I'm probably never going to go near that button again. When you push buttons, you hear an annoying beep.. I found out that the beep is in fact can be turned off, although the procedure is a bit of a pain in the ass. It also features an internal charger which could come in handy. G-protection seems to be flawless so far, and it hardly skips even when it's disabled.
I should also note that it has a combined line/optical output. THe optical out makes recording to MD a breeze, as trackmarks are recorded perfectly.

Last but not least, SOUND:

Here I am going to compare the sound against my old shockwave. I did the comparison on my MDR-V6s, listening to the Shostakovitch Piano trio No. 2 (AWESOME piece). I had always found the combination of the V6 with the shockwave to be overly bright at times, which is one of the reasons that prompted me to replace it. The Sony CDP is much warmer to my ears, while the Pana is more crisp sounding. To me, the V6s sound much more pleasing on the Sony than the Panasonic. Bright recordings were just unbearable at times on the Panasonic. The 5mW per channel headphone amp seems to be enough to drive the V6s just fine, although I had to turn it up almost all the way to get enough sound on some classical recordings.

Well that's about it for now.. I might add some more comments after some more extensive listening.
Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with my purchase so far.
 
Aug 2, 2001 at 1:50 AM Post #2 of 25
Quote:

BTW, the manual seems to indicate that the battery life INCREASES when G-protection is enabled.. I would've thought the opposite.. Can somebody explain this?


I'll attempt to explain it. Basically - the CDs data is compressed with G-protection on, and ROUGHLY ~40 sec. is loaded into the memory buffer. Now the laser can be turned off, as can the motor (though not all models like this do so). After a while (~35 sec?) more music is read into the buffer...and so on, and so forth.
 
Aug 2, 2001 at 2:26 AM Post #3 of 25
That sounds about right. My D-EJ815 makes some really weird noises when its playing... just, really weird. Spins and moves and makes these really weird noises in some set time intervals.
 
Aug 2, 2001 at 2:36 AM Post #4 of 25
hey chych - does you 825 have a volume pot, or is the volume digitally controlled?
 
Aug 2, 2001 at 3:49 AM Post #5 of 25
Right now, I'm listening to the Karajan version of the Mendelssohn "Italian" symphony and some Brahms piano quartets (Ax, Stern, Laredo and Ma), comparing back and forth between the Sony and the Panasonic.

After a few hours of listening, the Sony to me sounds coloured, in a bad way. Kinda sounds like it's coating every note with "fuzz" that isn't supposed to be on the recording. It somehow managed Brahms' G minor Piano quartet sound FLAT, to the point where I wasn't enjoying the last movement AT ALL, and anyone who's heard the work would agree with me that it's among the greatest chamber works of all time. Switch over to the Panasonic and the music is full of life again. So much more clarity, so much more articulate. On the Sony, Stern's Guarnerius sounds dull and lifeless, which is far from what it should sound like.

I'm returning this thing and getting the famous Pana CT-470 instead.. The digital recording I made via the optical out doesn't sound THAT much better than the analog version I made earlier, so optical out is no longer a priority.

Thank god Future Shop gives full refunds for up to 30 days... right? I sure hope so.. crap.. i'd better go check the receipt..
 
Aug 2, 2001 at 3:54 AM Post #7 of 25
coolvj- G-protection only loads about 15-20 seconds of data into memory, and its UNCOMPRESSED, unlike most panasonics...

If your Sony is like mine, then the "fuzz" you hear is from the crap headphone amp, worse POS i've ever heard on a portable CDP. It is noisy, coloured, and takes away all the dynamics from the music...

If you plan to use headphones without an external amp, then RETURN THE SONY!!!


BTW, both the 915 and 925 use digital pots. I dunno if it by itself affects the sound, but it would seem to be a more effective solution than using two seperate low quality analog pots in the signal path...
 
Aug 2, 2001 at 4:14 AM Post #8 of 25
Quote:

It is noisy, coloured, and takes away all the dynamics from the music...


Yup.. that's EXACTLY what I'm hearing..
And no I probably won't carry an external amp if I can get away with it.. So, first thing tomorrow: return this piece of crap.

Ok, crap is a bit harsh, but anything that makes Brahms sound dull makes me mad (that includes poor musicians)

Ok now i'm REALLY tired i'm going to bed good night
 
Aug 2, 2001 at 2:50 PM Post #11 of 25
Well, at this point, the most appropriate thing to say is, "DOH!"

lol.

Thanks for the advice - the ONLY use any portable cd player i get in the near future would be line-out duty...
 
Aug 2, 2001 at 4:06 PM Post #12 of 25
Just added to Full Feature reviews
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I am very judgemental when it comes to portable CDPs... Where I have the D777 I really cannot find a player that sounds anywhere near as good...

My DE-J825 is steadily gathering dust in a corner, since my Marantz CDP Optical out was fixed
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Aug 2, 2001 at 4:54 PM Post #13 of 25
fiddler,
try to get an older sony with ESP2 manufactured in 1999 or before. i just did a comparison with older v. newer sonys. the new sonys sound excactly like you say--lifeless and dull. but the pano 470 (at least to my ears) doesn't sound as good as the older sonys from 1999 or so (at least thru the headphone jack). also, my pano 470 headphone jack hums a bit. it's really annoying.

i really do believe that new portable CDPs are not as good as they used to be only a few short years ago. i plan on "stocking up" on the older sonys circa 1999 and earlier.

arnett
 
Aug 2, 2001 at 6:58 PM Post #15 of 25
Ah well... too late
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I just went out and returned the Sony and got the CT570 instead.. :p The sound is much more lively than the Sony with much more detail, and it's not as harsh as my old Shockwave... So far so good..

I'll post a more detailed review after some more listening...
 

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