[Micah]

I have a several-years-old Panasonic SL-SW404, which was one of the first antishock Shockwave CD portables they made. I'm in the process of buying my first pair of decent headphones since I recently sold my stereo and will be living with a roommate who probably won't like my taste or preferred volume of music.

When auditioning phones, however, I noticed that my player's headphone jack produces quite a lot of white noise at its higher levels. Luckily the headphones I got are 35ohm, so they don't require such high volume levels (the 64ohm Sennheiser 570's sounded horrible). I can't really afford a good headphone amp right now (unless someone can recommend a decent one under $100), but could buy a new CD player and sell the old one to my little sister (she doesn't care about white noise).

My current player is an SL-SW404, which aside from the white-noise problem sounds pretty good (with antishock off, of course), is very sturdy, gets decent battery life, and has a line-out (in case I ever buy a headphone amp). My only other complaint about it is that if I use headphones with a straight plug (instead of a bent plug), I have to unplug the headphones to open the player (it has a latch that gets caught on the plug otherwise).

I found the SL-CT470 everyone seems to like for a good price, but I'm not sure whether it's worth "upgrading" or not. The headphone plug design would certainly be a benefit, but what about other aspects of the player?

I don't imagine anyone can comment on my old SL-SW404, but how is the white noise of the SL-CT470's headphone jack? Is it obnoxious or reasonable? Do you think I should stick with what I've got or not? Thanks!

-Micah

 

[thomas]

Has this noise always been there? If not, it could be oxidation in the volume pot, there are special products that you can buy to clean it out....

And is the hissing only apparent with antiskip turned on? if there is no hiss with antiskip off, then turn it off when you are listening critically. Most CDPs, old or new, are noisier with antiskip on.

In my experience, most new CDPs are worse than older models. They sacrifice sound quality for long battery life and super antiskip. My new Sony is extremely noisy, much worse than any old sony or panasonic i've heard.

 

[jude]

thomas, which new Sony do you have, as I want to make sure to stay away from it?

 

[thomas]

The Sony D-EJ01. the way overpriced, all the bells +whistles slot loader

Its actually really amazing out of the line out, possibly the best on the market today...(kein gilmore uses it with his portastax) its just got a horrible headphone amp, combined with poor design that allows it to pick up all the noise from the spindle motor...

I posted a long review a few months ago at headwize, and copied it to audioreview. If you want, you can copy it to the full reviews section...

 

[Micah]

I almost always listen with antiskip turned off because when it's on the compression significantly alters the sound.

The noise is there without the antiskip, but I'm not really sure if it's always been there or not, because I'd never listened to it with a decent pair of headphones until the other day. The standard headphones weren't good enough to tell if there was noise, and/or were efficient enough that I never had to turn it up that loud.

The noise sounds almost like (but not quite as bad as) analog cassette tape hiss.

-Micah

 

[coolvij]

micah: what headphones are you currently using?

 

[Micah]

Sony MDR-V600's. They're a bit harsh-sounding, but are the best things I could find to try out in the city where I live, so I went with them (the Sennheiser HD570's are too inefficient).

-Micah

 

[coolvij]

eek.

V600s are noted as being a "worst bargain" around here, lol.

It may be that your PCDP is konking out, OR it may that the V600's terrible presentation and fairly high efficiency are making the slight hiss VERY noticeable. What I don't understand is how HIGHER impedance phones make the hiss LOUDER.....

 

[Micah]

Higher impedance phones don't technically make the hiss louder themselves, but they require the volume on the player to be turned up much higher in order to achieve the same output level.

The hiss seems to run fairly proportional to the amp's volume level. A typical listening level for me requires about 90% volume from the player with the 64ohm Senn 570's, and only about 40-50% with the 35ohm V600's. At 40-50% volume, the amp sounds much cleaner than at 90% (where it is straining hard, creating more noise). Therefore the V600's sounded a little clearer, and had much better dynamic range than the Senn 570's with my player. If I had bought a decent headphone amp, I imagine things would have been the other way around, but I can't really afford that right now.

I know you guys badmouth the V600's a lot, but where I live they were the best thing I could try out (other than the Senn 570's and crappy Sony V700DJ's), and I didn't want to risk ordering something "better" that would turn out not to be comfortable on my head. The V600's sound a little harsh, but are effecient, nicely portable, not too expensive (I paid under $80 w/tax) and pretty darn comfy on my head (although I kinda wish they had velour pads), so I bought them.

-Micah (trying hard to sound too uppity)

 

[Deuce_Bigalow]

Try cleaning the headphone jack with some contact cleaner and see if that makes a difference. I don't think a little bit of white noise is a big deal and I don't know if the Panasonic 470 would have less of it. I owned the 470 for a bit and never noticed a hiss. How much abuse has your shockwave taken? The 470 I bought in March just died after my friend that bought it from me dropped it once. I won't read any discs now. Pretty poor in my opinion.

My home stereo (Kenwood KA-3700 amp, Yamaha CDC-675 and Sony EX70's or Koss Sportapros) has more white noise than my Sony discman but the sound is still quite a bit better.

 

[coolvij]

micah: If you were tryin to sound "uppity" - well, you suck at it

Don't feel bad about the V600s - they aren't the greatest headphones, and if they were the only things available AND if they work for you - you should be happy.

I think a Pana 470 wouldn't be bad investment - but definetely try contact cleaner and other "fixes" first.....