[lightningfast35]

My dad bought this Panasonic SL-S231C PCDP for the minivan (it didn't have a CD deck at the time). When he bought a CD deck for it the PCDP went back to its original box merely gathering dust. Years later I've brought it out of hibernation (now as a member of Head-Fi

) and was pleasantly suprised that it had a Line Out AND *defeatable* Anti-Shock. My recently bought Sony D-NE300 PCDP doesn't have either of these traits unfortunately

. I've been listening to the line-out of the Panny and comparing it to my other portables, all paired with my PocketAmp v2 including:

the above Sony PCDP
Rio Nitrus
iPod Shuffle
Creative MuVo Micro N200

I'm really happy with the sound from this Panny. It sounds better than the Sony PCDP and the rest of the DAPs when playing burned CD-Rs of APS (~190-200 kb/s VBR) mp3s and better than the Sony PCDP with redbooks.

Specs (from the manual):

Frequency Response: 20 to 20,000 Hz (+0.5 dB, -1.5 dB)
Output Voltage: 0.6 V (50 kiloohms)
S/N Ratio: More than 94 dB (Anti-Shock Off)
DA Converter: 1 bit, MASH
Heaphone Output Level: Max. 9 mW+9mW/16 ohms (variable)

I was wondering if anyone else has this PCDP and could share their own personal experience with it. Also comments on these specs would be appreciated. Did I pick up a diamond in the rough? (Or "less valuable gem" in the rough

?)

 

[450]

I have that same PCDP. Ill tell you right now. Leave the anti-shock on. It doesn't change the sound.

I really like the sound of this PCDP, of my favorites! Unfortunately, not many people own it so...not many comparisons.

 

[lightningfast35]

I've tried using this PCDP as a PCDP but found that it would skip fairly often even with the Anti-Shock. So I love it as my desktop redbook player

 

[450]

It skips with anti-skip???

Hmm...I can jog/run with mine! (I'm not kidding)

 

[lightningfast35]

Wow

. I wonder why I can't with mine

I'll try and test out the jogging/running later and see what happens.

 

[lightningfast35]

Wow completely forgot about this thread. You were right, it is joggable

 

[Tim D]

That generation of Panasonic portables came highly recommended by Headroom. If not this model, a rather close variant (240?) which I've used to own a few. I'd agree that they were big bang for the buck portables and still would have good quality compared to the latest greatest Mp3 players today. Very listenable. I regret not really having any old-fashioned PCDP. If I had to choose one it wouldn't be anything like the Sony D-EJ2000 which I also used to have, but probably an old-school Pana. I also prefer them to the *really* vintage Sony models, etc. They used AA's, had defeatable anti-shock's, had line-outs, and headphone jack's that had decent power without the noise.

 

[YamiTenshi]

OMG, I have the same pcdp! Strange, I never noticed this thread before. I have this player and the SL-S120. I think it sounds great. I've never tried any of the older Sony units so I can't compare to them. But I have the Entempo Spirit and a cheap flash player, and my Panasonic easily beats them, even with a burned cd-r with 192 songs. I actually think the bass boost on this model works well. It makes my e2cs sound really muddy and bloated but I blame the e2cs for that. They actually improve the bass on my hd280s though. I don't use bass boost with the ksc75 since they seem to have plenty of bass already.

The S120 just isn't as good in terms of sound. This unit has no skip protection to begin with, but the headphone out sounds more muddy and the bass boost makes it worse.

My anti-skip works fine, I've actually never had a cd skip on me except if it was scrathed beyond repair or I purposely shook it like crazy to see where the threshold was. Other then that I've walked and run with it and I have dropped it at least twice from waiste height and it never skipped.

Anyway, it's been with me for 6 years now and except for a few dents and scrathes is a wonderful player.