[Paul Laurens]

I have a Panasonic SL-S222 portable. I enjoy music on it well enough. When I am in certain moods the sound quality comes to the fore, and it is not good. I wonder, if I am to get another Pana player, are the 470 or 570 -- or any other -- really significantly better than this one? I know "significantly" is difficult to define. I just assume portables are only good relative to each other, but on an overall scale are generally mid-fi. I hope this is not true. I don't know whether to get another portable or simpley buy a budget home unit.

 

[Deuce_Bigalow]

The sound would probably be better on the Panasonic 470 but I thought I should let people know the newer Panasonics aren't very tough. The 470 I bought in March and sold to my friend just died. It got dropped twice. Once I dropped it onto the grass and it didn't even stop playing. The second time my friend dropped it about 3 feet onto that plastic kitchen tile stuff and it won't even spin the disc now. It says No Disc and no matter how many times I try I can't get it to work.

By comparison my Sony D-E446 got dropped at least 10 times without having any problems.