Panasonic SL-CT800 CD/MP3 Player impressions

[Tina]

i had the player for about a week now, and despite trying to convince myself that it's good, i hate it more and more everyday. i don't know, maybe i am just used to the sound of my ct570 but i made a very revealing discovery this morning that will make my new pana a good company for my resting slim-x in the closet.
a student gave me a cd today; korean artist (fyi Sung Shi Kyung) i instantly placed the cd in my new pana. the first minutes of the first track was a rendition of harmonicas. whoa, no wonder the kid gave me the cd, must be one of those defected discs on sale, or so i thought. i could literally here bad sonic interpretation as if listening to the fm radio when you didn't get the tuner on the exact frequency. i transfered the cd to my 570 and it was as clear as distilled water. there you go guys. i think i don't need to say more. you can audition the unit and see for yourselves.
the only pros of the portable: optical out: but only works with wav/audio cd NOT mp3 or wma.
good style. the black one looks sweeter.
not as thick and bulky as the slim-x and the sony (although i have high hopes that the next sony will be better) and more solid built. pana always have marks aesthetically.
good eye candy: "knight-rider" like beams runs back and forth the buttons of the main body during playback. two colors for indication. yellow for wav playback. orange for mp3/wma.
must be the shock protection tech: you can see the cd rest/stop for a few seconds even if the playback is not stopping (sorry if i'm clueless and this works on all shock protected units.)
magnetic dc charger/adapter is a nice touch. although i think this is totally useless since you can do without it. i think it's their substitute for a cradle.
very looong batt life of 120 mins. and from what i observed, this is not an exaggeration like the sony batt life claims. i only used the gumsticks and they lasted for a while.
the line-out sounds good. identical with my 570 line out.
at least the headphone out sounds better than the headphone out of my brother's Sony D-EJ925.
cheaper than the slim-x or the sony.
more cons: no filmware upgradable feature
same unsturdy and simple remote that the later pana pcdp's are using. i.e. you can easily press stop even if you only want to increase your volume. unless you make a conscious action to press the very edge of the circle pad.
can't read text titles from wav files, only mp3 and wma.
unlike the sony pcdp's, the headphone out can't give sound if the line out is in use.
if the remote beep feature is on, everytime you turn the volume up or down, the beep in every step interferes with the sound of the track. beep beep beep ...beep. can't figure out what's with pana on this. anyone?

look on the bright side folks, you can still wait for the new sony cdmp3 and hope it has an optical out and the sound does not change from the DCJ01.

cheers.

NEW EDIT: i just got word from the korean forums here that sony will not be making a newer cdmp3 player

. i don't know how accurate their sources are but the statement i got seemed to be very "black and white" clear.
another info i got, the slim-x 2 or iMP-400 still has that "hiss" like the original slim-x. they said it's a 'lesser' hiss but the downer is, it's still there. looks like i'll be exchanging my new pana with a DCJ01 soon

. if i can convince a korean merchant who can't even speak english. wish me luck.

 

[myself, aka me]

g'luck

All I can add to that is that skip protection on my E900 works the same as you described, spins to load data, then stops for 50 seconds (woohoo 10 BONUS seconds). Such a pity that E900 is dead.
meh

 

[leon]

Sorry to hear about the CT800 Tina! At least you got to see those pretty illuminated buttons

Panasonics have always given out loud beeps... it's on the MD portables too, and usually you have to turn it off every time you remove the battery.

In my experience, Panasonics are the most reliable of all when it comes to published battery life, the battery level meters and charging.. not just the recent models but most of them. These days they also seem to go to extremes to squeeze out battery life. What can I say - if I knew nothing about walkmans, I too would pick the one with "world's smallest/lightest/longest" titles printed on a sticker up front.

Let's just hope that Ayu doesn't really use Panasonic MDPs despite all the MJ50s she might have been given

Deja-vu on how the button is hard to press down the center (the MJ7/MJ5 remote was like this). Compare that to the thing on Sharp's 2-line remote

 

[Tina]

Quote:

Originally posted by leon In my experience, Panasonics are the most reliable of all when it comes to published battery life, the battery level meters and charging.. not just the recent models but most of them.

sigh...another use for my ct800 aside from being a beautiful paper weight. a good charger of two gumsticks at a time.
as for remotes, yup, my favorite remote so far is the one that comes with my ds8, my first sharp so far. and i heard that the older sharp remotes like the one from your (leon) MT831 is known to be the best from long time md users. but for aestheics, the tube remotes of sony glaze my eyes if i'm a person who has never seen a remote for portables before (she-tarzan).

arrrgggg...i want a Sony DCJ01. me, i think you should teach me a lesson from being a traitor instead of sticking to ATRAC (shhhh).

 

[leon]

As long as you don't mind the size of PCDPs, why not... no such thing as betrayal

I don't think I said the 831 remote is my favorite? Just said the jog dials are easier to hold down when you're on the move?

I started making CD-Rs yesterday (so I could sell all the CDs I bought). Guess what... they play like any factory-pressed CD on my old ('96) Panasonic CDP, but takes an awfully long time to read on the CT780.

 

[zowie]

Tina, thanks for some helpful info.

 

[purk]

Leon,
CD-R is very prone to scratch...so be aware, friend. Keep it in a safe place.

Tina,
Sorry about your exp. about the ct-800. Even panasonic is getting worst this day, sound wise. Now we have no where to turn to for high quality sound, accept get one of those newer MD with dolby headphone and 1 bit digital amp. Shame on Pana and Sony. Good luck for me...with all the legendary Discmans and MDs I have.

By the way, just pick up Audio-Technica ATH-100Ti (The Titanium cans) and things sound so sweet. Its serial number is 378. It is a limitted model (2000 units only) to celebrate 40th year anniversary. Love this!!

Purk
PUrk

 

[leon]

[edit]

 

[Tina]

Quote:

Originally posted by leon I started making CD-Rs yesterday (so I could sell all the CDs I bought). Guess what... they play like any factory-pressed CD on my old ('96) Panasonic CDP, but takes an awfully long time to read on the CT780.

just curious. i think you made 320 kbps. sonically, i think it's identical to the ears. have fun!!!

Quote:

Originally posted by purk Now we have no where to turn to for high quality sound, accept get one of those newer MD with dolby headphone and 1 bit digital amp.

that's my sharp md-ds8

. and i love every second with it. with the beyers in a quite room, it beats any cd player soundwise.

Quote:

Originally posted by purk By the way, just pick up Audio-Technica ATH-100Ti (The Titanium cans) and things sound so sweet. Its serial number is 378. It is a limitted model (2000 units only) to celebrate 40th year anniversary. Love this!!

congratulations, you lucky dawg!!!

Quote:

Originally posted by zowie Tina, thanks for some helpful info.

my pleasure. i don't want people here to make the same mistake i did

.

 

[myself, aka me]

I got no problems with ya defecting to the DJ01 camp.. Why should I?
About the DJ01: Can't fast forward or rewind in MP3 mode.

.

I'm picking up an MDS-PC1 soon, so long as no one else walks in to sony style perth walks in and "steals" it before mystyler has a chance to get his hands on it

(it happened to the JE330 i was after

)

 

[Tachyon]

Hey all, newbie question here.

I am really quite shocked to hearing about the poor performance of the CT-800. I am interested to know HOW bad is it exactly?

I am living in Japan, and somehow I cant find the slimX here anywhere. The Sony are at a discount and Pana CT800 are showing up all over th place.


Tina, How do you compare the sound quality between the slimX and the CT800? anything wrong with these 2 players that you have to lock them in the closet? haha. Is the sound quality something better headphones will fix? I will be using it mostly with headphone out.

As fo the Sony, its really bulky, quite an old design and showing up at discounts prices all over

I am still trying to decide on a good MP3/CD player, which one is best of the lot?

Top of my list are (were)

-SlimX 350 Type2 with 16Mb flash mem
-Pana CT800.

I really hate the looks of the IMP-400 for some odd reason, looks like some cheap made in China product, ESPICALLY in the wine red.... eek (well, its made in china......)

 

[linnem]

Does any one know if there will be a recorder like the sharp md-ds8 out any time soon?? I'm trying to decide betweem a new cd, cd+mp3 and md. The sharp looks crisp, but I need the recording feture. How does the pana m250 fare against the sharp?

 

[leon]

Quote:

Originally posted by Tachyon I am living in Japan, and somehow I cant find the slimX here anywhere. The Sony are at a discount and Pana CT800 are showing up all over th place.

According to this review (not saying it's necessarily true, so good luck!), there's no official distributor for iRiver products in Japan, but the reviewer managed to find it on the website of some store (didn't say which store it was).
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/do...731/saki73.htm

linnem,
My understanding is that most of the Japanese MD crowd uses home equipment to record - boombox, micro/mini-systems, and so on - and the portable would be playback-only... So Sharp may not be in a hurry to release a new portable recorder.

The MT770(888) was a fairly conservative product in terms of how different it is from the MT77(877), so you could interpret the situation either as
(a) Sharp will make a big leap this year - all-new components, etc.
or (b) Sharp will try to curb their investment in portable MD recorders.

 

[linnem]

Thanks!

I'm very much in doubt. I'm 1/2 an inch away from ordering a porta corda amp, partly paid for by the sale of my d-cj01 so I'm going to need a new source.
I owned a Sony MZ-R35 a couple of years ago and was very satisfied with the sound / build exept for the noise level which was slightly higher then on my sony D-465 (EU model).
So I'm all for a MD (with a line-out) if it will do justice to the Porta Corda and the noise level is lower on home burnt md's today (pre-recorded was VERY close to cd), otherwise I'll stick with a new pcdp.
By the way... will the corda add noise / hiss???

Tina....when you say that your MD will win soundwise over your CD any day, is that from the headphoneout or lineout?

 

[Tina]

Quote:

Originally posted by Tachyon Tina, How do you compare the sound quality between the slimX and the CT800? anything wrong with these 2 players that you have to lock them in the closet? haha. Is the sound quality something better headphones will fix? I will be using it mostly with headphone out.

i'm not very knowledgeable with audiophile jargons but the sound of the ct800 just can't take high frequencies at loud volumes, like the high pitches of the harmonica from the cd i listened to. it gives sibilance and harshness kinda like too much 'shhhhhh'. i tried it with miles davis last night and it's okay with low tones but when miles gives his high pitches, the player just kinda pisses

. as for the slim-x, i guess you can say it has a more decent sound compared to the pana but there's a "hiss" when you're listening to quiet music like soft classicals and polite blues. so i just can't take listening to it for a full minute. i think it's because my headphones just reveal these noises too much and i like loud volumes especially with my beyers; especially when i use an amp. but the pana is way ahead of the slim-x when it comes to line-out. i have no other comparisons for portables but i think you can't get a much better sounding line-out than this. it's identical with my classic ct570. if you like pop, dance or rock music, slim-x will be fine for you since you'll be using the headphone out a lot. and i heard from the forums here in korea that i-river has fixed the 'hiss' problem "a bit" on the newer slim-x but it's still there. i don't know really what it sounds like now but i'm sure more on the better side (i hope). but if you want the best sounding headphone out from a cdmp3 portable, the sony is your answer. somebody here said that it sounds like one of the old sony pcdp that doesn't sound compressed. dig around this forum and you'll find out.
as for fixing the 'bad sound' of the pana and the slim-x using headphones, the better the headphones you'll have, the more revealing the noises are especially with my new pana. i guess this means you can use the stock buds if you don't want to be bothered by these noises (pardon the pun)

.

linnem
the ds8 has no line-out. and of course from the line-out of the ct570. please take note that this is purely IMO. using my beyers and an amp at a vey loud volume the ds8 just reveals much much better detail and space than the pcdp. i guess this is the perk of the digital amp. just like every owner described it, you can clearly sense the separation of every instrument in the music. i guess you can say "3d effect". i just can't explain how wonderful it sounds like when you listen to orchestras or sountrack suites. you can clearly discern the mixing volumes and distances of the instruments played. please everybody out there, audition this sweet unit and see for yourselves.
and linnem i see that you're looking for a recorder. sorry but the ds8 is only a player.