[Eagle_Driver]

Here is my RightMark report for the Sony D-EJ001 (with frequency response graphs):

With G-Protection Off:

Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB: +0.10, -0.78 Good
Noise level, dB (A): -83.9 Good
Dynamic range, dB (A): 84.2 Good
THD, %: 0.011 Good
IMD + Noise, %: 0.023 Good
Stereo crosstalk, dB: -83.6 Very good
IMD at 10 kHz, %: 0.048 Good


General performance: Good

With G-Protection On:

Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB: +0.20, -0.95 Average
Noise level, dB (A): -83.9 Good
Dynamic range, dB (A): 83.8 Good
THD, %: 0.026 Good
IMD + Noise, %: 1.619 Poor
Stereo crosstalk, dB: -85.3 Excellent
IMD at 10 kHz, %: 7.709 Very poor


General performance: Good

For comparison, here is my RightMark report for the Sony D-NE300:

With G-Protection set at 1:

Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB: +0.03, -0.20 Very good
Noise level, dB (A): -87.6 Good
Dynamic range, dB (A): 87.1 Good
THD, %: 0.035 Good
IMD + Noise, %: 0.045 Good
Stereo crosstalk, dB: -76.4 Very good
IMD at 10 kHz, %: 0.038 Good


General performance: Good

With G-Protection set at 2:

Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB: +0.04, -0.21 Very good
Noise level, dB (A): -87.4 Good
Dynamic range, dB (A): 86.7 Good
THD, %: 0.034 Good
IMD + Noise, %: 0.468 Poor
Stereo crosstalk, dB: -76.2 Very good
IMD at 10 kHz, %: 1.928 Poor


General performance: Good

Now for the frequency response graph comparison between the two players (G-Protection set to their minimum settings):

In short, the D-EJ001 does not perform as well as the D-NE300, despite its more powerful headphone out. There is some compression in the higher frequencies with this PCDP, even without antiskip. (The iRiver SlimX PCDPs, despite their FR flaws, roll off smoothly, unlike the D-EJ001.) But the G-Protection on the D-EJ001 actually compresses the audio significantly, unlike the negligible compression that the G-PRO 2 setting imposes on the D-NE300 - in fact, the D-EJ001's anti-skip compresses the audio even more than the compressed anti-skip mode in the "good" Panasonic PCDPs.

So the D-EJ001 sounds mediocre. But hey, it costs only $30! You get what you pay for, in this case.

Hope you've enjoyed this comparison mini-review.

Randall

 

[notnormal]

Thanks for the mini review!

 

[bundee1]

Does the D-ej001 skip with the g-protection off? I need a decent cheap cd player to listen to my used cd finds on the train.

 

[wwmidia]

very interesting.
I'm curious about the performance of Panasonic shock protection. Words said it is way worse than Sony's G-protection, and it is true to my ears.

 

[terrymx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wwmidia very interesting. I'm curious about the performance of Panasonic shock protection. Words said it is way worse than Sony's G-protection, and it is true to my ears.

holy crap, you got the square cd players. take some pics and post it in the picture thread.

 

[wwmidia]

Quote:

Originally Posted by terrymx holy crap, you got the square cd players. take some pics and post it in the picture thread.

square? I'm sorry, which one did you mean?
I guess all my players are quite plain here and not worth of posting

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wwmidia very interesting. I'm curious about the performance of Panasonic shock protection. Words said it is way worse than Sony's G-protection, and it is true to my ears.

In general, yes.

But the G-Protection circuitry on this particular low-end Sony (D-EJ001 and its radio-equipped sibling D-FJ003) actually hurts its sound quality much more than the G-Protection circuitry does on the higher-priced Sonys. That's due in part to the antiskip circuitry on this particular Sony running very long compared to that of other G-Protection Sonys: 45 seconds, compared to the 25 seconds or so of other Sonys (at their maximum settings in both cases). What's more, this particular cheap Sony has a smaller cache buffer memory than higher-priced Sonys: It has only 1MB of buffer memory, compared to the 2MB of buffer memory on the higher-priced Sonys.