Conference cookie::notes$archive:cd_v1

I have one of the Technics portables, and while it hasn't given me any real
problems, I'd have to recommend the Sony (especially if you can get it for the
same price as the Technics).

While the Technics is physically smaller than a D-5, if you consider the size
of the carrying case, etc, I think that's the only real advantage.

I've A/Bed my Technics against a friend's Sony, and I can tell you with a fair
amount of certainty that the headphone amp in the Technics clips fairly badly
where the Sony does not at comparable volume levels.  The volume level is part
of the problem, in that if you're using a medium inefficient set of headphones
(like the pair of lousy Koss I picked up a few weeks ago), and play a medium
quiet record (I mean one recorded at a low volume level), you may well find
that you have the volume on the Technics maxed out (as I have several times),
which is putting you square into the clipping range.  Reducing the volue gets
rid of the clipping, but at the expense of most of the sound.  Listening to 
the same material on a D-5, I get the same volume level without maxing out
the volume control, and I don't get the clipping that I get from the Technics.

Of course, this isn't a problem if all you want to do is wire the thing up to
your stereo, because the line-out signal (which, of course, isn't passed
through the headphone amp) sounds alright.  Why they'd go to all the trouble
of making a portable CD player, only to put such a mediocre/poor sounding
headphone amp on it is completely beyond me, but while I've had more than
one other party confirm the clipping, the normal reaction I get when people
want to listen to it is to glaze their eyes over and declare that "it's
perfect sound" (after all, it IS a CD player).  I guess if it says CD on it,
you can get away with anything, huh?

My final complaint about the Technics (at least mine in particular) is
that it occasionally has a real hard time reading the first track on a
disc.  Sometimes, upwards of 20 seconds or so.  If it looks like it's
having problems, stopping and restarting it usually helps, but it's
still a pain.  On top of that, the electrical connection in the latch on
the cover doesn't always make the best connection, so you have to make
sure to squeeze it shut real well before it'll try reading the TOC. 

Buy the Sony.

    Service Merchandise carries the Tech and Sony for ~$190. I have
    the Technics. Ok but trading to a FD1041. 
    Good luck. Ed

I've had the Sony D7 for several months and have used it both as
a portable and as a component in my home system.  I love it.

As a portable:
	- After a full charge of the battery I ran the player
	  until it stopped.  It lasted two hours longer than
	  the user manual stated.
	- It takes a lot of physical abuse.  The only time it
	  mistracked was when the player fell.  Normal handling
	  does not bother it.
	- Sound quality is decent through the earphone jack.  Its
	  not as good as when using the player with an external
	  amp obviously.

As a system component:
	- Sound quality is excellent.
	- The DC and amp wires are shorter than I would have liked.
	  This forces you to keep the player close to your amp and
	  not necessarily close to you for programming and searching,
	  etc.

The special features rival a lot of home CD players.  Indexing is one
of the few features it does not have.  The controls are simple and
easy to use.

I have seen the D7 on sale at Cumuos (RT28 Salem, N.H.) for under $200.


			Jim

    D-7 questions:
    
    1) Does it take +9v like the D-5?
    
    2) How long does that battery last?  (or how long does the manual
    say it lasts?)
    
    GAS

I don't mean to doubt anyone's word, but you've seen the D7 for under
$200?  The best prices I've seen from NY mail order places seems to place
it around $220 or so.  And the Technics best price I've seen is $209 and
thats without the battery pack.

If those prices are for real, do they accept orders over the phone to a
charge card?

-tl

Video Station in S.  Merrimack a few weeks ago (when I got my Technics)
was selling out its stock of the portable Technics, because they we're
moving fast.  Their price (without the battery) was $200, plus $50 for
the battery.  At the same time, the Lechmere's in the Mall of NH was
selling the Technics battery for $20, so the entire set could be had at
$220.  (Actually, I ended up buying a $50 battery at Video Station,
because I didn't know better, and a $20 battery, so I spent $270 for a
player and two battery packs (no sales tax, right?)). 

I wouldn't say the prices given were out of line.

I just bought a Sony D14 from Cuomos for $149.95.  It looks and sounds 
exactly like a D5, as far as I can tell, except for the degree of 
shininess of the case.  It comes with the AC adaptor and cables for 
connection to a home stereo.  

My idea was a follows:  I want to start buying CDs rather than records 
whenever the CDs is available.  This unit gets me into the market at 
minimal cost while I wait for the Meridians (or other brands apparently 
having high quality audio circuits) to come down in price over the next 
few years.  There are also some new features that might turn out to be 
useful (like compression circuitry for cassette taping, disk changing, 
and so forth).  If I buy a fancier unit later, I end up with a nice 
portable as well.

Having used the Sony for a few days (and some friends' other fancier 
units), I like the simplicity of the Sony.  You simply put the thing on 
like a record.  It has the equivalent of cueing, moving to the next 
track, and a fast search.  I'm not sure just what else I need.

Alex

    I love my D-7!!!!
    
    The battery pack lasts over 4 hours (up to about 6) of continuous
    palying.  Also the pack is is not NICAD, it is lead acid and heavy.
    But is holds a large charge.

    matt

        Not to be a party ppoper, but....
        
        I sorta have mixed feelings on the D-5. My wife loves it for its
        portability. She takes it to school where she teaches part time
        three days a week, and listens to it while grading papers. She and
        all of the other teachers in the department love it. 
        
        I haven't been so impressed. Part of my lack of excitement is that
        there is a lot of material that my wife listens to (classical) on
        CD, but very little of what I listen to (acoustic folk music - NOT
        windam hill). 
        
        As far as sound quality, it is definitly the worst CD player I've
        seriously listened to; but then the rest of them have all been
        audiophile or close to audiophile equipment (PS, Kyocera,
        Meridian, Nak, Revox...). My wife has better ears for this that I
        do, and she agrees that its sound quality stinks. But then out of
        a boom box, who can tell, and it IS only $170 or so these days. 
        
        Finally, it just isn't reliable in my opinion. In just over a
        years time, it has failed three times. The first was what I would
        call a burn in problem, and the dealer swapped it for a new unit
        when it was about 2 weeks old. Since then it twice has had
        skipping problems. It took Sony 6+ weeks to fix it the first time.
        The second time, after Sony told me what they wanted to fix it, I
        screwed around with it myself, seeking back and forth across a
        disk about a dozen times, and the problem went away. It seems fine
        as long as we don't move it around. Great for a "portable".
        
        Sony considers items like the power supply to be "disposable".
        That means that when the cord breaks from abuse, shell out $35
        bucks to Sony for a new one. They couldn't even sell me the
        special connector that they use to connect power to the thing so I
        could build my own battery pack. I had to take a Radio Shaft
        connector that was close, and hack it to fit. 
        
        Given it to do over again, I would at least take the Magnavox for
        a spin (see the note on that one) before buying the D-5. For use
        in my system at home, the portable is just a fill in until the
        market shakes down a bit, and the audiophile players, like the PS,
        become reasonable and available. 

        The note on the Magnavox CD9510 is #308. It lists for $230, and
        the latest Service Merchandise catalog had it for $190. 

    Just a word in favor of the Sony D-5.  I've had mine for a year
    now and it has NEVER given me a single problem.  It sounds very
    good - I haven't tried to compare it to full-size players nor do
    I care to, and has never failed, mistracked or malfunctioned in
    any way.  I don't use it as a portable.
    				Steve

    Another word in favor of the Sony D-5.  I've had mine for a year
    and a half and have had no problems. I bought it with using it
    in the car in mind. It gets used at least 1 hour per day in the
    car which has to be one of the most demanding environments for
    a CD player. It never skips, fails to load or any other such
    thing. The biggest problem it has is that its power hungry
    when it comes to running it off the battery. It only last
    for about 1.5 hours on the nicads. At this point I would
    recommend the D7.

	Frank

    My last apparently got eaten by the network... (.11, I think..)
    
    The gist of it was: I have a 9510, but I can't get a plug that'll
    fit the external power connector. It's smaller than the smallest
    RS plug (3.5mm od); my best guess is that its about 3mm od.  NAP
    parts can't seem to figure out how I can get one; they don't list
    it.  The NAP "accessories hotline" doesn't list a car adapter for
    it, so I either have to hack the unit or not use it in my car; I
    haven't decided which will happen.  Also, the 9510 seems to be fairly
    vibration-sensitive; when I use it out on my deck it will mistrack
    from a good stomp.  If I get problem 1 solved, I'll write again
    as to whether it will survive in a car...
    
    					...tek

    Hmmm.  Maybe I better find out if my D7 is up to par...
    
    When I use my D7 in the car (on the battery pack -- I just put it
    on the passenger seat), it mistracks on even *small* bumps.
    
    Every bump that jars the car slightly causes the player to 'skip
    back' in the song.  I've never had it mistrck when carrying it
    whith the shoulder strap, (or for that matter, when it's
    stationary -- with an exception of a cat hair once), but it's a real
    zero in the car.  In addition it will mistrack if you tap the
    player -- not a hard tap, but a solid one.
    
    Is this normal?
    
                            Roak
    

     
    Re: .15
    
    >When I use my D7 in the car (on the battery pack -- I just put it
    >on the passenger seat), it mistracks on even *small* bumps.
    
    Have you considered checking your car's shocks and not the D7? :-)
    
    						- Don
    

    True, true.  ;-)
    
    It's a Toyota Corolla, so the ride is somewhat stiff, but I don't
    think it's *that* bad!
    
    It doesn't have the mass of a Olds to smooth out the bumps!
    
                              Roak
    

    .15
	> In addition it will mistrack if you tap the
	> player -- not a hard tap, but a solid one.

	This appears to be quite true. My flatmate has just brought
    a D-50MkII (a D-7 is called that in Australia) and after reading this
    note we decided to test it out. If you move the player about
    it doesn't mistrack as long as there are no sharp jolts (you don't
    jolt when you walk) but with any sort of tap the player will
    mistrack backwards. The tap need not be very hard, infact flicking
    the side of the case caused this behaviour.
	My comment on this was you mainly sit it on a shelf or carry
    it so who cares. As for putting it into a car, no way.....especially
    mine, I own a 4WD.

				Barry

    I'm also interested in adding the CD portable to my car system.
     Just out of curiosity, how are people hooking them into their systems?
    Extra plugs into the power amps?

    I modified my headend (blaupunkt Tuscon) to have CD inputs; I used
    an extra half-pole on the CPS switch to control it.  That way, I
    can use the volume/fader/balance on the headend with the CD.  I
    haven't tried it yet (other than with the CD plugged into an extension
    cord - useful driving range 100 feet 8-) ) so I don't know if I'll
    run into ground-loops or anything.  I haven't found the power plug
    that fits my Magmabox yet, so...
    
    						..tek

    There are reviews of currently available portables in the July
    issue of Digital Audio and Compact Disk Review.
    
    Dave Quimby