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Best Portable CD Player

I would like to replace my ailing Radio Shack CD 3400 portable CD player for those occasional times when I listen with headphones. My dilemma is, I do not know what to replace it with. Some of you may have heard the extraordinary claims made about the Radio Shack CD 3400 five or six years ago when they first came out. My experience with this unit, using Grado SR-80 headphones is that this combo is quite extraordinary. I rarely put any faith in reviews, but this time somebody really called it. One of the strong points of this unit aside from the good sonics was that it could drive the larger headphones due to a seemingly more powerful on-board amp. So, if anyone out there in audioland has any suggestions, I am all ears. Lance
lubachl
extremephono
123 posts
 
I had recently brought all the potential candidates, unfortunately, the ailing CD3400 turns out to be the best sounding, followed by the Panasonic (couple different models have same innards, my sample was 870 - splash proof version of 570).

The hypes from Head-fi prompted the inclusion of DT25. I won it on Ebay, and the seller graciously took it back, a lost of $10 shipping. The Sony skips at the slightest move, and the high frequency is rough, very antiquated brick-wall filter.

One thing that I haven't tried: those portable DVD player may have better sound than CD player if used on CD only. Try the Panasonic/Sony/Pioneer without the screen. I was shocked how good a Pioneer $199 DVD player the 525 compared to my Philips SACD-1000.
brianmgrarcom
1,317 posts
 
What about the Sony D-EJ915, this seems to be well spoken of?
jahall
1 posts
 
I apologize for bumping this old topic, but I have done quite a bit of research on this, so I want to share my experience.
I have one Sony DVP-9000ES DVD/CD/SACD player  https://wheelstips.com/best-car-dvd-player  (which is now a classic, plays superbly with SACD’s and very well on DVD’s and CD’s) and four Panasonic DVD player/recorders with HD’s. Two of the Panny’s are a little over two years old and two I bought last fall. I went with the Panny’s to replace our VCR’s as they started to wear out at our various TV locations. I choose the Panny recorders because they support DVD-RAM. Here is what I have learned from my experience and some research.

1. Sony ES is a huge step up from Sony.

2. Sony has the most advanced video D/A converters in the market and usually win on pure picture quality if you have a TV that will display all of the quality.

3. I have had no reliability problems with any of the units, the Sony ES is probably 5 years old now. (Hope I did not just jinx my units. )

4. The prices of the Panny’s come down every year and they have more features for less money.

5. There have been reports that Panny’s quality / reliability has dropped in the last two years.

So here is my advice. If you have a high-end video system with a big screen and really want to watch a DVD get a Sony ES DVD player. On the other hand if you are just going to plug this thing into an ordinary TV consider a Panny DVD player / recorder. For about $100 more you not only get a good DVD player but you can use it like a VCR to do time shifting and they are so easy to use that it makes the old VCR’s look like dinosaurs.
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