Too many problems for the price
Written: Mar 12 '01
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Pros: Doesn't skip, Quality feel, battery life
Cons: Price, no display on unit, problems
The Bottom Line: Too expensive for what you get.
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| Chevyman16's Full Review: Sony Walkman D-EJ915 Personal CD Player |
I bought this cd player for $300 Canadian. I used it for a couple weeks and then returned it to the store that I bought it at and traded it for a Panasonic SL-CT470 that cost only $130.
First the good things about this cd player: It's the smallest out there. It feels very high quality with the metal lid. The remote is a good idea. The included rechargeable battery pack lasts more than 20 hours. It comes with a cool looking cloth carrying case that you will never use.
Now the bad: After using it for a few days I tried playing one of my burned cd's and it wouldn't change tracks. Almost any track I tried to play it would just sit there doing nothing for about 6 seconds and then try and play the previous track, also unsuccessfully. You could listen through the cd from the start but could not change tracks. After I found this out I tried every brand of cd-r I had. Ironically it had trouble with every Sony cd-r that I own (about 10 of them) and it also had trouble with all of my Memorex 80 minute cd-r's. Maxells and tdk's worked fine. My older Sony (with ESP2) played all of these cd-r's with no trouble at all. This scared me. I couldn't see how any brand new cd player would have trouble with any cd-r's unless something was wrong with it, and I didn't want a $300 cd player breaking on me a few months later.
The next day at school I was listening to it on the bus for a half an hour then walking through the hall at school suddenly the left headphone cut out. I thought my headphones had broken at first, but they are only 2 months old Sony street styles. I played with the cord and realized that it wasn't the headphones. It also wasn't the headphone jack, because it only played out of the left side through the remote jack and the main unit jack. I put it away then tried it at the end of the day and it was working fine again.
By this time I decided that I would return the cd player as soon as I could because I couldn't trust it. It also took longer to recognize the cd than my old one did.
Now about the remote, it looks cool and is a good idea, however it feels kind of cheap and isn't designed very well. The volume slider button is hard to use and feels like it will break off. The jog dial that controls play/pause, and track forward/backward felt cheap as well. If you break the remote (and it will happen eventually) then you lose all of the advanced features and the display and you will have no idea how much battery power you have left. The remote will cost about $100 Canadian to replace. (not worth it)
The display on the remote was nice looking and easy to use however.
If you're wondering why I didn't buy the Sony D-EJ815 that has a display on the main unit this is why: In Canada it comes with an even cheaper remote that has no display on it. I also read a lot of bad things about the sound quality of the 815. I think the 915 sounds a bit better. Also the 815 comes with cheaper nicad batteries that don't last very long and it's only $50 cheaper than the 915.
I didn't have a problem with the sound quality of the Sony D-EJ915. When I compared it to my old Sony D-E446CK it sounded a bit better, and the 2 stage bass boost worked good a lower volume levels without adding any distortion. It has the best bass boost I've ever used. However I just got my Panasonic SL-CT470 which has been called the best sound portable cd player by audiophiles and although I haven't been able to compare it side by side to the Sony I believe it sounds better.
This is the same with all portable cd players, but I thought i'd better mention the headphones that come with it are of no use unless you care nothing about how your music sounds, and in that case you wouldn't be buying a $300 cd player.
For the price I paid, this cd player didn't cut it.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 300
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Epinions.com ID:
Chevyman16
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Member: Mike Kennedy
Reviews written: 33
Trusted by: 7 members
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