Sony CD Walkman D-E350 - Portable music that'll follow me wherever I go.
Written: Jan 06 '03
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Pros: Sound, design, headphones, battery life.
Cons: Durability.
The Bottom Line: It is not really expensive and the batteries last for more than 30 hours. Great buy.
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| vince006's Full Review: Sony Walkman D-E350 Personal CD Player |
I’m a music freak. Therefore, I have to listen to some anywhere I go. And that’s why I needed a good (and urgent) replacement for my Phillips CD player that broke down after 5 years of constant (rude) use.
After a week of unsuccessfully scanning the local electronics stores seeking a good deal, I decided to take a look at the Best Buy web site to check the U.S. prices for the Sony CD Walkman D-E350. This Sony model grabbed my attention mainly because of its cool colors (specially the Sapphire, which is the one I own) and the novelty “street style” headphones. But the defining factor that made me buy this was the price: 49.99$, as opposed to the 119.99$ it costs down here in Monterrey.
In a visit to my closest Best Buy (that’s in McAllen), I purchased it... and now I’ll tell you about my experience (so far) with it.
Design and Basic Features
The CD player itself presents a very simplistic layout. There are the usual “volume /-“, “Stop”, “Rewind” and “Play/Fast-Forward” buttons, arranged in an intuitive pattern.
There are also “Sound” and “Menu” buttons. The former turns on and off the Digital Mega Bass feature, while the latter toggles the selected playback mode.
The “Hold” switch’s function is to block the buttons. This is useful when you don’t have a CD holder and don’t want to accidentally stop the music (or change the track) while carrying it. It also prevents the effects of curious little kids pressing the buttons at random.
The Sony CD Walkman D-E350 is very light and has a convenient size that makes it easy to carry around and put away. The colors look really cool (specially the Sapphire and Ruby ones), and the ornamental holographic “eye” makes it look more modern and complex than it really is. Overall, it’s a handy and visually appealing design.
Playback modes: Resume play, all tracks repeat, one track repeat and shuffle.
Sound
The Sony CD Walkman D-E350 is sonically perfect. It makes even the shoddiest remaster sound crisp, and lets you hear even the slightest detail from the music you’re listening to. If you don’t believe me, try listening to Dark Side of the Moon on one of this and prepared to be spoiled by sheer quality.
The Digital Mega Bass feature basically pumps up the power of the bass (duh), giving the sound a greater depth. I always have this feature turned on so I’m used to it, but if you don’t like it, you can turn it off with the “Sound” button. The DMB works very well mainly on rock albums (King Crimson’s Red sounds awesome), but it’ll also help some of the bass-heavy electronica stuff.
There are 10 volume levels, each with 3 different sub-levels... giving a grand total of 30. There’s a special feature for this CD player that prevents you from cranking the volume higher than 3.3. Sony kindly added this for us to listen music “for a lifetime” (using their products of course). How considerate.
The Headphones
The great sound is also to owe to the so-called “street style” headphones. These are worn in the back of your neck instead of over your head, which is great for people who like heavily gelled spiky hair (like me), or wearing caps (like me).
They look cool, sound cool, and are really comfy (although they make your ears sweat quite a bit). What more can you ask for?
Batteries
One of the greatest virtues of this CD Walkman is its modicum use of energy. A pair of AA batteries lasts 33 hours according to the package. I’ve been using this baby a lot since the day I bought it (early December), without replacing the batteries... and the digital screen marks that they have still 50% of their energy. That alone is worth an extra star for the rating.
Annoying things about the Sony CD Walkman D-E350
Just as it kicks butt on certain aspects, there’s a big problem about this CD player.
One of them is its durability. Mine hasn’t broken down (yet), but I’ve noticed that sometimes the music becomes glitchy (it sounds like a scratched CD) when the Walkman is turned on at the middle of a track. After reading some of the reviews for similar models, I’ve seen this is pretty common and it’s due to the laser thingy being bent (I bump my Walkman a lot when I listen to it in bed). As long as this doesn’t turn into a common occurrence, I’m still happy with my CD Walkman.
If it breaks down before the year its warranty lasts, I’ll update this review and bring the rating down to one star. A few months just aren’t enough for a Sony product to last... specially as a successor of a CD player that was twice as cheap and that worked perfectly for 5 entire years.
Just adding...
My Sony CD Walkman D-E350 has had an almost perfect record to date. It has a great sound, a good-looking design and isn’t really expensive for a Sony Walkman. I’ll just hope the ”Live fast, die young” motto doesn’t apply to it.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 49.99
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Epinions.com ID:
vince006
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Member: Vince
Location: Down here.
Reviews written: 29
Trusted by: 21 members
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