Just recently my Sony DEJ001 Walkman died on me. It was a pretty good player with decent sound, played everything, and was really stylish. But now it seems to dislike any CD I throw at it, even newly bought CDs or freshly burned mixes would skip a ton or display the infamous 'no disc'. This meant that I had to spring and search out for another CD player. At this point I was more looking at price than anything else. I don't always have a ton of money to spend on CD players every four months so this also means durability as well. Suprisingly while looking at Family Dollar they had RACKS and RACKS of CD players made by Lenoxx Sound/Durabrand [same company--don't believe me then go to lenoxx.com]. The first one I set my eye on was one with anti-skip and a remote but it didn't seem durable enough to me and was a little more expensive then the other CD-85 I was eye-ing on. I looked at it and really did like it. The headphones I could tell [like on all of them] were going to break fast but the CD player looked great. The design was simple to use, the screen was large, it had line-out, anti-skip, and a bass boost system--all of which I was looking for. And price--$20--cheaper than any other CD player I could find unless I wanted one without anti-skip [something I wasn't going to settle for]. They had two colors, blue and red. The blue was dark, slightly more towards a teal color, and then they have a brighter red that looked slightly more neutral and more stylish. I went for the red--looking back I think I made the right decision--I think the blue would scratch easier and I really do like the red color. Overall, for $20, I got a decent CD player that's stylish, has good sound, anti-skip, bass boost, line out, and more volume than I'll ever need.

The Lenoxx/Durabrand CD-85 is an anti-skip CD player with a lot of features for only a slim $20. It has the normal skip/search/stop/play/pause functions and it is fully programmable. It also has repeat one/all and a random function which I really like and use when I burn mixes from iTunes (Never Windows Media Player...I don't care how many people use it but with a 5% burn rate?). It has a pretty sweet bass boost system and a line out jack to connect with a cassette adaptero r a stereo system without blowing the speakers on it with how loud you turn on your CD player. It also has a 4.5 volt jack so you can connect it to an outlet--of course it doesn't come with one but I'll be honest and say I've never seen a CD player come with one--even the Car Ready ones.

Sound Quality
The sound quality on the CD-85 is pretty nice. The bass boost adds a bigger punch than I thought it would and is comparable to the one on my old Sony. It has two options, on and off. For moreof the urban stuff I'll leave it on but when I'm listening to pop, rock, or metal I'll tend to leave it off so it adds more detail to the music. The only thing I'll gripe about sound is the treble. It does give out a nice treble--but maybe a little too good. It doesn't hiss all the time but sometimes it'll become a bit too much to handle. But overall, it has a nice sound quality with especially good bass.

One thing I REALLY do like about it is that it has plenty of volume. Every once in awhile--as much as it is bad for me--I like to crank it when a really good tune comes on. If you have a weak set of headphones or you just love loudness this player is for you. You'll get tons of volume out of it no matter what.

Portability
This is probably a favorite of the player. This is, of all the CD players I've owned, the slimmest one yet. Its depth is really really small, sometimes I wonder how everything seems to fit in there but it does all fit somehow. It's about the width of an AA battery, go ahead and pick one up to see its width. Its weight is pretty normal--you'll have no problems carrying it or anything but it's not the lightest.

Durability
Well, I can't comment a whole lot about this since I've owned it for a short time but even for $20, it seems much more durable than the Sony when I first opened it. The lid is really held strongly, and the whole thing seems like it could withstand a beating pretty well. I already dropped it with no noticeable scratches and it still works like I opened it a few minutes ago.

One bad thing about durability are the headphones. While they have decent sound quality, they aren't durable. The left speaker started to pop and when I slightly and accidentally pulled out the plug the plug snapped in half so the right side would only work so that meant they were disposable. Make sure you take good care of your headphones or have a seperate pair if something goes wrong.

Reading Discs
The CD-85 says to read CDs and CD-Rs. It doesn't say CD-RWs but I still threw one in and it did just fine. I will compliment its ability to read really scratched discs, I had one that was pretty beat up that even my computer wouldn't play and did pretty good on this player. The lens overall just seems much stronger than other CD players I've owned.

The CD-85 also has a 60-second anti-skip function which will remember up to 60-seconds of a song so whenever it skips it will play its memory. This makes it a very good player for someone looking for a jogproof styled one. It does work to its limit and I've had no problems with it so far.

Style & Design
One important factor in deciding on a CD player is how it looks and how easy it is to use. The CD85 is a pretty simple and stylish CD player to use. The CD player is either red or teal blue in color and the buttons are silver styled and the backing of it is fully gray. It's not extremely stylish but it's pretty pleasant looking. The display will show the track, minute, second, how much buffer you have, and what programs you're running.

The buttons on the top of the player are U circled and are all slightly different sized which makes it a little easier to use in the dark or to memorize how the buttons work. The volume is analog so you might want to be careful to make sure the volume doesn't slip. The battery placement gets good marks, they put it under inside the player to get them out of the way. They are also not right under the CD door so they're easy to access and to get in and out.

Okay, one annoying thing. No lock button. One thing I found out is that if a CD isn't in it and it gets turned on, within ten seconds it'll turn off. So I guess your lock button is removing the CD, but I'd still rather have a simple and seperate lock off button.

Battery Life
To be perfectly honest, I wasn't extremely impressed with the battery life. I only got about seven hours on a fresh pair of AA alkalines. While they're easy to replace, short battery life gets annoying after awhile. Luckily, the people who made these were smart enough to put a low battery symbol that flashes when you have about a half an hour of battery life--so the battery life is slightly less of an issue.

Warranty
Well, this is something that is going to make the $20 worthwhile. Lenoxx warrants the CD85 for a whole year for warranty. All you have to do is keep the receipt and they'll gladly replace or repair it free of charge. Of course if you can take it back to the store you bought it from it would be easier to do then sending it to Lenoxx but if the store warranty is out just send it to LEnoxx with your proof of purchase.

Price
I paid only $20.00 for Lenoxx's CD85. Overall, I think it's well worth the money. It has decent sound, a low price, its nice looking, has anti-skip, and is also slim. And along with that, I can blast my CD player as loud as I would ever want since the volume can go pretty loud.

The Bottom Line
The Durabrand/Lenoxx CD85 is a decent portable CD player for people that want some value for such a low price. I looked around and couldn't find anything with similar features for under this price. A pretty stylish player with anti-skip, bass boost, line-out, and a slim design for only $20 seems like a good deal to my eyes. I could've gone with a more high-end brand but it looks like sometimes inexpensive isn't always cheap.

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Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 20