Excellent CD/Radio Walkman, some minor faults but better than most others
Written: Dec 05 '02 (Updated Jul 25 '03)
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Pros: 4 bands (AM/FM/VHF TV/Weather), long battery life, rarely skips CD's
Cons: Too many overall presets, easy to hit the wrong button when playing CD's
The Bottom Line: Even giving the minor design flaws, this player gives a good bang for its buck. Given the sound quality and tuner sensitivity, it is worth the money.
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| coxquehanna's Full Review: Sony Walkman D-FJ401 Personal CD Player |
It's been about 8 months since I originally did this review, and in that time I went through a lot with the D-FJ401. Out of that, I've updated this review to reflect the 9 months I got out of this player.
When it first came out, Sony's D-FJ401 CD Walkman was the market; it was the first to have the heavy AM/FM/TV/Weather tuner technology Sony previously had done with cassette Walkmans. There are up to 51 presets possible presets, 30 FM, 10 AM, 7 VHF TV audio, 4 NOAA weather band, this allows preset space to be at a maximum (sometimes too much even). Since finding what you want to listen to can be a bit of a hassle, they have also included three "Favorite" buttons that allow for instant access to stations you listen to the most.
As for the reception, it's excellent given its small size and the commonplace that Walkman-like tuners are notoriously weak, the sound quality isn't all that bad either with highs and lows in music coming out pretty crisp especially on CD. There also is a line-out jack that can be used to hook the player up to a computer instead of using the headphone jack.
The CD player has the standard 48 second skip protection and Sony's typical "G-Protection" protection from other skipping. I found no real difference with having it on or not, but it's good to have it when or if you need it. The readout is typical track and time, as well as the standard play options (repeat track, repeat CD, shuffle play) as well as a programmable option that is quite hard to use.
The only downside with the CD player is that all the functions are in one little circle to the above right of the track info display with the stop button in the middle. Often, when fast-forwarding (or reversing) a song I've accidentally hit stop (there's a similar problem of doing said action and accidentally advancing a track), the pause button is separate from those buttons right next to it on the right. Out of this came a serious design flaw with a plastic "figure-8" ring running around the circle and the readout; after mine fell the circle began to wear out quickly. And that's why mine ended up retired, and when looking for replacements that Sony already released the Sports version of this tuner and a upgraded version of this with MP3 capabilities.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 89.99
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Epinions.com ID:
coxquehanna
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Reviews written: 6
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