Sleek. Stylish. Sexy. Sony.
Written: Dec 22 '03 (Updated Dec 22 '03)
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Pros: Aluminum case. Superior to anything design. Advanced remote control. Very long battery life. Carrying bag.
Cons: Remote control clip unusable. Noisy mechanism. Scratches-too-easy syndrome.
The Bottom Line: Ultimate choice. You will have difficult time choosing a better CD player. Looks and sounds great.
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| ivgin's Full Review: Sony Walkman D-EJ985 Personal CD Player |
So... I entered the local Sony store and saw it. It was a love from first sight. It exuded chic and quality. It had the longest battery life. It had backlit remote control. And I bought it.
I have it for a couple of days, so it's early to say I know everything about it. I really recommend you read the manual, because some of the functions are not obvious - like the fact there's inner pocket in the carrying bag specifically made to fit the remote control :)
CONTENTS OF THE BOX
Player
Remote control
remote control clip
Earphones
Battery case
Recharging adaptor
Desk stand
Textile bag
Two of rechargable batteries
Lots of manuals and papers
FORM & FUNCTION
You shouldn't expect anything less than fantastic symbiose between form and function in one of the most expensive players of Sony up to date.
The player is round and thin. Its upper part is made from aluminum, and the lower part is silver plastic. All the control buttons and holes are placed on the side. The whole thing is about half an inch thick, which makes it one of the thinnest players available.
The remote control is made from the same silver plastic as the lower side of the player. It has tubular design. It's about two inches long. Features a backlit (Ericsson-bluish glow) dot-matrix display, which shows everything you need to know about the CD playing, remaning battery charge, etc. There are also headphones, remote control and line out outputs and external battery case input.
The included black plastic headphones provide decent sound, but their cable is only 10 inches long, which doesn't give you enough freedom to use the remote. The attachable remote control clip is pretty useless to me - it slips of very easy, so I just removed it. Replacing the earphones with something better resolves both of those flaws.
The desktop stand is really good - it lets you place the player for recharging just like you do with your PDA or phone. There's a Charge button with embedded red light on the player, which shows if the player is recharging or playing a CD. Unfortunatelly, you can't play a CD and recharge at the same time. At least I haven't found a way to do it.
According to the specs, the batteries play up to 120 hours. However, this is a cumulative result of both the internal rechargable batteries and two external alkaline batteries. In the real world, you'll be using only the internal batteries, which makes about 70 hours of play time. Since the internal gumstick (this is their shape) batteries are not Lithium, but NiMH, it's best if you recharge the player only when it's completely drained.
OPERATION
As with the rest of the ultraslim CD players, you can and should control all the functions through the remote control. There are Display, Mode, Sound, Hold, Volume, Stop and a Jog dial on it. Most of the buttons produce different results, depending on whether you press them once, twice, longer, etc. You'll hear an acknowledging beep whenever you press a button. The only thing I don't like is the jog control - I prefer stable, pressable buttons instead of joysticks and jog dials. I guess, I'll learn to like them :)
THE SOUND
To celebrate the acquisition of this device, I found Vivaldi's Four Seasons and a Up, Bustle and Out album.
Even with the provided earbuds, the genial concert of Vivaldi will make your heart fly... The eclectic harmony of sounds in Up, Bustle and Out album is handled with ease by the player, even without activating the two bass boost functions.
Adding a pair of Sennheiser 433 headphones, gets the joy to absolute level. Missy Elliott's This Is Not A Test makes the hip-hop wake up.
CD-R and CD-RW play pretty much flawlessly, but I really recommend using high-quality original disks, which live up to the player sound reproduction capabilities.
THE HYPE
You see... when you buy Sony, you expect flawless functionallity, quality sound AND great design. I have an obsession with hi-tech silver hear - Samsung phones, Powerbooks, Nike hand watches, micro hi-fi systems, etc. The player looks solid, advanced and stylish. It oozes chic. There's no other player, which makes this type of impression. If you get to the decision to buy it, you surely pay attention to the looks.
Of course, you'll have to take care for this baby - keep it away from sharp objects, placing it in the provided pouch instead of stashing it in a pocket, etc. Generally, it compares to the rest of the players just like the Powerbooks compare to the rest of the notebooks.
In short, you have a CD player with a timeless design and great playback capabilities. Owning and using it will make you feel happy. Oh, crap, I sound like a Sony PR activist :)
Note. The price I state below may sound high compared to the prices listed online, but this is the end price you get it Bulgaria... I guess you can find it much cheaper in the States, for example.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 240
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Epinions.com ID:
ivgin
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Location: Sofia, Bulgaria
Reviews written: 14
Trusted by: 0 members
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