I’m looking around for a portable cd player. Unfortunately, in India, import duties on electronics are sky high, and I’d end up paying about $100 for the most basic player were I to buy one here. Which kinda sux, seeing as I could get a rather high-end player for that price in the US. So I’m going to buy a player from the US and have it shipped to a friend in Boston who’s coming down for a holiday in a month.
I want a player that plays the regular cds as well as the MP3 format. I don’t particularly need a radio tuner built in. Preferably should have a remote control. Oh, and I don’t want to spend more than $50. $60 at a stretch if I find something real nice. But definetly not more than that. Which effectively discounts Sony and Philips from the list of probables.
I’ve looked up the few sites whose names I recall, namely bestbuy, radioshack and circuitcity. From there, I’ve narrowed it down to thesetwo. I kinda prefer the Audiophase model, but I’ve never heard of that company before - and since I’m in India, I won’t get any service. With Panasonic that’s not the case - the company is well known, and I can get the player serviced here anytime.
Is Audiophase a good enough buy? And can anyone suggest anymore sites I could look up before I place the order?
Ok, I know you said you weren’t looking for Sony, but the new sony walkmans are great. They never skip and the batteries last forever. No remote, but well priced.
My 2 year old Panasonic is OK, but not great. Without the xtra bass it sounds kinda thin (and I have decent headphones I purchased separately); with the bass boost you lose much of the midrange. The biggest negative is that it prefers certain brands of CDRs–the silver coated TDKs mostly play without skipping. CDs with blue-tinted dyes will skip and sometimes not play every song on the CD. At times I wanted to smash the thing, but the relatively cheap device allowed me to listen to music on my long walks home and that was worth it. The built-in no-skip buffer is nonsense.
I’ve owned an iPod for the past month and haven’t even looked at the Panasonic since. If you can save a bit for a decent MP3 player (non-disk) it may be a better choice.
Nope - non-disk MP3 player is waay beyond my budget. It woud be ideal, but I can’t afford that just yet.
And I don’t want to spend $100 for a Sony. Which is what I would have to for the features I want.
Which is why I’m looking at Audiophase. Inexpensive products, with great features for the price. However, if they aren’t a great buy, then maybe I will have to give up on the remote control and buy a less expensive Sony.
What I’d recommend is buy as many cheap CD players as you can afford and think you’ll be able to get home with.
The last portable CD player I bought was made by someone called “Combined Luck” and has 40 seconds of antiskip, headphones and a car power adapter. Cost all of $25.
Don’t worry about repair - whether it’s the $25 cheapie or a $200 Sony, there really aren’t too many repair options on the thing. If it can’t be fixed with fresh batteries and cleaning off the lens, it’s junked.
It has all the features the Audiophase model has, which was all I wanted, and it comes with a car kit (Audiophase + car kit would have cost as much as the Sony) too.