Need Recommendation-Best Portable

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by KLM, Dec 11, 2004.

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  1. KLM

    KLM Senior Member Thread Starter

    So I am planning a trip to England in March and it got me to thinking that I need a portable cd player or something for the trip. It's been a while since I bought a portable as I usually listen to my cds on the car player. Being the incurable audiophile/device buyer, I got to thinking the following:

    -I don't think I want to get an Ipod/mp3 player as I'm not interested in downloading music or spending the time to copy my cds onto the computer hard drive
    -The crop of cd players out today all seem geared to mp3 playing and/or are of low sound quality
    -MAYBE I COULD GET A PORTABLE CD AND EITHER DVD-A OR SACD!!!

    This last point intriqued me as I own many SACD and DVD-A but don't have a dedicated player. If I want the route of a portable cd/DVD-A player, I not only could use it to listen to cds/DVD-A on the road/trips but I could plug it into my main system to use for DVD-A as well as use it on trips as a DVD player for the kids in the back seat.

    I started to do some research and found that there doesn't appear to be any portable SACD players. Also, the selection of cd/DVD-A seems to be limited to Panasonic or Toshiba. The problem with those two options is that neither one has a good analog out to hook up to my preamp to listen at home.

    What to do, what to do. Yes the holiday buying spirit is upon me and I need some help. Anyone have any ideas for a portable music device to play high quality music. I was also thinking of getting a nice pair of headphones such as the Grado SR 125. This could really be a nice package but my options seem very limited.
     
  2. JorgeGvb

    JorgeGvb Senior Member

    Location:
    Virginia Beach
  3. KLM

    KLM Senior Member Thread Starter

    Thanks for the link. I just got back from Best Buy and took a look at what they had just to get my bearings. Of course it was mobbed and they had a very sparse selection. I am really intrigued by the concept of a portable hi-rez player such as DVD-A (again, can't seem to find a portable SACD). Panasonic or Toshiba seem like the only way to go.

    Anyone else have some thoughts......
     
  4. JMT

    JMT Senior Member

    Location:
    Grass Valley, CA
    From my limited experience, the older Sony's and Panasonics are the best sounding portables. The Sony D-303 is the absolute best sounding portable CDP that I have heard, but they are tough to find and rather expensive when you do find them (around $150 or so). The Sony D555 and/or the D777 also have a great sonic reputation, but they are even more difficult to find and command higher prices. The slot loading Sony D-EJ01 is a very good sounding player, a bit easier to find, runs around $100 or so used. I sold mine because I didn't care for the slot loading mechanism. I currently have some older Panasonics (SL-CT470, SL-CT570 and the 890). They sound better than any of the newer players that I have heard, and all have a true line-out if you want to use them with a dedicated portable headphone amp.
     
  5. Casino

    Casino Senior Member

    Location:
    BossTown
    I've owned Sony, Aiwa and Panasonic portables and have had the best luck in terms of reliability with the Panasonics.
     
  6. Jerry

    Jerry Grateful Gort Staff

    Location:
    New England
    I love my Phillips. Didn't like the new Panasonics, nor Aiwas.
     
  7. KLM

    KLM Senior Member Thread Starter

    Thanks for your advice on the Panasonic players. I was wondering can you turn off the ant-skip protection on the 470 model. Some people claim that the compression affects the sound slightly. Any thoughts? Apparently you can turn the compression off on the 570 but they seem impossible to find right now.
     
  8. JMT

    JMT Senior Member

    Location:
    Grass Valley, CA
    No, you can't turn the anti-skip off of the 470 from what I recall (my son has mine now), and I do hear a slight difference with the skip protection off on my 570. However the difference is negligable in my opinion.

    The 570 turns up on e-bay occasionally.
     
  9. KLM

    KLM Senior Member Thread Starter

    Thanks for all the responses and ideas. I guess as a followup question-has anyone used one of the portable dvd players as a cd player and what do you think of the sound compared to a high quality cd player. I think if I go the portable DVD route, I am looking between the Panasonic LS55 or Toshiba SD-2600.
     
  10. RJL2424

    RJL2424 Forum Resident

    Actually, the (40-second compressed) anti-skip on both the CT470 and the CT570 can be turned completely off. The CT570 has an additional anti-skip mode: 10 seconds non-compressed.
     
  11. KLM

    KLM Senior Member Thread Starter

    I ended up with the Toshiba 2600. The sound is actually pretty good and it plays DVD-A as well as CDs and DVDs. I also purchased some Klipsch media speakers with subwoofer for my office. I also use the player for the kids in the car. Overall, I am very satisfied....
     
  12. RJL2424

    RJL2424 Forum Resident

    I'm glad that you made your choice. Remember, on most consumer-level DVD players with DVD-A playback support, protected DVD-As (most DVD-As are protected) get downsampled to 48kHz instead of playing back at the full 96kHz or 192kHz.
     
  13. marx84

    marx84 New Member

    Sony D-777

    It's funny to hear that you guys think the D-777 is that good. It's actually the only CD player I've ever owned, and I got it as a gift back in 1996. It's spent the last 5 years or so sitting in a box, only coming out when I actually find a CD. I'm just sad I lost its nice case years ago. How much are these things worth anyways, considering iPod domination?
     
  14. PGT

    PGT New Member

    Location:
    US
    I believe this is only true for the digital output - to prevent making high resolution copies. You should be getting h-rez at the DAC's stated maximum sampling frequency through the analog or headphone ouputs.
     
  15. RJL2424

    RJL2424 Forum Resident

    Actually, the limitation applies to the DVD-A decoder itself (which is typically a separate section from the DAC, and often integrated with the DSP). The problem with cheap DSP's in cheap DVD players is that they are usually limited to 48kHz/24-bit output; thus, the quality is only as good as the weakest link. After all, what good is 192/24 support at the DAC when the DSP only outputs 48/16 or 48/24?
     
  16. PGT

    PGT New Member

    Location:
    US
    I don't claim any special knowledge about this issue. But I've seen this statement and similar made a number of times in various forums without anything to back it up.

    I've been catching up on the audio boards I follow and came over here from Audio Asylum where I had just read this thread. Read it to the right margin and you'll find people arguing against the cheap decoder argument based on theoretical considerations and the poster who made the initial statement didn't respond with any evidence to the contrary.

    Does anyone have a reference to informed opinion or personal experience with the guts of particular units to support the idea? Or is this just another myth that gets passed on down the misinformation highway?
     
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