The name Panasonic is synonymous with innovation, quality, performance and ease of use. It looks forward to a bright and shining technological future, and to playing a leading role in the digitally networked society, propelled by the creativity and dedication of its employees all around the world.PRODUCT FEATURES: Digital Amplifier for high sound quality; Digital Audio Gain Control (DAGC) and S-XBS for clear bass; New Active Style Headphones for high quality digital sound; Digital Remaster for High Quality MP3 Playback; 6-key Remote Control with detachable plug; CD round form design with LCD on top cover; Up to 85-hours of playback (MP3) with two AA alkaline batteries; Heat-resistant polycarbonate body; Slide-lock full open top cover; Neckband Headphones included.
This portable CD/MP3 player provides some unusual benefits along with the ability to play CDs, CDRs, CDRWs, and CDs with MP3 files. The first is "advanced D-sound technology, which is essentially a combination of a digital amplifier, which helps reduce distortion for crystal-clear sound at higher volume levels; S-XBS and digital audio gain control, which helps improve bass response at higher volume levels; and MP3 re-master technology, which maximizes sound quality from compressed music files, such as MP3 and WMA.
When you're on the go, the No-Skip anti-skip system virtually eliminates track skipping, and the player's heat-resistant, polycarbonate body design makes it great for outdoor use. There's a handy, 6-key inline remote with the Active Style headphones, and average playback time on the required two AA batteries is up to 90 Hours for MP3s and up to 50 hours for CDs.
1 Excellent sound!! batteries last long time!! Great Buy!!
I bought this mp3 cd player for my car. 1. The sound is incredible coming from a walkman. 2. The battery power outlasted any previous cd walkmans I have ever owned (over 80 hrs) 3. CDRs are less than 15 cents these days and you can load up over 10 hrs of music in 1 disc, which makes this, cheaper, and better than an iPod for your car. I have 10 mp3 discs in my car which account for over a 100 albums which I can choose from for my traveling.
2 A Beautiful Electronic Made by Panasonic...
To begin this review, I will have to tell you that in actuality, I gave this product a 4.5. Why? I'll tell you later. But lets start with its glorious sound that just make your ears feel like their in heaven (good phones will make you compare this product to others on the market). I has an amazing amount of battery life that I have NEVER before seen. It also has some equalizer settings that really make difference to what you hear.
Now the only reason I gave it a 4.5 is because the LCD screen cracked too easily. This was partly my fault but it was also too fragile. Overall, this is a great product that Panasonic has maufactured and I will value this as one of my greatest CD player's ever bought!
Happy Buying!
-RH
3 everything i asked for
Excellent!
- great battery life
- good in-line remote
- simple
- decent quality
- cheap
- decent headphones
these are all the things i was looking for, i am very happy with this purchase, especially consider what the cost is for similar mp3 cd players. unless you need to fast forward or rewind mp3s, then this is the one for you (you can only skip mp3s).
4 Serves my purposes great
I purchased this CD player (@ BestBuy) for a very specific purpose. I wanted to create playlists of my existing CD collection, then burn MP3s to play on the portable CD player, primarily for airplane travel. For this purpose, it has worked great. I've been able to burn 8 hours of music on a single CD, and now I can put all the music I could possibly want for a long round-trip flight on a few CDs.
I looked at Sony, but the low-end MP3 model (Sony D-NE300) is about $10 more and doesn't have a remote. I wasn't interested in any of the extra features of the Sony (ID3 tag compatibility, ATRAC software).
The remote is nice on the plane, so that I don't have to fish around in my pocket for the controls on the player. It's easy to use once you learn the buttons.
The user's guide explains the format for putting the MP3 files in sequence and organizing them in folders. When I did that (using a little utility I wrote myself, which works with Windows MediaPlayer playlists), the player recognized the files and folders just as advertised, so I can easily skip from folder to folder (i.e. from artist to artist or genre to genre) with the touch of a button.
I've used the original cheap-o batteries that came in the package for at least 10 hours of playing time, and the battery indicator still shows most of the charge left, so the battery life claims seem to be as outstanding as advertised, at least for MP3 play.
The headphones that come with the player are horrible, so plan to use some other headphones. I've never used behind-the-head phones before, and I couldn't stand them for more than about ten minutes. But that's OK, because I had already purchased noise-cancelling headphones (Sennheiser PXC-250's) for use on the plane. The Panasonic+Sennheiser combination worked great, gave really good sound on the plane. The only minor drawback was that, with the CD player + remote + headphones + noise cancellation battery pack, the cords turned into a bit of a rat's nest. I've also tried some ear buds I had around, and they worked fine.
Some of the limitations expressed by others were not a concern to me, because of my specific needs. I don't care that I don't have a display of the song titles, since it's all my own music. Someone also mentioned something about a 20-track limitation. That just seems to be the limitation of the number of tracks that can be programmed, but since I'm not programming any tracks, that's not a problem. The equalization choices are limited, but served my purposes. The volume did not seem too low to me.
Overall, a great little unit for the price.
5 The best portable CD player I've ever owned!
I was looking for a new CD player. I'd had my old one for about two years and the sound quality was real bad. I went to Best Buy and grabbed an RCA. It was a brand I'd bought before and trusted. Not anymore. The next day, I was back at Best Buy because the *bleeping* CD PLAYER WORKED ONE *bleeping* TIME! I avoided the Sony ones. I've had bad luck with every Sony portable CD player I've ever purchased-I guess I'm just cursed when it comes to them.
Anyway, I saw the Panasonic SL-SX430 in the display rack. My previous two portable CD players had been Panasonics and had served me well. All I can say is when I plugged in my headphones (I never use the ones that come with the units), I said to myself "This is the best sound I've ever gotten from *any* CD player I've ever owned, portable or otherwise!"
I don't mind that it isn't car-ready. All I have to do is plug the cassette deck adapter into the headphone jack, turn the volume down to 2 or 3 and turn the bass booster off (my car already generates awesome bass) and I'm good to go.
The only thing I don't like about this CD player, and it is very minor, is the placement of the battery compartment. Being under the cover right by the hinges makes it kinda hard for me to change the batteries (I have big hands and had to use the plug for my headphones to pop 'em out). I suppose this was done to keep the batteries in the unit after it's been dropped (been there, done that, got the t-shirt).
6 Fullfilled expectations and more...
I recently got this MP3 player for X-mas after looking through other cd mp3 players for awhile. The main feature I miss if I were to get a more expensive one is a backlight. I use the player a lot in my car so it would be nice to be able to see what I'm playing. I guess another feature I miss would be being able to see the title of songs and artist but thats not very important to me since I burned the CD and know where most of the songs are at. Other than missing features that come with a $100 model it still gets the job done and more. It was $45 at best buy and went down to $40 after xmas. The battery life is amazing so far but I have only used it for a total of 10 hours. The bass boost is nice especially with my Sennheiser 212 (bass) headphones. I would reccomend this to anyone especially instead of spending $300 on an IPOD (I heard you cant put songs from one computer to another with an IPOD because of copyright worries)
7 4 1/2 Stars Actually
After doing several hours of research, I decided on this CD Player. The price is good for what you get which is a lot. The volume is usually on 3 when I listen to it. At 3, I can hear other people and talk to them and I still can hear the lyrics. I wasn't promised .wma compatible so that's not a problem for me. Plus, you can get software to convert file types. Mp3 compatibility was the main reason I bought this, this plays burned CDs nicely. It also has astounding battery life for a CD Player. Other CD Players eat up my batteries in about 10 hours, this gives me 40 hours for a CD-R of Mp3s. The reason it lost a half of a star is because of the fact that it only lets you have 20 tracks in an album if you want to listen to it. Often I make albums with under 30 tracks but over 20 but that's not a huge problem since you can have lots of albums. The remote control is also really nice cause when I'm wearing a sweatshirt, I can put the CD Player in my front pocket and leave the remote control out to adjust settings. Also, this has anti-skip enabled for Mp3s as well unlike some CD Players. This was definitely worth the $50 I paid for it and it was my 2nd choice if I didn't take price into consideration. My first choice cost $120 and only had a couple of extra features. Definitely go with this CD Player if you constantly listen to Mp3s and like to listen to music on a CD Player all the time since it can play Mp3s and has outstanding battery life.
8 This player has really great and awful features
Battery life is excellent, same with size and weight. Remote control is small and precise. The sound is very good, but the volume is rather low (I had it on 25 and still couldn't hear the sound when walking down a busy street). It is ok if you're walking in the park or if you connect it to your car stereo, but I never used it below 18 (even at home). After all, a higher volume level means shorter battery life - there's no free lunch.
The worst feature is that it won't fast-foward or rewind when you are listening to a MP3 track. I was really annoyed by this. I listen to many audio books, and usually the tracks are 30 minutes or longer, and if I want to listen to a passage again (if a loud truck passes by or you are distracted), I have to listen to the whole track again!
The box says it plays WMA, but the manual doesn't say anything. I haven't tried, since all my music is in MP3.
All in all, it is a good, lightweight player, but could be improved a lot if the volume level was higher and the fast-foward feature would be added. On the other hand, if this one breaks down, I will replace it for another model or brand.
9 Great CD player
I bought this cd player a couple months ago because my sony just wasn't loud enough and I remember the panasonics always sounded good. Now they have D-sound as well and I really like it. It puts out great sound at high volume levels without worry of blowing your headphones. But the one thing I haven't seen mentioned much is the fact that this thing can take a fall. Mine's taken a lot of abuse, including a couple dozen falls on cement and a high speed car wreck. Definately worth buying
10 Everything's great...except...
My daughter recieved one of these for her birthday in October, 2004 and she's been completely delighted with it. Except for one thing - the headphones have broken twice now. They are a novel shape, designed to loop up, over the ear and come around the back of the head. The loop parts which go over the ears are hard plastic and each side has sustained a break.
A repair with superglue worked the first time but not so on the second.
So, I'd recommend the unit with this caveat - be careful when stowing the headphones. Don't treat them as a 14 year old might. They are not particularly rugged...thekeez
11 amazing cd player great one youl love it!!
i bought this player last week and its really good. i think even at 50 bucks i would have bought. 1) it looks good,the cover is very stylish and the lcd display is stylish too.2)it plays mp3s which uses less space in a cd-r or cd-rw. 3)the battery life. man its amazing .i didnt believe that it can give up to 85 hours of playback on an mp3 disc. but i have been using the same batteries since i bought it and the battery still has full charge in it (the battery indicator.4) the d sound. man this new tech is fantastic!!. i used to have a sony phsyc cd player. it was a nice one too but this one beats it thouroughly! and the last thing is the remote. the remote is a tiny one and great one too. i only wosh it had a pause button too. if this disc player could play atrac3 and a tuner in it i think no other cd player would beat it !! way to go panasonic
12 Awesome Battery Life! Everything you need!
I recently lost my last panasonic cd player and decided that i wanted to get another Panasonic player again because i trusted the company. I wouldn't have gotten any other one!
This cd player has an amazing battery life along with the S-XBX which is also very loud! I left the player on all nite for 2 nights and it still had a full bar of battery life left! I really like the remote, which is convenient for me when i walk to class because i don't have to carry the player in my hand. I just put it in my backpack and use the remote. The only bad thing about the remote is that it's a little bit too small so it's hard to find the buttons. It's also very light and has a nice cover. It's does everything that i expect a player to do such as play mp3's which is very convenient for me and has a very good price. You don't need to spend a lot of money on any other player.
Another minor flaw of the cd player is just that there is no id tag to show the name of the songs which isn't that bad because i'd listen to all the songs on my mp3 cd anyway.
13 Dead on for the money
I broke my last panasonic player that I had for over a year, after reading the reviews got this one today. First these units are inexpensive (got mine for 59 at circuit city) and THEY LAST, I trust the "made in japan" panasonics. Last one broke was my fault I dropped it on pavement.... First the player seems much faster (I had the equivalent model a year ago), faster startup, seek, etc. Buttons seem better on the front, the SXBS and SBXS+ is awesome and I'm very iffy on bass boost most of them suck but panasonic nailed it, the Digital re-master feature on DSOUND (hold memo down) makes the highs crisp and undistorted, combined you get good clear treble without artifacts and good bass, the headphones suck but who cares I have my own. I can say that this model is great improvement... The D-Sound does sound good. There are no ID3 tags, but thats what makes it so fast it doesn't have to read the titles. Anyway I think this hits the price/performance point perfectly and improves on quality with the D-Sound. Also the LCD is very readable. I was almost going to get one of those iPODs but I'm lazy its easier to burn CDs, like someone else pointed out you can tuck this in your backpack.
14 possibly the best sounding cd player I've ever had
I have had a number of portable cd players over the years. Most have been victims of being dropped or damaged accidently and the majority of them if not all have been Panasonic models. I've always liked their products both audio and video.
My cd player just arrived today and tho I've not had much time to listen to it, I did briefly check it out using a CD-RW disc and the sound was amazing! The XBS bass response is awesome and the over the ear headphones are so amazingly comfortable without having to adjust them to get the maximum output entering your ears instead of escaping into the air. The swivel in the ear pieces is a great touch and I think what insures such a comfortable fit. The part that goes over the top of each ear doesn't pinch or irritate.
The remote control is wonderful and very handy, tho I wish you could pause with it but it's a minor quibble. This model is also light as a feather.
In summary, I highly recommend this cd player. For the price it is a fantastic deal.
15 Good for the cost. Does the Job
This was definatly worth my 80$ (canadian :P)
I needed a cd player that could handle my MP3 cds for biking. I was kinda limited for cash so I got this thing. And I must say, it has been working really good for me.
I see people complaining about no skip protection, but I've been going through some mountain biking trails and down stairs no problems.
It didn't say WMA compatible on the box where I got either, not that it matters to me since I use MP3s. The no song title/folder display would be nice but I don't miss it in the least. I like make my cds with only songs I will listen too, so just leaving it on random works for me.
Volume is just fine. The headsets does the trick, but I bought some earbud ones for biking (waterproof ones too).
All in all.. Very worth your hard earned cash if you looking for a cheaper mp3 player.
16 Not good for multiple folders
First backdraw I noticed: It doesn't have any kind of strap to make it comfortable to carry with you. You have to carry it on your hand, which is highly bothersome if you plan to ride your bike or go jogging or... go fetch a glass of water.
I also found this player to be pretty unstable, it tends to skip or even stop completely with any sudden movements, although it says there that it has the protection to avoid taht exact same thing from happening. It might be just an isolated case, and I the only one experimenting this...
But then there's another backdraw: it doesn't display the song's names. And it is not easy to "navigate" in an MP3 cd which contains many folders. You have to go one by one, because it doesn't have the "next / previous" folder feature separated from the "next / previous" file feature. So you must know the number of the folder and the number of your song and keep presing the same button until you get there.
Had I known this, I wouldn't have bought it.
17 Just what I was looking for!
I just got this little CD/MP3 player, and it's just fine. It does have a little bit of a light plastic/"fragile" feel, which is why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5. But otherwise, it seems to be fine.
I bought it primarily for MP3s, and I am pleased. Sure, I have to hunt around to find the album that I'm looking for, but it isn't that bad. The sound is clear and it picks up the subtle low tones with clarity. I'm not the pickiest of audiophiles, but this CD player seems to be adequate enough.
The volume control is FINE. I was suprised to read some comments about how the volume did not go high enough on this CD/MP3 player.
I do not have the best or most sensitive hearing. I am pretty sure that I've damaged my hearing a little, after years of trying to listen to music over loud noises, like bus or train traffic. However, I've always tried to be careful and not play music *too* loud. The reason for my caution is explained quite clearly in the documentation/user manual of this CD/MP3 player, and I assume all other such players. Playing music too loud will eventually lead to *hearing loss*. Even if you can tolerate the loudness and don't think it's "too loud," the truth is that the human ear can only take sounds up to a certain decibel, and if someone continually listens to music louder than that, they *will* start to lose their hearing. This is a well-documented fact; do a search on the Internet for more information on this if you are doubtful.
The volume on this player goes up to 25. I never played it that loud with the headphones on, but I did hold the headphones away from my ears and when it was up to 25, you could hear the music at least a foot away or father. It's quite loud.
I prefer to have the volume set at anywhere between 3 and 7 (depends on how quiet the room is, and the type of recording that I am listening to). When I increase the volume to 11-13, it is getting to be more than loud enough and I can't imagine that anyone would *require* it to be much louder than that in order to hear adequately. And I'll repeat: my hearing is not the best.
If someone requires a volume louder than what this CD player can offer, my guess is that they are either on the road to partial deafness, or have already suffered permanent hearing loss. This CD player can be way more than loud enough.
18 Battery life will blow you away. Almost perfect.
I spent a while researching music devices from iPods to minidisc players, and ended up adding this mp3-CD player to my electronics collection.
First, a few comments on some issues addressed by other reviews:
- no, it doesn't play WMA's, but at least for me the package didn't say it would. Most of my collection is in MP3 anyway so I can deal with this functionality lack.
- the device is plenty loud for me, and I think I have relatively worse hearing than most people I know judging by the volume I need to set for TV's.
- lack of alphanumeric display was a consideration for me, since I already had a first-generation RioVolt that did have a display. But in the end that factor was outweighed in my mind. And not to be making lemonade out of lemons or anything, but it's somewhat fun to guess songs and reminiscent of old-school CD players (without the mp3's).
Here's why I bought this player:
- BATTERY LIFE. It's just utterly ridiculous at >50 hours on 2 AA's (average battery life of most others: 10 hours). Battery life is probably the most underrated feature I think. Gigs of storage is nice but if the player can barely last you through one whole day without charging, what's the point? I see some of the Sony players appear to have similar battery life these days but they seem more expensive and lack a...
- WIRED REMOTE CONTROL. Put the actual device in your purse or backpack and it's as if you have a super-tiny mp3 player. The remote performs pretty much every function.
Compared to my old RioVolt mp3 player, load time is faster, and the whole thing just seems more dependable and higher quality.
Of course there are things such as FM radio and the aforementioned alphanumeric display that this player lacks. It also can't play packet-written CD's so you have to burn a whole CD if you want to change songs (interestingly, my RioVolt could do this, but it was sloow as heck). If it had these features (and maybe WMA), it would be the perfect mp3 cd player bar-none.
Anyway, to complement this player, I also bought a sub-$100 tiny flash-based mp3 player with FM radio, voice recording, etc. (the TDK Mojo). I still feel this was a decent economical choice for me while maximizing music enjoyment.
19 I wish I could rate this ZERO stars.
I needed a portable CD player for WMA files. I was delighted to find the Panasonic SL-SX430, which, according to the box in large, enthusiastic letters, supports WMA and MP3s.
So I buy it, burn a couple of CDs filled with WMAs and... nothing. Or, NO as the display says. (This is apparently the only word the CD player knows.)
IT DOESN'T SUPPORT WMAs!
Wonderful! So I contact their technical support. (Well, the only one listed was a Spanish language number, 1-800-211-7262, but you can press 1 for English.)
After I told the unfriendly customer support guy that my player wouldn't play WMAs, he informed me that of course it doesn't play WMAs. The SL-SX430 doesn't support WMAs!
I agree! So why, I asked, does it claim to support WMAs on the box??
He then insinuated that I was making that up. It says NOWHERE on the box that WMA files are supported, and he's never heard any complaints before.
I told him to Google this CD player, to find dozens of such complaints. He informed me that my report would be up-channeled, and that I'd receive a call back.
I'm still waiting.
And I can't even get the thing to play MP3s.
I wish I could give this a Zero star rating, or some sort of inverse star. A black hole perhaps.
20 Unsuitable mp3 player
This player has no alpha-numeric display and it makes it very difficult to know what is on each CD without making a list beforehand. You only see track numbers and album numbers (corresponding to directories and files). The instructions even give you advice on how to label the albums and tracks with three digit numbers to compensate. The packaging was also very misleading because it said it supported Windows Media files and it does not. I am returning this.
21 Great Value, Great Product
This cd player is great. The sound is great, the skip protection is awesome. For the price, this is one of the best you will find.
22 avg
i have the same cd/mp3 player, except it was an order version. it's cheap, and pretty decent
pro: cheap, remote control
con: headphone sucks, don't last very long (my remote lasted for about a year), no anti-skipp (for most of the time it's not a big prob, but still it's nice to have one), the metal finish is really cheesy
23 Nice player
I recently picked up this Panny to replace the SV-570. Unlike the 570, the 430 does not have a radio tuner. Instead, it has a nice remote that the 570 lacks. Since the tuner is only mediocre, the remote is the trump card between the two models. Plug the headphones into the remote and the remote into the player. That design would work well with waist straps that include a headphone jack on the outside of the CD player storage pocket.
Other differences: the 430 includes a 'Live' equalizer setting, while the 570 only has two bass settings. The live setting actually does improve the sound of some live recordings, though it makes studio recordings sound worse.
The 430 also offers two changeable levels of CD skip protection, 10 seconds or 45 seconds. The 570 does not. Supposedly the 10-second protection, which you would use for ordinary activities, sounds better. I did not notice a big difference, however.
The 430 supposely can also compensate for MP3 files with compression errors. On the downside, this player does not handle WMA, as the back of the package suggests.
The sound is rich and warm, the bass tight. Volume, as noted, does not go as high as Sony models. The player is not as solid as a typical Sony, either.
I still havent decided if I will keep it. The player skipped on a few mp3 songs on the first night of use, when I went jogging. It might have been the recording. I will jog with the player for another week and report back. When I shake the player in my hand, at home, it doesnt skip. So I wonder if the problem lies elsewhere, including perhaps my headphones (plug not always in full contact with player, etc).
24 Just more than average
Pros: it has remote control, decent design
Cons: the maximum volume is not lound enough...try the Sony D-NE300 and you will see the difference.
25 mp3 lacks fast forward / rewind (search)
Seems fine, but the killer for us is no "search" feature for mp3. We have _books_ on mp3 so it goes back to radio shack tomorrow!
26 No car kit, but otherwise perfect.
The advantage of a portable CD player that handles MP3 and WMA is clear, to me: any car can play MP3s or WMAs with a simple $20 kit, and the sound is still better than any of your old cassettes.
In fact, it's really a car-kit product because it lacks an AM/FM tuner, making this less all-purpose and more single-purpose. The remote makes it very easy to bury this thing in a glove compartment, under your seat, or in the armrest and manipulate the player with the remote. Makes for a clean-looking install, and you lose none of its portability.
The beauty of this CD-based MP3/WMA player is it will handle CD-Rs, CD-RWs, and normal CDs along with whatever you manage to create on your own. The battery life is incredible, especially with MP3 playback because spinups can cache the data then spindown. So, with the need to make CDs skip-proof you actually achieve a measure of battery life preservation as well since you don't drive the spindle motor as often. Neat engineering.
Of course, Panasonic does make a quality personal electronic item, and this seems to be no exception. For me it's always a toss-up between Sony and Panasonic, with Sony winning slightly more than half the battles due to extras (software, one extra feature, whatever). You don't exactly "lose" by picking this.
Honestly, this is a 4.95 star product, because a car kit is probably the least concern with something so useful and good, but I have to mention it because Sony sells a direct competitor with a nice car kit included. With a car kit, this is a five-star deal.
Fred
