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Best Portable CD Player

I would like to replace my ailing Radio Shack CD 3400 portable CD player for those occasional times when I listen with headphones. My dilemma is, I do not know what to replace it with. Some of you may have heard the extraordinary claims made about the Radio Shack CD 3400 five or six years ago when they first came out. My experience with this unit, using Grado SR-80 headphones is that this combo is quite extraordinary. I rarely put any faith in reviews, but this time somebody really called it. One of the strong points of this unit aside from the good sonics was that it could drive the larger headphones due to a seemingly more powerful on-board amp. So, if anyone out there in audioland has any suggestions, I am all ears. Lance
lubachl
wmcmanus's avatar
wmcmanus
171 posts
 
There are lots of fairly decent pcdp's but nothing that will really compare to good home-based cd players in terms of the DACs used. Try a Panasonic SL-CT 470 or 570 if you can find one on Ebay. Both have excellent line outs but they're now out of production.

Check out the forums at www.head-fi.org for more ideas - that's the best place to look. I've not heard the CD 3400 myself, but it is certainly well regarded by the headphone crowd.
khokugo
122 posts
 
There is an "NOS" Discman no eBay. SONY DT25. I have one, and it is far superior to other modern portables, to my ears. It can drive higher impedance HPs easily. Check it out.
brianmgrarcom
1,317 posts
 
Can anyone else add to this?
wmcmanus's avatar
wmcmanus
171 posts
 
I should have mentioned the http://www.head-fi.org website. Do an archive search on the head-fi forum for "Sources" and you will find tons of opinions about many different PCDP's.
extremephono
123 posts
 
I had recently brought all the potential candidates, unfortunately, the ailing CD3400 turns out to be the best sounding, followed by the Panasonic (couple different models have same innards, my sample was 870 - splash proof version of 570).

The hypes from Head-fi prompted the inclusion of DT25. I won it on Ebay, and the seller graciously took it back, a lost of $10 shipping. The Sony skips at the slightest move, and the high frequency is rough, very antiquated brick-wall filter.

One thing that I haven't tried: those portable DVD player may have better sound than CD player if used on CD only. Try the Panasonic/Sony/Pioneer without the screen. I was shocked how good a Pioneer $199 DVD player the 525 compared to my Philips SACD-1000.
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