Sony Discman - SY-DEJ011

I'm one of the dying breed who still uses a portable CD player, and I knew it wouldn't be easy when my old one broke a Sony D-NE710. Overall I was happy with that it lasted several years, although some of the features were starting to go as far back as a year or two ago. This was the sole CD player available at my local electronics store, and I tried to do a little bit of research but didn't seem to get very far. Ultimately, I trust Sony despite hearing a few bad things about this item.

I've only had this for 2-3 weeks at this point (bought brand new off the shelf), but I will update this review if the performance of the device changes.

The good: So far, it operates as advertised. Doesn't skip, sound is (mostly) good, and it is pretty nice looking CD player as well.

The details:

Buttons: on my old unit, the location of the headphone jack was such that I could keep the CD player in my front pocket and easily reach the volume, stop, play, and navigation buttons. On this, in order to have the headphone jack accessible, the play and navigation buttons will be deep in my pocket and nearly impossible to reach. Hard to deny that you're behind the times if you have to completely remove the player from your pocket to change the song. Also, the buttons are a little stiff you have to push them with intent, although that could prevent them from being accidentally bumped. Assuming they hold up for a few years, I don't think it's a problem.

Display: one of my largest complaints about the item. The player is not capable of displaying the time remaining in the song or in the rest of the album! My old sony player could do both, and honestly I would expect this to be a staple feature. The other problem is the location of the display: if you are sitting at the table and want to read the display, you will have to lift the player up so that it's nearly standing vertical just to see which track you are on.

Features: There is no line-out port on this player, which is another disappointing omission from my old sony. The one nice surprise about this player relates to how it resumes play. My old player would start at the same position of the song after you pressed stop. This goes one step further you can press stop, change the batteries (which requires removing the disc!), and then resume and the player will be at the same point in the album, and the same volume. Nice!

Sound: My headphones are worth about $100; pretty decent but clearly not audiophile grade. That said, the sound seems mostly good to my ears. The one problem is that there is a soft hissing as soon as you press play. I briefly tried another Sony model which had the same problem (D-EJ001), but my old player certainly did not. It may not be terrible depending on the style of music, but for any sort of classical or ambient music it is particularly detrimental to the experience. (Edit the hissing was heard using my closed-ear headphones. It's barely perceptible using my open-ear headphones.)

All in all, a pretty mediocre device but there doesn't seem to be a huge number of options available. If I haven't edited this by a year from now, at least you travelers from the future will know that the CD player is reasonably durable. I use it for around 3-4 hours a day, and it spends a lot of time in my backpack while not in use, placed there unceremoniously but not recklessly. Hope this helps.

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EDIT: After using this for a few months, I have a couple additional complaints.

For one, although I haven't tested the exact battery life, I seem to change the batteries much more frequently than with my old player.

Secondly, the volume control is not very sensitive. At the volume I listen to it, often it will be slightly too quiet, but one click of the volume makes it too loud.

This is pretty frustrating considering the fact that the volume goes from 0 to 9, but with typical headphones you will set the volume around 4 maximum, even for older (non-remastered) albums.

I like this Sony CD player because I can put it into a little carry along personal case and play it all day if I want to. In my work, I am not disturbed often and I can listen to audio books every day. My beautiful library in Graham, Texas has a great stock of books to rent: classics, best sellers, and any readers favorite genre, so I read several books a week. I can reload new batteries without losing my place with my Sony Walkman, or just keep on going till I can finish the book.

Excellent audio player.

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I was replacing an older Sony CD Walkman that I loved (unfortunately it was no match for a drop to the concrete floor). This one works fine, however I do not care for the placement of the controls and display. They are on the side of the unit making it very difficult to see which buttons to select.

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I have had this cd player for just three weeks, and have had nothing but trouble with it !!! After playing a cd for w while it becomes all garbled. Have put new batteries in and now it only shows "hold" on the screen. Almost impossible to put batteries in, they are in a very awkward place. Had a gpx cd player that finally died, but it lasted longer than this one. Wish I had bought another gpx. This was a waste of money. Don't buy one.

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Cant find a good CD player. I use it to listen to audiotapes while on treadmill. This worked for about 30 seconds on my treadmill, then started to skip and then stopped working altogether within a few minutes. Now I can't get it to work at all. I thought the Sony brand was reliable. I had an old Sony walkman D FS601 that worked for years that finally gave out. Agree, there are not any options. I have tried several brands and all stopped as soon as I started to walk fast. If anyone finds one that works, would love to hear about it.