Sony HAR-LH500 Review

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Sony HAR-LH500
2.8 stars
Average rating for this product is: 2.8 out of 5

From 1 rating and 3 reviews

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rjbuk's Review of Sony HAR-LH500 CD Player

22nd Sep 2004

Overall Rating

4.5 stars
  • Value for money
    4.5 stars
  • Sound Quality
    4 stars
  • Time CD Player Owned
    Less than a Week
  • Features
    4 stars
Good Points

Smart device - good looking. VERY impressive sound when playing CD's, and almost as good with stored CD's (PCM).


Bad Points

Sound quality of ATRAC is poor.


General Comments

There are two ways to load CD's on to HD - manually or when USB-linked to a PC connected to the Internet. I started by loading about 20 albums in ATRAC mode - about 20min/disk - and then connected up to hifi. Checked CD playing - VERY impressive, nice detailed sound. ATRAC HD music - terrible by comparison - glassy, no bite, no dynamic. So, deleted all HD content, and tried again, loading in PCM format (5min a CD, so fast). Sound quality much better.

I have now installed about 120CD's on the device, and the disk is over 80% full. So, no way will I get all my CDs on this, unless someone knows how to swap the 80GB disk for a 400GB one (it will come - someone will do it!). Of those 120 disks, only one (an obscure Walton string quartet on Meridian label) had no entry in CDDB (it does now, I submitted it!) so I have a fully annotated HD set. No failures in reading disks either.

I've been adding CD's using the M-crew (groan, for goodness sake, Sony!) software - which is very easy to use, and makes loading CD's a background task. I guess in the future I'll use my portable to add further CD's BTW, the CD's to load go in the HAR500, not the computer - the USB only does the control and CDDB update).

I am excited about the prospect of listening to more of my music. I suspect I will buy a small keyboard to aid in CD/track selection - there is a keyboard port (standard PS2) on the front of the case.

All in all, I am very pleased. Just need to upgrade the disk to 400GB...

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