I quickly typed this Mikomi CD- 9501 review more or less in favour of cheaper portable Cd Players. All the reviews here cover, mainly, Sony products in excess of £70. Some might laugh at inferior brands. I've found little practical difference between top end players & cheaper entry level. If your needs are basic, there`s some great bargains.
I purchased the Mikomi CD-9501 Portable Cd player because I wanted to test burnt CD`s - determine if they'd be good all round compatible compilations.(That's right, it actually supports CD-R/RW and mp3`s - common advertising hooks).
Also, I wanted to reduce wear on my portable minidisc. The Mikomi runs on average for 11 hours using two rechargeable AA`s, has a 4.5v jack port but no internal recharge circuit. The first thing I did was chuck the supplied headphones in the bin, (saving the foam filters), replacing them with standard Panasonic in-ear. Not false economy, If you already own good headphones. The design looks similar to a futuristic kids plastic frisbe. The size of its poorly produced casing is cumbersome and there's a few rough parts where the plastic hasn't been machined properly. To it's credit, its actually quite slim depth wise and the silver buttons help enhance it. This Cd player has practically no jog proof or anti-shock feature, only a `hold` button which barely prevents tracks skipping whilst in motion. You could successfully use it on public transport but I wouldn't recommend wearing it whilst walking (it skips like hell & any potential mugger may laugh at you). The Mikomi buttons are unresponsive after extended use & the LCD is very basic. Despite these shortcomings, it features programmability (up to 20 tracks), random and intro scan/repeat memory. It also hosts a lineout for external sources. Now the funny part - sound quality: Coupled with decent headphones, there's negligible difference between this and top-spec players (honestly! No fooling, it's all digital). There's a great range of volume and bass boost without distortion coupled with high definition clarity. `Sound ` is definitely its strongest feature. I don't like rotary volume dials because they tend to crackle with age but this kit`s almost disposable anyway. I'd recommend this Cd player for those mucking around with external digital sources/testing or for simply relaxing with some tunes on the couch. Its really not that bad, it doesn't matter if it gets bashed around and I've had loads of usage for a mere £7.99.