Sony D-NE800

Having used the Sony D-NE800 portable CD player now for over a year, I can finally say the thing is going in the bin!

There are several issues with this unit...

The horrible sound quality, even when using a CD. To get a reasonable sound you have to match it up with a set of earphones costing almost double the unit itself! Or even better, use the digital out and have a portable amp with digital in (about 5 times the cost of the unit!). Do not attempt to use the earphones that come in the package, as they are best taken out of the box at the point of sale and given to the shop to get a $1 refund (because that's about all they are worth).

The ATRAC compression is best described as (nowhere) near CD quality. Even on the highest quality setting you can still quite clearly hear the difference. The compression also changes the music, in that it is now dull and off centre, and the background detail is brought to the foreground which is quite off putting. After many hours (60) listening to the best ATRAC quality recordings only, and then putting on a CD, it was like having the earmuffs taken off!

The design is atrocious! The slippery rounded shape is great for fumbling and dropping. You cannot use the unit one handed, especially if you want to open the unit to put in a CD (which, generally you will have a CD in your other hand). The raised joy stick control means that the unit is in hold mode for all conditions except sitting on a desk. Even then the LED light is continually activated as the joy stick is bumped to tell you that the hold function is on.

The buttons are hard to access, and the joy stick/circular button is not logical in its setup. The external battery carrier is poorly designed for a portable device, as you have to carry the unit and the battery separately, as they are attached by a cable only!?

Forget about the stated battery life - the real life is about 25% to 50% of the stated hours. You may get the long hours out of it if it is on a desk, in air-conditioning, playing the lowest quality music straight through, without any touching of the buttons! When using the external charger you have to tell the unit to charge after plugging it in, and you cannot play while charging!

Basically, if you cannot hear the difference between FM radio and CD, then this CD player you will find OK (so long as you don't mind the lousy design). If you enjoy good quality music then look elsewhere for a portable device.