dilip's Full Review: Panasonic SL-CT570 Personal CD Player
This CD player was a replacement for my somewhat venerable SL-S340, which had served me for almost 5 years, and had taken quite a few substantial drops over the years. Though the old player still functioned (somewhat) the fact that the antiskip was actaully causing skips encouraged me to go out and drop a few dollars and buy a new player.
The first thing that I decided was that I wanted a slim player. I didn't want something that was overly large, or even average sized. I wanted somethig that wasn't in black, I have a silver cel. phone and figured that all my other consumer electronics should match it, or my Handspring Visor deluxe.
I chose this player over a more expensive Sony unit, despite the fact that the Sony was a slight bit slimmer. Why? AAA.
I know that this is a point of contention with some people, but the fact is that disposable batteries are great when you travel. No rechargable is going to last as you backpack through Europe, or do a long South American trek. Carrying the correct power adapters is a pain, but getting your hands on disposable batteries is never a real problem. I like the fact that the player came with NiMH batteries that recharge in the unit. They are silver, and look cool when I put them in my frosted Handspring Visor.
The battery life is excellent. The additional battery pack that comes with the unit makes for an excellent life extender. I think that the add on is ugly, but if you don't like its looks or its bulk you can leave it at home.
The Aluminum top is great for resisting the small tortures of everyday life, and the interface is typically Panasonic (a good thing). The earphones are typically Panasonic (a bad thing), but at least they are replaceable.
The wired remote control is cool, but no nearly as nice as the ones that Sony has for their units. Part of that is that the Sony units have no LCD on the unit itself, and then put it on the cord. All told through I like the cordless remote which lets you play, stop, turn off, FF, RW, and alter the volume. I would give it full marks if it had a pause on the remote, but I'll take what I can get. The best part of the remote is that it plugs into a standard port, and that makes it fairly tough, not to mention that if it breaks, I can bypass it.
The anti shock works well, and I like the fact that it gives a selection of equalizer options, including a train option, which eliminates some of the sound leakage that annoys other passengers (despite the fact that it dulls the sound of certain types of music by making it more tinny). The Live setting seems to amplify background hiss on certain CDs, and I tend not to use it on Live CD's.
The HOLD slide on the unit locks the interface on the Unit, but leaves the remote functional. This is great, and the simple mechanical stop on the remote is a clever hold button.
A note on the Antishock. There are three modes: off, 10s, and 40s. The amount of memory used for the 10s and 40s does not vary, instead audio compression is used. This is noticeable on discs that require a fair amount of fidelity, such as classical music, but is barely noticeable on contemporary stuff.
All told I think that the player is great. I just wish that the remote had a pause.
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