Aiwa XP-SP90 Personal CD Player

The AIWA XP-SP 90, part of the Cross X Trainer family, was my first ever CD player. All the way back in December of 1999, I was looking for a portable device that could play all of my music. I wanted a top quality CD player, and after comparing many models, I settled for the Aiwa. At that time, it cost $99.99.

The Cross X Trainer series is a series of CD players that are designed for heavy use. The package claimed that it was a CD player for athletic people, that it was perfect for working out with or jogging. This is true. The CD player itself is very durable, and can withstand some heavy falls to the ground without being damaged. The SP-90 is made of mostly hard rubber and plastic, and does not scratch easily, in fact the one that I own still has no scratches to this day. Another advantage and reason as to why it is good if you like jogging, it the fact that it is completely waterproof. I have walked in many rain showers with the CD player in my hand, and the music was still playing. This is because there is a small orange rubber layer connecting the two halves of the player, thereby preventing any fluid of entering. You can even cover the headphone and AC adapter inputs with small rubber plugs that are included.

The design of the SP-90 was what attracted me to it initially. Black, dark blue (almost purple), silver and orange are the colors that are seen on the CD player. The torso of the CD player is black, but there are large deep blue grooves on both sides. The bottom has a large silver opening slot and the top has a large area that is silver, and that is very the buttons and display are located. The middle of the CD player has the Cross X Trainer logo, which "Compact Disc Player XP-SP 90" visible in small blue letters amongst a black background. The opening slot that I speak of is very unique, and many of my friends still think that it is a cool feature. Instead of opening the CD player via a button, you must utilize the opening slot. It contains a circle, and if you twist it to the right, then it will be in open mode, and you can lift up the top half of the CD player to insert a CD. If you twist it to the left, it will be in lock mode, and opening the CD player will be impossible. The left side of CD player has the hold switch, while the right side has the headphones and adapter jacks.

The SP90 requires two AA batteries, and the battery slots are inside of the CD player, which is a safety precaution for those that use it in the rain. The battery life is one of the worst things about this CD player, because two Duracell batteries will last you around 20 hours on average, which isn't much. The only other problem with this model is that when you press play when you first turn the CD player on, you will have to wait 5-6 seconds before the first song plays, which is a lot of time by today's standards.

The button layout is great, and everything is completely user-friendly. The SP90 can play not only CDs, but CD-Rs as well. I have never tried listening to a CD-RW. The Volume buttons are square gray buttons, having a + and a -, and the word "volume" is visible. The skip/search, play/pause and stop/off buttons are orange and have the standard pictures on them. There is an E.A.S.S., which is used for regulating the anti-shock, and playmode and DSL (bass) buttons. The display shows you the track number, how long a track has been playing for, the amount of anti-shock, the state of battery (out of three bars), volume, amount of bass and what mode you are in, thereby telling you almost everything you need to know.

The amount of features is not very large, but you are given a lot of features. With hold, you can 'lock' your CD player, and you can't change the volume, track unless you unlock it. This is useful if the CD player is off and you do not wish to accidentally turn it back on. You can select the anti-shock, and your choices are 40 seconds, 10 seconds or off. I usually set it to 40 seconds, and the CD player has never skipped on me. By pressing DSL, you can adjust the bass, and there are three different basses, with the highest being the best, but this will eat up batteries. The play modes are random (the CD player shuffles all of the tracks), repeat current track or repeat all tracks.

The sound quality is pretty good in my opinion, but it definitely sounds better when you crank up the bass. The volume is decent, I usually have it set to four out of eight bars, when I am in a noisy environment, I set it to five or six. If you set it to maximum volume, you still can't listen to it if you are a few feet away, so don't even try. The sound quality also depends of the speakers that you are using, and if you use cheap headphones, the sound quality won't be what it can be.

The headphones that were included with the SP90 were revolutionary, the first of a kind for me and my friends, and they were really cool. They are the headphones that you put behind your head, not on top, and this was really neat back in January 2000. Soon enough, everybody was wearing the same style. The sound quality was awesome, but sadly, after more than two years of use, one of the sides completely died, and I was forced to purchase new headphones.

Overall, the Aiwa XP-SP90 was, and still is, a great CD player. It is definitely not worth $100 nowadays, but I have seen it in stores for no less than sixty or seventy dollars. It is a very high quality CD player, and will fit the needs of most people. I, myself, am about to purchase a mini-disc player, because I want a new audio device and love purchasing new types of devices.