Aiwa XP-SR320 Personal CD Player
Out of stock |
Similar in Portable CD Players
- CD-R/CD-RW Playback: CD-R/CD-RW
- Bass Boost: With Bass Boost
- Anti Skip Buffer: 48 sec.
- Overview
-
Reviews
-
Compare Prices
User ReviewRead All Reviews »
A mixed blessing for an early portable CD-Radio combo
Pros
Excellent tuning, variable presets, variable skip protection, great headphones
Cons
Bulky, radio was prone to die out, could easily be jostled open.
Recommended it?
No
The Bottom Line:
Comparison shop before buying this. If this is the only option, buy it but get an extended service plan because you will need it.
I had originally gotten the Aiwa XP-SR320 as a Christmas present in 2001 after having made many complaints of lugging a Walkman cassette/radio combo and a slowly dying portable CD player around campus, to the gym, etc. Portable CD/Radio combos had just come out and Aiwa was the first company outside Sony to release one. Having had good Aiwa products in the past, I thought this would last just as long. I couldn't have been more wrong.
The XP-SR320 wasn't all the bad. The 30 presets it had were variable between AM and FM and could be set in number to the user's wishes and listening habits, a feature I've seen on no other portable CD/Radio combos (also included was a "stereo/mono" switch to reduce static on noisy signals). Skip protection, called "EASS" by Aiwa, could also be switched between 48 seconds, 12 seconds, and none at all. The best plus was the unique headphones that the XP-SR320 came with, behind-the-head style with a tire-like padding vs. the regular headphone covers, really cool and different.
Unfortunately, there were just as many minuses as pluses. For starters, the unit is pretty bulky (10 ounces) and is about a half inch thick, making easy storage pretty hard in some cases. The labels on the buttons wore off very easily (within a couple weeks under moderate usage), especially considering that even the volume is controlled via buttons. The worst thing were several internal flaws in the tuner which led me to return my XP-SR320 no less than three times in just under nine months. First (about 10 days after receiving the player), the radio suddenly would come out through only one part of the headphones (CD worked fine). Two months after that, the radio tuner all-out collapsed, making local signals near nonexistent. The third player lasted six months until its tuner collapsed and the CD part began buzzing and whirring and rarely playing discs. By that time, Aiwa had more or less discontinued production on the XP-SR320, so being protected under an extended service plan I decided to get a rival's model as a replacement and don't regret it. If the tuner did not have flaws and the unit was a few ounces lighter and a little slimmer, the XP-SR320 would have gotten a higher grade and would still be around today.
The XP-SR320 wasn't all the bad. The 30 presets it had were variable between AM and FM and could be set in number to the user's wishes and listening habits, a feature I've seen on no other portable CD/Radio combos (also included was a "stereo/mono" switch to reduce static on noisy signals). Skip protection, called "EASS" by Aiwa, could also be switched between 48 seconds, 12 seconds, and none at all. The best plus was the unique headphones that the XP-SR320 came with, behind-the-head style with a tire-like padding vs. the regular headphone covers, really cool and different.
Unfortunately, there were just as many minuses as pluses. For starters, the unit is pretty bulky (10 ounces) and is about a half inch thick, making easy storage pretty hard in some cases. The labels on the buttons wore off very easily (within a couple weeks under moderate usage), especially considering that even the volume is controlled via buttons. The worst thing were several internal flaws in the tuner which led me to return my XP-SR320 no less than three times in just under nine months. First (about 10 days after receiving the player), the radio suddenly would come out through only one part of the headphones (CD worked fine). Two months after that, the radio tuner all-out collapsed, making local signals near nonexistent. The third player lasted six months until its tuner collapsed and the CD part began buzzing and whirring and rarely playing discs. By that time, Aiwa had more or less discontinued production on the XP-SR320, so being protected under an extended service plan I decided to get a rival's model as a replacement and don't regret it. If the tuner did not have flaws and the unit was a few ounces lighter and a little slimmer, the XP-SR320 would have gotten a higher grade and would still be around today.
Recently Viewed
Most Popular In Portable CD Players
