Kenwood DPC-X602 Personal CD Player

Last summer I decided that my old portable CD player was due for a replacement. I had long been in love with that old thing, and I found it hard to imagine living with another portable CD player (such a sad story). So, after the funeral service for my long time friend, I started researching for a new buddy. I wanted good quality, but not a heavy price tag. I wanted good anti-skip features, but I wanted battery life-time. And guess what I found...

The Kenwood CD player stood in the store window with a bright aura around it. I researched it, and bought it. Well, it has been nothing but sunshine and clear blue skys for my new pal and me.

What makes this CD player so good? Well, it has all of the features that you could hope for. The anti-skip features leave nothing to be desired. It has the ability to choose between 40 second, 20 second or no anti-skip. This makes it perfect for saving that precious battery power when you don't need anti-shock protection. Other features include programable tracks (up to 32 songs programable), superb bass boost, repeat, shuffle, and the other usual play options. Another interesting feature that this CD player has is the ability to recharge your batteries. If you purchase a specific type of rechargable battery (see manual for details), your CD player will recharge them for you if you leave the CD player plugged into a wall outlet. This is incredibly handy for saving batteries and money.

The sound, along with the other features, is great. It sounds about how any high quality CD player would (what makes the difference in sound is the headphones you use). And on that note, the included headphones are accually quite good. I know that most of you might just throw out the included headphones and use your favorite pair, but give these a listen. They look small and cheap, but they handle bass better than some Digital Reference headphones I have heard. Like many other CD players, the Kenwood DPC-X602 has a Bass Boost mode. It is very powerful - pumping up the bass by about 5X. You need some pretty good headphones to keep from getting a rattling effect, but the included ones handle it pretty well.

The look of the CD player is gourgeous. It is the sleak design that caught my attention in the first place. It is not the smallest of the portable CD players you will find, but it isn't the biggest either. The size is convienient, and it will easily fit in many pants pockets.

Another excellent feature of this CD player is the durability. I have put this baby through some pretty though tests, only for it to come out just fine. Once as I was carrying a bunch of stuff (including the CD player) to my car, I lost my grip on it and dropped it about 5 feet onto the hard pavement below. After some gratuitous swearing, I bent down to examine the damage that I had done. To my surprise all that happened to it was a couple of scratches on the surface. Everything still worked perfectly. This was very amazing to me. The only problem with durability that I have had is with the buttons. The previous track button on mine got messed up. I have to press down hard on it to get it to work - but the other buttons work fine.

Overall, this is an excellent CD player. When you add the $90 price tag (I got mine for $75, so look around), it seems like too good to be true. This is one amazing little friend that you will be glad to own, and your wallet will be happy too.