Panasonic SHOCKWAVE SL-SW860 Personal CD Player

MP3s are a great way to exchange audio, but the convenience and portability of the CD format is still a force to be reckoned with. Although there are some great advantages to the MP3 format such as the number of songs which can be stored on a disc, the compatibility between your MP3 player and your PC, some of these advantages also can be viewed as drawbacks. For instance people may not consider it a convenience to be able to store 15 albums on a single CD in mp3 format simply due to the time commitment required to set up the disc and the trouble of searching through 150 songs to hear that one. On the other hand having say the entire officially released ?60s Beatles UK discography on one CDR has it?s appeal. Whatever anyone?s particular reasons may be, personally I have a sizeable enough investment in traditional CDs as well as CD players (home stereo, car stereos, boom box) that I am not ready to abandon the format just yet? which leads me to my search for a Portable Personal CD Player.

After reading some reviews on epinions and elsewhere I narrowed down my search to a particular Panasonic model which I believe was the Panasonic SL-SX270. With a camping trip coming up on the weekend I began my search. After checking a few stores I finally ended up in Radioshack who carried that model, but was out of stock. The helpful salesguy however turned my attention to the SL-SW860 which was on sale for something like $70 off. I decided to give it a try and have been extremely pleased with my purchase. Here?s why?


Construction
One of the main advantages of the Shockwave family of portable CD players, and an important feature of any portable device, is solid construction. This player is constructed of a mix of metal (aluminum) and plastic. It is also supposed to be waterproof. Although I haven?t really had the opportunity to determine how much water resistance it is capable of, I have definitely dropped it. It has fallen off the night stand into the carpeted floor and not even skipped while doing so (thanks to the 40 second anti-shock feature which I?ll discuss in a moment). More impressively it has fallen off the night table onto the bottom frame of my brushed-steel bed and although it definitely skipped that time as the disc popped out, it didn?t have a mark on it and worked fine as soon as I put the disc back in there. While no-one will recommend dropping your cd player this way, this is a portable device and in the course of normal usage this isn?t an uncommon way for the unit to be treated. Therefore construction durability gets an A+.

Shockwave Anti-Skip
Not too much to be said about this feature as it?s fairly self explanatory. Anti-skip reads ahead on your cd and then plays the digital sound bytes in memory to the output. The read ahead time is 40 seconds, giving you that much of a buffer of clear music in memory. When a bump is encountered the read ahead is restarted and only glitch free music is stored in the 40 second buffer. This effectively prevents any skipping in almost any situation. This feature can be turned off although I can?t discern any difference in sound quality. You might think it could be turned off to save on battery power, but the manual actually states that the unit uses less power with anti-skip on. I leave mine on.

Battery Life
The SW860 takes two AA batteries which are rated by Panasonic for 25 hours continuous usage with anti-skip on. The model I bought came right off the display rack and had Radio Shack batteries in it. They lasted at least a couple of weeks which was pretty impressive as I was using it a lot the first few weeks. I use rechargeables in it now and haven?t run down a set yet (about another two weeks have gone by and I haven?t been using it quite as much as before).

Sound Reproduction
For audio reproduction through headphones very little power is actually required to achieve quality sound as say compared to your home stereo or even your car stereo. Noise reduction is important however and the sound reproduction technology can surely make a difference. The SW860 uses MACH 1-bit D/A conversion and digital servo to achieve sound reproduction which I?m sure you?ll find satisfactory.

Other Features
The SW860 offers a bass boost option called S-XBS (or extra bass system). Logically placed keys for convenient selection of random playback (up to 24 tracks), repeat 1/ all, skip/search, memory/recall.

Carrying
Provided with the unit is a strap which can be used for holding in the unit against the palm of your hand while jogging or walking. There aren?t any belt clips provided although it may be possible to thread a very thin belt through the strap holders on the unit in order to secure it to a belt although this is assumed to be not recommended by Panasonic.

Headphones
If I were to be required to come up with a con for this unit I would have to single out the headphones. The ones that came with mine are the in-the-ear type but rather than having a foam ear insert piece, they are made of hard plastic. Although they are great for private listening as the sound cannot be heard by anyone not wearing the headphones, they can be quite uncomfortable for the first while at least. I have found that after the initial break in the discomfort is reduced considerably, but acquiring a separate set of phones might be an option worth consideration.

Conclusion
All things considered this unit has met and even surpassed my expectations for a portable CD player. The controls are easy to operate and located such that they commit to memory very quickly which facilitates usage in darkness. The construction is extremely robust. The features are all useful and the CD-R playback has been flawless so far. Panasonic continues to deliver at a price which is not unreasonable in today?s marketplace. Highly recommended.