Panasonic SL-SX271C Personal CD Player

I bought this for over a year. I never noticed how light and small this unit actually is until I bought a second portable CD player later. (I am just too lazy to detach this one from my car so I needed a second player.) It looks pretty cute comparing with some of the bigger and more intimidating models from JVC, RCA and Sony. Button design is very good, simple and straight forward: Big play and stop buttons that you will not miss even in the dark. The pop up button that opens the cover is also very intuitive. Two AAA alkaline battery can last for several weeks if you don't listen to it very often. The anti-shock mechanism is excellent that I have never missed a single note walking with it in my hand. Well the most important thing is sound: trash the bundled inferior headphone and get either Grado SR60 ($69) or Koss Sporta Pro ($20). This will make the biggest difference if you really want good music "quality". I bought this CD player with car kit for $69 but my Grado SR-60 headphone is also $69. They are a perfect match and I have no regret at all. Grado SR-60 has extremely transparent mid and great highs and tight bass, and the sound Panasonic SX-271 generates is a little relaxed, which compensate well for Grado's aggressiveness. The combination makes the mid range extremely smooth and the highs not shrill at all. Comparing with the JVC portable player I also have, the panasonic is smaller, has better battery life and the bass is not booming at all. The car kit also works fine except the "cassette" makes a little noise when running. I heard Sony portable CD players might present more details in sound but the sound is flat and dull and you tend to get fatigue easily because of the sound. I think I like panasonic better because I NEED to be immerge myself into the emotion of the music I play. Only thing I am not sure is whether it is as strong as my JVC. I dropped the JVC twice and there were even cracks on the cover of the LCD screen but it still works fine. The paint on the lid of my panasonic are beginning to wear off which makes me a little nervous. But overall I like my panasonic much better.
There is one mistake in the review: I talked about the "popup" button which opens the lid, actually that button is on my JVC player not on panasonic. Sorry for the mistake.