Sony CDP-CX400 400-Disc CD Changer
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- Device Type: Changer
- Number of Discs: 400
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Not without faults
Pros
Huge capacity, good sound quality
Cons
Poor interface, slow disc changes
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Though the interface is poor, it's hard to beat having every CD in the collection in one easy spot, with no jewel cases littering the room!
Overview
We purchased a CDP-CX400 as a replacement for an old 5-disc magazine player. We wanted to keep our CD cases out of reach of our toddler, and this fit the bill better than a large, enclosed CD rack.
Loading Experience
This unit allows you to hook up a standard PS/2-style PC keyboard for text entry. You insert each disc and manually enter the disc title. You may additionally enter artist names and assign discs to one of 8 groups. The poor manual didn't really help understanding the text-entry options.
The CDP-CX400 can store a single title for each of the 400 CDs. It also has a 200-entry "Artist File" in which you may enter artist names separately. You then assign an artist to a CD. There is also an 8-entry "group file". These may be named and each CD can be associated with a single "group".
Getting the CDs into the tiny slits in the spindle was somewhat tricky, and a few times we skipped a slot when entering CDs.
Playing CDs
The interface is fairly unintuitive, but once you're used to it, usable. You may select any CD slot by number, either by directly entering its three digits with the remote or spinning a selection knob on the component itself. As you spin, the assigned disc title shows up on the display. When you find your disc, you just tap the knob in to load it.
The remote allows direct entry of the disc number, which is fairly useless unless you have the positions of all 400 CDs memorized or written down. It also will slowly show all 400 CD names and allow you to select a disc. This is also quite useless since it would take many minutes to see all 400! You can also manually go back and forward discs with + and - buttons.
Artist Mode
You can also select CDs by artist, if you've assigned them. This actually works OK, but the remote doesn't help much. You put the unit into "artist mode" and the selection dial, and the + and - buttons on the remote, now scroll through all the artists you have entered, in alphabetical order. Once you select an artist, the CDP-CX400 goes to that artist's first CD and you can use the same controls to select a CD by that artist. Again, this is fairly slow using the remote, and there is no way to directly enter an artist name! It would be nice to be able to jump directly to a letter using the (labeled) letter buttons on the remote.
Group Mode
Each CD can be a member of a single "group", out of 8. This allows you to group CDs by genre or family member, for instance. Groups can be directly selected by designated buttons on the face of the unit or by using the nubmer buttons on the remote. Searching within a group is similar to artist mode, where you scroll through the titles assigned to that group.
Shuffle Play
The neatest function of this unit is also it's most frustrating. You can "shuffle" the CDs and songs to play a completely random selection, and can limit this by Artist and Group as discussed above.
This would be really neat if the disc-loading time wasn't so slow. But it takes about 10 to 15 seconds to change CDs, leading to strange pauses. Even my houseguests noticed the pauses and asked what happened to the music! Plus, while changing discs, the player has a purple light that flashes brightly, and the display shows a confusing "random number" effect during changes, further drawing attention to it's long load time. The flashing lights draw our toddler like a magnet, which is just the opposite of our intention in buying the player!
Other Considerations
The sound quality of the CDP-CX400 is noticably different than my old Kenwood changer. It has a smooth, deep, mellow sound that I really like. It surprised me, but I really can hear the difference!
The player is HUGE, which may be a consideration for some people. It's over 22" deep and 7.5" high, making it too big for some stereo racks. But this size pales in comparison with the space required for storing 400 CD jewel cases!
The eject feature works fine, but it only pushes the CD out a tiny bit, making it hard to grab the right one. And with so many CDs in such a small area, putting CDs back in is quite tricky as well.
It includes one optical digital audio output for connecting to a reciever, which is nice. It can be daisy-chained to another identical player to make a "single" integrated 800-CD unit, but this only works with analog audio.
We purchased a CDP-CX400 as a replacement for an old 5-disc magazine player. We wanted to keep our CD cases out of reach of our toddler, and this fit the bill better than a large, enclosed CD rack.
Loading Experience
This unit allows you to hook up a standard PS/2-style PC keyboard for text entry. You insert each disc and manually enter the disc title. You may additionally enter artist names and assign discs to one of 8 groups. The poor manual didn't really help understanding the text-entry options.
The CDP-CX400 can store a single title for each of the 400 CDs. It also has a 200-entry "Artist File" in which you may enter artist names separately. You then assign an artist to a CD. There is also an 8-entry "group file". These may be named and each CD can be associated with a single "group".
Getting the CDs into the tiny slits in the spindle was somewhat tricky, and a few times we skipped a slot when entering CDs.
Playing CDs
The interface is fairly unintuitive, but once you're used to it, usable. You may select any CD slot by number, either by directly entering its three digits with the remote or spinning a selection knob on the component itself. As you spin, the assigned disc title shows up on the display. When you find your disc, you just tap the knob in to load it.
The remote allows direct entry of the disc number, which is fairly useless unless you have the positions of all 400 CDs memorized or written down. It also will slowly show all 400 CD names and allow you to select a disc. This is also quite useless since it would take many minutes to see all 400! You can also manually go back and forward discs with + and - buttons.
Artist Mode
You can also select CDs by artist, if you've assigned them. This actually works OK, but the remote doesn't help much. You put the unit into "artist mode" and the selection dial, and the + and - buttons on the remote, now scroll through all the artists you have entered, in alphabetical order. Once you select an artist, the CDP-CX400 goes to that artist's first CD and you can use the same controls to select a CD by that artist. Again, this is fairly slow using the remote, and there is no way to directly enter an artist name! It would be nice to be able to jump directly to a letter using the (labeled) letter buttons on the remote.
Group Mode
Each CD can be a member of a single "group", out of 8. This allows you to group CDs by genre or family member, for instance. Groups can be directly selected by designated buttons on the face of the unit or by using the nubmer buttons on the remote. Searching within a group is similar to artist mode, where you scroll through the titles assigned to that group.
Shuffle Play
The neatest function of this unit is also it's most frustrating. You can "shuffle" the CDs and songs to play a completely random selection, and can limit this by Artist and Group as discussed above.
This would be really neat if the disc-loading time wasn't so slow. But it takes about 10 to 15 seconds to change CDs, leading to strange pauses. Even my houseguests noticed the pauses and asked what happened to the music! Plus, while changing discs, the player has a purple light that flashes brightly, and the display shows a confusing "random number" effect during changes, further drawing attention to it's long load time. The flashing lights draw our toddler like a magnet, which is just the opposite of our intention in buying the player!
Other Considerations
The sound quality of the CDP-CX400 is noticably different than my old Kenwood changer. It has a smooth, deep, mellow sound that I really like. It surprised me, but I really can hear the difference!
The player is HUGE, which may be a consideration for some people. It's over 22" deep and 7.5" high, making it too big for some stereo racks. But this size pales in comparison with the space required for storing 400 CD jewel cases!
The eject feature works fine, but it only pushes the CD out a tiny bit, making it hard to grab the right one. And with so many CDs in such a small area, putting CDs back in is quite tricky as well.
It includes one optical digital audio output for connecting to a reciever, which is nice. It can be daisy-chained to another identical player to make a "single" integrated 800-CD unit, but this only works with analog audio.
