Sony Walkman D-E301 Personal CD Player
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Good Performance, Terrible Reliability
Pros
Good ESP performance
Cons
Playback stops unexpectedly after repeated uses
Recommended it?
No
I bought this CD player from Best Buy in early 1998 because I needed a CD player that I could use while bicycling. But it didn't quite live up to my expectations. Here are the good, the bad and the ugly of this model:
The Good
When this CD player was working, it doesn't skip even while riding my bicycle. Its 10-second ESP (not ESP2 or G-Protection) worked well enough for me. But I could get the unit to skip when I run across the street, but I didn't do that often enough (the newest Sony CD players with G-Protection perform much better when I am running). And the price isn't too bad for its vintage and basic-only features.
The Bad
The ESP feature -- like most brands of ESP -- tended to degrade sound quality slightly. The treble began to sound phasey, harsh and broken with the ESP turned on (but I had expected this as a trade-off for good anti-skip performance).
The Ugly
The worst part about this CD player is its reliability. My unit began experiencing problems after less than one year of use: The player would intermittently stop playback for no apparent reason, even in mid-disc, without ever touching the controls and with the Hold switch engaged. I was going to repair this unit, but Sony's repair cost would be as high as purchasing a new low-end CD player from the same company.
Bottom Line
If you care about reliability, avoid this model (and all Sony portable CD players sold between September 1997 and May 1999), especially used ones. Newer Sonys may have improved in reliability (I gave a glowing review on the D-EJ815 last week).
The Good
When this CD player was working, it doesn't skip even while riding my bicycle. Its 10-second ESP (not ESP2 or G-Protection) worked well enough for me. But I could get the unit to skip when I run across the street, but I didn't do that often enough (the newest Sony CD players with G-Protection perform much better when I am running). And the price isn't too bad for its vintage and basic-only features.
The Bad
The ESP feature -- like most brands of ESP -- tended to degrade sound quality slightly. The treble began to sound phasey, harsh and broken with the ESP turned on (but I had expected this as a trade-off for good anti-skip performance).
The Ugly
The worst part about this CD player is its reliability. My unit began experiencing problems after less than one year of use: The player would intermittently stop playback for no apparent reason, even in mid-disc, without ever touching the controls and with the Hold switch engaged. I was going to repair this unit, but Sony's repair cost would be as high as purchasing a new low-end CD player from the same company.
Bottom Line
If you care about reliability, avoid this model (and all Sony portable CD players sold between September 1997 and May 1999), especially used ones. Newer Sonys may have improved in reliability (I gave a glowing review on the D-EJ815 last week).
