Sony Walkman D-EJ925 Personal CD Player

I had been shopping for portable CD players that don't skip and sound good or great. But until I found the Sony D-EJ925, every player that I had owned either skipped at least occasionally while walking or had no more than mediocre sound quality. My Panasonic SL-CT470 came the closest to my ideal - again, until I found the D-EJ925.

The D-EJ925 - dressed in metallic silver (for U.S.-market versions; some non-U.S. versions also come in blue and green, as well) - was very slim but quite weighty. That gave the EJ925 a solid feel. That slimness is the cause for the player to require the use of the "gumstick" rechargeable batteries inside the player, of which a pair of NH-14WM NiMH rechargeables are included. (Surprisingly, the batteries that came with my unit were partially charged, just as the NiMH AAA rechargeables that came with my Panasonic SL-CT470 were; I could play CDs for a few hours with either unit right off the bat.) Fully charged, the D-EJ925's batteries should last well over 20 hours between charges.

The D-EJ925's slimness is also the cause for the "minimalist" controls and a lack of any display whatsoever on the unit itself - there are only Play/Pause, Stop/Charge, Skip/Fast Backward, Skip/Fast Forward and Volume Up/Down buttons, and AVLS (Automatic Volume Limiter System) and Hold switches. (What? No Mega Bass button on the unit?) As for the slick, cool-looking "pen" remote, it has a good backlit LCD display, a "collar" that controls the volume, Play, Skip/FF and Skip/Rew functions - and (gasp!) Display Mode (elapsed time for current track, time remaining for current track, and number of tracks remaining/time remaining on current disc), Play Mode (Normal/Single Track/Shuffle/Program Play), Repeat/Enter (Enter for Program Play mode), 3-position (Off/Mid/Max) Mega Bass, and Pause buttons. (Too bad all of those latter secondary buttons could have been better placed.)

OK, I've discussed the features of the D-EJ925, but how does it perform? Very well, indeed. Not the best-sounding portable CD player ever made, but better-sounding than most recent players that I've heard. (The Panasonic SL-CT470 sounded slightly better than the D-EJ925, but the former's anti-skip circuitry degrades the sound slightly.) The G-Protection anti-skip - which by the way can be turned off (though Sony had labeled the "Off" position "1" and the "On" position "2") - gives the D-EJ925 virtually skip-free performance without screwing up the player's sound. (The D-EJ721 also has G-Protection, but the feature on that unit didn't work quite as well as advertised.) The headphone output isn't as loud as the Panasonic SL-CT470 - but that may be because the SL-CT470's headphone jack has a relatively "forward" sound (the D-EJ925's sound is slightly "laid back").

As for the supplied headphones - to the circular file. You're WAY better off buying a pair of Koss KSC-35's, KSC-50's, KSC-55's, KTX-Pros, Porta Pros or Sporta Pros with this CD player. Also, the carrying case is really tough to use - the CD player barely fits inside the case, and you'll have to remove the ENTIRE CD player just to change discs. And finally, the plug-in battery case accepts two AA batteries to extend battery life up to 80 hours - but the battery case simply dangles freely; there's no provision for permanently attaching the battery case to the CD player.

Sony seems to have fixed the dreaded "my CD stops playing for no apparent reason" syndrome with this year's crop of CD Walkmans, judging by the reliability of my D-EJ721.