Panasonic SLSX390

The Panasonic SL-SX390 Personal CD Player was the second personal CD player I ever owned. The first was an old Goodmans model, which didn't have anti-shock, ate batteries up like a starving teenager, and was not very durable at all - I dropped it from about waist height onto carpet by accident and it broke, forcing me to seek an alternative product - this one.
Originally I bought it simply because my friend had one, and that it worked well, ...
...the fact that it was fairly cheap for a remote-controlled CD player - £59.99 from Dixons I think, all that time ago!
So it's down to the basics:

-Sound Quality-
Although I don't know much about sound quality, I could not and cannot find anything wrong with the sound quality of this CD player. In fact the headphones it comes with are excellent too, giving a very good bass sound.
Although I own a CD with a very ... more

The Panasonic SL-SX390 Personal CD Player was the second personal CD player I ever owned. The first was an old Goodmans model, which didn't have anti-shock, ate batteries up like a starving teenager, and was not very durable at all - I dropped it from about waist height onto carpet by accident and it broke, forcing me to seek an alternative product - this one.
Originally I bought it simply because my friend had one, and that it worked well, but mainly because of the remote control on it, and the fact that it was fairly cheap for a remote-controlled CD player - £59.99 from Dixons I think, all that time ago!
So it's down to the basics:

-Sound Quality-
Although I don't know much about sound quality, I could not and cannot find anything wrong with the sound quality of this CD player. In fact the headphones it comes with are excellent too, giving a very good bass sound.
Although I own a CD with a very deep, long scratch in it, the SL-SX390 plays the CD as if the scratch was not there, and only once has it jumped due to the scratch (but only for about a second).
9/10

-Ease of Use-
The player is fairly simple to use; even my big fingers can operate it most of the time. The buttons are solid and make a slight click when one uses them, assuring them that they have pressed the button. The play/pause button has a small bump on it so one can feel which button to press in the dark.
However some of the buttons are slightly too small, but generally it is not a problem! The 'menu' is easy to use too; it is just a cycle-through menu of the way in which to play the tracks (random, program, repeat etc.)
8/10

-Look and Design-
Firstly, it looks quite nice, with a blue and silver, rounded finish.
The main drawback is that it is quite thick, and instead of being perfectly round like other players, it is chunkier, and therefore can be hard to fit into some pockets or spaces in a car for example.
Another drawback about the design is that the 'Open' switch to open the lid of the player can easily be nudged and thus stops your music from playing. I find this tends to happen just at the climax of a beautiful piece of music, causing the excitement and passion of the piece to be lost... however, it can be annoying in other instances too!
6/10

-Instructions-
The instructions booklet supplied with the CD Player is informative, well written, and useful as a reference. I have used it many times to discover some of the more subtle functions attributed to my CD player.
It is quite small, but then again this does not differ from any other type of instruction manual these days! I don't give the booklet the best rating due to the fact that some of the instructions can occasionally be a little complex or not very well laid-out, and could be overcome with a little more thought put into the product.
8/10

-Range of Features-
Hmmm... features, features... this is difficult to rate, because it is not a particularly new model of CD player, and therefore does not have a particularly diverse range.
However, there is an effective 'Bass Boost' feature, which is good for "punchy rock sounds" or for classical music I have found. The boost adds a lot of depth to the sound, hence making the music more enjoyable.
Another sound-enhancing function is the 'Train' feature. This prevents those annoying "Tss tss tss" noises from being audible to others. The lack of "Tss tss" noise also means that if you are fatigued or have slightly sensitive ears at the time, then the 'Train' function enables you to listen with the same volume, but less discomfort.
There are playing functions, such as 'Random', 'Repeat 1 / all', 'Memory' and 'Recall'.
'Random', as the name suggests, randomises the playing order of the tracks on the CD (using a logarithm or something I'd imagine... those mathematicians amongst you know what I'm talking about!) Anyway, I often use the randomiser, because I find CDs can become a little tiresome if played in the same order continually.
The 'Repeat' function obviously repeats either the selected track (Repeat 1) or repeats the entire disc once it has finished (Repeat all). This can be used in conjunction with 'Random', to elevate the levels of spontaneity and really live on the edge ;-) !
'Memory' can be used in conjunction with 'Repeat' and works in the following way. The user chooses the order in which to play some (or all) of the tracks, with a maximum of 24 to be programmed. 'Memory' cannot be used in conjunction with 'Random', however, as that would just be pointless if you think about it...! 'Recall' recalls the programmed track order, funnily enough.
The SL-SX390 also comes with a "Hold" switch, which prevents the buttons from having any effect if pressed, in case it is in a bag with lots of loose items. It works much the same as a mobile phone's key lock.
The remote control is small, yet useful, and incorporates all functions except for the playing modes (Random, Repeat, etc.)
There is a 48 second Anti-Skip System which is incredibly handy. It means that the CD player reads 48 seconds ahead on the disc, so that if it gets jogged and loses its place, it continues play as normal. This is important if walking and the unit is in a pocket.
To save battery power, the unit turns itself off after 10 minutes, or 30 seconds if there is no CD loaded.
It also remembers the settings (eg. volume, Bass boost or not etc.) that were being used the previous time.
9/10

-Durability-
Normally I am not a clumsy person, who often throws their expensive belongings around, but occasionally I have dropped this CD player, even a few times onto solid concrete pavement from waist height, and the only damage caused was a slight scratching to the silver-plating on the top. Even then is minimal, and requires one to inspect it closely to see anything! I have had this for over two years and it has neither damage nor inhibitions to its functioning.
An amazingly tough little number!
10/10

-Value for Money-
Fairly good, as these things can cost a lot of money. Two years ago when remote controls were not as firmly established as they are now, £59.99 was a fair enough price to pay. Prices will have gone drastically down by now, so I'd imagine one wouldn't have to pay more than about £50.00 for it nowadays.
7/10

Overall, I would definitely recommend buying this for its price, functionality and especially its durability. However, if you were very fussy about size and wanted to buy a more compact model, I would advise against this one.
8/10

I hope this has been helpful to you!
Steve. 

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