Technics SL-PG 5

This was the first separates CD player I have ever brought, and I was impressed.
It's advantages over the '490 are small - it has quick access to tracks on the front panel, and contains a few editing features designed for use with a tape deck. However, I found an offer that made the 590 equal in price to the 490, so I thought, why not, I won't lose anything!
I was impressed with the strong, powerful sound coming from this machine. CD ...
...set, and for the money I spent on this (£80, from Richer Sounds) I certainly have no other sources in my system that sound quite like this. Compared to my Sony Minidisc deck, it sounds stronger and fuller, if slightly on the warm and fuzzy side, but this can be changed with a few tweaks to the graphic equaliser on my amp. Bass performance is slightly better than treble, although I find neither lack in my expectations. I think the sound quality is ... more

This was the first separates CD player I have ever brought, and I was impressed.
It's advantages over the '490 are small - it has quick access to tracks on the front panel, and contains a few editing features designed for use with a tape deck. However, I found an offer that made the 590 equal in price to the 490, so I thought, why not, I won't lose anything!
I was impressed with the strong, powerful sound coming from this machine. CD audio is the standard by which all other sources are set, and for the money I spent on this (£80, from Richer Sounds) I certainly have no other sources in my system that sound quite like this. Compared to my Sony Minidisc deck, it sounds stronger and fuller, if slightly on the warm and fuzzy side, but this can be changed with a few tweaks to the graphic equaliser on my amp. Bass performance is slightly better than treble, although I find neither lack in my expectations. I think the sound quality is great, especially since I got some oxygen-free copper interconnects with gold plated contacts (Puresonic, £13).
Build quality is also good. I have had absolutely no problems with it. The transport is decently built and has a smooth drive mechanism which won't destroy itself by ramming in and out. The rest of the fascia is a bit flimsy but I normally use the remote which can access nearly every feature, plus a few more. The remote by the way is easy to use, is small and well spaced out. It's not particularly ergonomic but who holds their remote all day?! By the way, the display on the CD player is easy to read, and displays perfectly adequate information.
It has stereo phono outs and a digital optical out, making it the perfect partner to my minidisc deck. It has a hifi headphone jack (6.25mm, the big kind!!) with a fairly decent sound, although to get the best from this player you shouldn't be listning to it through the headphone jack!
Features include peak search (for setting level on a tape deck for recording etc - searches the cd at high speed and once it has found peak level, it replays it continuously), Tape length feature (Set length of tape you are using), Side A/B (pauses when time has elapsed, allowing you to change side of tape), Time Fade (fades music out after set time, so that your music doesn't suddenly cut out), Time mode (allows you to see time elapsed or remaning on track, or entire cd) Random play, Auto cue (pauses it immediately before any signal is recieved, so you don't get big silences on your recording) Program mode (99 track memory) Repeat, and Repeat A-B (only remote control). Most of these are only useful for tape recordings - as I don't have one I make little use of them - the optical out means I can copy a CD perfectly onto MD with literally 3 button presses).
The player features MASH (Multi Stage Noise Shaping) which I presume is some stage of the player to ensure you get the smoothest sound possible, which it does indeed produce.

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