Now emotional and senti kind of person that I am, I did weep at the tragic death of my AIWA HS-TX486 walkman (read my earlier review). And every time I would travel in train without the walkman attached to my belt and headphone to my ear, I cursed myself for dropping it on stairs.
But how long can I brood, I once went to the same shop to buy that piece and it wasn't there. Darn!
Meanwhile, cassettes were kind of getting primitive with the world moving to CDs. I could hear my friends curse the tapes and enthusiastically talk of CD quality music and crisp and clear with virtually no hissing sound etc etc. And I wouldn't agree less. Most of the tapes I had were getting old and I had never played the old ones. Now every time I tried playing them on my 2-in-1 set, the music would sound good and then slowly the sound would degenerate and die down. I would then rush to stop it and clean the head with a head cleaner and a white cotton cloth, it would be brown and black. ''No more tapes'', I would say to myself. But CDs were such an expensive proposition then. Micheal Jackson's dangerous cassette was available at Rs. 95/- whereas CDs at Rs. 900/- (10 times). 2-in-one for Rs 3500 to Rs 5000 and CD players Rs 6000 upwards with Hi-Fi components being expensive then a 25'' TV set. Quiet discouraging, isn't it?
Not any more, cause then MP3 happened and CD-writers were an in thing. CD prices lowered like anything. Go to the shop now and check the price difference. New cassette for Rs. 125/- and Cds at Rs. 350/- You get T-series CDs at around Rs 125 only. CD walkmans then were Rs. 9000 to Rs 15,000 and now Rs. 3500 to Rs. 6000. Now with such impressive conditions, I finally got my solution in the form of Sony D-EJ715 from Heera Panna at Rs. 3,600.
«« WHY SONY? »»
Who dares ask? We all know who rules the music world right? Sony has always been pioneer at introducing great technology to the man on the street and if I am not wrong were the first to introduce the ''Discman''. And then name is symbolic of good quality music. So it had to be Sony for me.
«« THE LOOKS »»
If my AIWA walkman was slightly bigger than a cassette, this one is even more remarkable and is just slightly thicker than a CD and we all know how thick CDs are, don't we? This one is silver bodied (no guesses why?) and is round with a square portion on rear side. It has an LCD screen that shows which tracks are being played, time elapsed and the battery usage. Surrounding the screen are silver buttons. The piece is very attractive. Besides, it comes with a remote control. Just put CD in the Discman and keep it in the bag with the remote wired to it and headphone plugged in the remote. It has play, fwd/back, stop and volume control and ''lock'' which is similar to ''hold'' button that I described in AIWA review - meant to disable all buttons (similar to keypad lock in cell phones). But it would have helped if it also had the LCD screen as to see the track being played and cell info I have to refer the player in the bag - some inconvenience.
«« THE SPECIALITY »»
It plays Audio CDs - hey hey. Ok it also plays CD-Rs and CD-RWs. But the CD-RW I tried was burned in the CD-R mode. Major drawback today is it's inability to play MP3s, which I have by the plenty.
It has Extra Bass with three settings, Off, 1 and 2. Surely Off is not the option I would prefer. Level 1 is just perfect and really enhances the sound, which by the way is way too good for two reasons - it's a CD and then it is being played in Sony. Level 2 is a deep bass and would sound good for the vocals and Jagjit/Pankaj Ghazals or normal film music. But songs with bass effect, such as ''That Kind of Girl'' by Shaggy or ones with high bass guitar, sounds very Boomy on Level 2 and is avoidable. So I stick with Level 1.
Like the Ear Guard in Aiwa, Sony also has the Automatic Volume Limiter System (AVLS).
CD-playing at home is a simple task but the difficulty in playing CD in a mobile system such as discman or in a car system is that the laser head is subjected to vibrations, which causes the music to jump or skip. Sony D-EJ715 comes with a G-Protection Jog Proof feature that minimizes the effect. I have my own apprehensions about how effective it is but I wouldn't want to experiment to test this feature, especially after that walkman accident. So the CD walkman is better tucked in my bag, its safer that way.
The CD-player comes with an adaptor and rechargeable Sony batteries that last about the same time as Aiwa (slightly more than a week). It's time that they switch to the cell phone Li-ion batteries for a month full of music. At home, I connect to the Aux jack in my 2-in-one to use its amplifiers and speakers.
There are other features which I don't find use for, such as ability to interface with a mini-disc player and the related Joint Text Capability. Wonder what it is?
«« THE IRONY »»
Music is such a wonderful aspect in life that I can't separate myself from it. When at home, I use this to play CD or switch the FM on my 2-in-1 set. At office too (now in ABB) I listen to MP3s. Suddenly there's so much of music that it sometimes gets into my head. Besides with the technicalities of the job, a management correspondence course and general business awareness, I find the need to concentrate and study. So I stopped carrying my Sony around and now carry books to read in the train, trying to set my career right - a prime necessity these days. So I only use my Sony to play classical instrumental music CDs - those stress relaxing flute, Tabla and Santoor Vaadan. But I would recommend music buffs who like music on-the-go to get the D-EJ715, unless of course Sony has launched some better version with maybe the MP3 playback capability.
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