Summary: 2006-04-28 10:14:15 Kinda retro design on this portable CP player, looks more mid-90s than something made this decade, thanks to the circular grooves surrounding the buttons. Buttons well laid out in a nice circular shape. Might take a while to get used to the placement, and at first might not seem very intuitive, but once you get the hang of it, it works great. The unit is also relatively thin at just under 0.75", and with the required two AAA batteries, is fairly light as well.
As already mentioned, the unit takes two AAA batteries. When running on batteries, the LCD displays a four-bar power level indicator. Alkalines last about 16-18 hours (CD playback) before finally running out. However, this unit has a quirk where if the batteries don't have a certain level of charge, it won't turn on. In other words, it won't completely drain out alkalines, so if you use a pair of alkalines, you'll have to find a lower power-consumption device to use them in to fully deplete them. I haven't tested NiMH batteries but imagine they'd give about the same battery life on the shorter end, maybe 14-16 hours, depending on the mAh rating of course. For an AC adapter, Panasonic recommends part # RP-AC46, which I bought from Buy.com for $12.96 shipped. You can buy any AC adapter you want of course, as long as it can provide a regulated 4.5V at 600mA (not sure of the tip size, sorry).
Not the most detailed sound around, but very decent sound for a PCDP. Lots of bass and the frequency response continues up with a decent balance to peak off with relatively uncolored, but not very extended highs. Not the most neutral sound however, as the balance skews towards the lower-end a bit. Certain types of drums and lower-frequency instruments, including guitars, can get lost in the mix and "muddied" up a little, especially the lower they go. Raw detail just isn't there, as it can't capture nuanced recordings and subtle musical quirks. "Slightly dark" probably best describes the sound. Highs don't sparkle, and there's a definite curve in the upper-bass/lower-mids that translates to a "fun" type sound on most music, and will not give true clarity in that region. The oomph on the bass response does make up for it though, even if the mids aren't very clear. So is sound quality "bad"? Well from an audiophile point of view, it kinda is, but most people probably won't even notice and will probably even prefer this sound. The headphone jack does a solid job at driving lower-impedance headphones (60 Ohms or less) as well.
There are 4 EQ presets, two for 3D spatialization, two for frequency balance (one of which slightly corrects the low/high frequency imbalance).
A sequential reader on MP3 discs, so you have to compile your discs in the order you want to listen to them. You can skip folders at any time though by holding down the "Next Track" (or "Previous Track") button for about 1 second. CD-R playback works great, have burned several custom audio CDs that have played flawlessly. Haven't tested CD-RW playback.
Reception of FM radio is surprisingly good, I actually get reception at points inside my office building. When not at work, or outside, reception is much clearer and surprisingly static-free on the most powerful FM stations. Receives AM radio too.
This unit can survive short falls with no damage. If a CD is playing, it won't skip either. Vigorous shaking of the unit in various directions and dropping it onto a table (from a height no more than 1 foot) during playback didn't cause it to skip. However, I don't exercise outdoors with it, so I can't speak for outdoor falls, or heights greater than 1 foot. ;)
This unit apparently has a memory buffer that remembers when you last stopped playback. If you stop a disc and then press Play again, it will resume at the point you stopped. The only way to avoid this is to press the Stop button twice (the second press puts it in a kind of standby mode), then open the lid, then re-close the lid, and then play.
Also, the Next Track/Fast Forward button doesn't work to speed playback through MP3 files, it only skips to the next file.
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