Panasonic SLSX270 Portable CD Player

Other highlights include 24-track programming, Panasonic's X-SBS bass boost, lightweight headphones, and a hold function that saves battery life by preventing accidental turn-on. Hold also locks the unit in an uninterruptible play mode if this is desired.

The player's sound is warm and easy, but the headphones project a slightly hooded quality we hear with vocals. In addition, the X-SBS bass boost cannot be defeated--an option that we definitely miss. Even with X-SBS, bass isn't overpowering. Nor does the SLSX270 play as loudly as other portables we've tested--but it was still loud enough for us!

Two AA batteries have a healthy 28-hour lifespan, even with antishock engaged, and the supplied AC adapter helps prolong battery life while you're listening at home.

All in all, Panasonic's SLSX270 is loads of fun and a terrific value, underlined by a generous one-year warranty. This is one portable CD player that's all substance and no flash. --Wayne Garcia

Pros:

• Antiskip feature works like a charm
• Hold feature
• 24-track programming
• One-year warranty

Cons:

• X-SBS bass boost cannot be defeated
• Headphones are slightly muffled

It sports a heat-resistant, polycarbonate casing, so you can confidently place it on the dash of your car without damaging the CD player. It also has a sliding lock to keep the lid closed during rougher handling. A one-push, full-open mechanism pops the lid and slightly ejects the disc, so you can easily load and remove your audio media. Its compact design lets you slip it into a pocket or, using the included neoprene belt, take it with you wherever you go.

Panasonic offers a one-bit digital-to-analog converter to ensure exceptional signal linearity--you can hear every quiet note amid competing instruments. The super-extra bass system delivers hard-hitting low-end, while a digital servo system maintains accurate reading and playback.

People who exercise can put in a disc, program their settings, and forget worries about changing those settings--a convenient hold switch prevents other buttons from being pressed accidentally, saving batteries as well as effort.

A top-mounted liquid crystal display reveals operating details such as track information and whether antishock is on or off. The Panasonic SL-SX270 offers 24-track random-access programming that lets you listen to songs on a CD in the order you prefer or completely at random.

Track and disc repeat automatically replays any song or, once the disc is over, it starts at the beginning without stopping. You can skip through the tracks, search, or pause the music, and a resume function plays the music from the exact same spot.

To eliminate audio skips, Panasonic offers in this model version 3.0 of its enhanced antishock memory. It gives you virtually flawless playback, even during jolt-heavy activities like driving and jogging.

How does it work? Panasonic's antishock system rotates discs faster than normal speed, reading the digital data into a memory buffer. When a vertical shock occurs along the axis of a disc and causes a tracking error, the system plays music, stored 40 seconds in advance, from its digital memory so the correct tracking resumes.

Additionally, the antishock memory has a sophisticated new chip to correct horizontal shocks that occur in the plane of disc rotation and can sometimes force the disc to momentarily spin faster or slower. Controlling sporadic disc speeds allows the digital memory buffer to cope with vertical errors and function at full capacity, though you should be aware that jolts continuing longer than the buffer can still interfere with playback.

The SL-SX270 spins discs reliably and it plays them longer. On a pair of AA alkaline batteries (not included), it offers up to 28 hours of playback. It runs on an AC adapter that comes with the CD player, so you can listen to your favorite CDs right away. An auto power shutoff feature turns the unit off after five minutes of non-use to preserve battery life.

Since then I've always thought of the Panasonic SL-SX270 as an amazing CD player. I've used many other CD players, including some high-tech, $$$ ones from Sony and other big companies, and this one compares with all of them. It's very light, small and compact, it has great ESP, and it comes with very nice and easy to use buttons. It sounds like such a simple thing, but you'll be amazed how many CDs I've seen with all these useless extra options and these really small round buttons that are hard to push or that cluster up your CD player. This one has all the necessities and more, including random play, resume play, and hold.

There is only one thing I don't like about this CD player. YOu need to use S-XBS system to get any sort of good sound out of it. The headphones that come with the CD player are already pretty bad, and in loud places, without the S-XBS you won't hear the beats well enough. The solution? High-quality headpones, specifically ones that go in your ear.

Effectivness - 9
What can I say? It gets the job done, I've never had it malfunction, and I believe there's only one person in the world who's ever had a problem with it. The LCD screen leaves something to be desired though... I can't quite put my finger on what, but it needs more flash.

Easyness to Use - 9
The buttons are easy to push, the random and resume options are grouped together nicely, and nothing is confusing in the slightest bit. The one error I notice here is that the headphone jack and the volume control is grouped too closely together. Sometimes it's annoying to change the volume.

Extra Options - 6
True, it doesn't have too many extra options, but who needs 50 different bass and treble settings? And is it really that important to have volume in only one headphone? And is it truly necessary to have 27 different volume settings? The extra options on the SL-SX270 are 40 second ESP, S-XBS, track programming, resume track, random play, and hold.

Flashyness - 8
It's so cute! It's small and compact and round, and it just lookst like a great CD player to have. It doesn't make you ooh and ahh as much as an I-Pod does or a new DVD player, but for 60 bucks you'd expect something short of neandrathal, and this is everything but.

Overall - 8
I've seen 100 dollar CD players which are worse than this. For 60 dollars, you're getting one of the most reliable CD players out there. I highly recommend it for anyone.

Thanks for reading my review.

Signing off,
Dan.


Good While it Lasts   April 13, 2002
A couple of years ago, I was at the airport, about to depart on a trip, when I realized I packed my music, but forgot to pack my CD player. So I bought one. It turned out to be this one, and I liked it right away. The anti-shock function, the Random and Resume features, and the Hold feature alone are enough to warrant buying it. The S-XBS feature, IMHO, *MUST* be used if the sound is going to be worth it. This player has made many trips with me, across country, as well as back and forth to work and the gym. Sadly, it is dying. The anti-shock function sometimes simply causes the cd to stop playing, though still spinning. The cute part is that when this happens the player actually apologizes; the word "Sorry" appears on the LCD screen.

So, maybe I'll buy another one. But this one was good while it lasted.


Dont go messin with this mother of a dog thats eats his mom   March 22, 2001
 1 out of 12 found this review helpful

poopadoop. It is really good. I like it. It has a nice color. Don't drink it. I stuck it in my ear and it got stuck! Don't do that. It hurts. one time I was eating dinner and it attacked me and ate me! It was scary.!