Slim curvy and very sexy. (Sony D-EJ 1000)

Member Name: Cheuk

Product:	Sony D-EJ 1000
Date:	22/01/02 (2039 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Slim, and looks great, Build quality, Good quality playback for pop and rock etc

Disadvantages: Expensive and lack of refinement, similar to cheaper D-EJ995 model, Fussy headphones, and hiss with supplied set, Poor classical music playback.

Pro errata
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This new CD walkman strictly speaking is not top of the new Sony CD walkman range as such. The honour belongs to a model which also has MP3 playback functionality but is much bigger and more bulky and reduced battery life. So The D-EJ1000 is top of the range as such for pure CD audio terms as in the existing range.

The Intro
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Well I was after the D-EJ725 as it was half price in sales and well wot can I say ended up with much more. Haven’t paid this much for a CD player for a long time, and that was when they were rather new. My replacement Panasonic budget CD player has lasted a few years and apart from changing the headphones that came with it, and a poor battery life it has served me well. A more expensive Kenwood model my sister has, had been a bit of a disappointment. Well having a Sony Mini Disc recorder player I decided to plump for Sony again, with the optical link out a major factor for making much more high quality copies and more importantly more easily as well. With a CD-text function it means that labelling would also be easier, though there is not much support for it so its uses are rather limited, though most CD burners and PC burning software offer this facility, so useful for self compilations.

The D-EJ1000 certainly met my needs though pricey. I haven’t found this model else where so far and only on Tottenham Ct Rd and its not even on the Sony UK website yet, so it was rather fortunate I happened to pass through the area with work one day!

The package
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This player is rather eye catching. Why? Apart from the style there is a sticker on the model boasting:

Upto 115 hrs playback!
CD-R/CD-RW compatible
CD-text function and remote control
G-protection

The other thing is that it’s made of a magnesium die cast body. Well this keeps the player light. Also sports AMS and AVLS as well. <
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The box is bigger than the current range. Opening the box explains why this is so. There is so much of it. Those accustom to Sony portable products will quickly recognise the carrying pouch included. It’s the same boring grey suede pouch similar in design to the one I got with my MZ-R900 mini disc player, only much bigger. More interestingly inside the pouch there was another compartment, which I assumed was where the remote control was stored. How wrong I was. This is for the external battery case. The design is weird in that it doesn’t attach to the body of the player directly, but via a lead and the battery case can then be inserted to the pouch compartment. This design though clever I find irritating to those that fix the case directly to the body in that you need to hold on to both parts if your not using the pouch! Two rechargeable Ni-Mh chewing gum batteries are supplied as per usual of Sony’s range. There is an AC adaptor, and uniquely a desktop charging stand. This is a bit of a gimmick as charging can be done using the adaptor directly, though it looks more sleek albeit a mobile phone type, and frees up some space, though using the player whilst charging this way can be tricky. Last but not least is the the remote control (CD-text display) and the headphones. This is the stick type design that is common place with Sony products and first seen with my MZ-R900 MD recorder as were the headphones, though these were replaced with the far superior MD-48 LP set more of which later. For your smackers this is your lot and not a bad package either.

The Build
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This being a top spec model from Sony the build quality is excellent. The shape is a funny oval one, but very slim. The design is sexy. The body is very light indeed even when both batteries were inserted inside the player. On the side there are the connections for optical out, AC- Adaptor, headphones, small buttons for volume, stop and t
he search buttons that also double as the play button, a hold switch and the open lid. There is no LCD display on the body unit itself so everything has to go through the display of the remote control, which. This is not a particularly thing either as the buttons are rather small and fiddly to be honest. The player exudes quality though from the lid opening to the closing of the lid itself which snaps with a “clunk” and is particularly satisfying. Well this is what reviewers rattled on about when writing about German cars! The unit feels solid, though the lightweight does not make it any flimsier.

One word of warning. This model is very similar to the slightly cheaper D-EJ 995 model which is virtually identical. I spotted this at a Sony dealer the other day and apart from the model number it was hard to notice the subtle differences. Well this model is round in shape and not oval, and its much more shiny and eye catching. This is due to the body is made of aluminium and not magnesium and feels slightly heavier as a result, but not very noticeable. All in all performance should be similar though battery life is less than 100 hours, hardly a cause of concern.

Performance
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Well looks aren’t every thing so its time for a play test. Putting in a dance compilation and press play. The player was still noisy, despite Sony’s experience with MD player which are much quieter, so this was disappointing. Without any bass enhancements a track of “Castle in the sky” was attacking but rather dull. Switching on to bass 1 significantly enhances the experience somewhat with much more solid bass and treble coming through. Using the bass 2 setting the bass was enhanced even more with the track much more exciting and the bass became a solid thud. Wow. This was the experience. It seems Bass 2 setting is going to be compulsory. Playing tracks like The Corrs’ What Can I do, the vocals w
as strong and the bass does not detract the experience. The CD-text function was not available as not many commercial CDs support it. Time to use a CD-R and CD-RW discs which my old Panasonic player sometimes struggle with. The CD-text function does work, with the track names appearing on the remote control display. Both CD-R and CD-RW play well, and the quality of playback is dependent on the burning and the quality of the originals! Steps Gold played back fine as this was a direct copy of the CD. A CD-R of MP3s playback was adequate though this was due to the initial ripping at only 56kbps. Look this player can’t perform miracles!

A CD of Bond and classical tracks however shows the problems of the supplied headphones. I encountered this problem with my MZ-R900 in that at low volumes and on quiter tracks like the start of new tracks, there is a lot of hiss but swapping the headphones cured the problem and also made the experience much more enjoyable with more controlled solid bass. This problem was again on the D-EJ1000 and I also noticed interference as well but turning up the volume helps. Using the MDR-48 LP helps again but the sound becomes much poorer! The bass is much weaker and it sounds like the whole performance has been throttled and muddied, which is strange! The bass interferes with the Bond track though and has to be turn down to bass 1 though. So playing classical stuff is a weakness. The soundstage is good though, with a real presence and accurate.

The motor mechanism isn’t very smooth with some jerkiness and jittering when searching through tracks though and noisy as well, which is disappointing.

Battery performance is good though. Have used the new batteries for over two weeks and haven’t charged it as yet, and this is with 1-2 hours playback per day. The Panasonic lasts a few days! The rechargeable batteries supposed to give 40-50 hours play and should be a lot less as they’re no
t fully charged.

The G-protection also works, haven’t managed to make it skip so far!


Recording
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One of the reasons for the purchase was to make recording to my portable MD-recorder much easier via optical instead of the existing analogue connection. CD-text can also be used to label the MD copy via another lead as well, though this is not well supported on commercial CDs as yet and is of limited use. Using an optical connection not only makes a better quality copy, but also allows sync recording to be used, so both start at the same time. Having to use the remote to program the tracks for recording isn’t easy initially, though I imagine this should become easier with time. Once recording starts then it was a doddle. Copies are much better than ones via the analogue lead as well.

Overall
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A good quality and stylish player and slightly expensive. Excellent sound for dance, rock but not great for classical stuff. Good battery life so far, and the player exudes quality. However those accustom to Sony products will be a bit disappointed by the lack of refinement! The supplied headphones are fine just turn up the volume, but this player is rather fussy with headphones though. If you can compare the 995 with the 1000 and go for which one you fancy though this is a fine player, the 995 is cheaper and very similar and more eye catching due to the shiny aluminium. Though I’m satisfied with the player! Maybe this is this case with supermodels! Now I’m gonna hunt for some headphones that will improve the experience further!

Summary: