Hi,
I’m wondering if none has recently purchase a CD player? I have a portable one but it’s not really what I was hoping for. It’s but the sound is a bit tinny.
Gen
Does it have to be portable?
Is it mainly for use around the home? or mainly out and about?
With the disclaimer that I have never purchased a portable CD player … do models exist that have Bluetooth support for output to headphones? That way you are at least separating out the ability to spin and read a CD from the ability to produce decent sound. (Of course, headphones can really only be used by one person and that may not suit the way you use the CD player.) Or even does the portable CD player have an audio output socket for use with external corded headphones?
For any CD player, the above paragraph encapsulates the consideration. CD is a digital format. Any CD player can read the digital sound data off the disk with 100% fidelity (unless your CDs are badly scratched or otherwise damaged). What matters is two-fold:
- ability to convert digital sound data into analog sound electrical signal,
- ability to convert analog sound electrical signal into actual sound.
The important factor is often the last. What are the speakers like? How many? How small? If it’s a portable device, the built-in speaker is often very crappy.
I don’t know where you are on the techno scale but I would guess that CDs are considered a bit retro these days. Many people will have converted their CDs into a computer file format and so the considerations regarding the hardware that will play the track become quite different. (Even then though the most important factor is likely going to be the speaker.)
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What sounds tinny? Is it the speaker on the CD player or when plugged into another set of speakers/headphones?
The make and model would also be useful information.
This might allow members answer why the sound appears tinny.
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It can only be the speakers as they player does not add or detract to the signal unless it has some form of amplification built in
Not sure about that. There must be some form of amplifier, or pre-amplifier built in and that could very well make the sound tinny. Cheap home amplifiers ($50 - $100) often have the same problem due to cheap or untested components.
I used to have one of these players - don’t remember exactly which but it was a well-known brand, probably Sony. It sounded beautiful coupled up to my home theater system. It did come with a headphone jack output but I never put headphones on it. Just put the jack through a convert-to-din cable and into my system.
If you are using headphones then that is the other place you can get tinny, as you correctly say.
If you hook it directly up to speakers then I think it WILL be tinny as there will be inadequate amplificaiton.
From the picture it looks like it has built-in speaker(s). This means it will have built-in amplification which again means that if you paid less than around $400 then you “get what you paid for”.
If there is a jack output it may sound OK with headphones or couple to a home theater system.
