Audiophile portable CD an oxymoron?

I agree with the previous about the Panasonics being better than the norm. Most new players are sonically all screwed up with nonskipping circuitry. Take a pair of Grado headphones or similar and test them in the store with your own CDs. Good luck.

I agree that the non-skip technology is just terrible. What you are listening to is a cheap copy of the music in memory, not the actual CD. I heard a friends Sony and I would not even call it music.

I also agree with the non-skip circuit. However, if you turn it off (if that's an option) it sounds better. Still, I wish someone would come up with a better portable. I haven't tried the panasonic--but if headroom recommends it--it's probably pretty good.

Try and find an Optimus 3400 on e-bay or this site. It is very often regarded as the best portable made.

On the forum at headwize.com, Todd from Headroom has announced that they are working on an audiophile portable CD player. Over the years, sound quality from portable CD has generally gotten worse because the manufacturers focus on two features: lengthening battery life (i.e. lowering power consumption) and improving anti-skip. Both of these are detrimental to sound quality. In all fairness, though, many people will compare battery life and anti-skip when choosing a portable CD, so manufacturers are just following the market and competing with each other. To improve the sound from your portable CD, you can use line out (not the headphone output) and a separate headphone amplifier. Headroom sells portable amplifiers. Also some portable players have digital out but I don’t know if anybody makes a high quality portable DAC.