Price Paid:  $150.00 from London Drugs

Summary:
This is an awesome CD player. Amazing bass and the included headphones fit perfectly snug. The strap that is included, which I thought was a waste of money at first, later came into use on a regular basis. I did have a problem with it after about two months of good use. It's headphone jack had a missing peice and the sound was terrible until repair. I have had this problem with a previous Sony "CD Walkman". There was some minor distortion when the "Groove" was turned on and the volume was at 10. I didn't seem to have a proble with the beeping, though. I don't think that it has every skipped, even during a long distance run in my pocket, so the ESP2 works great. The body of the Discman is tough and so is the aluminum CD lid.

Strengths:
Amazing bass, tough body, good anti-skip, good looks.

Weaknesses:
Headphone jack problems, distortion at 10 with "Groove" turned on.

Similar Products Used:
Curtis Portable CD Player---> $40 CDN Sony CD Walkman---> $120 CDN

Price Paid:  $150.00 from Future Shop (Canada)

Summary:
Very good Portable CD player. I payed 200 Canadian(150 US) for it, I thought it was a good buy for about the first 3 months then all hell broke loose. Good thing it comes with a 1 year warrenty cause i had to have it fixed 3 times in a year. Same problem too, the sound would just stop coming out, regardless of the headphones. The guy said everytime i took it in, that it was my fault cause i used it when i walked when it was in my pocket. He said that where the headphones plug in, the circuit board was held together with GLUE! So I think it was Sony's Fault not mine. Anyways, its still a very good player, with Outstanding Sound and bass, just dont put it on Mega Bass w/ volume 10 with the headphones they give you cause its gonna be distorted. Average Quality.

Strengths:
Good Bass, Good Antiskip, Battery Meter, resume function, rubber bottom

Weaknesses:
Distorsion with high bass and volume, beeping, no clock to tell you how much time is left

Similar Products Used:
older Sony Discman

Price Paid:  $80.00 from 800.com

Summary:
This Disman without a doubt produces the best sound among all the other discmans I've owned. The bass is rich and it comes with great earphones that won't distort bass output. It sounds amazing when I hooked up to my preamp mixer. I had to put the volume up to level 8 on the discman to get a powerful sound when connected to a mixer. The sound comes out on my speakers beautifully. I couldn't even notice any loss of sound performance.
However, there is no time remain display only track number display and second, it beeps each time you switch tracks. That can be annoying.
I'd like to emphasize one more time that this sound system is excellent.

Strengths:
It's sturdy. Has great bass output and overall sound. Great earphones. Batteries inside. Digital volume.

Weaknesses:
No time display--cannot figure out time remaining on a track. Beeps whenever you skip to next song.

Similar Products Used:
Sony. Aiwa.

Summary:
THIS IS THE BEST PORTABLE CD PLAYER THERE IS! one time I plugged it into the wall and turned the volume all the way up on Dr.Dre 2001 with the bass groove on and there was no distortion of the sound at all! You can practically hit it without it skipping even without the ESP2 on. the only thing bad about it is the cost, but, still, you can buy worse for an even higher price.

Strengths:
Has exellent bass for a small unit. Has a cool design.Battery storage is inside, so you dont have to worry about the batteries falling out all the time. Hardly ever skips even without the ESP2 on.

Weaknesses:
the batteries run out within about 13 hours

Similar Products Used:
about 6 other cd players

Summary:
In my opinion, this is a very good CD player, and usually goes for well under $160 (I got mine at best buy for $120)
The abscence of a backlit display can be a pain, and a radio function would have been nice as well. The audio output is very good, with clean lows and clear highs. The included headphones are acceptable only if you are a casual listener, however. As far as bass and volume, they just don't cut it. Battery life is about 12 hours with duracell batteries(do NOT use energizer, for some reason they don't work nearly as well.) Overall, it is a high quality peice of equipment, and would recommend it.

Strengths:
Clear sound, good anti-shock, very durable, lots of playback options, rubber bottom, battery meter, internal battery storage, very cool looking

Weaknesses:
No radio function, no backlit display

Similar Products Used:
MANY other portable CD players