Citizen CD-280 Portable CD Player with 60-Second ASP and Car Kit

Citizen CD-280 Portable CD Player with 60-Second ASP and Car Kit
Manufacturer: CITIZEN
Product Type: CE

Editorial Review:
Product Description
Citizen's record of achievement is distinguished by many firsts. Today Citizen is successful in many areas of business - information equipment, electronic equipment, industrial machinery and equipment, jewellery and spectacles - and its Research and Development facilities are second to none, resulting in the development of technology that leads quickly to new products.
Amazon.com Review
With the CD-280 Portable CD Player, Citizen continues its excellent track record of offering economical, well-designed, and durable portable CD players that deliver great sound. The audio player's 60-second anti-shock feature performed flawlessly, and though we had some issues with the player's amplification levels, the overall sound quality was high. If you're looking for an outstanding, portable option for listening to your CDs with during your "on-the-go" activities, the Citizen CD-280 is hard to beat.

Design
The operative word to use here is simplicity. Although the buttons are slightly smaller and therefore not quite as user friendly as the Citizen CD-115 or CD-117, there's little to complain about. Programming functions, clearly laid out in the easy-to-read disc display, allow users to repeat individual tracks, repeat the entire CD from start to finish, or shuffle the tracks randomly. We found the "hold" feature, which prevents users from accidentally pressing the buttons-- especially useful during workouts.

Anti-Shock Feature
Try as we might, we found it nearly impossible to induce skips in our CDs. Only when we repeatedly hit the sides of the CD-280 repeatedly were we successful, but for everyday usage, Citizen's anti-shock technology fits the bill.

Sound
In a word, the sound quality of the CD-280 is great. With a range of jazz, classical and guitar-driven rock as its test, the player performed beyond our expectations. The extreme lows and extreme highs of the music came through sounding clear and crisp. However, the sound lacks both depth and bass, so much of the symphonic elements in the music we tested with were lost. Also--and this is our biggest complaint--the player lacks serious amplification. We needed to play the music with the volume set at maximum to really appreciate the music. But for the price, we had little to complain about.

An interesting option that Citizen offers on the CD-280 is an internal battery recharger for rechargeable batteries. However, the recharger does not have an automatic shut-off feature, so we'd advise users to be wary of using it to avoid damaging the batteries or the player. Although Citizen offers no guidance about expected battery life, we found the CD-280 still playing robustly after 6 hours of straight testing with the anti-skip function on.

Pros