Home > Consumer Reviews > Panasonic SL-CT780 Personal CD Player

Let me just say, this is by far the nicest portable CD player on the market. It is really portable and makes any CD player I've used in the past look awkward and clunky. It's about the size of a CD and about as thick as 5 stacked CDs.

The unit feels solid and has some nice features. For instance, the top part of the unit will open fully (almost 90 degrees) once the switch is pulled. As for the skipping, I literally could not get the unit to skip. Under any condition. I ran with it, walked with it, shook it violently, dropped it, and it countinued to play. Very impressive, it actually skips less than my former MP3 player (don't ask me how, I know the MP3 players have no moving parts, it just did, okay?). Also the LCD display is clear and easy to read. It has three sound modes: live, X-bass, and train. The only one that I ended up using was the X-bass as the other two are just silly (the train setting is used to lower fatigue on ears if you are in a busy place, such as a train). It can also read CDRs and CDRWs which is a nice plus. If you have had problems with CD units in the past not being able to read your CDs, don't fear, this unit will play just about everything.

As for the sound quality, it is unbeatable. It matches if not exceeds my home stereo set. Everything is crystal clear and no form of static or noise is audiable. Even when using the sound modes (i.e. X-bass) the sound quality does not drop at all. Again, very impressive, considering that the anti-skip is functioning the whole time. Let me just say this unit kills MP3 players as far as sound quality is concerned, it also exceeds any other CD unit I have every heard.

Ask for the packaged components, it is pretty much standard. This is not a car kit, so it doesn not come with a car power adapter or a CD to tape conversion thing. It does however come with the following:

CT780 CD unit Stereo headphones six-button corded (attached with wire) remote control Power Adapter

Two rechargeable batteries with case AA battery adapter manual/instructions

However, the 'clip on' battery attachment for the double A (AA) batteries is almost useless at it protrudes noticably from the bottom of the player. Luckly, this attachemnt is not requred to take this Panasonic on the go- it has two flat, rectangluar Ni-cad batteries that are recharageable. The greatest thing is, you can plug in the Power Adapter (Included) and it will recharge the batteries automatically. No seperate charger is required. These flat batteries are pretty efficient and I don't doubt that you can get 30 hours of playback on them. Let me just say I've never run out of juice on this unit.

Also the headphones that are included are good, but not great. The CD unit deserves far better headphones than the ones provided. Only when you get a pair of good hi-fi headphones does the Panasonic seperate itself from the crowd.

So it sounds great and the features are nice. What else? Well chicks dig it. No serious! I laid it on top pf a table while at a meeting and my friend noticed it and stated, "It's sooooo cute! I love it!" That's the hook line and sinker. Buy one. It's worth the price if you're an audiophile or a ladies man!

The only difference this USA model and the Japanese model have is that the Japanese model you get the lcd remote control which is a lot cooler than the cheap 6-button remote-stick in the USA models. The only rival for this player is Sony's d-ej925. Here are some contrasts: -The battery lifetime is 85 hours max with this player. That is 5 hours longer than Sony's player. -One can put extra AA batteries in the player, where Sony's where you must have an external battery pack. -Panasonic's player has the lcd built in on top, it looks very nice, and it has all the control functions, so you will not need the remote attached at all. For Sony's besides having the basic controls in the player, there is no lcd on the player and for the extra functions you must have the remote attached. Attaching an lcd remote control to the main unit reduces the battery life. -Sony's G-Protection technology and panasonic's No-Skip technology are pretty much the name, except for the name. -... So, Sony's player is really good, but Panasonic's is just better.

If you want a very tiny, feather-light, super stylish, and fully loaded-with-features portable CD player, look no further. However if sound quality is an issue at all for you, steer clear. I have tested many portable CD players over the years, and I must say, this one seemed to be the best (and that's why I bought it)...until I listened to it playing. The sound quality, and I am not exaggerating, is one of the very Worst I have ever listened to coming from a digital audio source. I tested this player against three other portable ones (2 SONYs and 1 AIWA) that I presently have at home, and this one turned out to be (hands-down) the worst (in terms of sound because to me, that's what counts).
Let me elaborate. I used and always use the KOSS KTX/PRO headphones (which, for me, are the best-sounding portable headphones one can possibly get). Here's the verdict:
If you like to listen to your music flat, meaning without any bass boost or anything of that sort, you will notice hardly any difference between this player and any other--I didn't.
If you do like equalization, the Panasonic SLCT780 is down there at the bottom. The SLCT780 comes with 3 different EQ settings: "Train," "Live," and "S-XBS."
Train cuts off the high frequencies. Quite honestly I don't see why anyone would like that.
Live boosts the mid and high frequencies making the sound indeed more lively. The bass however is drowned. Finally, the S-XBS boost the low freqs. It does that WAY too much though!!! To the extend that all you hear is bass. Just like Live drowns bass, S-XBS drowns mid and treble. It also distorts excessively. Ok, maybe if you use cheap headphones (kind of like the ones that come with the CD player), then maybe it's ok because headphones like those do very badly in the low frequency range, and feeding them with a signal highly amplified in that range will artificially produce the desired overall sound (with a LOT of distortion). But the true test is how they perform with good headphones--and since this is a low-powered unit, good PORTABLE headphones with low impedance and high sensitivity (aside from full frequency-range response). With such good headphones, the CD-player paradoxically performs at its worst! Unbalanced response and excessive distortion make the listening experience tiring and displeasing.

Reguardless of what other people are saying about this discman, it is GREAT. I cannot think of anything negitive about it. I think I got it at a good price. It plays CD-R just like a regular studio cd. It has a really long play time. I dont recharge my batteries that often. The damn thing charges the batteries that comes with it, what more do you want than that? The remote is handy. All the buttons you need is there, so you dont have to pull the cd player out of your bag or pocket to do anything. You can shake it all you want it wont skip.

the only thing special about this cd-player is how slim it is. The sound quality is ... considering i bought a cheaper 50 dollar cd player with way better bass and sometimes better sound. another thing i didnt like was the the only way you could turn on special features like bass boost was by using the remote. i did like the rechargeable batteries, but if you want to use regular AA batteries you need to attache a bulky peice of plastic onto the back the holds the batteries. an overall good cd player but not worth anywhere near the $... that amazon wants for it.