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Sony ICF-CD831 Clock Radio/CD Player (Black)
See it at Amazon.com for $49.95Average Customer Rating
(3.0 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First | + Share25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
Very happy with this one!
(4 out of 5) by Amazon Customer on Sep 19, 2003I spent a lot of time looking on Amazon for a clock/radio/cd device. The dual alarms - both with CD (pick your own track), radio or alarm (which is ding, ding, ding not the type that will sent you into cardiac arrest every morn), semi-forward facing speakers, nap timer, and other features, make this a keeper in my book. I've had it a week (as of 9/18/2003). The unit is heavy, but that enables 1 hand operation of the buttons so the unit stays put. CD sound is rich, however it won't rattle your windows, but in the bedroom we don't want our music to be too intrusive...The radio sound quality is less robust than than the CD quality - that may be my station...The only feature I'd prefer is a jack for headphones (then I could rattle my ears and block out my wifes snoring). I'm very pleased with this buy.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Modern Clock Radio saddled with ancient First-Gen CD Player
(2 out of 5) by Bryan Scholtes on Sep 8, 2004 (Minneapolis, MN United States)The unit is heavy and made of high-grade glossy plastic. Switches and dials are substantial and confident. The display has a hi-lo brightness setting, keeping the room dim at night.
Sound is fine and clear, not tinny at all. Plenty of timbre. Dual alarms are very handy, and the nap function is a godsend.
However, the CD player mechanism is OLD. Almost ten years ago I bought Sony's top-of-the-line Discman for my car. Remember those first- and second-gen players? Whirry and noisy, you could hear the high-pitched operation of the laser, like a robot's whisper? The motor in my Discman would buzz while it spun up, and make little oscillating whirrs while it located the track. In less than a year, it broke.
I suspect the same mechanism resides in this clock radio. The laser unit and innards look almost identical to what I remember. And when it spins up a CD, the newspapers might as well report it a day ahead, because it takes about seven seconds of noisy operation: click, whirr, whine, etc. The thing will wake you up itself, before the CD begins to play. For months, I would wake up to the sound of the player, seconds before the music.
I'm not a terribly light sleeper, but I treasure those stolen minutes of sleep when my internal clock begins to rouse my subconscious. Have you ever been woken by your pet or spouse, minutes before your alarm? Don't you feel a little bit cheated? If you buy this clock, prepare for that feeling five days of the week.
Plus, it chokes on burned CDs, especially those with more than a dozen tracks or so. And let's face it - aren't your latest CDs burned? Unless you want a lifetime waking up to Spin Doctors and Chumbawamba, pass on this unit.
Sound is fine and clear, not tinny at all. Plenty of timbre. Dual alarms are very handy, and the nap function is a godsend.
However, the CD player mechanism is OLD. Almost ten years ago I bought Sony's top-of-the-line Discman for my car. Remember those first- and second-gen players? Whirry and noisy, you could hear the high-pitched operation of the laser, like a robot's whisper? The motor in my Discman would buzz while it spun up, and make little oscillating whirrs while it located the track. In less than a year, it broke.
I suspect the same mechanism resides in this clock radio. The laser unit and innards look almost identical to what I remember. And when it spins up a CD, the newspapers might as well report it a day ahead, because it takes about seven seconds of noisy operation: click, whirr, whine, etc. The thing will wake you up itself, before the CD begins to play. For months, I would wake up to the sound of the player, seconds before the music.
I'm not a terribly light sleeper, but I treasure those stolen minutes of sleep when my internal clock begins to rouse my subconscious. Have you ever been woken by your pet or spouse, minutes before your alarm? Don't you feel a little bit cheated? If you buy this clock, prepare for that feeling five days of the week.
Plus, it chokes on burned CDs, especially those with more than a dozen tracks or so. And let's face it - aren't your latest CDs burned? Unless you want a lifetime waking up to Spin Doctors and Chumbawamba, pass on this unit.