Features:
- 40-second antiskip protection
- Headphones with in-line volume control
- Bass boost and 20-track programmable CD memory
- Includes car and cassette adapters
- Durable design with translucent finish
Description:
With the many competing brands of portable CD players available in the $50 to $75 price range, it's difficult for us to recommend the GPX C3946BI. Although the C3946BI has lots of features, including a car adapter kit and volume control, we found its best asset to be its 40-second electronic antishock protection (ESP). With the ESP engaged, we dropped the player and bumped it repeatedly without causing the music to skip. Unfortunately, even the antiskip feature has its flaws. Because the ESP button sticks out from the side, it was prone to being accidentally turned off each time we lifted the player. The player's build quality is below average, with a design that offers fake screws as part of the lid's plastic mold. The supplied headphones are among the least impressive we've heard in a portable CD player, exhibiting very little dynamic range and distorting frequently in the midrange. Although the headphones come with a volume control, the circuit that's used to adjust the volume level hissed each time we moved the slide-rule-type control, with the music fading in and out and distorting through the headphones. The supplied car kit did nothing to convince us the C3946BI's faults lie specifically with its headphones. When we plugged the player into our vehicle's normally impressive six-speaker sound system, the music distorted in the higher frequencies and demonstrated weak bass, indicating the built-in digital-to-analog converter is below average. --Eric Gill Pros:
- Impressive antiskip memory buffer
- Lots of features
Cons:
- Unimpressive build quality
- Below-average headphones
- Volume control distorts music when used
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