Koss CDP-1689CP Personal CD Player with Car Pack and 40 Seconds of Anti-Skip Protection

by Koss

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1.2 x 5.9 inches ; 1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00000JFI1
• Item model number: 1689CP
• Batteries: 2 AA batteries required.
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #330,705 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Koss has an easy and cost-effective way to upgrade your cassette-based car stereo to a full-featured, CD-quality sound system. This portable CD player comes packed with everything you need to enjoy CD sound wherever you go, including a cassette-to-CD adapter and power adapter that connects to your car's cigarette lighter.

For earth-shaking sound, you'll want to enable the optional Dynamic Bass Boost Sound System (DBBS) feature, which is extremely effective at increasing the output of bass. While we did find that the enhanced bass level caused some distortion at higher volumes, this is not likely to impact the majority of users.

We were particularly impressed with the high-quality Koss headphones. These lightweight and flexible headphones were the most comfortable pair that we've experienced in our tests, offering a secure fit without squeezing the head.

We also liked the built-in antiskip technology, which resists playback error due to excessive shaking. This feature is a must if you plan to use this CD player in a mobile environment such as your car. The manufacturer claims it has recently enhanced its antiskip technology to better prevent skipping, with a broader tolerance for horizontal shocks, as well as an enhanced laser focus. While we weren't able to access an earlier incarnation of Koss's antiskip technology to verify this improvement, we can report that our CD continued without skip or interruption after we deliberately knocked this player around both vertically and horizontally.

When the antiskip technology is first enabled, it takes a few seconds for the player to fully buffer 40 seconds of music. During this time, the LCD screen contains a graphical icon that shows the progress of the buffering activity. This was a useful feature that we had not seen in other personal CD players.

If you are tired of playing your aging cassette tapes in your car stereo, the Koss CDP1689CP is a reasonable choice for upgrading to CD sound quality. The price alone makes this a steal for both car and portable personal use.

Pros:

• Effective antiskip technology for error-free CD playback
• Comfortable, high-quality headphones
• Good bass-enhancement option

Cons:

• Some distortion at high volume when bass enhancement is enabled

Product Description

40 sec. ASP Plus personal CD player featuring extended battery life, 24-programmable CD memory, Dynamic Bass Boost Sound (DBBS), CD repeat, shurrle, and skip functions, cigatette lighter and cassette adapters, AC adapter, and stereo headphones.

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Sound - Some Design Improvements Needed, October 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Koss CDP-1689CP Personal CD Player with Car Pack and 40 Seconds of Anti-Skip Protection (Electronics)

Nice looking, great sound, good headset, anti-skip works great. I walk everyday and this unit bounces inside my coat pocket or backpack without a skip. Sometimes I jog a little - still no problem.

However - the designers didn't use it like I do: It needs a belt clip - geez, pretty basic - or at least a carrier of some sort.

AND, the control button array is on top and I've found it will turn on if bumped when setting my backpack down. The result is a battery drain.

Finally, the headset plug goes into the side of the unit ruining the narrow width and sleek design. It won't slide into most pockets as a result. They should put the protruding plug along the front or back edge, not the widest, side edge.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Cheaply made, FRAGILE!, December 5, 1999

By 

Jakob Sherbakov (Bronx, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Koss CDP-1689CP Personal CD Player with Car Pack and 40 Seconds of Anti-Skip Protection (Electronics)

I bought this CD player a while back, hoping it would solve my problems... I was using a 1989... YES, 1989 SONY discman until now... no antiskip of course, which is why i bought the koss. The first thing to go was the battery door, would not lock. The headphones I must admit were pretty decent, but my ears hurt after 20 minutes or so... i'm an inner-ear headphone person. The cassette adapter was kind of quiet, with poor stereo seperation. The headphone jack developed a bad contact, so I found myself using the UNAMPLIFIED line-out jack. I finally realized this player was on its' way out... so I managed to trade a SONY DISCMAN (1994) with car kit for it, with a friend of mine. A month later, the KOSS broke (LCD cracked)... and NOW, 5 months after (not to mention 5 years)... the SONY works perfectly still! He regrets trading with me. I recommend you go spend an extra 20 dollars and get a nice SONY Discman! KOSS should stick to headphones! I am not an abusive person, my stuff usually lasts VERY long... this player isn't designed for the real world... much too fragile!

34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars problems, twice, October 29, 1999

By 

Andrew Watson (Roslindale, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Koss CDP-1689CP Personal CD Player with Car Pack and 40 Seconds of Anti-Skip Protection (Electronics)

This is two products in one, which sounds good for $50. (1) It's a discman. (2) It's a car cassette-to-CD converter. That's great if it works as both products.

But for me, it hasn't worked. On the first one I got, the volume control didn't work, so it was no good as product (1): discman. On the second one, the volume control works, but it sounds horrible in the car on anything that has electric guitar on it (ie most of what I listen to). So this second one fails as product (2).

At the time of writing this review, I'm not sure whether or not I will again send back an unsatisfactory product to Amazon. I suspect that the discman part of it is fine, and that a decent car cassette-to-CD conversion thingy would set things right.

But as far as quality goes, I have to score this product as an unacceptable zero for two. It gets one star on the dubious basis of "What can you expect for $50."