I looked at many small radios before deciding to purchase this unit. Sangean radios were attractive and stylish. If I wanted to spend $70 on a portable radio, they would have been my first choice. Panasonic also makes a radio that is about $5 less than this one. I liked the unobtrusive color, bigger headphones and Sony's superior quality reputation enough to shell out a few extra bucks.

The sound is good with the provided headphones. I think it would be much better with a real pair such as Sennheiser manufactures. I think it is silly to buy a small portable radio for $30.00 and expect to have an Onkyo or Bose type sonic experience no matter what you spend on headphones.

I have had good reception on this unit indoors, and excellent reception outdoors. This unit may not be your best choice for use in the home or office, based on the experiences other reviewers have had. If you are going to use it for outdoor activites, I can't give it a better reccomendation.


It's perfect . . . . for me!   February 25, 2005
Mr Joel Mason (Burke, Va United States)
25 out of 27 found this review helpful

For health reasons, I walk at least a mile every day but I frankly get bored. So, I first tried the discman approach, but quickly realized that carrying it in my hand was not for me. I then received a no-name radio walkman as a gift, and gave it a try. It solved the problem of having to carry something in my hand, but unfortunately I could get only one station (yes, one) and that was a country station. Living in a Washington, D.C. suburb I thought that I should be able to receive more than one station on any kind of radio.

Thus began my quest for a name-brand radio walkman, but I quickly realized that there weren't many choices. I considered the Sangean, but the only thing it had extra was a little speaker. Since my purpose was to listen to music in stereo, I couldn't personally see any benefit in having a tiny little speaker on the radio. That left the Sony and Panasonic brands. After reading reviews of both brands, I was more confused than enlightened because it seems like some people find fault with either brand. In spite of some of the negative reviews about the Sony, I decided to try it anyhow. I immediately understood why many reviewers don't like the headphones that come with it. They just didn't feel comfortable, although I couldn't really fault the sound quality. I simply swapped them for the Sony headphones that came with the Sony discman I had purchased, and that solved the problem. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could easily fill all ten presets on the two FM bands with stations that I normally listen to at home or in the car. Maybe the reception on this radio simply depends on where you live. I didn't even bother trying the AM band, because, again, my purpose for buying a walkman radio was to listen to a variety of music stations in stereo. Likewise with the T.V. band. If I want to listen to T.V. I'll watch it instead. I finally tried the WB band, and was able to hear all about the weather. In fact, if I could have found a unit that simply had an FM band I would have bought it.

One last comment. For those folks who think that the sound quality of this radio is disgusting I can only assume that they are purist musicians, super audiophiles, or ultra critical types who aren't satisfied unless they are listening to a $10,000 stereo system. Therefore, I dismiss their criticism. For me, this is a perfect radio walkman.


Darned effective   July 11, 2003
ordinarulo (Lawrence, KS USA)
14 out of 14 found this review helpful

The radio does fine for picking up FM/TV/WX bands. Not the best in the world, but it's a whole lot easier to get a fairly weak FM with digital tuning.

However, I've been ridiculously impressed with AM reception on this unit. Single battery, sub-deck-o-cards sized? Nighttime reception from West of Kansas City... I've gotten 5 Chicago stations, Nashville, Cinncinnatti, Atlanta, Detroit. Unreal. The ferrite bar in there is very directional. But, pick a frequency and wave the radio around and you'll find something.

Of course this was a lot cooler 20 years ago when all the "clear channel" stations weren't Clear Channel stations. That detracts nothing from this fine radio, though.