Hott CD204 transportable CD participant evaluation

Audiophiles have recognized for fairly a very long time that CDs are timeless and ship great audio for reasonable. Within the age of streaming, CDs have fallen by the wayside, however with the resurgence of an curiosity in retro tech, plenty of individuals are once more giving CDs a attempt. There are fairly a number of CD gamers in the marketplace, and amongst them is the Hott CD204.

This transportable CD participant is nondescript and unassuming, however then once more, you do not really want something fancy out of a CD participant. I attempted out the Hott CD204 to see how properly it performs and if it ought to be your subsequent transportable listening staple.

Hott CD204 CD participant

$38 $70 Save $32

The Hott CD204 is a light-weight, transportable, and simple to make use of CD participant. With anti-skip safety and EQ presets, it mixes the brand new with the tried-and-true very properly.

Execs

• Light-weight
• A number of EQ presets
• Straightforward to make use of

Cons

• Dear for what it’s
• Comes with dangerous earbuds
• Bass enhance preset is atrocious

Value, specs, and availability

Transportable, gentle, and easy

The Hott CD204 is out there for buy on Amazon for $70. The matte black CD participant is in regards to the dimension of any customary one in every of its type, weighing in at a really gentle 8.4 ounces — with AA batteries inside — and measuring 5.5 x 5.5 x 1 inches.

The machine runs both with two AA batteries, which aren’t included, or it may be powered by plugging it into an influence supply with a USB-C cable, which is included within the field. It solely takes wired earbuds or headphones, and does not have any wi-fi connectivity like Bluetooth, so you may have to ensure you have a pair of wired headphones to make use of with the machine. The CD participant additionally comes with a 3.5mm aux cable, so you may plug it right into a speaker system in your house or your automotive.

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Whereas the Hott CD204 is a quite simple CD participant that appears and acts so much like ones you could possibly purchase 20 years in the past, it does have a number of further options that modernize it. Specifically, it has a number of EQ presets to select from, and it additionally has anti-skip safety, so shifting it round will not impede in your listening.

What I preferred in regards to the Hott CD204 CD participant

The machine mixes the fashionable with the tried-and-true very properly

For these seeking to embrace retro tech extra, the Hott CD204 has the identical vibe as a CD participant from the early 2000s. There’s nothing excessively trendy about it, aside from the truth that it has a number of further options like EQ, anti-skip safety, and will be powered by USB-C. This machine is hardly distinguishable at first look from a CD participant you may discover in a drawer in your dad and mom’ basement.

All of that being mentioned, I do actually benefit from the options which can be extra trendy — the EQ presets are particularly good. The presets included are bass enhance, pop, jazz, rock, and basic. I loved the jazz and rock presets probably the most, for the reason that jazz preset brightens up treble in a method that makes horns and percussion sound beautiful whereas not overwhelming bass frequencies, and the rock choice boosts bass in a method that does not impede on different increased frequencies. The pop and basic presets do not do a complete lot for me, since they’re each fairly much like the default sound profile, with basic having a slight bass enhance, and pop sounding a bit extra flat. The bass enhance EQ preset is very atrocious, although, with bass so loud and muddy it masks different frequencies within the music.

As I discussed above, this CD participant has anti-skip safety, which ensures that your music does not skip or buffer once you’re in movement. I discovered that it labored very well, and I did not have any points whereas strolling round with the CD participant in my fingers or in my tote bag, nor did I’ve any points once I shook the CD participant, simply to check its limits.

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Lastly, the truth that the Hott CD204 is so light-weight does make it actually transportable, at the least in a single side. CD gamers are sort of cumbersome by nature, since they’re all the time a bit greater than a CD and might subsequently not slot in any pockets, however on the very least, the truth that it is gentle makes it straightforward to hold round or throw in my bag. It is greater than I can say for the CD participant I used rising up, which was cumbersome and heavy as compared.

This mixture of simplicity, retro allure, and slight modernity made the Hott CD204 a stunning machine to make use of. I listened to an array of CDs from my teen years, and used the CD participant with a wide range of completely different headphones, starting from Sony MDR-EX15AP earbuds to Sony WH-1000XM4 over-ear headphones, and all the time had a good time utilizing the CD participant. There have been no hiccups or malfunctions alongside the best way, making it a really dependable choice in my view.

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What I did not like in regards to the Hott CD204 CD participant

Whereas the CD participant is nice total, there are a number of small caveats

The most important drawback I’ve with the Hott CD204 is that it is costly for what it’s. There are numerous different CD gamers obtainable on-line which can be far more reasonably priced, or at related costs which have extra options. One instance is the Arafuna CD player I reviewed beforehand, which is $5 cheaper and has built-in audio system and a chargeable lithium-ion battery. For $70, I’d count on some extra options, or at the least higher construct high quality than low cost plastic housing.

One other small subject I may establish is that the earbuds that include the machine have a really tinny high quality to them, with some faint static noise as properly. The earbuds include simply the ear ideas hooked up to them and no different sizes, so they do not slot in my ears correctly, and make an disagreeable clicking noise once I gently attempt to insert them again in my ear.

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Lastly, as talked about once I went over the EQ preset choices, the bass enhance preset sounds fairly terrible. It goes past simply bass boosted into overwhelmingly bass and sub-bass heavy, to the purpose the place the standard of the bass frequencies is decreased in favor of quantity, resulting in a muddy sound that lacks any readability. It is so loud that it masks increased frequencies within the mid and treble vary, making any observe I listened to with it unenjoyable. Fortunately, this preset is just an choice, so you may simply keep away from ever utilizing it.

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Must you get a Hott CD204 CD participant?

Anybody in search of a reliably good, easy, and light-weight CD participant will be capable of benefit from the Hott CD204. In my time utilizing it, I did not run into any main points, the one caveats being the earbuds it comes with — which is not an issue if in case you have different wired headphones — and the value. But when you will get it on sale, I would say it is a significantly better choice. It may possibly go on sale for as little as $38, and in that case, I’d suggest it with no hesitation.

In any other case, the Hott CD204 is a stunning machine to hearken to CDs at residence or on the go. It satisfies my love of retro tech with out being too outdated. It is so much lighter than my previous CD participant from my childhood, making it much more transportable, and I like that it is matte black, since matte black actually goes with every little thing.

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