Sony MegaStorage CDP-CX455 400-Disc CD Changer

Product Rating
4.25 of 5
4 reviews

Price Range
$213 - $275

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Product Description

Summary

This is an excellent product overall. Not a worldbeater, but definately a very good choice. I did not need the 400 disc capability, but it is nice to know that I have it. It seems like a bit of overkill that one can daisy-chain two for mega-control and hold 800 discs, but then again, some people may have that much music. I just do not. All of the features are very nice indeed. I have not used most of them, but am slowly becoming accustomed to all of the unit's capabilities. The jog dials are not only nice but a necessity with as many discs as fit in the player. Being able to manually enter the disc's name with a PS/2 Keyboard is especially nice, being as I had several MP3 discs without any 'cdtext' on them. I do not care for the blue lighting on the front, it makes my Kenwood KR-9600 face look greenish by comparison, and it is much too bright. It would be different if the changer was full, since it would show through the discs, but I only have about 50 or so in mine. I will admit that the remote, while amazingly capable, is a little bit cluttered. I could use one that was simpler and more options actually on the unit. I listen to it through a Kenwood KR-9600 reciever and KL-999Z speakers, and the sound quality has been more than appreciable. I agree that a song delete option would be a plus. Do not move the unit loaded with discs, I had to take mine apart to get a loose disc from the inside after moving it. Browsing through MP3 discs can be a bit of a hassle, even when all the songs are organized, like in my case. I have an issue in that one of my displays shuts off after running for a while. It seems that there is a thermal protection in the unit that shuts off the display before damage occurs. If I shut the unit off and turn it back on it is fine. The random setting seems to develop a memory for songs you have skipped past, they come up more frequently in subsequent playings if the unit is not shut off in between. It seems that it is unable to read a lot of my ID3 tagged MP3s. They will not display the tag information correctly. In MP3 mode, the fast-forward is delayed quite a lot. I would suggest this unit for anyone who likes all of the music they own, otherwise they will be annoyed at how often a song they dislike comes up when on random.

Strength

AMAZING amount of space, good capabilities, good price, etcetera.

Weakness

Glitchy under certain conditions. I would suggest the ES 400 DVD changer for most people now, it's even silver face! :) It has a better eye because it is a DVD unit, but unfortunately only plays MP3 CDs, not MP3 DVDs. I would really like to see an eye in these units that is as ignorant of scratches and cracks as the Pioneer PD-4700 was. They played virtually anything skip free. I will likely be switching to entirely computer, getting rid of the CD changer. Computers just offer a better interface, and they never skip.

Summary

When CD's are begining to take over your listening area it's time to consider a Sony Mega Changer, 400 CD's in one machine. If you've really got a gigantic collection of CD's you have the possibilities of adding/linkinadditional machine to have access to up to 800 cd's at once. The CDP-CX455 is packed with usibility features, CD-Text reading for CD's the support this function, two LCD displays, one for the disc number playing and the next disc to play, the other to album/artist name and the play set-up, direct access to your top 8 artists' cd's, two jog dials - one for album/artist/disc search the other for song/character search. Many available play modes, random/1 disc/all disc/by artist/whole machine etc.. For disc's that don't have the CD Text feature (which in my case was all but two of my CDs) you can plug any standard PS2 keyboard into the front of the changer for the tedious task of entering all the artist and album names. A hint for anyone doing this, its way easier and faster do do this while the door of the player is open as the player won't load each cd as you change from one disc to the next while entering text!! The motorized access door is a nice feature with the backlit cd's for a nice touch. The machine includes both analoge and digital optical output, but unfortunatley no digital coax output. The supplied remote seems to have all the nessicary features but it is a bit difficult to figure out, and the manual is deffinatley not conclusive much more detail could have been included. Audio quality seems great, not that it has the exact same audio specs as the ES series, but it sounds awesome on my Paradigm Active Reference Series being run with an Anthem AVM20. I only have one gripe with the changer.... the other Sony Megachanger all have the deleted playlist feature that allows you to mark a song as deleted so it no longer plays as part of your shuffle or random plays, I can understand how less expensive modles and more expensive modles have this feature, but this changer that is over $150 more than the 300 changer does not have this feature!@! Oh well aside form that, I'm very happy with the changer and would still recommend it to anyone with a ton of CD's to organize.

Strength

Pure volume of CD's it can hold. Digital Optical output. Top artist feature (x8) Searching by artist, by album or direct disc access.

Weakness

No deleted song bank, available on the 300 disc changer (for less money) and the ES555 player. Remote in not intuitive to use. No digital coax output.

Summary

I enjoy the sound and have rediscovered lots of my current CD's. The time between CD's and tracks are barable. I don't use the groupingfunctions and instead keep a list in my Palmcomputer. I let it play all day long on shuffle. I first made the stupid mistake and put all my 116 CD's in with wrong side so look up!

Strength

Convinient storage of CD collections. Plays MP3's, CD-R's and shows CD-Text. Sound!

Weakness

Huge! Programmability. Swedish price three times the US.

Summary

Store all you CD and save space. Browse by artist or song title. Also has a keyboard port (and you will need it) for inputting and editing titles. The dual jog dial is nice. Various play modes including top artist play.

Strength

Holds 400 has option to add second 400 cd changer when you exceed the 400 capacity price plays CD-R/RW and MP3

Weakness

none for the price