The Surprising Comeback of Portable CD Players

[@clementpruvost8670]

Props to your sister for lending this Aespa collector of a CD player. I never saw this until now (I only saw a portable cassette player.)

[@Kimmsito]

She was actually the first person to tell me about this player, and I would never have known it existed without her.

[@Razorbun]

Iriver still makes audio players under the premium brand Astell & Kern.

[@hugevibez]

Wait what, they're the same company? Good for them, I guess

[@POPDELUSION]

Eewwwwww i guess thats why i never liked astell and kern 🤢

[@justin6581]

@@POPDELUSIONwhat do you mean? They make excellent audio players.

[@TheSpiritingPoet]

I would have never have guessed, but South Korea does some good limited editions.

[@p0lar66]

Technically, iriver still produces portable music players, now under the Astell&Kern brand. However, these devices are positioned as premium, high-end products tailored for audiophiles.

[@ghfsdt]

They have a budget line called Activo. Not sure if it's still active. I have the CT10 which is pretty nice.

[@nimdowo]

that design is amazing and the circular display really took me by surprise, a combination of old and new tech, too bad the audio quality is so bad.

[@Kimmsito]

Totally agree. This could have been just another boring cheap portable CDP, but the whole concept and unique design makes this one very special!

[@yuriythebest]

At first I thought they'd do some anti-consumer thing like have the CD sealed inside the CD player so you'd only be able to play that single CD without breaking/unscrewing the player, good to know it's a "real" CD player

[@nooneinpart]

The thing that stands out the most to me is that the output of the CD player is mono for some reason, or is that just the recording? The audio output reminds me of trying to listen to FM radio where the reception isn't perfect so there's no stereo decoding and the high frequencies are mildly attenuated. Not terrible (some might even say it has a "warm analog sound"), but a $100 CD player that sounds like a $25 FM radio is kinda Not Good. At least it looks cool.

[@Kimmsito]

Oh... Yes you're right, I just realized that the recorded audio was saved in mono, not stereo. My bad! But it's just for demonstration, listening to the live output of the CD player and comparing it to my iPod on my side still showed that the sound of this CDP is missing a lot of low and high end. I'll do my best to set up the test environment without such flaws in future videos, and thank you very much for pointing this out!

[@marshallgs]

This SC6137D SoC actually supports a lot more peripherals - USB, SD, Bluetooth (probably with external HCI radio), VGA/Composite video... It is a multi-chip module with 4Mbyte of SDRAM in the package. Although it does have an integrated 18-bit DAC which this product is probably using, it can be configured to output I2S and in that case you could add on any good dac/codec you want, and improve the headphone situation. The biggest limitation would be probably needing access to the firmware SDK, as the firmware dictates what peripherals are exposed and available.

[@hrdcpy]

I remembered the iRiver portable MP3 CD player from way back. Having that many songs on one disc was cool, but also impractical to navigate. Fellow sweaty hands club member here. 😊✌️

[@t4N9410oR]

You don't even need headphones to hear the drop in quality of audio from this CD player. I've got my 23 year old Yamaha desktop PC speakers connected to my Lenovo laptop, and I could clearly hear the difference in audio quality, between the CD player, and the original audio, in this video.

[@gobgobcachoo]

You're judging audio from a compressed KZbin video?😅

[@t4N9410oR]

@@gobgobcachoo Yes, I know that. What's far more telling, is that the difference in quality, between the CD player, and the actual raw audio, is able to be easily heard on desktop PC speakers, even with the drop in audio quality with a KZbin video.

[@rps215]

I can hear that even from my laptop speakers, that's telling something

[@midorifox]

That UI was fantastic. It reminds me a lot of that 90s Futuristic design, seen in games like Final Fantasy 8 and such.

[@Kimmsito]

Bootup UI and the font selection were really nice touches!

[@golderzoa]

Hopefully physical media makes a return! This gives me hope.

[@97nelsn]

Korean Dank is back with nuggets. Time to dip em in sauce! Edit: 0:16 CRAIG!!!!!!!

[@natsuko_mikan]

CRAAAAAIIIIGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

[@IntegerOfDoom]

@@natsuko_mikan CRAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!

[@Kimmsito]

Not only Craig, there were also HOTT nuggs on that Amazon page!

[@natsuko_mikan]

@@Kimmsito so many nuggs… :3 could they hook up to a 2007 imac tho

[@josuenaimzaratecordero4533]

Seriously, more record labels need to step up their game like this. I so would buy one of these and love it to bits.

[@Kimmsito]

I heard that SM Entertainment is preparing to release another CD player album with iriver, so we'll see how it goes!

[@sussei]

tbh they could've raised the price and not cut corners on sound quality and people would still buy it, assuming if this is a limited release and is a bespoke model made for this collab. thats all the more reason to go all out. though if the usb c port can act as an output it would change the game, you can forgive the device limitations if you can bypass it into a dac, would make a cool decoration as a source.

[@JessicaFEREM]

The part that doesnt make sense is that they didnt include a jewel case, so to put the CD somewhere safe you have to keep the box around. A bit boneheaded.

[@iamrosewhoami]

I agree, not even one of those very slim plastic jewel cases or a paper slip cover? Makes no sense.

[@kyy0602]

This has been the norm for kpop albums for years. I do agree that it can get annoying to access and store if you don't have a disc organizer, but most people who collect kpop albums never even touch the CD inside since the photo books/photo cards/posters/stickers etc. are much more important to fans lol.

[@Kimmsito]

Jewel cases are now rare to come across in the K-Pop album section, but I agree with at least including a paper sleeve for convenient storage haha. They probably have not thought about it, because the majority of people who buy this will most likely either have another version of the same album, or intend to keep it as a sealed collectible.

[@JessicaFEREM]

@@Kimmsito fair enough, CDs in the US are like this, at least include something to put it in.

[@chainsawmay]

It’s the norm in K-pop, nobody throws away boxes

[@IHeartMacsH8r5]

This would be HUGE back in the 2000's because its so CLEAR

[@novheakooij]

there is legitimately no audio playing out of my copy other than scratching the cd. biggest regret i have

[@Kazz7420]

How come I only see this new video rn? Tyvm for finally uploading again!

[@Kimmsito]

Thank you so much for supporting my channel! I'm currently working on some personal stuff, but the videos are being made at the same time. Much appreciated for your dedicated support!

[@rmcdudmk212]

The part in the video where the disk os spinning up and you said "Thats fancy." I had started to saying the same thing to myself like a half a second before you did. 😂

[@quxng]

aespa was the last thing i expected to be on this channel !!! great video btw

[@Kimmsito]

Thank you!

[@DanielNacarinoPadilla]

- Them: DankPods from an alternate universe doesn't exist, he can't hurt you - DankPods from an alternate universe:

[@joshuaolaekeji1254]

Iriver makes audiophile digital audio players. Very high quality stuff but super expensive. Rebranded as astell & kern

[@JohnXuandou]

I don't even buy CD's but this thing is so pretty I want it. Incredible design on it.

[@atsurokihara5525]

A shame that the audio output from this device leaves a lot to be desired. I guess some folks might like the lo-fi sound, but CD media can definitely sound so much better.

[@BirnieMac1]

As an Australian, I’m honoured You go Mr Kimmsito The other angry Australians would be proud

[@Kimmsito]

Thank you, much appreciated!

[@atsurokihara5525]

I love your videos dude. Hangumal mottheyo

[@HL_Lifts]

It looks good for a prisoner to use due to its clear design

[@argoplus]

oh man there's a lot of missed opportunities here since iRiver owns Astell&Kern (they made amazing audio players and DACs), they could've just partnered up with them and put some at least Hi-Fi DAC chips on it but oh well, nice try iRiver!

[@tezcanaslan2877]

That would boost the price by perhaps too much for the young K-pop fans to afford

[@argoplus]

@@tezcanaslan2877 yeah that's honestly true, but man it would've been a banger if iRiver released this exact same model with a little bit of some HiFi spice on it

[@Kimmsito]

There are mini-sized albums that don't contain any physical media other than an NFC tag that links to the specially designed album website, called KiT album or SMini. A well designed Android device with solid concept and NFC reader to have compatibility with such albums, combined with Hi-Fi can be a good product idea!

[@argoplus]

@@Kimmsito oh, these actually exists! Sony made numerous android walkmans with NFC capabilities, one of the examples are the NW-A105. These were quite pricey but they're really good, using stock android and a good DAC chip inside it

[@theny54guy]

i havent used an iriver nugget before, but i am sure that is a thing

[@hdslave]

They just need the streaming sites to fund projects rather than just taking money

[@Kimmsito]

Music streaming sites or companies that make such cool music players would be very interesting to see, but I don't have high hopes because Spotify already started scrapping their own device Car Thing.

[@zenithquasar9623]

A bit bulky but looks soooooo coool! Love the transparent design! That album art so good too!

[@syed_mamoon99]

With the sound test, it's like they added an analog filter on to a MP3 CD.

[@Zorusky]

Mmm... I really didn't know much about these devices and yes, it seems that by design mandate, for sure that's why they simplified it, and you play good music 😊

[@Ivegotsomewater81]

Korean Dankpods?!!

[@zeekyaw]

Usually these CD Players Anti-Skip function cache the audio from CD in a lossy lower quality compressed format. Maybe that's why it's losing all the details. The cheap dac and amp isn't helping too. Thanks for the video, very nice looking player

[@Kimmsito]

That might be one reason why it sounds bad!

[@HenningGu]

CDs in general. I even bought a USB CD drive just so I could actually do something with the 30 or so CDs I have.

[@oscarivanmucinovargas3417]

This Disman from AespA is very nice, but I don't know if it uses an MP3 disk and that it ends with the CDP 🤔

[@TiltedTripodMedia]

What the CD player is doing is copying the audio into a buffer this often results in lower audio quality because the buffer isn’t big enough to hold the uncompressed wave file. Anti-skip is a good thing on a portable CD player, but it usually results in quality loss unfortunately and I hate when my audio isn’t being played directly from the CD.

[@rps215]

One step forward and one step back. I like the idea that the player don't continuously spin and potentially make more scratches on my CDs, but the drop in quality is a bummer.

[@dbnpoldermans4120]

Why is it so gigantic? I had a really thin Panasonic in 2000 that was so awesome. So I am spoiled

[@Kimmsito]

I think thin design doesn't necessarily mean it's a good design in these days haha

[@Aldo.flores]

I love transparent gadgets and I need that nugget player

[@martinstojnic9627]

they made the record player is inside of it meme a reality

[@Zephyrus88PL]

I see Iriver, I lost my shit. I still own IMP-550, U10, Clix and IFP-1095 btw.

[@EeveeEuphoria]

oh man, the MP3 playback on this is kinda sad i wonder how it would sound with like, redbook audio when done on a PC? i wonder if windows even supports that still, for me i use brasero on linux to do redbook audio (even though i currently don't have any CD players that work lol, the closest i have is... strangely my sega saturn, which can only just barely read CD-Rs)

[@nooneinpart]

"Windows Media Player Legacy" still lets you burn Redbook CDs, I think. It's been a long time since I've burned audio CDs but I think my workflow was using foobar2000 to produce a CD-compliant 16-bit 44.1k WAV file with an accompanying CUE file that splits it up into individual tracks with associated track info and then burning that with ImgBurn. This adds CD Text, just in case I encounter a CD player that supports that feature one day. They show up on the computer.

[@shawnwacek6791]

Thank you for the more details in the sound quality and everything else this CD player cuz I did buy it I won't get it till September when it ships out but I think it's freaking cool that somebody finally company music artist whoever came up with this idea awesome idea worth every penny it looks interesting has more features than I thought it would have when it when it finally came out with more detail on it You're the first person to get better detail of the sound quality and stuff like that I got mine for like $164 pre-order at a different website so I paid a little bit more in shipping but the CD player was $126 brand new pre-order shipping was just under $40 so it wasn't too bad and I just got to wait till September

[@Hezy]

DankPods from across the pond is back!

[@kingforkings]

my uconsole by clockworkpi using a cm4 sounds better than 99% of computers. How is this so far better than even minidisc r50

[@GungKrisna12]

Imagine if Sony decided to make another discman

[@alsomika]

Jelly of the watch

[@argxoxo7326]

mine works perfectly ok

[@ghcfuj77557]

Spotify free is so bad that as someone who's 18 I'd rather pirate or buy a cd

[@AngelBolt]

..... wait this isn't dankpods. Eyyy new channel to like!

[@strayiggytv]

I would love to see you review/handle the the hong kong players if you have the time. i see them all the time on aliexpress but info i scarce and people assume they have the same cheap components as every other modern cd player. I'd like to review them myself but alas 'm too poor :

[@Kimmsito]

I'll try to make videos about them in the future!

[@darksidegryphon5393]

I adore transparent tech.

[@Bane_Amesta]

For a collectable, seeing the cd just sitting there with no protection at all kinda breaks my heart, come on not even a little box when you want to listen other cds? Laaaame

[@davemarcosmalicdem9543]

I never thought korean dankpods would exist. Hole guacamole.

[@Rebelnightwolfe]

I can't wait to see these go for dirt cheap and all the photo cards going for top dollar so I can get one. 😂 All too common do i see kpop albums selling for loke $6 and yhe photos/photo cards going for loke $25 a pop.

[@DjChronokun]

ah well, at least you can put the CD in a better CD player and keep this one on the shelf to look pretty

[@lelyatoobaddyy]

This channel and video deserve more recognition, why isn't it popular yet?

[@JackMcSomeone]

Dankpods-style content with Cultaholic music. My two favourite channels making an unlikely crossover?

[@BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

Built like a promotional item where it’s (bottom of the barrel) mediocre components in a beautiful case. Unfortunately at premium prices.

[@SianaGearz]

Ah yes that's why people film in blue or black gloves :D And yeah have other comments mentioned Astell&Kern? Of course they did. Yeah the noisy output is not a great sign, i wish they put a little more effort into it.

[@DJAYPAZ]

Try using Bluetooth headphones. That will solve the volume issue.

[@RusRus72]

Bluetooth is even worse

[@Raptor50aus]

Looks great how do I buy this ?

[@Kimmsito]

It's already sold out at the official SM Entertainment store, which is the only official store that sells new stock. Otherwise, you will have to buy it from resellers at double the price.

[@naneek2]

How do you set up your camera for this overhead shot?

[@Kimmsito]

I used one of the desk camera mounts you can find on Amazon, then addrd a MagSafe compatible camera mount at the end and attached my phone to it.

[@FuZZbaLLbee]

An album that is a player, that’s like a game being a computer. O wait 😋

[@Pleyer7575lol]

4:43 haitch pea ceedees

[@energyismygame]

is this kim chi?

[@JorritvB]

Is it outputting mono? Sounds like mono to me.

[@Kimmsito]

This can output stereo, but there was my mistake recording on GarageBand so the recorded file was in mono. Although the low quality sound still can be easily heard in stereo, it was my bad to not check the recording. Sorry!

[@adnvdn]

This week I found: DankPods but PlayStation DankPods but Korean Nice.

[@emdotrod]

As a K-pop merchandise, it's great As a CD player, it's disappointing

[@suobset]

Dankpods??

[@bilditup1]

iRiver is back????

[@bilditup1]

My iMP-350 still works! Even got it from B&H too, they had an actual US retail presence

[@Kimmsito]

That's really nice that it still works, I believe iMP-350 is the third product released by iRiver!

[@0xKazuto]

Wait, this is not dankpods

[@aeonjoey3d]

exactly, clickbait copycat bullshit

[@dondondun]

​@@aeonjoey3dI mean he's not trying to ouright copy Dank's personality (or the green iPad), plus he made a solid review of something Dank's never talked about, so it's fine imo

[@JamesMincey]

It's too bad that they iRiver used a sealed in battery rather than replaceable AA batteries. Once that sealed in battery stops holding a charge, the entire nugget will become unusable.

[@SwiftBrit]

CRAIG!

[@jameslaidler2152]

Shame the sound is so crap.

[@axiomaticclarity324]

Why?

[@markeb54]

외국인이 이걸 어떻게 구했나 ㄷㄷ 했더니 갑자기 유창한 한국어가

[@Kimmsito]

국내에서도 찾아보기 힘든 물건인데 누님 도움이 좀 컸죠 ㅎㅎ

[@khonjel_singh]

Man, surgical gloves are an effin eyesore. They make your hands sweat. They emphasize that sweat, And even after taking out and using a pair of fresh new gloves, they look like they've been used for months. Nothing against the video loved it, but F surgical gloves.

[@Kimmsito]

Yup, I realized that latex gloves with sweat inside don't look good on a camera while recording, but it was too late to change it haha. I'll use some other latex gloves that are not translucent next time, like black colored ones!

[@khonjel_singh]

@@Kimmsito Nah. Order some white cotton or polyester ones. Watch some IEM reviewers or watch reviewers. White really brings up the color in unboxing.

[@imnonene]

Oh hell yeah kpop Dankpods

[@red9350]

What a pity!

[@CoasterMan13Official]

Are you trying to be DankPods?

[@kobs9636]

Mississippi

[@HDAD419]

That MP3 player sound so shit lol

[@falahfalcon7011]

bro is not dankpod~!!

[@RockyBergen]

iRiver is NOT making a comeback...

[@Kazz7420]

They already have, just under the Astell & Kern brand. This isn't widely known though even if you're an audiophile, hell I only know about the Astell & Kern/iRiver relationship thanks to one of his videos!

[@stopmotionadventures4812]

9 hours ago

[@DarthYuuki]

Making whole players for an album is a baller move though, too bad the hardware itself is kinda meh but I agree at this age of streaming and digital download, we should be happy that something like this existed.

[@irfanchooify]

What a waste ! Look so nice …. Too bad

[@jimbotron70]

In 2024 it's beyond lame.

[@spookynutsack]

this is what supermarket's speaker needs