Hi there,
I think the E800 mechanism may involve simply a spring, a movable lid (the
circular thing), and some restricting mechanisms. You'd push the disc in,
which forces the lid open. If I'm not mistaken, you simply move the lid open
in order to retrieve the disc. This would be simpler than the
(Jamiroquai-advertised) EP10/11.
The newest Sharp slot-in player (MD-SS321/322/421) are as thick as the E800,
if not actually thinner. The Sharps are about 3-4mm thicker than their
clamshell counterparts at the time.
Panasonic's SJ-MJ30 and 35 functions like slot-in models, with a retractable
disc holder. These are as slim as Panasonic's clamshell models (no more
than 1-2mm thicker max). However, because a spring is used to hold down the
disc holder, when that spring goes bad the disc wouldn't load properly. It
happened to my MJ30 after 6 months of use.
If you choose to believe that vibration affects playback quality, then a
more rigid disc holder would give better performance. Clamshell disc holders
can be made very thin. A slot-in mechanism can also be made
thinner/lighter, but it seems that noone has put any R&D into that. So, at
this point, slot-in remains the one that feels solid in your hands.
So the orthodox Sharp-style slot-in is probably still the best. Wish Sharp
would make a 321 replacement based on the ST-55. That could be 15-16mm
thick...
Leon
> If you look at the pictures of how this works, it really looks like a
> clamshell/slot-in hybrid. It looks like they picked up much of the
> unit strength of the slot in design without adding much height to the
> unit. It appears that once the disk is inserted it pivots a bit to move
> into place, unlike the sharp designs where the disk must raise and
> lower parallel to the mechanism which adds to the height of the
> units. (not that I don't love my 722) I hate marketspeak as much
> as anyone but I does look like Sony has a new twist here.
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