The term "portable MP3 player" takes on a new meaning with the Panasonic SV-SDO5, which is a headphones-only device that manages to squeeze 64MB on to a SD storage card.

While its light and hands-free design is welcome, there are a few notable drawbacks, including the inability to see the display while wearing the player. With a price that outstrips its novelty value, the SV-SD05 isn't at the top of our purchase list.

Until now, every portable MP3 player on the market has had one thing in common. No matter how small, it always had to be carried separately from the headphones, and the wire connecting the two parts can always got in your way. Now Panasonic has gotten rid of the wires by creating a light and comfortable headphones-only player. But the advantages of such a device come with trade-offs, some of which make us question just how useful this player is.

The biggest advantage of the SV-SD05 is comfort. The player is light, and the single AA battery and the included 64MB SD card (there's no onboard memory) add virtually no weight to the unit. Knowing that you wouldn't be able to substitute your favorite headphones, Panasonic generously padded the earpieces.

Comfortable as the SV-SD05 is, it doesn't fit too snugly against your head. It falls off with not-too-vigorous head movements and, thus, might not be the best choice for sports use. This is too bad, since the light weight and lack of wires make it otherwise perfect for joggers.

We were a bit wary when we first saw the controls, which are small buttons on both of the earpieces. The Volume, Hold, and S-XBS (for bass enhancement) buttons are on the left; controls for playback, pause, fast-forward, rewind, and playlists are on the right. But while all the buttons are small, it took just minutes of toying with the player to become perfectly familiar with the location of all of them. Getting songs on the player is simple with the included RealJukebox software. The SV-SD05 supports AAC files (which you can rip from CDs in RealJukebox) as well as MP3s. We did find downloading music to the player to be fairly slow for a USB connection, but it wasn't unbearable.

The S-XBS button is the only way to adjust that the player's sound quality. There's no equaliser, and pressing the S-XBS button adds a preset level of bass to your music. The maximum volume was also a bit disappointing, although this isn't surprising, given the single AA battery powering the unit. (A rechargeable battery and charger are included.)

A headphones-only player has some natural disadvantages. First and most obviously, you can't use your favorite headphones with the unit. If you're not happy with the sound quality (we didn't have any problems in this area), you can't substitute a better set. Because there's no sound-out jack, you can't connect the player to your stereo or get a cassette tape adapter for your car. The display doesn't include ID3 tag support, although of course you can't see it while you're listening to music anyway.

Perhaps most importantly, the small size comes at a price. The SV-SD05 costs at least AU$200 to AU$300 more than most MP3 players that ship with twice the memory, such as the Intel Pocket Concert Audio Player and the Sonicblue Rio 800 128MB. You can buy more SD cards to expand the memory, but they're also expensive (USAU$150 for 64MB) and don't come any bigger than that yet. (Sizes up to 1GB are expected eventually.) We like the convenience of a wireless MP3 player, but we're not sure the price is worth it.

--by Jesse Berney

Panasonic SV-SD05 Audio Player Headset
Company:Panasonic Australia
Ph:13 26 00
Price: AU$999
Rating:

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