Sony DVP-FX700 7-Inch Portable DVD Player
DISSATISFIED WITH THE AUDIO GAIN? I HAVE A SOLUTION!
I recently purchased two of FX700's for a long flight to New Zealand from L.A.  Like many other reviewers here, I was \\"wow'd\\" by the great display; there isn't another unit on the market that looks this good.  Side-by-side, any other portable looks terrible in comparison.    I thought that the combination of this unit and Sony's NC-20 Noise Cancelling Headphones (the over-the-ear model, not the ear-bud type) would be an unbeatable.    WRONG.    When we set these up on the plane, the weak audio gain from the headphone jack was immediately apparent.  At full volume, even  with the NC-20's, movie dialog was virtually inaudible.  \\"Unbelievable\\", I thought. \\"How could Sony screw up like this?\\"  We stored the players away and I spent the next ten hours grumbling under my breath at Sony.    When we returned, I read thru the reviews here and found that many expressed the same disappointment.      One of the units was a birthday present for the teenager, so it was an unfortunate keeper, but the other was returned for credit.  It had developed the anomaly of freezing up the video about half way thru a movie (the other unit works fine).  I wasn't sorry to see it go, but I lamented the purchase price of the remaining unit as wasted money.    Then, I happened upon a product by UpBeat Audio called a \\"Boostaroo\\".  (...)  It's a small, 2-AA battery powered portable amplifier, specifically designed to boost headphone audio (it even has three headphone jacks).  Upon receipt of the Boostaroo, I plugged it in with some trepidation, expecting my NC-20's to sound like an AM radio.      VOILA!  The headphones lit up like I've never heard them before.  The audio quality of the Boostaroo is amazing.  I just wish I had this little darling on that long flight back.      I was so impressed that, especially not knowing anything about UpBeat Audio's long-term financial viability, I bought another one in case I lose or damage the first one.  I figure the Boostaroo is a steal at twenty bucks, andthis little sucker may come in handy in future portable applications.    10/18/2004 UPDATE: Amazon has the Boostaroo listed from directly from Upbeat Audio; you can now see it by typing \\"boostaroo\\" in the Search function above.  However, I still recommend Cyberguys as the place to buy it; they charge a lower price for it.    I am in concurrence with all of the other points made here about the FX-700's drawbacks, especially the lack of foresight to design FF function keys on the unit.    However, with the Boostaroo, I no longer feel like I'm out hundreds of dollars for a dud.  And, the display on the -700 really is top notch.  Hopefully Sony will fix all of the inadequacies of this model in their next generation unit.  Hey, maybe they'll license the Boosteroo from UpBeat and pack it with each DVD player.    BTW: Looking for an auto/airline power adaptor for this unit?  See my previous review above.