Improving the sound on a personal CD player?

[Reading Bug]

My Panasonic personal CD player, which I've had since 1999, finally died. In trying to replace it, I've discovered there are very few models in 2012. The best option seems to be Sony's DEJ011 Walkman, which I picked up today. It's okay overall, but I find the sound quality to be a bit lacking (though it's not terrible).

Are there any options for improving the sound, such as an external DAC equivalent perhaps? A Google search has really only turned up larger DACs for receivers or soundcards; I'm looking for something a bit more hand-held that would be appropriate for a smaller device and would work with an analog-out (headphone) port, as it doesn't have a digital or optical out. The Panasonic had one, of course.

I'd really like to find an option as I still enjoy listening to CDs under headphones. Much thanks

[kpmedia]

I don't believe so, no.

Have you considered buying an older disc player from eBay?
Or perhaps shopping online for a better model. Sony has never been all that awesome. Consider Aiwa or Radio Shack's Optimus.
We use Aiwa and Optimus cassette players here, because of how well-made they are.

$10 Optimus @ http://www.ebay.com/itm/OPTIMUS-Pers...item1c2ce25e9b
$22 Aiwa @ http://www.ebay.com/itm/Aiwa-XP-SP91...item2325079a9b

I still have my RCA disc player that I bought in ~1995 for my car at the time, complete with the cassette deck adapter.
It was one of the earliest anti-skip models.

In terms of portable audio, the only thing I ever liked from Sony were the tape adapters. I have one of those, too, because the RCA was finicky.

[JMP]

Not sure if you still have your Panasonic, but what part of it died specifically? Is it the motor not spinning the discs? Or is the laser not reading discs?
If its simply not reading discs it could be as simple as the laser needing to be cleaned. If its the motor, it may be possible to replace just that one component and breath new life into it.

-JMP

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[jbd5010]

I just wanted to chime in with something... because your CD player is taking the CD audio and using its internal DAC (Digital-to-Analog Converter) to convert to analog for output at the headphone jack, an external DAC plugged into the headphone jack wouldn't help. Acutally, it wouldn't be a DAC if it accepted the analog signal... it would be an ADC-DAC! You'd have to re-convert the medicore-quality analog signal BACK to digital, so the mediocre quality coming out of the headphone jack in the first place would just be digitized again... so at best you'd lose even more quality via further processing. I know there are devices and codecs that are designed to help restore audio quality... but if you're enough of an audiophile to be willing to carry a DAC around with your portable CD player (let alone still carry around CD's in the first place) I doubt you would be satisfied with the results these provide.