D-235

The D-235 brought early anti-skip into a smaller, more approachable package that ran on two AA cells and leaned more clearly toward movement than static listening. The buffer remained modest by later standards, but it is enough to make walking, commuting, and ordinary carrying feel much less fragile than it had on the earlier non-ESP machines.

By this point, the emphasis had shifted from "portable in theory" to "portable in actual use." The D-235 belongs to that practical middle stage where the line was becoming more forgiving and less precious without needing a dramatic redesign to get there. That was what gives it its place.