10 out of 10 people found this review helpful.
Great built-in HD radio with mp3 capabilities
Date of Review: Jan 27, 2007
The Bottom Line: Recommended for HD radio capability and great surround sound
This is a great CD player that has built-in HD radio. I wanted to change the stock audio player of my Honda Pilot 2003 that could not play mp3 CDs. I shopped around and found this mp3 player that could do HD radio as well. There are quite a few mp3 audio players for $100 but for $60 more, I got HD radio. I haven't found a major difference in performance of HD radio vs. normal FM broadcast. This is different from the experience from so many other reviewers who found HD to be much better than the analog version. I personally didn't find much difference. I bought mine from Sonic Electronix who gave me free installation accessories needed including the wiring harness.
I had trouble with the FM reception to begin with and later realized that my car had a powered antenna amplifier and I had not connected the cable. I had installed the unit myself and didn't know about this blue cable. Once I removed the unit and wired that the FM was just fine.
I do get the artist name and title on the display for the HD radio that I listen to most. The display isn't much to write about. Simple 8 character display and so it has to scroll all the while. I would have wanted a better display since I believe LCD screens are very cheap. But then who wants to read displays while driving.
Pros:
1. Straight-forward installation
2. HD radio
3. mp3 capability with ID3 tags
4. Couple play a wide range of CD-Rs that I have at home.
5. The Sorround sound sounds just great. Infact it is amazing in my car.
6. It can take CD changes and iPod adapters and aux-inputs but at extra cost (look at Cons)
7. Sounds very powerful even though it is only 20W RMS per channel. I used it with the stock speakers that existed in the car and they sounded better than the OEM player. I can't even go beyond vol-20 though it can go to 30 without harming my ears.
8. It has subwoofer controls but I don't plan to use that though.
Cons
1. Manual isn't very helpful
2. The controls are straightforward. You need the manual.
3. The volume control is small and slippery. Really bad design. I just can't use it with gloves on.
4. Menus to change various settings is hard to navigate
5. There are much cheaper audio players that accept aux-in even front ones. But this one doesn't. It requires you to buy adapters for $40 to connect iPod and an extra $40 for aux-in but then you can't connect both at the same time. This is the biggest negative that they want you to buy adapters rather than give a front aux-in for connecting my GPS or hard-disk mp3 player etc.
6. The customer support isn't that great. I sent them email about FM reception 10 days back but no response as yet. Of course, I figured out that I hadn't wired my car's radio antenna amplifer.
