DoNkEy
13-Jun-2006, 12:10
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Full review
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After a great deal of research into units currently available on the market I bought this one and have never looked back.
Following some unfortunate experiences with portable MP3 players I was slightly apprehensive purchasing one for my car. I decided to be sensible and do some research into the different units available before shelling out my hard earned cash. Additionally I refrained from buying one of the cheaper units, as this is what I feel impaired my satisfaction with portable devices. I was prepared to spend up to about £400 so this gave me a variety of good quality units to choose from. My two main concerns were
1.) Sound quality and 2.) playback without skipping.
Of the more reputable brands I investigated only the Aiwa models received bad reviews. This made the features on the various models the deciding criteria for my choice.
After narrowing it down to two contestants, I chose the Pioneer DEH7400MP over its older an slightly more feature intensive bigger brother the DEH740MP. The unit has two sets of pre-outs, one for front and another, interchangeable between rear and sub, a nice option. Apart from the ability to play many formats in multi subfolder structure, one of my favourite features was the ability to set a the variable subwoofer filter on the integrated four channel speaker output and set the pre-outs independantly. Thus, if like me you have a sub on a separate amp, you don?t have to unnecessarily drive low frequencies to your door speakers. Another useful feature is the ability to use the rear speaker outputs for sub by activating the internal the sub filter on these speaker outputs.
The sub-filter has three selectable cut off frequencies of 80hz 125hz and 160hz. Each of the bass, mid and high level controls, has three separate frequency adjustment values. E.g. Mid levels can be adjusted at 500hz, 1khz and 2..5khz. Additionally there is a ?Q? adjustment for each frequency.
These are
just some of the useful controls in this feature packed model and I could find no other that even came close to matching the facilities provided for the price. GBP300 USD289 (I actually purchased my model from the US via the internet and saved about £80 though if you do this, make sure you specify the UK model as the increments in ~FM tuning are different)
The unit is especially attractive and has a variety of pleasing displays which my son claims are ?Wicked?
Unfortunately no UK retailers had this in stock when I went to purchase it so I was unable to hear a demo before I purchased. I decided to buy it anyway on the reputable name of Pioneer and my satisfaction with previously owned products.
The unit is now installed and operational and I am totally satisfied with it?s performance. The sound quality is excellent and it has yet to skip a track even at high volumes an over rough and bumpy surfaces, so my two major concerns have been completely allayed.
Before I forget there is a radio tuner with this product, which though I use rarely is the best I have ever had. I was again very impressed with the functions and similarly so with the quaulity of the output.
Well, after hearing me singing the praise of this product you could be forgiven for thinking there are no cons, but you would be wrong, though in all honesty they are not particularly significant
.
There is no graphic equaliser virtual or physical and even though they do provide multiple frequency adjustments with the bass treble and mid controls, in addition to some nicely pre-determined factory settings, these have to be selected independently with buttons, which can be a lengthy and intricate process. I feel a graphic, (a feature provided on the Sony CDX-MP30 AND MP70) would have better served the same purpose.
The display for all functions alternates between normal and inverted image every ten or so seconds. (i.e. black on white to whi te on
black) There is no either/or setting and I found this somewhat annoying as it was quite distracting while I driving, especially at night.
The manual is somewhat confusing and is not sensibly arranged so you might feel like you are doing a course in rocket science when trying to decipher it. E.g. It does not say that in order to set the subwoofer Int/Ext setting the unit must be switched off at the power button. After scratching my head for a week I found this out by accident.
The faceplate can be a bit fiddly to insert.
If you are interested in finding information on the products currently available try the website http://www.carstereomall.com/ or http://www.audio-warehouse.com/ The product information on these websites is quite comprehensive and they will answer any additional email queries.
ADDENDUM
I have decided to write a supplement because of the number of emails I have received concerning the seek time between tracks for this unit.
Firstly let me say; as I have had a few queries about this also, that I have had no problems with reading lesser quality CD?s on this unit to date. I normally use Sony CDRW's but I also use Imitation and even some unbranded types of both CDR and CDRW format which have given me no problems.
On the subject of pauses between tracks, there are NO pauses for normal Music CD?s. Mixed tracks and live music tracks will play continuously even though the tracks may be listed separately or tagged on the CD. So those of you who had concerns about this can stop panicking.
On MP3 tracks there can be a pause of anything up to about 5 seconds, though on average this is about 3 seconds. Remember MP3 tracks are essentially files which have to be read and usually buffered to memory before playing this is why there is probably going to be a delay of some sort with most units. Additionally it would be prudent to remember that the larger the buffer the long er it will
take to load, but also larger buffers are far less likely to have track skipping problems. So you may want to bare this in mind before ruling out a five second wait as being unacceptable. If you do think that waiting for this period of time is like watching a kettle boil or paint dry, then I would advise against buying this product.
2nd ADDENDUM
I also keep receiving emails requesting where this unit can be purchased in the US and the differences between the UK and US models. The relevant information is listed below.
US Standard
AM
Frequency Intervals 10 kHz
Frequency Range 530 to 1710 kHz
FM
Frequency Intervals 200 kHz
Frequency Range 87.9 to 107.9 MHz
European (and other countries) frequency standard is as follows:
AM
Frequency Intervals 9 kHz
Frequency Range 531 to 1629 kHz
FM
Frequency Intervals 50 kHz
Frequency Range 87.5 to 108 MHz
http://www.cmttrading.com
http://www.audio-warehouse.com/
http://www.crutchfield.com
http://www.carstereomall.com/
Rather than remove information I have given previously, I will simply add another update. Unfortunately the companies listed above no longer supply European models, but the unit can be purchased from http://www.caraudiocentre.co.uk for £239 on special offer at the time of writing 11-10-02 -thanks Paul. Please please, no more emails asking me for this information.
There is only one annoyance I have unveiled with the unit since I have had it, and that is it has a linear algorithm for fast forward and rewind. With most digital equipment that you may need to perform a search function or change a setting, (such as a digital clock or timer) when you hold down the button to advance the time it proceeds through the range slowly at first, then the longer the button is pressed the more quickly the time scans through the range. This is a l ogarithmic advance mechanism. In the pioneer unit this doesn't happen, it simply continues to scan through the range at the same rate regardless of how long the fast-forward or rewind button is pressed. Even though it is in fast forward mode it is simply not fast enough. This is a mere an annoyance with most MP3 tracks because lets face it, if you don?t like the song you simply skip to the next one. But! If you have a MP3 megamix as one large file, or - as I have - you have converted one side of a 90 minute cassette to a single MP3 file, then you will undoubtedly have a sore finger by the time you have advanced half way through the file to find a particular song. Not to mention not being able to change gear while you are doing it. Additionally, the unit does not have the RDS feature.
Just thought I'd let you know.
Tiene matriz de puntos ILUMINA LA NOCHE ESA COSA :adorar:, control de woofer, control remoto, montón de ecualizaciónes la verdad hizo sonar mejor mi equipo pero necesito el pisto :maleado:
Interesados ofrezcan por PM :ok:
Acepto chivas, pero mejor si es un radio mejorcito (P.E.: un DEH 7750) y doy lo q falta :si:
Full review
http://ads.adviva.net/creative/blank.gif
After a great deal of research into units currently available on the market I bought this one and have never looked back.
Following some unfortunate experiences with portable MP3 players I was slightly apprehensive purchasing one for my car. I decided to be sensible and do some research into the different units available before shelling out my hard earned cash. Additionally I refrained from buying one of the cheaper units, as this is what I feel impaired my satisfaction with portable devices. I was prepared to spend up to about £400 so this gave me a variety of good quality units to choose from. My two main concerns were
1.) Sound quality and 2.) playback without skipping.
Of the more reputable brands I investigated only the Aiwa models received bad reviews. This made the features on the various models the deciding criteria for my choice.
After narrowing it down to two contestants, I chose the Pioneer DEH7400MP over its older an slightly more feature intensive bigger brother the DEH740MP. The unit has two sets of pre-outs, one for front and another, interchangeable between rear and sub, a nice option. Apart from the ability to play many formats in multi subfolder structure, one of my favourite features was the ability to set a the variable subwoofer filter on the integrated four channel speaker output and set the pre-outs independantly. Thus, if like me you have a sub on a separate amp, you don?t have to unnecessarily drive low frequencies to your door speakers. Another useful feature is the ability to use the rear speaker outputs for sub by activating the internal the sub filter on these speaker outputs.
The sub-filter has three selectable cut off frequencies of 80hz 125hz and 160hz. Each of the bass, mid and high level controls, has three separate frequency adjustment values. E.g. Mid levels can be adjusted at 500hz, 1khz and 2..5khz. Additionally there is a ?Q? adjustment for each frequency.
These are
just some of the useful controls in this feature packed model and I could find no other that even came close to matching the facilities provided for the price. GBP300 USD289 (I actually purchased my model from the US via the internet and saved about £80 though if you do this, make sure you specify the UK model as the increments in ~FM tuning are different)
The unit is especially attractive and has a variety of pleasing displays which my son claims are ?Wicked?
Unfortunately no UK retailers had this in stock when I went to purchase it so I was unable to hear a demo before I purchased. I decided to buy it anyway on the reputable name of Pioneer and my satisfaction with previously owned products.
The unit is now installed and operational and I am totally satisfied with it?s performance. The sound quality is excellent and it has yet to skip a track even at high volumes an over rough and bumpy surfaces, so my two major concerns have been completely allayed.
Before I forget there is a radio tuner with this product, which though I use rarely is the best I have ever had. I was again very impressed with the functions and similarly so with the quaulity of the output.
Well, after hearing me singing the praise of this product you could be forgiven for thinking there are no cons, but you would be wrong, though in all honesty they are not particularly significant
.
There is no graphic equaliser virtual or physical and even though they do provide multiple frequency adjustments with the bass treble and mid controls, in addition to some nicely pre-determined factory settings, these have to be selected independently with buttons, which can be a lengthy and intricate process. I feel a graphic, (a feature provided on the Sony CDX-MP30 AND MP70) would have better served the same purpose.
The display for all functions alternates between normal and inverted image every ten or so seconds. (i.e. black on white to whi te on
black) There is no either/or setting and I found this somewhat annoying as it was quite distracting while I driving, especially at night.
The manual is somewhat confusing and is not sensibly arranged so you might feel like you are doing a course in rocket science when trying to decipher it. E.g. It does not say that in order to set the subwoofer Int/Ext setting the unit must be switched off at the power button. After scratching my head for a week I found this out by accident.
The faceplate can be a bit fiddly to insert.
If you are interested in finding information on the products currently available try the website http://www.carstereomall.com/ or http://www.audio-warehouse.com/ The product information on these websites is quite comprehensive and they will answer any additional email queries.
ADDENDUM
I have decided to write a supplement because of the number of emails I have received concerning the seek time between tracks for this unit.
Firstly let me say; as I have had a few queries about this also, that I have had no problems with reading lesser quality CD?s on this unit to date. I normally use Sony CDRW's but I also use Imitation and even some unbranded types of both CDR and CDRW format which have given me no problems.
On the subject of pauses between tracks, there are NO pauses for normal Music CD?s. Mixed tracks and live music tracks will play continuously even though the tracks may be listed separately or tagged on the CD. So those of you who had concerns about this can stop panicking.
On MP3 tracks there can be a pause of anything up to about 5 seconds, though on average this is about 3 seconds. Remember MP3 tracks are essentially files which have to be read and usually buffered to memory before playing this is why there is probably going to be a delay of some sort with most units. Additionally it would be prudent to remember that the larger the buffer the long er it will
take to load, but also larger buffers are far less likely to have track skipping problems. So you may want to bare this in mind before ruling out a five second wait as being unacceptable. If you do think that waiting for this period of time is like watching a kettle boil or paint dry, then I would advise against buying this product.
2nd ADDENDUM
I also keep receiving emails requesting where this unit can be purchased in the US and the differences between the UK and US models. The relevant information is listed below.
US Standard
AM
Frequency Intervals 10 kHz
Frequency Range 530 to 1710 kHz
FM
Frequency Intervals 200 kHz
Frequency Range 87.9 to 107.9 MHz
European (and other countries) frequency standard is as follows:
AM
Frequency Intervals 9 kHz
Frequency Range 531 to 1629 kHz
FM
Frequency Intervals 50 kHz
Frequency Range 87.5 to 108 MHz
http://www.cmttrading.com
http://www.audio-warehouse.com/
http://www.crutchfield.com
http://www.carstereomall.com/
Rather than remove information I have given previously, I will simply add another update. Unfortunately the companies listed above no longer supply European models, but the unit can be purchased from http://www.caraudiocentre.co.uk for £239 on special offer at the time of writing 11-10-02 -thanks Paul. Please please, no more emails asking me for this information.
There is only one annoyance I have unveiled with the unit since I have had it, and that is it has a linear algorithm for fast forward and rewind. With most digital equipment that you may need to perform a search function or change a setting, (such as a digital clock or timer) when you hold down the button to advance the time it proceeds through the range slowly at first, then the longer the button is pressed the more quickly the time scans through the range. This is a l ogarithmic advance mechanism. In the pioneer unit this doesn't happen, it simply continues to scan through the range at the same rate regardless of how long the fast-forward or rewind button is pressed. Even though it is in fast forward mode it is simply not fast enough. This is a mere an annoyance with most MP3 tracks because lets face it, if you don?t like the song you simply skip to the next one. But! If you have a MP3 megamix as one large file, or - as I have - you have converted one side of a 90 minute cassette to a single MP3 file, then you will undoubtedly have a sore finger by the time you have advanced half way through the file to find a particular song. Not to mention not being able to change gear while you are doing it. Additionally, the unit does not have the RDS feature.
Just thought I'd let you know.
Tiene matriz de puntos ILUMINA LA NOCHE ESA COSA :adorar:, control de woofer, control remoto, montón de ecualizaciónes la verdad hizo sonar mejor mi equipo pero necesito el pisto :maleado:
Interesados ofrezcan por PM :ok:
Acepto chivas, pero mejor si es un radio mejorcito (P.E.: un DEH 7750) y doy lo q falta :si: