High-End Vehicle CD Receivers Going Away?

[df2x4]

FYI for anyone who doesn't care so much about CDs, it looks like the Kenwood KMM-X704 is pretty much a KDC-X704 without the CD player. So it appears you can get some digital media receivers with nice features for a more reasonable price.

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-dywfqTi22Au/p_113KMX704/Kenwood-Excelon-KMM-X704.html

Thanks to @Wh4t3v3rs for letting me know that all of Kenwood's eXcelon branded single DIN stuff has crossover, time alignment, and speaker size settings built in.

 

[df2x4]

Just found a couple of competitors from JVC as well. The KD-T915BTS CD player, and KD-X470BHS digital media receiver.

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_105KDT915B/JVC-KD-T915BTS.html?tp=5684

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_105KDX470B/JVC-KD-X470BHS.html

Both of these have similar features to the Kenwoods I linked earlier including 5V preouts, time alignment, crossovers, and high resolution FLAC compatibility. The JVC CD player doesn't have HD Radio but the digital receiver does. Both Kenwoods have it. It seems like some of the features I was looking for have trickled into the less expensive receivers as time has passed.

The one thing I'm not seeing at all is something with auto EQ using a calibration mic like my current Pioneers. That's kind of disappointing. One of Pioneer's current offerings still has this feature, but it only has 4V preouts.

 

[Martin Evans]

No problem! No matter where the discussions drift here it's always interesting.

I've still been looking around for a cheaper single DIN digital media receiver that does time alignment besides the Sony. I haven't found one yet. I wish Crutchfield or somewhere similar would give the option to sort by super detailed features like that. Kind of like how Newegg does for some computer hardware. I've just been looking through all the big brands product catalogs and then finding the user's manuals. Works, but pretty time consuming.

Check out eBay

Kenwood KDC-BT958HD CD MP3 USB Car Stereo With Bluetooth & HD Radio for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Kenwood KDC-BT958HD CD MP3 USB Car Stereo With Bluetooth & HD Radio at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

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This unit has the DSP features that you are looking for such as digital time alignment, speaker size matching, 7 band equalizer, low and high pass crossovers, System Q, Bluetooth, usb, HD radio, 3 sets of preamp outs, microphone, CD changer or music keg input and a built-in CD player. Looks like it's a fairly recent model. Starting big is $48.00 plus $15.00 shipping. No bids yet, auction ends in less than two days.
I had a much older version in my Kia Rio and the sound quality was outstanding even though I only downloaded my CDs onto my flashdrive at the 192 bit rate. I wasn't using a Bluetooth phone at the time so I don't how well streaming works Moved it to my '89 Silverado when I sold the Rio. Unfortunately it, along with the rest of my interior, got destroyed when some a-hole thought it would be fun to light the inside of my truck on fire several years ago. I'm FINALLY getting close to rebuilding the inside, which has taken much longer because I'm upgrading with things that the truck didn't originally come with.

 

[Wh4t3v3rs]

Just found a couple of competitors from JVC as well. The KD-T915BTS CD player, and KD-X470BHS digital media receiver.

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_105KDT915B/JVC-KD-T915BTS.html?tp=5684

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_105KDX470B/JVC-KD-X470BHS.html

Both of these have similar features to the Kenwoods I linked earlier including 5V preouts, time alignment, crossovers, and high resolution FLAC compatibility. The JVC CD player doesn't have HD Radio but the digital receiver does. Both Kenwoods have it. It seems like some of the features I was looking for have trickled into the less expensive receivers as time has passed.

The one thing I'm not seeing at all is something with auto EQ using a calibration mic like my current Pioneers. That's kind of disappointing. One of Pioneer's current offerings still has this feature, but it only has 4V preouts.

Kenwood owns JVC.... thats why the similarities.

 

[Erik the Awful]

I have most of my CDs ripped to 192 kb/s mp3s, and there are precious few places where I can hear the difference. Especially not when I'm driving, and that's with the factory Mustang "Shaker 1000" system with the bass boost turned off. MP3s ripped at 128kb/s? Utter garbage to my ears. If you care to step up to 240 kb/s, it should be indistinguishable from CD.

 

[Chilledspode]

In my experience, 320 kb/s is tolerable but I can still hear noticeable improvements when using flac files. Even with my poor performing stereo and aged ears in a loud vehicle. Good source material makes even poor hardware sound better

 

[Chilledspode]

Question - can someone tell me if the Alpine head units are significantly different in terms of performance - ie UTE73BT against the HD149BT - is the 73BT just a mech less 149BT? Does Alpine's numbering sequence imply better specs in the 175 vs the 149 vs 73? Thank you

 

[95burban]

Found this cool eclipse hu on eBay…

Eclipse 8455 8v Old School Stereo | eBay

<p dir="ltr" style="margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;">Eclipse 8455 8v Old School Stereo, high quality sound with amazing eq capabilities, had it in my old school settup at the storage but it's time for someone else to enjoy this great stereo. Works great no problem, cables still have a lot of...

www.ebay.com

 

[jus10inbrla]

Im assuming only single din cd players going away? Cant imagine double din dvd players also going away

 

[df2x4]

Im assuming only single din cd players going away? Cant imagine double din dvd players also going away

From my research over the past few days, all sizes of car CD/DVD players are still fairly common. It's the "high end" part of the equation that seems to be getting harder to find. There are 25 single DIN CD receivers up on Crutchfield right now, but only two of them have a feature set that I would consider comparable to the 10+ year old Pioneers I already have.