Aiwa CDC-X504MP Car CD / MP3 Player
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Similar in In Dash Receivers
- MP3 / WMA Playback: MP3 Playback
- Anti-Theft Protection: Detachable Face Panel
- Player Type: CD
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Dual XDMA6370 MP3 Player
$79.99
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The Aiwa CDC-X6504MP In-Dash MP3/CD Player is MP3tastic
Pros
Cheap, MP3 Player, Nice Display
Cons
Controls Could Be Improved
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Great functionality at a fair price.
What I want: Price & MP3s
About 5 months ago I unexpectedly found myself in the market for a new car CD player. It seems that my old one developed an unnatural attachment to my 80's mix CD. Don't get me wrong, I love Billy Idol. I just don't love him 24/7 and I'm not exactly a radio person. When I started my search for a new model there were two main aspects that I considered. Firstly, it had to be affordable. Secondly, it had to play MP3 discs. I figured that making CDs with 200 songs would be a lot cheaper than buying a 10-disc CD changer.
How I found it
I immediately directed my browser to Best Buy's web site in search of the perfect replacement. The Aiwa CDC-X6504MP was the cheapest model in-stock that played MP3 CD-R discs. I stopped by my local Best Buy the very next day and scooped it up for about $120 on sale.
Installation
I'm not an electronics person. I happily paid the folks at Best Buy the ridiculously inflated $100 installation fee. The previous owner did a real number on the installation of the last CD player, so much so that I couldn't even get the old one out. Besides, it was my birthday present to myself and I wasn't about to spend hours under the dash pretending that I knew anything about electronics. Installation was a breeze. Includes self-installation manual, but may not include all necessary parts.
Modes
CD Player
The unit plays standard audio format CDs, CD-Rs and CD-RWs to expectations, but I have done little more than test this function. The features are standard for what you will find on any low-end in-dash CD player. It can Repeat tracks, select Random tracks or play them in sequential order. These settings are pretty easily controlled using the amply sized Shuffle and Repeat buttons along the bottom panel closest to the driver. The Seek (>>/<<) buttons double as the Next Track/Previous Track and FF/REW buttons. A single press will yield track selection, while holding the button will result in tuning. This is more convenient than having to switch to a manual mode.
MP3 Player
The MP3 mode is the reason for my purchase and I'm completely satisfied with its functionality. It recognizes highly compressed MP3 (MPEG Layer 3) tracks that have been burned onto a CD-R or CD-RW disc in the proper format with the proper .mp3 extension. The tracks can be burned on the disc in Albums (Folders), which is handy for organization. If you're going to have 200 songs on a CD then you need to be able to quickly get to each song without scrolling through all 200 tracks. The file structure is the same as it is on any computer. You create Folders or Directories on the CD, which the player recognizes as Albums. You can then place songs into the most appropriate Folder or Directory.
In my experience, you shouldn't put more than 20-25 songs in a folder or you will spend too much time scrolling. However, the load time increases substantially if you have too many folders. You'll need to find the right balance for your collection. If you're burning entire albums then the organization is straightforward. You will have one Folder or Directory for each Album. Switching between Albums is accomplished on the unit by pressing the pre-set buttons number 5 (- Album) or 6 (+ Album). If you're burning individual tracks then you'll need to find the right grouping that provides tolerable load times and search convenience. The quality and bit rate of the track impacts sound quality, but I'm not going to turn this into a review of the MP3 file structure. If you don't know what an MP3 is then this is probably not the unit for you.
The MP3 player recognizes and displays ID3 tags that are embedded into MP3 file headers. These tags allow the files to save track information like song title and artist name. These tags can be edited in MS Windows Explorer, MS Windows Media Player or a host of other MP3-abled programs. This allows the track information to be announced via the digital display on the receiver. You will have to personally check the ID3 tags for accuracy and completeness in order for this to work.
You have several display options while an MP3 disc is playing: clock, track number, album currently playing, filename or ID3. If you name your MP3 files logically, then you can simply set the display to show the filename without bothering with ID3 tags. However, ID3 tags are a much prettier way of displaying track details and are extremely easy to master. The ID3 setting displays the Artist, Song Title and Album title (where available). The display reverts to clock mode if the track does not have ID3 header information. By default, the player only displays 8 characters of information for either the filename or the ID3 tags. You will need to turn Auto Scroll on in order for the entire filename or ID3 tag to be displayed. The text will scroll only once when the track begins to play. There is no way to have it scroll constantly or at a specific interval.
The MP3 player allows tracks to be played in different orders, which is a very convenient feature. You have the ability to play all 200 songs in sequential order, to repeat the tracks in a selected album, to play random tracks in a selected album or to play all tracks on the disc in random order. This accommodates virtually any listening mood provided that you have created an MP3 disc with well-structured Albums. If you want to play all Marvin Gay, then you can do that. If you want to randomly move from Bon Jovi to Janis Joplin, then you can do that. Combined with the versatile display, this makes the Aiwa CDC-X6504MP a very user-friendly MP3 player.
Tuner
The radio tuner is the vanilla AM/FM variety with no built-in satellite receiver, although that is expected given the price. The station recall buttons are pretty simple to use. The tuner stores 18 FM stations and 12 AM stations, with 6 stations in each set. I've set about 6 FM stations since I almost exclusively use the MP3 player. You can tune stations by manual tuning or by seeking. There is also the ability to automatically store stations with the best reception using the Best Tuning Memory (BTM) button. MONO mode is also available for stations with poor reception.
Auxiliary
The receiver has an easily accessible auxiliary port in the front. This is ideal if I choose to get a satellite radio tuner in the future. The satellite tuner could easily be mounted to the right of the Aiwa unit. You can use other external input sources, although I haven't found this particularly useful with the ability to play MP3 CDs.
Features
Equalizer
The equalizer performs at expectations for the price of the unit. It comes with a couple of presets including Jazz, Vocal, Club, Pop, Rock and Hip-Hop. There is also the ability to make a custom profile, but I haven't the knowledge of the machine or the music to make the tinkering worthwhile. The presets work about as well as you can expect using the same profile for every song in a given genre.
Detachable Face
The detachable face plate can be somewhat fickle. Removal is executed simply by pressing a button in the corner of the receiver closest to the driver; however, replacing the face plate is somewhat trickier. You must make ensure that the face plate is aligned precisely at the contact points or it will not lock into place properly. If the receiver doesn't power on then try removing and replacing the face plate. The unit comes with a sturdy case for storage.
Controls and Buttons
The Volume dial is enormous. It's just about the only thing that you notice when you first look at the deck. If you ever need to quickly crank down the volume in a hurry then you're covered. Pressing the Volume dial brings up the menu for adjusting the Balance, Fader, Low-pass Filter, Subwoofer Volume and Auto Scrolling (for MP3 discs). It's easy to accidentally press the dial while adjusting the volume, so you have to use some care to avoid accessing the menu by mistake.
The Seek (>>/<<) buttons double as the radio tuner and track selection controls and are conveniently located closest to the driver. It's a combined button, with >> on top and << on the bottom. The contouring of the buttons makes it pretty simple to determine which button is which, but I have occassionally hit the wrong one.
The Source button is fairly prominent, making it easy to switch from CD/MP3 to the Radio or Auxillary. Removing the face plate switches the receiver into DEMO mode by default. The user must press the Source button upon replacing the face plate in order to select CD or Radio. You must change this annoying default according to the instructions in the manual or the DEMO mode will return every time the face plate is replaced. The unit also has very convenient Shuffle and Random buttons that are reasonably sized and placed conveniently next to the driver.
My complaint about the small size of the eject button could very well apply to any CD player on the market, but it makes it a pain in the butt to change the CD when you're driving a standard. The Attenuate (ATT), H-BASS, Equalier (EQ) and Best Tuning Memory (BTM) buttons are just slightly larger. Ideally, the Attenuate and Equalizer buttons would be larger. It's just more convenient to use the huge Volume dial than to try to find the small button that says ATT. The small size of the Equalizer button also makes it similarly difficult to change the settings from track to track for a less-than-coordinated individual such as myself.
Display and Appearance
The receiver is a pretty sleek silver with an attractive back-lit blue display and white digital text. It's good that it's attractive because there isn't any way to change the colors and there are no nifty animations. Only the brightness of the display and the unit sounds can be adjusted.
Wireless Remote
The unit includes a small card-sized wireless remote control. It is able to control the volume, display type, track selection, album selection, radio tuning and unit power. It also has quick access to the Attenuate button. The remote works as advertised, but I'll be damned if I'm going to let someone else control the music while I'm driving.
Skipping
The anti-skipping technology appears to function well over the bumps and through the potholes on New England roads. This unit is at least on par with my last one. I have not lost or scratched a disc in almost five months of use and have nothing negative to report.
Sound Quality
The package says that it has a 4-channel, 52 Watt MOSFET amplifier. I haven't the foggiest idea as to what that means, nor or do I really care. I have a '94 Honda Civic with factory original speakers. It's needless to say that I can't possibly give you a good analysis of the true sound quality. I'll just say that the sound is substantially better than my old Pioneer deck. The Bass is certainly adequate for my needs without rattling the cage, but I'm not the type to roll down the street with the bass kicked all of the way up either.
Creating MP3 Discs
The unit does not include any software for burning MP3 discs. I will warn you that not all programs are suitable for burning MP3 discs. I have found that most programs simply do not cut it. They will burn all of the tracks, but the MP3 player will not recognize some of them due to corruption. The CD burning software that came bundled with your computer may not be adequate, but it's a good place to start. CDs are cheap and you don't want to buy a new program if it isn't necessary. Nero is the best program that I have tried so far, but I am certainly going to explore other software options in the future. You may also experience differences between CD brands, although I've had very good luck with silver-bottom Memorex discs.
Manual
The manual is very impressive. It's written in plain, understandable English. It walks you through the set-up, menu options and system features step-by-step, often with diagrams. The manual even includes a brief introduction to MP3 files and how to create a disc with an appropriate file structure.
Price and Value
At $120, I consider the Aiwa CDC-X6504MP to be a good deal. It has all of the functionality that I desired at an affordable price. However, I'm not an audiophile. Listeners with more discriminating tastes may not be as easily impressed.
Final Comments
I'm one happy, 80's music-loving camper.
About 5 months ago I unexpectedly found myself in the market for a new car CD player. It seems that my old one developed an unnatural attachment to my 80's mix CD. Don't get me wrong, I love Billy Idol. I just don't love him 24/7 and I'm not exactly a radio person. When I started my search for a new model there were two main aspects that I considered. Firstly, it had to be affordable. Secondly, it had to play MP3 discs. I figured that making CDs with 200 songs would be a lot cheaper than buying a 10-disc CD changer.
How I found it
I immediately directed my browser to Best Buy's web site in search of the perfect replacement. The Aiwa CDC-X6504MP was the cheapest model in-stock that played MP3 CD-R discs. I stopped by my local Best Buy the very next day and scooped it up for about $120 on sale.
Installation
I'm not an electronics person. I happily paid the folks at Best Buy the ridiculously inflated $100 installation fee. The previous owner did a real number on the installation of the last CD player, so much so that I couldn't even get the old one out. Besides, it was my birthday present to myself and I wasn't about to spend hours under the dash pretending that I knew anything about electronics. Installation was a breeze. Includes self-installation manual, but may not include all necessary parts.
Modes
CD Player
The unit plays standard audio format CDs, CD-Rs and CD-RWs to expectations, but I have done little more than test this function. The features are standard for what you will find on any low-end in-dash CD player. It can Repeat tracks, select Random tracks or play them in sequential order. These settings are pretty easily controlled using the amply sized Shuffle and Repeat buttons along the bottom panel closest to the driver. The Seek (>>/<<) buttons double as the Next Track/Previous Track and FF/REW buttons. A single press will yield track selection, while holding the button will result in tuning. This is more convenient than having to switch to a manual mode.
MP3 Player
The MP3 mode is the reason for my purchase and I'm completely satisfied with its functionality. It recognizes highly compressed MP3 (MPEG Layer 3) tracks that have been burned onto a CD-R or CD-RW disc in the proper format with the proper .mp3 extension. The tracks can be burned on the disc in Albums (Folders), which is handy for organization. If you're going to have 200 songs on a CD then you need to be able to quickly get to each song without scrolling through all 200 tracks. The file structure is the same as it is on any computer. You create Folders or Directories on the CD, which the player recognizes as Albums. You can then place songs into the most appropriate Folder or Directory.
In my experience, you shouldn't put more than 20-25 songs in a folder or you will spend too much time scrolling. However, the load time increases substantially if you have too many folders. You'll need to find the right balance for your collection. If you're burning entire albums then the organization is straightforward. You will have one Folder or Directory for each Album. Switching between Albums is accomplished on the unit by pressing the pre-set buttons number 5 (- Album) or 6 (+ Album). If you're burning individual tracks then you'll need to find the right grouping that provides tolerable load times and search convenience. The quality and bit rate of the track impacts sound quality, but I'm not going to turn this into a review of the MP3 file structure. If you don't know what an MP3 is then this is probably not the unit for you.
The MP3 player recognizes and displays ID3 tags that are embedded into MP3 file headers. These tags allow the files to save track information like song title and artist name. These tags can be edited in MS Windows Explorer, MS Windows Media Player or a host of other MP3-abled programs. This allows the track information to be announced via the digital display on the receiver. You will have to personally check the ID3 tags for accuracy and completeness in order for this to work.
You have several display options while an MP3 disc is playing: clock, track number, album currently playing, filename or ID3. If you name your MP3 files logically, then you can simply set the display to show the filename without bothering with ID3 tags. However, ID3 tags are a much prettier way of displaying track details and are extremely easy to master. The ID3 setting displays the Artist, Song Title and Album title (where available). The display reverts to clock mode if the track does not have ID3 header information. By default, the player only displays 8 characters of information for either the filename or the ID3 tags. You will need to turn Auto Scroll on in order for the entire filename or ID3 tag to be displayed. The text will scroll only once when the track begins to play. There is no way to have it scroll constantly or at a specific interval.
The MP3 player allows tracks to be played in different orders, which is a very convenient feature. You have the ability to play all 200 songs in sequential order, to repeat the tracks in a selected album, to play random tracks in a selected album or to play all tracks on the disc in random order. This accommodates virtually any listening mood provided that you have created an MP3 disc with well-structured Albums. If you want to play all Marvin Gay, then you can do that. If you want to randomly move from Bon Jovi to Janis Joplin, then you can do that. Combined with the versatile display, this makes the Aiwa CDC-X6504MP a very user-friendly MP3 player.
Tuner
The radio tuner is the vanilla AM/FM variety with no built-in satellite receiver, although that is expected given the price. The station recall buttons are pretty simple to use. The tuner stores 18 FM stations and 12 AM stations, with 6 stations in each set. I've set about 6 FM stations since I almost exclusively use the MP3 player. You can tune stations by manual tuning or by seeking. There is also the ability to automatically store stations with the best reception using the Best Tuning Memory (BTM) button. MONO mode is also available for stations with poor reception.
Auxiliary
The receiver has an easily accessible auxiliary port in the front. This is ideal if I choose to get a satellite radio tuner in the future. The satellite tuner could easily be mounted to the right of the Aiwa unit. You can use other external input sources, although I haven't found this particularly useful with the ability to play MP3 CDs.
Features
Equalizer
The equalizer performs at expectations for the price of the unit. It comes with a couple of presets including Jazz, Vocal, Club, Pop, Rock and Hip-Hop. There is also the ability to make a custom profile, but I haven't the knowledge of the machine or the music to make the tinkering worthwhile. The presets work about as well as you can expect using the same profile for every song in a given genre.
Detachable Face
The detachable face plate can be somewhat fickle. Removal is executed simply by pressing a button in the corner of the receiver closest to the driver; however, replacing the face plate is somewhat trickier. You must make ensure that the face plate is aligned precisely at the contact points or it will not lock into place properly. If the receiver doesn't power on then try removing and replacing the face plate. The unit comes with a sturdy case for storage.
Controls and Buttons
The Volume dial is enormous. It's just about the only thing that you notice when you first look at the deck. If you ever need to quickly crank down the volume in a hurry then you're covered. Pressing the Volume dial brings up the menu for adjusting the Balance, Fader, Low-pass Filter, Subwoofer Volume and Auto Scrolling (for MP3 discs). It's easy to accidentally press the dial while adjusting the volume, so you have to use some care to avoid accessing the menu by mistake.
The Seek (>>/<<) buttons double as the radio tuner and track selection controls and are conveniently located closest to the driver. It's a combined button, with >> on top and << on the bottom. The contouring of the buttons makes it pretty simple to determine which button is which, but I have occassionally hit the wrong one.
The Source button is fairly prominent, making it easy to switch from CD/MP3 to the Radio or Auxillary. Removing the face plate switches the receiver into DEMO mode by default. The user must press the Source button upon replacing the face plate in order to select CD or Radio. You must change this annoying default according to the instructions in the manual or the DEMO mode will return every time the face plate is replaced. The unit also has very convenient Shuffle and Random buttons that are reasonably sized and placed conveniently next to the driver.
My complaint about the small size of the eject button could very well apply to any CD player on the market, but it makes it a pain in the butt to change the CD when you're driving a standard. The Attenuate (ATT), H-BASS, Equalier (EQ) and Best Tuning Memory (BTM) buttons are just slightly larger. Ideally, the Attenuate and Equalizer buttons would be larger. It's just more convenient to use the huge Volume dial than to try to find the small button that says ATT. The small size of the Equalizer button also makes it similarly difficult to change the settings from track to track for a less-than-coordinated individual such as myself.
Display and Appearance
The receiver is a pretty sleek silver with an attractive back-lit blue display and white digital text. It's good that it's attractive because there isn't any way to change the colors and there are no nifty animations. Only the brightness of the display and the unit sounds can be adjusted.
Wireless Remote
The unit includes a small card-sized wireless remote control. It is able to control the volume, display type, track selection, album selection, radio tuning and unit power. It also has quick access to the Attenuate button. The remote works as advertised, but I'll be damned if I'm going to let someone else control the music while I'm driving.
Skipping
The anti-skipping technology appears to function well over the bumps and through the potholes on New England roads. This unit is at least on par with my last one. I have not lost or scratched a disc in almost five months of use and have nothing negative to report.
Sound Quality
The package says that it has a 4-channel, 52 Watt MOSFET amplifier. I haven't the foggiest idea as to what that means, nor or do I really care. I have a '94 Honda Civic with factory original speakers. It's needless to say that I can't possibly give you a good analysis of the true sound quality. I'll just say that the sound is substantially better than my old Pioneer deck. The Bass is certainly adequate for my needs without rattling the cage, but I'm not the type to roll down the street with the bass kicked all of the way up either.
Creating MP3 Discs
The unit does not include any software for burning MP3 discs. I will warn you that not all programs are suitable for burning MP3 discs. I have found that most programs simply do not cut it. They will burn all of the tracks, but the MP3 player will not recognize some of them due to corruption. The CD burning software that came bundled with your computer may not be adequate, but it's a good place to start. CDs are cheap and you don't want to buy a new program if it isn't necessary. Nero is the best program that I have tried so far, but I am certainly going to explore other software options in the future. You may also experience differences between CD brands, although I've had very good luck with silver-bottom Memorex discs.
Manual
The manual is very impressive. It's written in plain, understandable English. It walks you through the set-up, menu options and system features step-by-step, often with diagrams. The manual even includes a brief introduction to MP3 files and how to create a disc with an appropriate file structure.
Price and Value
At $120, I consider the Aiwa CDC-X6504MP to be a good deal. It has all of the functionality that I desired at an affordable price. However, I'm not an audiophile. Listeners with more discriminating tastes may not be as easily impressed.
Final Comments
I'm one happy, 80's music-loving camper.
