Aiwa CDC-X937 Car CD Player

The stock cassette player in my '95 Maxima wasn't cutting it anymore. I really only used it for the radio, and radio gets lame pretty quickly. I started my search for a replacement at the local electronics stores and then moved to the web. I wanted something that played CDs, and cost $150 or less. MP3 capability was not very important to me, because MP3s sound terrible(I'm an audio engineer), and I don't have any on my computer.

Crutchfield seems to be the only place that sells this unit, and when I saw that this unit had the BBE system in it, I was hooked. I've had BBE in several of my home stereos, and loved what it does. I don't know how it works, but it makes everything sound better. The only other car CD-player I could find with BBE was a similarly priced Alpine that only had 1/2 the power of this Aiwa. I used the stereo for the first time this morning, and the BBE helped make my car sound so much better than before.

The H-Bass feature is nice. It seems to emphasize those frequencies that really resonate in your chest. Because I listen to a lot of Death Metal, I'm really liking this. H-Bass really brings out the thump of the kick drum.

This system also has the standard Bass and Treble adjustments, which are fine for what they are.

The CDC-X937 also includes the Aiwa DSSA feature, which is supposed to create the ideal listening experience for either of the front seats (but not both at the same time). This isn't particularly useful. When I turned it on, I did notice that I could hear each speaker individually, but it wasn't really a big deal. I turned it off pretty quickly though, because all it really did was make everything quieter.

Crutchfield also had an online video of the CDCx937 in action, which made me fall in love. http://www.crutchfield.com/S-1uebmLgUf33/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?a=&s=0&cc=01&g=178850&id=morephotos&i=055CDCX937#morephotos
When the car is shut off, the face folds over and all you can see is a black plate. Turn it on, and it flips around and lights up. This feature is great if you forget to take the face off of the stereo when you leave the car. Everything stays hidden, so there is no shiny new stereo enticing thieves. If you aren't so forgetful, the upper part of the face is also removable, which is an essential feature.

The little control joystick on the left of the unit controls volume and CD track skip/tuning. I learned very quickly that the best way to use this is to place your finger to the side of the stick and nudge it in the desired direction. Placing your finger ON the stick can lead to inadvertently raising the volume or skipping tracks or changing radio tuning. This becomes much more likely when driving over bumpy roads. Another good way to change volume/CD/tuning is to use the provided wafer-thin remote control.

The buttons are all back-lit, and you can change them to either red or blue. This is a nice touch. It isn't a big deal, but it gives you a feel of customization. There are also 2 brightness levels for the display, and the brightest still isn't blinding at night, so that's good too. I also noticed that there is a bit of glare on the stereo during the day(at least in my car), but I didn't really care about that much... I was driving, thus watching the road, not my stereo.

I only noticed one skip on my drive to work this morning, and that was over a particularly sharp, sudden bump. This unit seems to be able to handle most other roadway bumps pretty well.

Since I bought this unit from Crutchfield(they're the only place I could find that sold it), I put it in myself. This kept me from paying for installation and let me spend more on the stereo. Crutchfield was great about sending me all the installation hardware and instructions I needed to put it in myself without much trouble. Total time of installation was about 5 hours, including the time it took to solder all of the wiring harnesses together. Using crimped connectors would have saved time, but solder joints are better.