Dual Electronics XDM-6810 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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A great deal for what's offered
Pros
Great price, MP3 support, auxiliary input, awesome sound quality, great screen
Cons
Very unintuitive MP3 navigation, no customizable equalizer, incomplete manual
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
If you are looking for a very solid feature list on a very solid player, yet on a budget, look no further than the Dual XDM6810.
When I first saw the specs for this model, I couldn't believe my eyes. It was the only model capable of playing MP3 disks that even approached the $100 mark. It also has an auxiliary input on the back that you can hook MP3 players such as the Rio Karma or Apple iPod. It is rare to see both of those high-end features in such an inexpensive model.
There are, however, some tradeoffs because of the price. Probably the most glaring inadequacy is the navigation when you're playing an MP3 disk. The process for simply finding a song is completely unintuitive, and took me almost an hour to get the hang of. It would have been made much simpler if the rotary digitizer (fancy term for knob) was able to be pushed in to select. Instead, you have to switch between the knob and the red buttons on the right side. Additionally, once you're navigating, you don't scroll right to go through the list like you would think. You actually have to scroll left when you are going through the list of folders or songs. Simply finding a folder on the disk containing an album you want to play requires this sequence of button presses:
Select, Select, Select, Find the folder with knob, Enter, Move knob left one notch, Enter
That would then play the songs in that one folder.
The other distinct shortcoming is the lack of a customizable equalizer. This model only has 3 settings. Classic and Pop sound the same, and Rock boosts the bass a little. However, I highly recommend enabling the "Loud" setting to boost the bass and treble greatly.
Other than that, there isn't much else to complain about. Some of the settings have very ambiguous names, and no explanation in the manual (such as the Loc button).
There is, however, a lot to rave about. The sound quality is wonderful, and it's pretty easy to use (except for the mp3 feature). It has full ID3 tag support for MP3s, and plays them without a hitch. It sounds just like a CD when you're playing them, but you're able to fit hundreds of songs on one CD. It also has 100 second antishock when playing mp3s, so I haven't had and problems whatsoever with MP3 skipping. I haven't played many normal CDs yet, so I haven't experienced any skipping. I don't think it will be a huge problem.
It is fairly powerful with 52 watts per channel with 4 channel outputs, for a total of 208 watts. It definitely drives my speakers better than the stock radio/cassette player.
The radio reception is surprisingly good for a model this inexpensive, and I haven't experienced any major "fuzz" problems. However, since it pulls in weak stations so efficiently, it pulled in 2 stations at once on one frequency. I know it wasn't a problem with frequency drifting because I've been in an area where the weaker station completely overpowers the strong station where I'm at. And as you can imagine, rap and country mixed together doesn't sound that wonderful.
It comes with the standard removable faceplate, with a case to hold it. The screen readability is top notch, and it seems to be built extremely well. It went in my dash without a hitch, though I had to pay extra for a wiring harness to connect it to my Dodge Dakota's nonstandard wiring.
There are, however, some tradeoffs because of the price. Probably the most glaring inadequacy is the navigation when you're playing an MP3 disk. The process for simply finding a song is completely unintuitive, and took me almost an hour to get the hang of. It would have been made much simpler if the rotary digitizer (fancy term for knob) was able to be pushed in to select. Instead, you have to switch between the knob and the red buttons on the right side. Additionally, once you're navigating, you don't scroll right to go through the list like you would think. You actually have to scroll left when you are going through the list of folders or songs. Simply finding a folder on the disk containing an album you want to play requires this sequence of button presses:
Select, Select, Select, Find the folder with knob, Enter, Move knob left one notch, Enter
That would then play the songs in that one folder.
The other distinct shortcoming is the lack of a customizable equalizer. This model only has 3 settings. Classic and Pop sound the same, and Rock boosts the bass a little. However, I highly recommend enabling the "Loud" setting to boost the bass and treble greatly.
Other than that, there isn't much else to complain about. Some of the settings have very ambiguous names, and no explanation in the manual (such as the Loc button).
There is, however, a lot to rave about. The sound quality is wonderful, and it's pretty easy to use (except for the mp3 feature). It has full ID3 tag support for MP3s, and plays them without a hitch. It sounds just like a CD when you're playing them, but you're able to fit hundreds of songs on one CD. It also has 100 second antishock when playing mp3s, so I haven't had and problems whatsoever with MP3 skipping. I haven't played many normal CDs yet, so I haven't experienced any skipping. I don't think it will be a huge problem.
It is fairly powerful with 52 watts per channel with 4 channel outputs, for a total of 208 watts. It definitely drives my speakers better than the stock radio/cassette player.
The radio reception is surprisingly good for a model this inexpensive, and I haven't experienced any major "fuzz" problems. However, since it pulls in weak stations so efficiently, it pulled in 2 stations at once on one frequency. I know it wasn't a problem with frequency drifting because I've been in an area where the weaker station completely overpowers the strong station where I'm at. And as you can imagine, rap and country mixed together doesn't sound that wonderful.
It comes with the standard removable faceplate, with a case to hold it. The screen readability is top notch, and it seems to be built extremely well. It went in my dash without a hitch, though I had to pay extra for a wiring harness to connect it to my Dodge Dakota's nonstandard wiring.
