Dual Electronics XHD-6420 Car CD / MP3 Player
- MP3 / WMA Playback: MP3 Playback WMA Playback
- Anti-Theft Protection: Detachable Face Panel
- Player Type: CD
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Great Price, Some Nice Features
Pros
HIGH DEFINITION RADIO TUNER. CD player. Excellent tonal characteristics.
Cons
Display may be hard to read in bright light situations. HD reception sporadic.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Excellent sound is a big plus. HD transmissions will undoubtedly improve with time. At $49, it was a steal!
Recently purchased a used VW Jetta GLS. The factory radio/cassette was inoperative. Since the OEM radio was exactly 1 DIN sized, I just replaced it with a DUAL XHD6420 RADIO/CD/HD-RECEIVER. Here's why:
The best reason: The price! HHGREGG had it on sale for $99 with a $50 rebate! That's only $49 after rebate. How do you beat that? No way I could have purchased a used factory radio for that price.
For the inexpensive price, I bought a decent brand, not an unknown brand. Dual has been manufacturing car stereo equipment for some time. Their quality has improved over the years.
Also, This receiver is HIGH DEFINITION. Yes, it can receive HD channels, which means I can now receive multiple channels on the same wavelength, and the sound fidelity of those HD channels is quite an improvement over standard radio reception.
I still get a CD player which plays all my CDs including my burned CDs, without error. Also, there is skip protection, which corrects playback of CDs when you drive over a small or medium sized bump-in-the-road.
FRONT AUX INPUT: I can connect any MP3 player or IPOD to my DUAL unit via the convenient front input. Now, I can play my entire music library through my car's audio system.
AUDIO OUTPUT: Is quite good. The 'real world' rating is 17 watts per channel RMS x4. What's good about this rating is it is rated at less than 1% distortion. Furthermore, the power bandwith is rated from 20Hz to 20kHz, the full audible range of human hearing. That is a lot to offer from such a small in-dash unit.
The sound of this system is quite good. Adjustable bass and treble controls are very useful. Unlike many 'cheap' low-end car receivers, this unit seems to employ a very well designed bass control which seems to be set at low end, perhaps 40-50Hz, and is well controlled so as not to produce an abundance of mid-bass 'boom'. From my experience with audio equipment, I believe this receiver would sound even better when connected to an external amplifier. The result would surely be much closer to 'high-fidelity' standards.
Pre-amp outputs (1 set) make connection to an external amp or subwoofer amp an easy task.
Illumination of the dial is a combination of white characters/numbers on a black background. The buttons are illuminated a nice looking blue.
WHAT TO CONSIDER BEFORE BUYING:
There are some down sides to this unit.
The white character display may be difficult to read when there is an abundance of light inside the car.
The HD technology seems to be somewhat 'iffy' at this point. For instance, as I'm driving, the HD reception may fade in and out, thereby losing and regaining the HD quality of reception. I assume this may improve as HD radio becomes more popular. The same was true of FM radio many years ago.
The volume knob is still a little small for my preference. The buttons are also a little small. Then again, this is the case of the vast majority of after-market receivers, so keep that in mind.
There is no remote control with this unit. Personally, I think the remote is a useless waste. The only exception might be the remotes which can attach to the steering wheel and be operated with your thumbs while driving. Some factory car radios feature such controls and they are useful as they do not distract the driver.
The faceplate is removable, but can be mounted semi-permanent via a screw.
Overall, I enjoy the sound of this Dual system very much. Since buying it, I've upgraded the speakers and this receiver makes the woofers 'pump' quite a bit. Bass is smooth, treble clean and stereo separation excellent.
The best reason: The price! HHGREGG had it on sale for $99 with a $50 rebate! That's only $49 after rebate. How do you beat that? No way I could have purchased a used factory radio for that price.
For the inexpensive price, I bought a decent brand, not an unknown brand. Dual has been manufacturing car stereo equipment for some time. Their quality has improved over the years.
Also, This receiver is HIGH DEFINITION. Yes, it can receive HD channels, which means I can now receive multiple channels on the same wavelength, and the sound fidelity of those HD channels is quite an improvement over standard radio reception.
I still get a CD player which plays all my CDs including my burned CDs, without error. Also, there is skip protection, which corrects playback of CDs when you drive over a small or medium sized bump-in-the-road.
FRONT AUX INPUT: I can connect any MP3 player or IPOD to my DUAL unit via the convenient front input. Now, I can play my entire music library through my car's audio system.
AUDIO OUTPUT: Is quite good. The 'real world' rating is 17 watts per channel RMS x4. What's good about this rating is it is rated at less than 1% distortion. Furthermore, the power bandwith is rated from 20Hz to 20kHz, the full audible range of human hearing. That is a lot to offer from such a small in-dash unit.
The sound of this system is quite good. Adjustable bass and treble controls are very useful. Unlike many 'cheap' low-end car receivers, this unit seems to employ a very well designed bass control which seems to be set at low end, perhaps 40-50Hz, and is well controlled so as not to produce an abundance of mid-bass 'boom'. From my experience with audio equipment, I believe this receiver would sound even better when connected to an external amplifier. The result would surely be much closer to 'high-fidelity' standards.
Pre-amp outputs (1 set) make connection to an external amp or subwoofer amp an easy task.
Illumination of the dial is a combination of white characters/numbers on a black background. The buttons are illuminated a nice looking blue.
WHAT TO CONSIDER BEFORE BUYING:
There are some down sides to this unit.
The white character display may be difficult to read when there is an abundance of light inside the car.
The HD technology seems to be somewhat 'iffy' at this point. For instance, as I'm driving, the HD reception may fade in and out, thereby losing and regaining the HD quality of reception. I assume this may improve as HD radio becomes more popular. The same was true of FM radio many years ago.
The volume knob is still a little small for my preference. The buttons are also a little small. Then again, this is the case of the vast majority of after-market receivers, so keep that in mind.
There is no remote control with this unit. Personally, I think the remote is a useless waste. The only exception might be the remotes which can attach to the steering wheel and be operated with your thumbs while driving. Some factory car radios feature such controls and they are useful as they do not distract the driver.
The faceplate is removable, but can be mounted semi-permanent via a screw.
Overall, I enjoy the sound of this Dual system very much. Since buying it, I've upgraded the speakers and this receiver makes the woofers 'pump' quite a bit. Bass is smooth, treble clean and stereo separation excellent.
