Kenwood KDC-X492 Car CD / MP3 Player
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Similar in In Dash Receivers
- MP3 / WMA Playback: MP3 Playback WMA Playback AAC Playback
- Anti-Theft Protection: Detachable Face Panel
- Player Type: CD
- Controlled Devices: CD Changer HD Ready Sirius Ready XM Ready iPod / iPhone
- iPod/iPhone Compatible: Yes
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A fairly nice car head unit
Pros
Great sound, most controls are excellent and most of the setup was easy.
Cons
Learning Ipod control/operation from the X492 takes patience. Instruction manual is vauge about some points.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Bottom line is that this is probably one of the nicest head units at its price point.
The Kenwood KDC X492 was first brought to my attention after doing (as usual) a great deal of research online. I had already decided on my online retailer (Crutcfield) and this unit, as it turns out, is one of their most popular.
The Excelon class head unit series is suppose to be Kenwood's top of the line. This is their entry level into that class. The Excelon head units come with a two year Kenwood warranty - versus one year for the non Excelon class. They also come with slightly higher powered internal amps. If you are going to power your speakers externally, I suppose this feature does not matter.
The Excelon class head units also have a greater degree of overall customability in terms of setting your speaker EQ and so forth.
I decided to purchase a modern car head unit in order to make maximum use of my Ipod. Most of the head units in the $150-200 class come with an Ipod connecting cable that comes from the back of the unit, versus the front. The X492 is one of the few in the $150-200 pricepoint that has a front USB port. This also allows fairly easy access if I wanted to connect another storage device to the unit. Kenwood sells a cable to connect your Ipod to the unit that is a little more robust than the standard cable sold with the Ipod.
A great deal of the setup of this unit is straightforward, but there's some vauge points in the setup that are not really made clear in the instruction manual. There is one button to cycle through the different inputs (radio, Ipod, cd, ect) and the main volume/selector knob is precise and no issues in real use.
The units only real weakness is that the control over the Ipod is not anywhere as easy as the manual or other review/literature makes it out to be. Kenwood could've made the control over the Ipod easy by making the included remote at least have one "dial" that resembled the main dial of the Ipod. Instead, the included remote is geared towards radio/cd use.
The X492 can accept an HD radio tuner, both Sirius and XM tuners, and can also accept a Bluetooth adapter. Since purchasing the unit initially, I decided to go ahead and get the optional HD radio tuner. The HD tuner was extremely easy to hook up, and it integrates perfectly with the X492. There was no learning curve whatsoever.
Installation into my car was relatively easy, but I think this was mostly due to the included installation guide and parts from Crutcfield. The installation information in the instruction manual is very basic. I would not try to do installation unless if you are comfortable with soldering and are at least competent with tools, and if you have some degree of patience.
The Excelon class head unit series is suppose to be Kenwood's top of the line. This is their entry level into that class. The Excelon head units come with a two year Kenwood warranty - versus one year for the non Excelon class. They also come with slightly higher powered internal amps. If you are going to power your speakers externally, I suppose this feature does not matter.
The Excelon class head units also have a greater degree of overall customability in terms of setting your speaker EQ and so forth.
I decided to purchase a modern car head unit in order to make maximum use of my Ipod. Most of the head units in the $150-200 class come with an Ipod connecting cable that comes from the back of the unit, versus the front. The X492 is one of the few in the $150-200 pricepoint that has a front USB port. This also allows fairly easy access if I wanted to connect another storage device to the unit. Kenwood sells a cable to connect your Ipod to the unit that is a little more robust than the standard cable sold with the Ipod.
A great deal of the setup of this unit is straightforward, but there's some vauge points in the setup that are not really made clear in the instruction manual. There is one button to cycle through the different inputs (radio, Ipod, cd, ect) and the main volume/selector knob is precise and no issues in real use.
The units only real weakness is that the control over the Ipod is not anywhere as easy as the manual or other review/literature makes it out to be. Kenwood could've made the control over the Ipod easy by making the included remote at least have one "dial" that resembled the main dial of the Ipod. Instead, the included remote is geared towards radio/cd use.
The X492 can accept an HD radio tuner, both Sirius and XM tuners, and can also accept a Bluetooth adapter. Since purchasing the unit initially, I decided to go ahead and get the optional HD radio tuner. The HD tuner was extremely easy to hook up, and it integrates perfectly with the X492. There was no learning curve whatsoever.
Installation into my car was relatively easy, but I think this was mostly due to the included installation guide and parts from Crutcfield. The installation information in the instruction manual is very basic. I would not try to do installation unless if you are comfortable with soldering and are at least competent with tools, and if you have some degree of patience.
