Kenwood KDC-X659 Car CD / MP3 Player

My Background
I bought the KDC-X659 in November 2002 (new, off of eBay - price includes tax and shipping). I am an electronics engineer who is somewhat finicky about sound quality. I have all of my CDs ripped at high bit rates to MP3 (I bought this unit for its MP3 playback capabilities). Excuse this rather lengthy description (but it answers questions I wondered about when choosing the receiver).

General
I have a car with hard suspension (Mazda RX-7) and I have never heard the CD drive skip. Faceplate folds down for CD insertion or removal. Faceplate can be secured to the head unit via included screws. Set up of the unit takes some time and experimentation. The controls are all button based (I prefer this to the alternative of rotary encoders while I am driving). Features of the buttons are not straight forward, manual reference is helpful. An auxiliary port can connect to a Kenwood Music Keg ($$$), CD changer, Sirius Satellite tuner, heads-up display, etc. This unit features a black bezel (matches my non-metallic trimmed car).

Display
The display consists of a multi-color vacuum fluorescent display. ~95% of the display consists of pixels that alternate red and blue. The bottom row of pixels is a green color (it is used as a level meter or a feature activation indication). The red and blue pixels when combined make a whitish color (similar to the way a color video display works). The red and blue levels can be varied which net several different hues. The processor plays some multiplexing tricks to make the display appear as a color display. Information is displayed in one of three modes. The first mode enables two lines of text (or the bottom line can be a spectrum analyzer and/or icon). You can choose the format of this first mode to display useful information like preset #, ID3 tag, track name, date, time, elapsed time, etc. Long names scroll right to left after an initial pause. The bottom row displays an animated icon, a 16 channel spectrum analyzer, or a limited selection of the first line possibilities. Mode two is a Spartan information mode which shows just one line of text (of your choosing) with no flashy stuff. Mode three is a full screen spectrum analyzer (~5 choices) or the flashy demo screen (Kenwood logo, 3D shapes, and dolphins swimming) which also sequences through the various spectrum analyzer modes. When the face of the stereo is exposed to direct sunlight, the display is illegible (-in Los Angeles, Anchorage may be different ;-)). The fluorescent display dims when the headlights are turned on (if the unit is wired to do so). The bright blue illuminated buttons do not fade, and they can create some glare at night (I might need to do some surgery on the faceplate to resolve this). The display can be distracting to some people while driving, for instance... After my wife took her first drive in my car with the new Kenwood installed, she said to me, "Why do they make the display like that, people should be looking at the road, not the stereo." ...Mode two (described above) is her preference.

Audio
This eXcelon receiver has fantastic sound quality. Actual specifications can be found at Kenwood's web site. The internal power amplifier can be disabled (via programming) if you are using external amps. There are three sets of line outputs; front, rear, and non-fading. The non-fading line output is great for subwoofers (it doesn't respond to the front to rear fader control, but it does respond to balance and volume controls). There are many settings related to the speakers and the line outputs. The preamplifier features a parametric equalizer that I prefer over the standard fixed-band style. If you are not accustomed to use of this sort of equalizer, some experimentation will be necessary. There are also a number of preset equalizer settings that can be cycled through at the touch of a button, but I don't particularly care for them (I go by the school of thought that when something sounds good to someone else that doesn't mean it will sound good to me). There is a line level RCA input (yep, you can use your iPod here) that can be disabled via programming. Filters can be set up on the line outs so that you can create an efficient crossover to a subwoofer.

Tuner
Tuner is very sensitive (compared to my old stock radio); it's capable of getting San Diego stations in Los Angeles (with some static, yes). You can enter the call letters or short station tags for each of your preset station buttons. The power antenna on my car is only activated when the tuner is selected (e.g. it goes down when playing a CD).

MP3 (or CD) Playback
The reason I purchased Kenwood's unit over the competitions' is its MP3 functionality. It can transition tracks in about a second (even in random play mode). It can display ID3 tags (up to a certain number of characters). It can also display the file name of the MP3 playing. Quantity of songs: I made a 650MB CD-RW disk with 113 songs on it (most encoded at 192 VBR). The Kenwood's random feature seems more random when compared to WinAmp or Amp (under Linux)- the latter products seem to go in the same random order each time playback is initialized. Playback on MP3 disks or CDs resumes where the player left off when the car was powered down. There is a 50 folder limit per MP3 disk (doesn't effect my personal method of MP3 organization). There is a 256 song per folder limit (this doesn't bother me either, I was only able to fit 113 on a 650MB CD-RW anyway). Someone in a similar review found these numbers to be a limitation, but I find the numbers reasonable (this is not a 60GB hard disk player after all). I have been doing MP3s since about 1997, and I have held off on a head unit until now due to their lack of features and processing power. Most HD car players load music too slowly (via 10BaseT or USB 1.0), a CD based MP3 player is a good alternative until car HD based MP3 technology matures (FireWire or USB2.0). The descent HD players out there require a head unit anyway for audio control, and this KDC-X659 makes a fine one.

I usually make my MP3 CDs as a compilation of favorites (I enjoy all of them). While commuting, I listen to the tracks in order or switch in the random mode; if I want to change tracks I just hit the 'next track' button until one I want to listen to starts. I don't usually try to seek out a specific track - attempting this on the Kenwood may be frustrating if you don't know the track number or folder the file is in.

IR Remote
The included infrared remote runs on a 3V lithium button cell. I have operated the remote about 2 feet away from the head unit, and sometimes it is not received until I vary the angle of incidence to the faceplate. I feel I should be able to bounce the remote's beam off of the back window, and it should work - not with this one. Layout of the buttons is logical, but they are all the same shape and size. I find the ergonomics of the case to be not very comfortable, I would have preferred a more 'organic' shape.