Panasonic CQ-DP383U Car CD / MP3 Player
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Similar in In Dash Receivers
- MP3 / WMA Playback: MP3 Playback
- Player Type: CD
- Controlled Devices: CD Changer Sirius Ready
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A great value
Pros
Great value for a solid MP3/WMA player
Cons
Display could have more characters (for clock)
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
I'll probably buy another one for my car - but will double check the market to see if I can find another unit that always displays a clock.
I had this unit put in my brother-in-law's van as a thank you as he loaned the vehicle to us for a 2700 mile trip. During the 10 days of use with this stereo, I found it worked very well.
I only burned one CD-R to take on the trip and it was sure nice having something like 10 hours of music without having to eject the CD-R - although my wife wasn't real happy with my musical tastes! I found the random mode especially helpful as it quickly went to the next song and if I didn't like it, I could just hit the forward button and go on to something else. I did notice some dead spots of silence for 5 or 10 seconds, possibly caused by defective files on the CD. I did not have a chance to burn any Windows Media files, but as they offer greater compression, I would try that on my next go around - maybe I can get 20 hours on a CD-R? Regular CDs played as expected.
My biggest gripe with the unit is the display: I would like the clock to always be visible instead of having to jump between modes that would show the filename or folder name or track number without the clock being displayed. (I think the unit for $70 more would solve my problem, but that's a lot of money and seems displays should be pretty cheap by now.)
Also the display is a funky purple color - this may clash with some of the color schemes in most dashes.
The tuner's performance was just fine on FM but I am not so sure on AM. I appreciated that it started scanning very quickly, compared to my Toyota radio that takes awhile to go into scan mode.
I'm not a big fan of detachable face plates like this unit has. Just wish the front would disappear when parked so you don't have to worry about it. A security code and flashing light would also be a good theft preventative, but that is probably asking too much in a budget radio.
Also, this unit is advertised as a 50 watt per channel unit. Crutchfield lists it as a 25 watt per channel (4 channels) with a 50 watt peak rating, which is probably more accurate.
Note that the amount paid included installation and adapters - I've seen this unit for as low as $130 on the Internet.
I only burned one CD-R to take on the trip and it was sure nice having something like 10 hours of music without having to eject the CD-R - although my wife wasn't real happy with my musical tastes! I found the random mode especially helpful as it quickly went to the next song and if I didn't like it, I could just hit the forward button and go on to something else. I did notice some dead spots of silence for 5 or 10 seconds, possibly caused by defective files on the CD. I did not have a chance to burn any Windows Media files, but as they offer greater compression, I would try that on my next go around - maybe I can get 20 hours on a CD-R? Regular CDs played as expected.
My biggest gripe with the unit is the display: I would like the clock to always be visible instead of having to jump between modes that would show the filename or folder name or track number without the clock being displayed. (I think the unit for $70 more would solve my problem, but that's a lot of money and seems displays should be pretty cheap by now.)
Also the display is a funky purple color - this may clash with some of the color schemes in most dashes.
The tuner's performance was just fine on FM but I am not so sure on AM. I appreciated that it started scanning very quickly, compared to my Toyota radio that takes awhile to go into scan mode.
I'm not a big fan of detachable face plates like this unit has. Just wish the front would disappear when parked so you don't have to worry about it. A security code and flashing light would also be a good theft preventative, but that is probably asking too much in a budget radio.
Also, this unit is advertised as a 50 watt per channel unit. Crutchfield lists it as a 25 watt per channel (4 channels) with a 50 watt peak rating, which is probably more accurate.
Note that the amount paid included installation and adapters - I've seen this unit for as low as $130 on the Internet.
