Pioneer DEH-P4000UB Car CD / USB / MP3 Player

In my life I've purchased 2 aftermarket stereo decks. The first, about 10 years ago, when I thought doing so would dramatically improve the sound in my small pickup truck. This time around, understanding more about the accompanying need for just as good (and expensive) speakers and an amplifier, I didn't have as much of an off-the-wall expectation for how things might sound. This time I simply needed an Auxiliary jack with which I could use my Zune. I did a bit of research online, not really knowing which ohm ratings were better or anything like that, but understanding RMS and peak wattage to a degree, with a budget in mind, and an idea that a sub-$200 deck is probably middle of the road enough to at least maintain if not slightly improve on the quality of my vehicle's factory radio.

Having a 2004 Honda Accord initially looked like a problem since the factory stereo and air conditioning controls are built into one unit and that the replacement housing for looked, quite frankly, hideous. Beneath the stereo though, is a small compartment for stowing CDs. This compartment actually pulls out easily and allows an aftermarket deck to fit quite nicely, tucked away so that on first glance people (or potential thieves) probably aren't going to realize you have an aftermarket deck. That's just an aside for anyone who happens to have a Honda and who is considering this deck.

Having already factored in a presumed sound quality-to-price point ratio, I purchased the Pioneer DEH-P4000UB for 3 main reasons (in order of importance): Aesthetics, Line-in (Auxiliary) and USB inputs, and the fact that it comes with a remote.

Aesthetics

In each of these areas the unit interestingly (but not entirely) differed from my initial impressions from images and reviews I saw online. The marketing images do a great job of capturing the somewhat minimalist feel of the deck, which is what most attracted me to it, however the lighting in those images casts a slightly silver trim on the edge of the face of the unit and 3 flares in the silver control section that gives it a dynamic diamond-like look that doesn't exist when seen in person. Despite this variance between what I expected the deck to look like and what it actually looks like installed, I'm still pleased with the unit and its looks. The lack of dedicated radio preset buttons is an extra plus for me as I rarely if-ever use the radio. Some people who are radio enthusiasts will likely find this omission for the sake of design, quite frustrating.

Navigation and Controls

The 7-way Rotary Command wheel, as Pioneer calls it, is simultaneously one of the most annoying and most intuitive navigation controls I've ever encountered. Once you get used to its up-down (increase decrease) right (select) and left (exit) control scheme, changing settings somewhat surprisingly becomes an enjoyable affair compared to the 'back' or 'esc' or 'menu' dedicated buttons used on other units for the same purposes. But where the wheel excels in navigation, it fails in volume control, and feels downright annoying turned left and right. The stopping points for each level increase of volume feels too close together, and you end up twisting the knob 3 full times in order to get the volume up a mere 10 levels. In addition, if you are adjusting settings using the left-right-up-down directions on the wheel, rotating the wheel left or right performs the same functions as clicking left or right, which is redundant and counter-intuitive, especially if you want to increase the volume after adjusting a sound setting to gauge its effectiveness, you have to manually back entirely out of the settings menu and then wait 10 seconds for the wheel to turn back into volume mode, or by chance realize that if you press the clock button it will cancel you out of the settings menu and allow you to increase the volume. Another issue I encountered was with the unit's power/source button not functioning as a power button if a CD is inserted. If you press and hold the power button when a CD is inserted, the unit simply switches sources between AUX, CD, Radio, and USB. I initially thought I had a unit with a defective button until I removed the CD and inadvertently discovered this. The remote for the unit, which I'm glad it has but hardly use, is slightly bulky and somewhat ugly, but its buttons are tactilely pleasing to press, and it can perform nearly every function that the unit controls can. The face unit is tricky to snap in and out, but after 10 or 15 times you get used to the method.

All the pluses

And that is where the extent of any real problems with this unit ends, and where the quality and bonuses start to shine.

The sound quality is quite simply stunning, and entirely unexpected, with no amp and with just the stock car speakers. The deck's default equalizer setting is set to 'Powerful' and I found this to be far too pronounced on the middle end of the spectrum, almost like you had a fountain of music directly in the middle of your car, with the center of the fountain representing the middle of the sound spectrum, and the highs and lows falling off and dissipating around the sides of the vehicle. Turning the preset to none (no sound modifications) is a starkly flat contrast, but Pioneer provides an absolutely excellent array of equalizer settings for fine-tuning the sound. I found the following setting to be the most effective: Equalizer 1: L+2, M+2, H+3 - Equalizer 2: Low, 100Hz, 02w - Bass Boost + 1 or 2, Fade + 1 to the rear speakers.
Additionally, there are plenty of customization options for the sub-woofer, source levels for each sound source (i.e., increasing or decreasing the volume for the AUX port by a number of levels so it is equal with the default CD volume level), 2 equalizers, a high pass filter, bass boost and loudness functions, and AudioBook playback and speed controls.

The front auxiliary input works and sounds great, and the unit allows you to customize the name displayed on screen, in my case I changed it to 'Zune'. There is also a secondary auxiliary input on the back of the unit for setting up additional sources.

The deck reads and displays CD Text, plays CD-R and CD-RW's with WMA, MP3, and AAC files (provided they are non-DRM files), as well as WAV files burned to disc. If a CD does not have CD + Text encoded onto it, you can manually name the disc in the unit and it will store and display the name anytime you insert that disc in the future (for up to 48 discs).

USB Connection and Portable Media Devices

The USB cable connects and works with iPods, Toshiba Gigabeats, and any MP3 player or Portable Media Device that is a Mass Storage Class (MSC) device, meaning any device that when plugged into your computer can function similar to a hard drive, allowing files to be dragged and dropped onto the device. An important note for owners of a Microsoft Zune, the 1st and 2nd generation Zunes do not currently work with this deck, because the Zune is not an MSC device, however the USB connection will connect to and power/charge the Zune device, negating the need for a separate DC power cable. The Pioneer manual states the unit can control iPod Nanos and 5th generation or later models. Earlier models should work however the navigation may not be controllable through and song information may not be displayed on the deck.

I used the USB cable to connect a 1gb flash drive and a 250gb Western Digital Passport Hard Drive. Both were recognized immediately and worked perfectly with the unit, displaying song and metadata on-screen. The unit will only recognize drives formatted in FAT or FAT32 (not NTFS), and it supplies 500mA of power, enough to power the Passport and most portable hard drives. The sound quality from the USB connected devices and files also sounded recognizably better than that from the auxiliary input and the Zune, despite the songs from that device and input already sounding amazing.

Overall

I couldn't be more happy with this unit unless it looked exactly like the stock photo (which products never do) and if somehow (maybe in the future if Microsoft opens it up) it worked completely with the Zune, being able to display song information on the OLED deck. In the mean time, the auxiliary input is what I most wanted and needed, and the deck with it and behind it powering it all, is Grade A. Considering that the price for this unit has now dropped into the $130 dollar range, it's a steal.