Pioneer DEH-P6900UB Car CD / USB / MP3 Player

I bought this unit to replace my Buck's stock stereo. I had the CircuitCity boys install it for about $120 to include labor, housing and misc. wiring stuff.

My car has all the factory-installed head unit and speakers. The only upgrade I did to the 'sound' system was the installation of an Infinity Basslink subwoofer. However, I soon found that while the sound greatly improved on the bass department, the high frequencies left much to be desired. I think that the speakers were still OK because I connect an MP3 player with lots of tone controls [Archos Jukebox running Rockbox] and the speakers were able to produce richer sounds in both the high/low/midrange levels. This is the reason I settled for a head unit upgrade.

My review is based on the features that I use the most:

SOUND: The highs were definitely more crisper. I think that keeping the original speakers were a plus, too, because the tweeter output is just right for me -- no unnecessary high frequencies or excess hiss that I usually hear from other cars on the road. The bass on my original head unit was already OK with the Basslink in place. However, the Pioneer gives me more options to control both the subwoofer and the bass output from the rear speakers. I have my subwoofer level up to just +2 and the Bass level to '0'. The Pioneer has the nifty midrange control [High Pass Filter - HPF]. By setting this to 100Hz, it allows the factory speakers to still contribute some bass and handle the rest of the sound above 100Hz [My subwoofer cutoff is also set at 100Hz].

I just did a few tweaks with the equalizer to adjust the sound. I set it first to the 'Powerful' preset option, then decreased the lowest frequency level, increase the next bass frequency a tad and increase the 2 highest frequencies since my speakers needed this help. I'm not sure whether this gets saved as 'Custom 1' [or 'Custom 2'] preset if you start tweaking the equalizer presets.

SATELLITE RADIO: I use a SIRIUS SIR-PNP3 unit. This one has a strongly transmitted FM wireless signal unlike 'those new ones' being sold by Sirius. The Pioneer unit flawlessly receives the signal over my designated FM channel [90.3] which is expected since my old head unit did the same. Sound was better since there were more sound enhancements available.

CD/MP3: MP3 file read playback is OK. Reads and plays playlists, too. I do not drive much over bumpy roads so I do not know whether this skips when I hit bumps. The manual does not refer to any anti-skip functionality similar to portable CD players.

Bummer is that it does not randomize the playlist. Also when you select Playlist Play Mode and enable Random Play, it plays all the playlists it finds. This is kind of weird because my idea of creating a playlist is for me to limit playback within these songs. If I opt to randomize, I'd expect the software to randomize within the playlist and not include other playlists.

USB/FLASH DRIVE: I only have a 256MB thumb drive. Definitely loads faster and I recommend keeping one of these handy and load it with some really cool thumping songs so you can show off your new Pioneer's USB feature to your friends. Or load some of Grandma's heavy metal selections when she hitches a ride so you don't miss out on the inheritance. Same playlist randomization problem here.

USB/HARD DRIVE: One of the hardest to successfully work. Bottom line is I ended up buying a cigarette lighter with an DC+AC socket and a USB port. Both my 2.5" portable hard drives [20GB and 60GB] came with a Y-USB cable. I connected one end with the Y-splitter to the hard drive and USB port from the lighter adapter. Other end was connected to the Pioneer USB wire dongle. This arrangement works. I recommend doing this if you have a hard drive. Since my lighter adapter also has an AC inverter, I can also connect a 5.25" external hard drive but I have not tried this yet. I have rerouted a wired lighter adapter in the glove compartment and I keep the portable hard drive in there.

Similar to a CD, Random Play is problematic here. Enabling 'Random Play' when playing a playlist plays other playlists in the folder. It also seems that Random Play when playing a playlist does not [always] work. When you skip to next track, it seems to just go to the next song on your playlist instead of randomly selecting a track from your playlist.

I've thought of a simple hack for this which I have not tried yet. Create a folder on your portable drive. Within this folder, create your playlist. If you have one playlist that you want randomized, just make another copy of this in the same folder. Or just split the playlist into 2 or more playlists. Then when you navigate and play the playlist in the folder, set it to randomly play. Hopefully, this will select another song from another 'playlist' in the same folder. Email me if this works! ;-)

MISC: I have disabled the warning tone based on the instructions from the User's manual. I have also disabled the Face AUTO Open where the faceplate offers itself to be removed when you turn the ignition off.

PROS: Great sound with lots of options to enhance quality.

CONS:
1. Slow USB hard drive loading time. We have the technology to make this faster. My Rockbox software for my old Archos Jukebox Recorder MP3 player loads my 20GB MP3 player's 16GB music instantly.
2. Random Play does not always seem to work. If it does, as in playlists, it is not as expected.
3. Goofy-looking fonts and display rendering. My old unit's LED display looked better. Small fonts are difficult to read.
4. They could have added an option to show a bigger time display together with the track info when you're playing from a CD or from the USB.

BOTTOM LINE: Still a great unit and a great buy! Just listen to a CD or your satellite radio while it's loading the USB hard drive!