Qwestar QC280 10-Disc CD Changer
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Similar in Car CD Changers
- Disc Capacity: 10
- CD-R/CD-RW Playback: CD-R/CD-RW
- MP3 Playback: With MP3 Playback
- Changer Type: CD
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User ReviewRead All Reviews »
So far, so good.... Does what it advertises!
Pros
Cheap, very flexible MP3 capability, large storage.
Cons
Sound quality only acceptable, difficult controls, terrible instructions!
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Go ahead - it'll do the trick, and cheaply, too! Don't expect an Alpine, though....
I had my new QC280 installed about 2 weeks ago - time for a review! Note that this system is almost the same as the Verge VRG VFMMP3; the ESA ECDC10 has the same mechanicals, but doesn't play MP3's.
INTRODUCTION:
I bought it on a whim; I wasn't really looking for a CD changer. I came across a sale, though; it was $89 - a steal. I didn't check the web reviews; when I did check, many complained of poor quality sound, and some complained that it broke quickly. At $89 (compared to $299-499 for the higher end) I thought, "I can live with that". I had it installed for $70 to save my own time - a precious commodity with three young kids.
The MP3 capability of this unit really was attractive to me - I have a reasonably extensive selection of music; about 200 CD's right now in several genres. I've found several freeware LAME encoder based programs(ie CDex, CD Burner XP Pro, FreeRip, others) that do an outstanding job of ripping my collection to high quality MP3; I listen to them on my Sony CD/MP3 player while I exercise/garden/walk with the baby/etc. I can fit about 8-10 albums on one 650MB CD; they're a lot cheaper than flash memory, too.
PHYSICAL/QUALITY:
The unit is fairly well built; the front door is a bit cheap, but as long as no one is kicking it it'll be all right. The rest of the unit is sort of grey-looking metal; not attractive but it'll be hidden. The FM modulator doesn't have a RCA plug option even though it says it does in the instructions - it'd be a welcome addition if available. The cartridge unit is flimsy, but no worse than, say, Alpine's cartridge. The control unit is nice enough, although the display is somewhat hard to see in daytime shade. It's actually easiest to see in direct sunlight - kind of like a PDA screen, I think. At night, it's adequately lit for viewing. Cables are all included. Extra cartridges are available from the company for $25 (800-726-3801).
INSTALLATION:
I didn't install it myself, so I can't really comment. The tech took about 3 hours to install the unit in a cubby in the back of my Sequoia; it didn't fit under the seats. The control unit cable was too short for my preferred mounting point in the front seat console; otherwise it wasn't a problem. It's playing through the stock Toyota JBL premium sound system.
OPERATION:
The unit is easy enough to operate; you'll need to spend some time familarizing yourself, though - the lettering is hard to read, and the contractions of the names of the controls are not very clear (to me, at any rate!). The instruction booklet is classic - almost not english, atrocious grammar, etc. - it didn't help much. I basically learned the controls by trial and error - I put a couple of disks (an audio CD, and a disk of MP3's in several folders) in the cartridge, and fired it up. Loading a disk takes ~10 seconds for a CD, ~25-30 for MP3's.
Audio CD controls are rudimentary - track select, pause, next/previous song, and seek (plays the first 5 seconds of each song); that's about it. A fast-forward would be nice, but it's not included.
MP3 controls include a "navigate" button - this allows you to pick a track, or search for a song by name; to navigate folders you have to push it 4 times, then navigate back and forth to each folder, pick a folder, then navigate to the song you like, then select the song. Clunky, not at all intuitive, and not explained ANYWHERE in the instructions; you'll need a passenger to actually work the controls because it takes too much attention when you're driving. Still, what do you expect at this price? It works; that's as much as I expected. I also miss a fast-forward for the MP3's; it'd be useful when I listen to an audio book (I rip my books to MP3, then concatenate the ~99 files into one file 1 hour long. I'm going to have to re-rip them and make smaller concatenated files, so that I don't have to start from the beginning every time I play them.)
The player supports just about any MP3 you can imagine - I've got music ripped to ABR 160 (range 32-320) and VBR 32-192; I've also got some ripped to CBR 128 and 160. It plays them all without a burp. I rip my audio books to VBR 32-64 mono - not a problem. I actually got 25 hours on one disk at this setting. The unit has accepted every CD-R disk I've thrown at it - 650MB, 700MB, 4X, 12X, 16X, CD-RW 4X - burned at any burner speed. I haven't tried "99 minute" CD-R, mostly because I can't find any; my CD burner doesn't take them, anyways.
SOUND QUALITY:
Audio CD's play well; however, the sound quality is not as good as I wanted. But, they're still quite acceptable - much better than FM, slightly better than MP3, but not as good as putting the CD directly in the JBL dash player. Again, at this price, what did I expect?
MP3 Sound quality is as good as can be expected; it's as good as on my Sony Walkman, certainly. The balance is good, etc, etc; the problem is that sound quality with MP3's is much more dependant on how the music was compressed than the equipment it's played back on - if your car stereo is good, and you use a good encoder to rip your MP3's, you'll have good sound with this system. It's better than FM, but not as good as CD.
Some have complained that the FM radio reception suffers, because the unit's RF modulator actually goes between the antenna and the radio. I haven't noticed a difference, but then my radio reception quality was poor to start with. I did notice you have to turn off the system if you want to listen to the radio without static.
SUMMARY:
Am I happy I bought it? Definitely. I got a 7.0 GB MP3/CD player for about US$160 installed - a steal! Sound is not audiophile quality, but then, I'm not an audiophile.... I was lacking QUANTITY, not quality! I now have 9 CD-R's , with about 80 albums and 6 audio books loaded, and ready for my next 22-hour drive back home....
Long-term durability is still a question, though - we'll see. I figure that if it lasts a year or two I'll have my money's worth. You'll have to decide that for yourself!
INTRODUCTION:
I bought it on a whim; I wasn't really looking for a CD changer. I came across a sale, though; it was $89 - a steal. I didn't check the web reviews; when I did check, many complained of poor quality sound, and some complained that it broke quickly. At $89 (compared to $299-499 for the higher end) I thought, "I can live with that". I had it installed for $70 to save my own time - a precious commodity with three young kids.
The MP3 capability of this unit really was attractive to me - I have a reasonably extensive selection of music; about 200 CD's right now in several genres. I've found several freeware LAME encoder based programs(ie CDex, CD Burner XP Pro, FreeRip, others) that do an outstanding job of ripping my collection to high quality MP3; I listen to them on my Sony CD/MP3 player while I exercise/garden/walk with the baby/etc. I can fit about 8-10 albums on one 650MB CD; they're a lot cheaper than flash memory, too.
PHYSICAL/QUALITY:
The unit is fairly well built; the front door is a bit cheap, but as long as no one is kicking it it'll be all right. The rest of the unit is sort of grey-looking metal; not attractive but it'll be hidden. The FM modulator doesn't have a RCA plug option even though it says it does in the instructions - it'd be a welcome addition if available. The cartridge unit is flimsy, but no worse than, say, Alpine's cartridge. The control unit is nice enough, although the display is somewhat hard to see in daytime shade. It's actually easiest to see in direct sunlight - kind of like a PDA screen, I think. At night, it's adequately lit for viewing. Cables are all included. Extra cartridges are available from the company for $25 (800-726-3801).
INSTALLATION:
I didn't install it myself, so I can't really comment. The tech took about 3 hours to install the unit in a cubby in the back of my Sequoia; it didn't fit under the seats. The control unit cable was too short for my preferred mounting point in the front seat console; otherwise it wasn't a problem. It's playing through the stock Toyota JBL premium sound system.
OPERATION:
The unit is easy enough to operate; you'll need to spend some time familarizing yourself, though - the lettering is hard to read, and the contractions of the names of the controls are not very clear (to me, at any rate!). The instruction booklet is classic - almost not english, atrocious grammar, etc. - it didn't help much. I basically learned the controls by trial and error - I put a couple of disks (an audio CD, and a disk of MP3's in several folders) in the cartridge, and fired it up. Loading a disk takes ~10 seconds for a CD, ~25-30 for MP3's.
Audio CD controls are rudimentary - track select, pause, next/previous song, and seek (plays the first 5 seconds of each song); that's about it. A fast-forward would be nice, but it's not included.
MP3 controls include a "navigate" button - this allows you to pick a track, or search for a song by name; to navigate folders you have to push it 4 times, then navigate back and forth to each folder, pick a folder, then navigate to the song you like, then select the song. Clunky, not at all intuitive, and not explained ANYWHERE in the instructions; you'll need a passenger to actually work the controls because it takes too much attention when you're driving. Still, what do you expect at this price? It works; that's as much as I expected. I also miss a fast-forward for the MP3's; it'd be useful when I listen to an audio book (I rip my books to MP3, then concatenate the ~99 files into one file 1 hour long. I'm going to have to re-rip them and make smaller concatenated files, so that I don't have to start from the beginning every time I play them.)
The player supports just about any MP3 you can imagine - I've got music ripped to ABR 160 (range 32-320) and VBR 32-192; I've also got some ripped to CBR 128 and 160. It plays them all without a burp. I rip my audio books to VBR 32-64 mono - not a problem. I actually got 25 hours on one disk at this setting. The unit has accepted every CD-R disk I've thrown at it - 650MB, 700MB, 4X, 12X, 16X, CD-RW 4X - burned at any burner speed. I haven't tried "99 minute" CD-R, mostly because I can't find any; my CD burner doesn't take them, anyways.
SOUND QUALITY:
Audio CD's play well; however, the sound quality is not as good as I wanted. But, they're still quite acceptable - much better than FM, slightly better than MP3, but not as good as putting the CD directly in the JBL dash player. Again, at this price, what did I expect?
MP3 Sound quality is as good as can be expected; it's as good as on my Sony Walkman, certainly. The balance is good, etc, etc; the problem is that sound quality with MP3's is much more dependant on how the music was compressed than the equipment it's played back on - if your car stereo is good, and you use a good encoder to rip your MP3's, you'll have good sound with this system. It's better than FM, but not as good as CD.
Some have complained that the FM radio reception suffers, because the unit's RF modulator actually goes between the antenna and the radio. I haven't noticed a difference, but then my radio reception quality was poor to start with. I did notice you have to turn off the system if you want to listen to the radio without static.
SUMMARY:
Am I happy I bought it? Definitely. I got a 7.0 GB MP3/CD player for about US$160 installed - a steal! Sound is not audiophile quality, but then, I'm not an audiophile.... I was lacking QUANTITY, not quality! I now have 9 CD-R's , with about 80 albums and 6 audio books loaded, and ready for my next 22-hour drive back home....
Long-term durability is still a question, though - we'll see. I figure that if it lasts a year or two I'll have my money's worth. You'll have to decide that for yourself!
