Kenwood Kdc-Dab4551U CD Mp3 Car Stereo USB with Aux Input and DAB

Very disappointed with the quality of this product.

I bought it to replace my current 5 year old DAB radio, and assumed that five years would have seen a significant improvement, but it was no so.

I thought the sound was shallow, my wife thought it lacked brilliance, and no amount of tweaking the bass and treble effected much improvement.

Reception was also bad, and it failed to pick up, or kept dropping, many of the stations my previous radio had no problems with (I am using the same aerial and speakers). The buttons were fiddly and hard to identify.

Plenty of connectivity with iPod, Bluetooth USB mp3 and the like, but Kenwood have forgotten the core value - audio.

I can't say there are better radios around as I haven't tried any (gone back to the old one), but I certainly can't recommend this one.

Overall - a good looking unit and I've no problem with the audio quality. To me it sounds better than my previous (Blaupunkt) unit or the OEM install. The speakers are going to be the limiting factor in my car unless I upgrade them. I've awarded 4 stars - 1 star docked mainly for the price of the Bluetooth add on.

DAB functionality. A dedicated DAB button takes you to the DAB input which seems a bit un-necessary (wouldn't `source' have done) but I suppose that's marketing for you. Another press lets you use the knob to scroll through the available services - quick and convenient though the display takes a moment to update so you can't go too quickly. There are pre-sets as well which should cover requirements (3 sets). Reception quality is great so far in London - even with only the cable for the external aerial.

You can select different DAB info to be shown - station, active info, and set it to scroll or be static. This is where the display shows its limitations as, in common with most DAB receivers, the display can't show much text at once.

Bluetooth. The BT add on isn't cheap (>£100) but uses Parrot technology (and their phone kit is generally accepted to be the best) and is in the same price range as standalone Parrot kits whilst having the advantage of not having another add on controller and properly integrating with the car audio rather than just muting it.

Connecting seems to work reliably when you start the car (though for some reason the display shows HF-connecting rather than BT-connecting) and incoming calls can be answered automatically or by pressing the volume knob. Making an outgoing call is a bit more complex than it could be but you can set `favourites' on the 1-6 head unit buttons (make call is then: press and hold knob, press favourite, press knob to make call). Sync of recent calls/favourites seems to work as well.

Quality is a lot better than the previous kit I had. There are options for noise reduction and echo cancellation and a dedicated mic that you can put close to the driver is always going to work better than those units which just have a mic on the head unit.

BT audio streaming also works seamlessly and track information is correctly displayed on the head unit (often not implemented properly). My last unit auto-resumed after reconnecting (which would be useful even if just as an option) and fired up `random play' on the iPhone if nothing else was selected - again, nice to have and missing here.

USB. Connecting an iPhone or iPod works well with the unit giving power and taking a line input. Default is for the head unit to take control of the Apple device. This means that you get title information on the display but navigating a large music collection using the head unit controls is not pleasant so I prefer to press the `1' button which lets you select your music from the apple device (though you lose track information from the display).

What could be better?
I can't see that I'll ever use the CD player - I don't think I've used one at home or in the car for 6 or 7 years - but head units without still seem remarkably thin on the ground and those that do have a reputation for being flaky. No CD would have given scope for two line display - displaying both the DAB station and the dynamic info or, for iPod Artist and track on seperate lines.
Bluetooth could be a bit easier to use - why HF disconnect and not BT? A larger indicator would that a phone is connected would be handy, and having switching between devices easier to access.
The front mounted usb port seems a mistake to me as you either have a memory stick or usb cable just waiting to get knocked and break the port. A rear connection that let you run the socket to the glovebox (or slot below the head unit if running it in a double din space) would have been preferable (or a second rear port you could use as an alternative).
The button lighting is over bright at night and not dimmable - most cars send a `dim' signal when the headlights are switched on but this unit doesn't deal with it.
Most cars send a `speed pulse' that can automatically adjust volume as speed increases - again this unit doesn't accept this.