Sony CD MP3 and iPod Player with Bluetooth

 

 

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I did a lot of research before I bought this. I was looking for a player which had full ipod control (not just an aux input) and full bluetooth capability for around £150 or less (shop around..) Top of my list of brands happened to be Sony as well, although I looked at all the others. I found that there are lots of stereos which have ipod control and are bluetooth "ready" but which require a further £70+ to buy the add-on to get the bluetooth to work. Or which have the bluetooth but need an add-on for the ipod control. Or which dont have bluetooth at all. Very few have both features ready to go out of the box for under £150.

I was a bit hesitant about buying this and trying to replace my existing tape player and install this myself having never done it before. I kept thinking maybe it would be easier just to buy a stereo from Halfords and get them to fit it. However in my opinion their player selection is poor and prices high and they dont sell this unit at the moment anyway. In the end installing was straightforward and took me about 2 hours and Im really slow at this sort of stuff!

The bottom line is this player is truly top notch. It looks great. Its sleek, black with blue lighting on the buttons and a ring of white light on the volume control. It sounds brilliant. It plays MP3 CDs and reads USB memory sticks. Music via ipod sounds as good as the CD, Ive listened to both using the same pieces of music. This could well be due to the DM+ Advanced feature which enhances digital music, apparently restoring the high freuqencies which can be lost when a mp3 file is compressed. I find accessing the ipod menus is easy. I like the fact you can display track titles on the unit, although it only has a single line of 13 characters. There is also the clever Zappin feature which playes a small snippet of tracks to help you find music.

In terms of volume this unit goes up to 50 on the dial but 20 is already pretty loud. If you set the EQ to Xplod and have the loudness turned on with a heavy rock track, your speakers will be shaking! I dont have any subwoofers or amps just this player connected to my bog standard car speakers.

The bluetooth is brilliant too. Very easy to connect to phone (I have a Sony Ericsson mobile). The sound clarity when talking via the bluetooth when driving both from both in car and from the other end is superb. My brother has called me from his mobile in USA and the sound was clear with no echo - unlike when I speak to him on his expensive factory fitted handsfree installed in his Range Rover! You can also stream audio files from your mobile phone to the player and go to the next track using the controls on the player. Another great feature!

Probably the only feature which the player doesnt do is the ability to scroll through your mobile address book via the stereo to make a call. For this you need to buy the much more expensive BT5700. For me this is not a big deal and did not justify the extra cost. Another minor point is that the USB port is on the front of the machine, so when your ipod is plugged in it can look a little messy. A rear USB allows you to keep wires out of sight and fed to your glovebox where you can connect your ipod.

All in all a fantastic player which oozes quality is packed with features and is worth every penny!

I've had this unit for a few years now, I splashed out on a new head unit because I wanted to free myself from the "Blake's 7" look with those awful headsets, plus having to remember charge the thing was a pain.

To add to the other reviews I'd say that pairing is easy, and it's important to note you can pair more than one phone to it (some won't). With my Nokia E63 you can also do voice dialling which is just brilliantly useful. The unit will always attempt to reconnect to the last paired phone it saw so it's just a case of switching on, it connects and you're away (assuming you leave bluetooth on like I do).

In terms of other features it's all great too (Radio/CD/etc), I mainly play MP3s/WMAs on a USB stick on my unit. The folder browsing is the only gripe I have since it all comes in the order you added the items to the stick but that's a minor winge on a brilliant product.

This unit will improve the sound that comes out of your existing speakers guaranteed! I was looking to upgrade the speakers but when i upgraded the stereo i found the speakers were much improved and have now left them! I was impressed with an old Sony stereo i used to have and found the same again.
The bluetooth music streaming from my Iphone is flawless. Once paired it works a dream and has a built in mic so hadsfree is possible, although i have a VX220 car so the engine noise is too loud for this. I have an iphone 'Xstand' holder that holds it (check it out) in place which works perfectly for me (upside down).
The mp3 cd feature works fine if you want that type of thing but i see no need. Just buy a 8gb or more 'nano' USB memory stick and you have the perfect music setup between USB & Blutooth!
The screen and menu things are a little lame but doesnt bother me as im not posing! I use it for music and its perfect.

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5.0 out of 5 stars A Great all-in-one from Sony
I purchased the Sony player as a gift and the feedback I have had is that does all
that is asked of it.It is well made and easy to install in a car. Read more

Published on 5 Feb 2010 by D. Keith

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