Specifications

www.pcmag.com SEPTEMBER 16, 2003 PC MAGAZINE
135
AFTER HOURS
Pioneer DEH-P90HDD
The Pioneer DEH-P90HDD is an all-in-one
dashboard radio/
CD player/hard drive.
Insert a Red Book audio or
MP3 CD and it
plays. Audio
CDs are recorded on an
integrated 10
GB hard drive that has a built-
in Gracenote
CDDB music lookup data-
base with 200,000-plus titles. The
DEH-
P90HDD also has a Memory Stick slot for
playing tunes recorded elsewhere.
The brilliant display uses a 256- by 80-
pixel
OLED display panel. An included
microphone helps the
DEH-P90HDD map
your car’s acoustic
environment. It
supports an external
CD changer and XM
Satellite Radio. On
the downside, opera-
tion is complex, and
recording is in real
time. Files are stored
in
ATRAC 3 format at
105 Kbps or 132
Kbps; audiophiles may find the quality
marginal. The buttons are small, and as
with the Sony
MEX-1, our rating reflects
the stiff price. You could buy a fine
radio/
MP3 CD player with a line-in jack
and a 20
GB Apple iPod for half the list
price (though the street price may be
much lower).
$1,700 list. Pioneer North America Inc., www
.pioneerelectronics.com.
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Sony MEX-1HD
Similar in features to
the Pioneer
DEH-
P90HDD but with a
color
TFT display, the
Sony
MEX-1HD records
audio
CDs onto its inte-
grated 10
GB hard drive in
ATRAC 3 format at 8X
speed. It also identifies
tracks via built-in
Gracenote
CDDB. But
although you can play
MP3 CDs and ATRAC 3 files
from Memory Sticks, you can’t trans-
fer any of these files to the hard drive.
To add to the 36 backgrounds and ani-
mations, you can transfer photos or ani-
mated
GIFs from a Memory Stick to the
hard drive. And the
MEX-1HD has a front
jack, so you can off-load music to a Sony
Network Walkman. Compared with the
DEH-P90HDD, the MEX-1HD is easier to
use. As of midsummer, some stores were
selling the
MEX
-1
HD for far less than the
$1,500 list price.
$1,500 list. Sony Electronics Inc.,
www.sony.com/explod.
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ONLINE
MORE ON
THE WEB
For an expanded
version of our buy-
ing tips, log on to
www.pcmag.com/
caraudio.
Kenwood KTC-H2A1
Here2Anywhere
This kit lets you use one Sirius satellite
radio receiver in different places.
The car and home modules work fine,
but Kenwood doesn’t sell a self-contained
module like the one Delphi offers.
Also, the
LCD panel is small and hard to
see, and the radar-detector shape looks
odd in a house.
KTC-H2A1 receiver, $100 street; KPA-H2C car
adapter, $70; KTC-H2H home adapter, $80.
Sirius service, $12.99 per month; $6.99 for each
additional receiver. Kenwood USA Ltd., www
.kenwoodusa.com.
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Kenwood Music Keg KHD-C710
The Kenwood Music Keg KHD-C710 is
similar to a trunk
CD-changer—but in-
stead of six
CDs, you use a 10GB hard
drive cartridge that can hold about
150
CDs’ worth of MP3 or WMA files
ripped at 128 Kbps. You transfer
them from your
PC using a USB
1.1 docking cradle and
software developed
by PhatNoise.
You have to use the
Music Keg with a Kenwood
CD-
controlling radio that was built after
1998. We paired it with the Kenwood
KDC-MPV622 ($280 street), a
CD/MP3/WMA-playing, Sirius-capable in-
dash receiver with excellent sound, small
buttons, and 67 garish display settings. For
music lovers with lots of digital audio
files, the Music Keg is more convenient
than the rip-as-you-go in-dash units from
Pioneer and Sony.
$500 street. Kenwood USA Ltd., www
.kenwoodusa.com.
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Panasonic CQ-DF583U
Features checklist for the Pana-
sonic
CQ-DF583U in-dash
radio/CD player: Does it play MP3
CDs? Check. WMAs? Check. Can
it control a Sirius satellite receiv-
er? Check. Does it have a credit
CD changer riding in back. Track and
title info either show up on the factory
radio display or are announced by a syn-
thesized voice; you use the radio buttons
to change modes and pick songs. The
PhatBox has a
USB 2.0 PC docking cradle
for fast transfers to its 20
GB hard drive.
PhatNoise offers 40
GB and 60GB systems
for an extra $99 and $199, respectively, and
the hard drive cartridges are
compatible with the Kenwood
Music Keg systems.
$799 to $859 direct (depending on
the car). PhatNoise Inc., www
.phatnoise.com.
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EXCELLENT
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VERY GOOD
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GOOD
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FAIR
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POOR
WHAT THE RATINGS MEAN
PhatNoise PhatBox
card–size remote? It does. The player
provides virtually every feature you’d want
if you were upgrading your existing car
radio or
CD player.
The display is big and readable. The
removable faceplate is a restrained black
and silver, unlike too many re-
placement radios that are vying,
style-wise, for the affections of the
2 Fast 2 Furious crowd. The volume knob
is slippery, other buttons are smallish,
and the three-language manual will
overwhelm the glove box. Even so, Pana-
sonic has the best deal here among in-
dash car devices.
$200 street. Matsushita Electric Corp. of
America, www.panasonic.com.
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PhatNoise PhatBox
PhatNoise licensed its technology to
Kenwood, then turned its expertise to
supplying equipment to automakers and
owners of cars with integrated audio
systems that can’t readily be swapped out.
The interface needs tweaking; sometimes,
instead of a song title, you see a
CD num-
ber. But for music lovers who want to
control what they hear, the PhatNoise
PhatBox is the best choice.
The PhatBox provides adapters that
trick your car into thinking it has a factory
Kenwood KTC-H2A1