An overview of seven inexpensive car radios.

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Hyundai H-CDM8036

A radio tape recorder with a minimalistic design seems to be such only at first glance. After switching it on, it lights up brightly (the backlight color of the display can be changed), and when playing music, the screen displays a graphic equalizer in the form of an "old school" histogram. The buttons, backlit in blue, make it easy to dial a radio station number and switch to any programmed channel in just two clicks.

The Bluetooth function here makes it possible to dial telephone numbers on a digital display, thus working like a whole hands-free set. At the same time, telephone communication is implemented rather poorly: a constructive flaw (the microphone is set deep on the front panel or, perhaps, simply unsuccessfully) leads to the fact that the caller cannot be heard very well.

The radio tape recorder "survives" the shaking off-road well - the playback of standard types of discs is not interrupted. It is also important that the radio tape recorder supports memory cards of popular standards. With a memory card connected, the radio tape recorder can not only be shaken, but knocked on the floor, but it will still play music without interruption.

It is convenient to have a USB port in the radio. It should be noted that the radio tape recorder did not recognize the large external 320 GB hard drive.Later it turned out that the matter was not in volume, but in the presence of different partitions on the hard disk. It is also worth noting that for correct operation it is worth taking care of the names of files and folders typed in Latin letters: Cyrillic is not supported in the radio tape recorder. This is especially unpleasant when working with the phone book of a connected mobile phone - names written in Cyrillic are shown as squares.

Benefits:

- Support for memory cards;

- Convenient hands-free system;

disadvantages:

- Lack of Cyrillic support;

- Weak microphone.

JVC KD-R801

The Japanese manufacturer, which has not been so visible in retail outlets lately, nevertheless continues to produce high-quality equipment. The JVC KD-R801 car radio has components that are used in the popular traditional JVC radio tape recorders. This applies, first of all, to high-quality MOS transistors (known even to people far from radio engineering under the English abbreviation MOSFET) used in the amplifier, which allow achieving high performance when working with a signal. The car radio also uses a 24-bit DAC, which is often found in stationary players.

The Bluetooth function is also qualitatively implemented in the radio - the connection with the phone is easily established, the quality of audibility is very good. There is also a USB connector on the front panel, where it is convenient to connect standard flash drives. It is a pity that, with high-quality sound, the radio tape recorder does not support lossless audio formats, but this is a matter of the future - car radio manufacturers, at best, supplement the list of two popular digital audio formats with only AAC - a format that usually differs in slightly lower encoding losses than MP3.

As for the sound of the radio, as I said, it is at its best - the JVC KD-R801 is very musical. However, for adjustment, an equalizer with only three adjustment ranges is used here, and it is impossible to achieve accurate adjustment to the sound familiar in home acoustics. At the same time, the radio sounds good enough not to think about such trifles, if you are not an audiophile.

A convenient compact car radio control panel completes the overall pleasant picture.

Benefits:

- High quality sound;

- Remote control;

Disadvantages:

- Quite a high price.

Kenwood KDC-W5644UY

The Kenwood KDC-W5644UY car radio has a very traditional design, which most car enthusiasts like - similar radio tape recorders have been produced for 15 years already. What is the difference between the new product and its old brethren? First, the front USB port. Through it, you can connect not only a regular USB drive, but also an iPod player, and even an IPhone phone, if you own one of these two gadgets. However, unlike other radio tape recorders presented in this testing, this model does not have a built-in Bluetooth module, and in order to connect the iPhone to the radio tape recorder as a hands-free kit wirelessly, you will have to buy a proprietary Kenwood KSA-BT200 adapter, the price of which is slightly higher than the cost of the radio itself. The radio comes with a full-fledged remote control (model RC-547) - quite large, but convenient.

Kenwood KDC-W5644UY has a pleasant sound, and, which is especially appreciated by lovers of electronic music, has a low frequency enhancement mode, so D&B compositions, for example, give out powerful bass even without a subwoofer (the radio tape recorder does not have a connector for connecting it).In this case, the name of the song is displayed on the panel - the system can read ID3 tags, and in radio mode - RDS messages, with Cyrillic support.

The car radio also has support for AAC files, which probably will not be appreciated by our compatriots, due to the fact that content in this format is practically uncommon.

Benefits:

- Good sound quality;

- Remote control;

disadvantages:

- Bluetooth only with adapter.

Philips CEM250

The radio tape recorder of the popular manufacturer, which was repeatedly noted by motorists for the high quality of consumer multimedia solutions, did not disappoint again. The Philips CEM250 car radio sounds as good as many of the company's other music-related products.

Outwardly, this model is quite stylish, and when installing, you can choose one of the available frames, so that the radio tape recorder fits the interior of the car as much as possible. There are two backlight colors to choose from - blue and red.

The USB interface port and slots for SD and MMC memory cards are made quite traditionally: the USB port is located directly on the front panel, closed by a shutter, and the memory card slot is under the removable panel. It should be said that the panel is removed from top to bottom, and not sideways, which is relatively inconvenient, but not uncommon. On the front panel there is an MP3 Link connector for connecting portable devices - players, for example.

To use the radio as a hands-free kit, just connect an external microphone and pair the radio and a phone via Bluetooth. The wireless interface supports the A2DP profile, so if necessary, you can transfer audio content in good quality from a wireless device, for example, a phone or a player, and listen to music without any problems.

At the same time, the microphone is rather weak, and provides decent audibility if you place it near the driver (if the driver is planning to talk). A slim and sleek remote control that comes with the kit allows you to conveniently control the radio tape recorder and dial phones, if necessary, directly from it.

It is quite convenient that for capacious drives in the radio, a folder search is made, and during playback, information from ID3 tags is displayed on the display. Equalizer in the new product is three-band, and for eight common styles and types of music playback, it has eight presets, which makes it easy to quickly adjust the sound.

Benefits:

- Functionality;

-Excellent Bluetooth work;

Disadvantages:

- Weak microphone.

Pioneer DEH -2200UB

Low price and excellent sound quality result in excellent value for money. If it had Bluetooth in the radio, it would be simply unbeatable. However, you have to pay for everything, and free cheese is only in a mousetrap: with such sound quality, if it were in a Bluetooth radio, it would have to cost at least one and a half, or even twice as much, which would put it in a row with competitors' products. And so the company Pioneer is one of the leaders among the products "just over $ 100" with excellent quality.

The design of the radio is very stylish, austere and will appeal to most motorists. Convenient buttons, a convenient menu and even an optional joystick on the steering wheel make the novelty one of the benchmark products for ergonomics.

But first of all, the novelty is distinguished precisely by its sound: deep, rich bass, clear high frequencies and a panorama of mid frequencies, voluminous and very “tasty”, do not in any way show that this is a budget device. We are used to hearing this quality in more expensive products from other brands. During MP3 playback, the radio tape recorder uses the proprietary Advanced Sound Processing (ASR) technology, which significantly brings the sound quality closer to the original.Of course, you cannot return the lost when converting uncompressed audio to MP3, and avid music lovers will rather like the excellent quality of Audio CD playback, but most car enthusiasts with large collections of MP3 files will be grateful to Pioneer for the fact that their favorite music sounds in full strength.

Benefits:

- Sound quality;

- ASR system;

- Convenience;

- Price;

Disadvantages:

- Lack of Bluetooth and support for memory cards.

Pioneer DEH-4200SD

This car radio is one of the very few models in the global car audio market equipped with an OLED display. Thanks to the high-tech display, all information displayed on it is very easy to read - this applies to ID3 tags, CD text, and all other data. Accurate localization of this model allows you to read not just Cyrillic tags, but also, thanks to the screen and the work of engineers, letters in different registers, so the "readability" of song titles and artist names, Pioneer DEH-4200SD is at the highest level.

As the SD index at the end of the name of this model shows, it can also work with memory cards. It is gratifying to admit that SD cards, flash drives, and even a capacious 320 GB external hard drive were instantly picked up by this advanced car CD receiver. Searching through folders and files will not let you "get lost" even with the most capacious drives, which makes it easy to carry and use on the road even the largest collection of sound recordings. Conveniently, when you connect a USB drive, the radio tape recorder continues to play music from the same song on which you ended listening before disconnecting it. Very comfortably.

For those who plan to build a powerful sound car system on the basis of this radio, it provides three pairs of linear outputs (RCA) at once.

The key disadvantage of this system, which is not immediately apparent, but during operation, is the lack of a mute button (Mute in other radio tape recorders). For myself, I decided that when playing music from a media, it can be turned off with the pause button, but when listening to the radio, if you need to make it quieter, you have to turn off the radio completely or muffle the sound with the joystick. You get used to everything quickly, so even this “key”, as we said, shortcoming is not too fundamental. But in the future, I would like the manufacturer to be more attentive to such trifles, especially since it is this quality that Pioneer has always been distinguished by.

Benefits:

- Sound quality;

- Display;

- Design;

- Ease of use;

Disadvantages:

- Lack of mute button.

Prology CMD-115U

The Prology brand car radio was presented quite a long time ago - back in 2007, went on sale already in 2008, and during this time it managed to win a lot of fans. First of all, buyers are attracted, of course, by the price and good sounding, traditional for this brand. This CD Receiver also has support for USB sticks, which greatly enhances its appeal.

The design of this model is minimalistic, the color is universal, so it will fit the interior of most cars. High enough power allows you to sound any car, and four preset equalizer settings - to achieve the right sound for compositions of popular genres.

Prology CMD-115U is distinguished by confident radio reception, while after automatic scanning of the air, it stores 24 stations with the most confident reception in the list.The USB connector can be used to connect not only flash drives, but also memory cards via an adapter and most mobile phones and smartphones.

When you turn on the drive again, the car radio starts playing music from the song on which it finished playing before turning it off. It takes a little getting used to the specific mount to quickly detach the removable panel, but overall it is quite comfortable.

Another feature of this model is a rather slow start of playback from CD. However, a large buffer and a high-quality drive make it possible to avoid the loss of sound, even with noticeable shaking.

At such a low price, this radio turned out to be quite musical, and the presence of a number of options and functions makes it an interesting choice, even considering its age.

Benefits:

- High-quality reproduction;

- Confident radio reception;

- Low price;

Disadvantages:

- Weak functionality.

Main competitors:

Pioneer DEH-8300SD