Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I just got this installed in my 2002 Honda Civic and played around with it all day on a trip to Philadelphia. The Good:
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1. USB input:
It works great! I stuck a 16gb Sandisk Cruzer flash drive with a ton of music on it and it works easily and most importantly, QUICKLY without almost any lag! Navigating the tree of folders and files is very intuitive and easy to do, and is very responsive. Scrolling through the list of folders is fast using the main volume dial, and you 'click' the dial like a button and it will open up a folder or playback a file.
I also connected my 3rd gen iPod Nano and my iPhone 3G and they also work perfectly and quickly. With the multiple lines of display, you have onscreen iPod/iPhone access with option to select by album, artist, song, and other categories just like on the device. Easy to quickly scroll through as well. Both charge via the USB cable and the iPhone can do other things (like GPS) while playing back audio files via USB.
2. AUX input:
This works perfectly well. One thing to note, and this may seem obvious, is that the AUX and USB inputs cannot be both accessed simultaneously, i.e. you cannot play back music from a flash drive while outputting GPS voice directions from your iPhone at the same time.
3. Nice design:
Overall, this receiver is very nicely designed. It is asthetically pleasing, with a simple but handsome design. The LCD screen is a dark blue with light blue text, while the backlit buttons and volume dial can be switched between red, blue, and green. It would have been nice to be able to change the color of the LCD but I leave them all blue and it looks nice. Sure there is some cheap chrome plastic used, but it actually looked okay when driving around during the day (and is not noticeable at night). The seek buttons are not shiny plastic but have a somewhat 'upscale' matte finish to it which I rather liked.
4. Four-line display:
The screen is really nice, with four lines of text in a font size that is easy to read (but not in sunlight). The first line shows the input on the left side and the clock on the right side. Then there are two different settings for the button three lines of text. The one that I use, is where all three lines are used for music file info. That is, the second line shows the artist name and the album title, and the third line shows the song title. The fourth (bottom) line shows the track # (and another file/folder info) on the left side and elapsed time on the right. The other display setting is to have the bottom two lines display other info, like playback settings, etc., which is pointless IMO. The graphics I found to interfere with the text, but luckily there is an option to turn it off completely.
5. Easy to use:
Everything is intuitively designed (I can't comment on the odd 'zip' function because I have not used it and don't see myself ever using it) and easy to use, from accessing the settings menu and setting the time, to changing playback settings, etc. The Bad:
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1. Brightness of the display.
This is really the only thing I don't love about this receiver, but it is a significant issue. The screen is barely visible in the sunlight. The smaller, skinnier text font is surely partly to blame, but the overall brightness on the daytime setting is just woefully not bright enough, and it makes using this fantastic receiver a bit of a bummer during the day if it is sunny outside. There is a dimmer, night setting but given that the bright setting is not that bright during the night either, I just turned off the auto dimming function since it's not that bright anyway at the highest setting.
2. Screen dimming function:
Furthermore, the dimming function is pointless because the volume dial and button lights are much brighter than the LCD screen, but only the LCD screen dims with the dimming function. Overall, though, this is a great receiver and the one that I had been waiting for the past seven years. With it you will no longer need stupid audio or even mp3 data CDs, you just need your USB (or AUX) connected device (HDD, flash drive, media player, cell phone, etc.) and you are set... highly recommend this receiver, you won't regret it!
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Sony CDX-GT740UI In-Dash CD Receiver MP3/WMA/AAC PlayerSony's CDX-GT740UI starts you off with plenty of features, and leaves room to grow. Connect, charge, and control your iPod, iPhone, Walkman player, or other digital music players with USB 1-Wire. Play back your CDs and MP3/WMA/AAC files, or use the auxiliary input for enjoying most any audio device. With 52 Watts through four channels, you get plenty of oomph, but front/rear/sub preamp outs mean you can always expand your system.
Detachable Faceplate The CDX-GT740UI's flip-down, detachable faceplate features a 4-line, full motion, fluorescent display and selectable blue/green/red control illumination.
USB 1-Wire for iPod, iPhone, and Other USB Devices USB 1-Wire lets you directly connect, charge, and control your digital music player via the USB jack in the front of the unit, as well as view metadata like song title and artist on the front display.
Quick-Browzer Technology With Jump Mode and ZAPPIN Features Quick-BrowZer lets you search and select songs by category, including artist, album, genre, or playlist. Jump Mode gets you closer to the song you want by allowing you to fast forward through a music category in 10 percent increments. With Zappin, you can play music in six-, nine-, or 30-second clips until you find the song you're looking for.
Passenger Control With iPod Display Function Passenger Control lets your co-pilot control your iPod via a connected wire as they scan through your music, artist and album information, conveniently shown on the receiver display.
MP3/WMA/AAC Playback With DM+ Multi-format playback lets you play CDs, CD-Rs, or CD-RWs loaded with hundreds of MP3, AAC, or WMA songs. Hear the music on your recorded CDs and MP3s in their original vibrancy with DM+ (Digital Music Plus), an original Sony codec enhancer that reproduces detailed and high-frequency sound from compressed audio.
Satellite and HD Radio Ready The CDX-GT740UI integrates seamlessly with satellite radio Sony Bus adaptors (sold separately) so you can receive digital satellite radio broadcasts. HD Radio capability lets you receive digital audio broadcasts when used with an optional HD Radio tuner.
EQ3 Parametrics Customize the sound with Sony's EQ3 feature, which includes 7 preset tone curves and a 3-band equalizer.
Power and Room to Grow The CDX-GT740UI delivers 52 Watts through four channels, and features 4V front/rear/sub preamp outputs for system expansion.
What's in the Box Sony CDX-GT740UI Receiver, Installation Hardware, User's Manual
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