Pioneer DEH-P740MP; A Real Hit.
Written: Aug 11 '03 (Updated Aug 11 '03)
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Pros: Amazing sound quality, Tons of features, Great styling and an even greater price.
Cons: Slow load times when reading mp3 cds, Displays tend to get old.
The Bottom Line: For its price, this is the best MP3 playing deck available. Pioneer once again has everyone else beat.
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| dhuting92's Full Review: Pioneer DEH-P7400 Car CD/ MP3 Player |
To start things off, let me just say I have previously owned several Pioneer products and have not once been dissatisfied with them. Knowing this, I knew this deck had to be a knockout. So I bought it, and I was more than satisfied.
For one thing the DEH-P740MP is a great buy. I purchased it on ebay for about $250. At the same time my buddy purchased the non-Premier model for about $215. The only diferences between the 740MP and the DEH-P700MP are as follows:
*The 740MP adds 2 more sets of high-volt preouts (Front, Rear, and Sub, instead of just Sub).
*The Premier ups to a 2 year warranty.
Other than that the 2 models are exactly the same in terms of sound processing and features. I needed the 740MP because I was running 8 speakers, 2 amps and 1 sub and therefore needed the extra preouts. If you are not planning on running any other speakers from an external amp, than there is no point in paying the price diference between the two.
Main Features are as follows:
MP3 PLAYBACK
The main reason I bought this deck. The ability to have one CD hold about 150 songs makes this deck worth its price, even WITHOUT all the other goodies. There are a few shortcomings in this category though. First of all, the 740MP only reads ID3v1 and ID3v1.1 tags. This can be a problem because several mp3 files are tagged with IDv2. This means you will not be able to see the song title, artist, or album. Another setback is the slow load times. Instead of reading all of the songs and remembering them when the disc is inserted, it has to read the disc before every song. This typically takes about 3-5 seconds and can get annoying when browsing for a certain song. Other than that I really had no major problems with the mp3 playback on this deck.
SLA - Source Level Adjustment:
Allows you to adjust the volumes coming from different sources. For example, AM radio may be softer than FM radio, so the SLA of AM can be turned up to prevent any huge change in sound levels when switching between sources. All radio is normally louder than music, so to prevent being blasted by the radio when you turn it on, it's SLA can be turned down. SLA for each source can vary from (+4) to (-4). I have also found that SLA can make a difference when subs are hooked up. If you have extremely loud subs that swamp out all of your highs, you can turn the SLA on the CD source up to make up for it. What it does is it raises the volume of the speakers without turning up the level of bass from the subwoofers.
HPF - High Pass Filter:
This has a Front/Rear HPF. Cuts off low frequencies at adjustable levels; 50Hz, 80Hz, 125Hz, and off. 50Hz allows the most bass to pass without the super low frequencies that can distort your speakers, and 125Hz stops all but the lightest beats. This is extremely useful for those who are running subwoofers but are not using an amp to power any of the car's other speakers. This prevents the speakers from distorting at higher volumes which will make the bass from the subs sound much cleaner. If you just have factory speakers that distort when the volume is too loud, HPF can be applied so it can be turned up louder.
There is also a Front/Rear LPF, or low pass filter. This works the opposite way of the HPF, cutting everything but the bass.
EQ - LOW/MID/HIGH:
Lets you control the amount of low, mid, and high frequencies you want going to the speakers. This feature lets you adjust each of the three categories from (+6) to (-6).
LOUD - LOW/MID/HIGH/OFF
This concentrates the power to certain frequencies of your music. LOW will increase the amount of bass if you are using your deck to power your speakers. MID obviously increases mid-range frequencies, and HIGH increases high-frequency sounds. There is a HUGE difference in the quality of your high frequencies when this is set to HIGH. It really doesn't take away any of the bass, but accentuates the clarity and highs of your music.
This CD player is also XM-radio ready. This means it will support the optional GEX-P900XM or GEX-FM903XM Satellite Radio tuners.
There is also an additional independent BASS/TREBLE control for front and rear.
DISPLAY
Pioneer's OrganicEL display is pretty, but repetitive. There are 2 screen savers; dolphin, and skydive. They are visually pleasing but only last about 5 seconds before repeating. There are 4 diferent background choices. There is also a Clock display that is 3D.
These are the main features that I am familiar with and are really the only ones I ever needed. In case you need more specifications, here they are from Pioneer:
Organic EL Display / MOSFET50, EEQTM/SFEQ / XM Ready / Supertuner IIITM / MP3 Playback / IP-Bus System Control / Card Remote / Rotary Volume Control / Flap Face / Detachable Face SecurityTM / Hi-Volt Preouts
General Features
MOSFET 50W x 4
XM Satellite Radio Ready
Controls optional GEX-P900XM or GEX-FM903XM Satellite Radio tuners (as External unit)
8-character display for XM Radio text (no scroll)
Card Remote
Rotary Volume Control (Pop-Up)
EEQ Performance Chip
3-Band Parametric Equalizer (Adjustable Level, Frequency and Q Factor)
Easy EQ (EEQ) switches 5 Factory, 2 User EQ Presets (Super Bass, Powerful, Natural, Vocal, Flat, Custom 1 and Custom 2)
Source Custom EQ Memory (Independent Custom Memory for each source)
Selectable Loudness Control (Low/Mid/High/Off)
SFEQ (Sound Focus EQ)
Additional Independent Bass / Treble Control for Front / Rear
Two-Way Crossover
Front/Rear HPF (50/80/125Hz, -12dB/oct)
Selectable LPF (Low Pass Filter) (50/80/125Hz, -18dB/oct)
Sub-Out Level (-12dB to +12dB) and Phase Control
Independent Subwoofer Outputs
IP-Bus System Control
MCD Control
TV Tuner Control
Auxiliary Input (CD-RB10 or CD-RB20 required)
2 External Unit Control
S.L.A. (Source Level Adjustment)
Selectable Fader Control
Hi-volt RCA Preouts (x 3 pair, Front, Rear & Sub) (4V)
Organic EL Display (128 x 33 pixel)
Full-motion 3D graphic animations including
2 screensavers (Dolphins, Sky Dive)
2 Level Meters
4 background animations
Clock Display and Off (Text-only) modes
16-character text display capability
Adjustable brightness level (16-mode)
Cellular Mute Capability (CD-CM1 required)
Clock
Compact Disc
Track Scan/Pause/Repeat/Random Play
Audible Fast-Forward/Reverse
CD Compatibility: This unit will play standard audio (16-bit, 44kHz, PCM) CDs, finalized CD-Rs and finalized CD-RWs, and it will play finalized CD-Rs and finalized CD-RWs that contain MP3 audio files.
Disc Title Memory (48 Discs)
CD Text
AGC (Automatic Gain Control)
MP3 CD-ROM Playback
8x oversampling
3-beam laser pick-up
1-bit D/A Converter
Anti-shock mechanism
MP3 File Playback
This unit can play MP3 files that have been recorded on CD-R and CD-RW discs. The following functions are available during MP3 playback:
Formats (File System): Supports ISO 9660 level 1, ISO 9660 level 2, Romeo and Joliet file systems.
Directory Structure: Up to 8 Layers (sub-folders) with a maximum total of 253 folders supported.
Sampling Frequency (MP3): Can play MP3 files that have been recorded with sampling frequency of 16,22.05,24,32,44.1 or 48kHz.
Bit Rates: Can play MP3 files that have been recorded with constant bit rate (16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 80, 96, 112, 128, 160, 192, 224, 256, 320kbps) or Variable Bit Rate (VBR) compression (16 to 320kbps).
Multi-Session: Multi-Session recorded discs are supported.
Mixed Mode: Mixed Mode CD's include both a CD-Audio recorded portion and a CD-ROM (i.e. MP3 files) recorded portion. This unit will play back all CD-Audio portions of any multi-session mixed mode discs. The CD-ROM data (ex. MP3 files) will not be accessible.
Resume: MP3 playback will automatically resume from the previous point if the unit is turned off or switched to another source.
Folder Access: Use the Up/Down Cross-Keys to move between folders.
File Search: Use the Right/Left Cross-Keys to skip between tracks (songs). There will be a short pause while the unit loads the track tag information and buffers.
Fast Forward/Reverse: Press & hold the Right/Left Cross-Keys to fast-forward or -reverse through a track. No audio is played, but the PlayTime indicator will show the elapsed time of the current track (note: Variable Bit Rate (VBR) files may not show the correct time).
Random (Folder/Disc): Folder: Plays all the files in the folder in random order. Disc: Plays all the files on the disc in a random order - each new song will be a random track from a random folder. Limitation: Disc should have less than 512 files to have a full random function. In case of a disc with more than 513 files only the previous 10 files are memorized and avoided to be repeated due to the memory capacity.
Repeat (File/Folder): Allows you to repeat the current file, or playback only within the current folder.
Scan (File/Folder): Plays the first 10 seconds of each file in the folder or on the disc.
Display Capability:
This unit can display the PlayTime Indicator, Bit Rate, or the first 16 letters only of Folder Name, File Name, Track Title, Artist Name and Album Title. When the recorded information is longer than 16 letters, you can scroll the text to the left so that the rest of the title can be seen. Press the DISPlay key to switch between display modes.
Text Data: The File Name and Folder Names (up to 32 bytes) can be displayed.
ID3 Tag Display: This unit supports ID3 v1.0 and v1.1 tags for MP3 files. It can display the Track Title, Artist Name or Album Title (up to 30 bytes). If specific ID3 tag information has not been recorded on a MP3 disc, "no xxxx" will be displayed (e.g., "no artist").
Chassis
DIN Mountable
Detachable Face (faceplate carrying case included)
Flap Face
Radio
Supertuner III
24-Station/6-Button (18FM / 6AM) Presets
BSM (Best Station Memory)
Up/Down Seek with Selectable Local Seek Tuning
All in all, this deck is by far worth its cost. They can be purchased new on ebay for about $230. I had this deck for several months before it was stolen from my car. If you are looking for an MP3-compatible cd player for your car, look no further. For those with bottomless pockets, Pioneer does sell higher end models that also play mp3's. Check out www.pioneerelectronics.com for more info.
Thanks for reading this review - please rate it and if possible leave me a comment.
Dave
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 250
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Epinions.com ID:
dhuting92
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Location: san francisco, ca
Reviews written: 17
Trusted by: 3 members
About Me:
http://www.dhuting.com
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