Customer Reviews

Dual XHD7714 In-Dash CD/MP3 Player with Remote, Built-In Bluetooth, HD Radio, iPod Cable, and 3.5mm Aux Input

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I've had this product for a few weeks now, and find it to be okay...I wouldn't rave about it, but it's not a bad product, either. I bought it because it has lots of bells and whistles. Here's my critique of each of them:

HD Radio
Works great - when I can get a signal. The radio receiver seems much weaker than the radio I replaced. I had to buy an antenna booster to get the quality up to where the old radio was - and that's just the analog stations I'm talking about. If you are in or near a big city where there are lots of HD radio stations, it works great. If you're out in hilly countryside like I am most of the time, it's not so great and most of the time the radio keeps switching between the analog and digital signal for the radio station I'm listening to, which can be a bit annoying.

IPOD Control
It works. I wish I had more positive feedback about this, because this was a primary reason for me purchasing this unit. In between songs, you can hear the ipod disk "spin up" to access the next song - it's faint, but still audible. Also, control of the ipod from the head unit is not very easy. You use the volume knob to scroll through songs/artists/etc. on the head unit - no fast scroll like the ipod has, so it takes some time to get to the artist/song/album you want if you have a LOT of music on your ipod like I do. It has tagging capabilities, but I haven't used it so I can't say how well that part works.

Bluetooth Integration
This part I like. It works really well with my Blackberry Pearl. Every time I get in the car, it finds my Blackberry, whether it's in my hand, pocket, or backpack. If I get a call, it mutes whatever is playing, the call rings on my car speakers, I press the little phone button on the head unit, and the caller is talking to me through my car speakers. People on the other end have no problem hearing me through the built-in microphone - even while zipping down the highway at 70 mph (with windows up, of course). And when I'm done, it goes right back to where I left off with my ipod or CD or whatever. Really cool. Dialing could be a bit easier, though - you have to use the remote control to enter digits. I use built-in voice dialing on my phone anyway, so no big deal for me.
One other thing this unit does is streaming audio via bluetooth. I tried to use Pandora on my Blackberry using the bluetooth streaming audio, and it's okay, but the sound quality can be a bit "choppy". I get much better performance using a cord between my Blackberry and the aux input jack on the head unit for Pandora. I'm not sure if the choppiness is caused by the head unit or my Blackberry - it's definitely something to do with the bluetooth connection, though.

I haven't used the USB functionality yet - probably won't since I have an ipod. But you can apparently listen to MP3's and such on a memory stick through the USB port. I have used the CD player a few times - works fine.

Faceplate is all plastic - feels a little cheap when you're pressing the buttons, but hey, it is a cheap unit considering all the stuff you get. That's what got me to buy it. Installation was a snap.

Bottom line - if you're not that concerned with quality and would rather just have all the bells and whistles, this unit is definitely for you. If you want really great quality, you're not going to get it with this unit.

This is the first review I've written on Amazon in years, but I figured given how much time I spent looking for a head unit, I figured I might as well share my experience.

I bought this for my Subaru Forester XT. I'm a nerd, so I had to make sure that I got all the bells and whistles. Streaming audio over BT. HD radio, aux input etc. I also installed this myself (plus amp etc). I'm an open source (read: Android cell phone) guy, so I can't describe how annoying it is that 100% of the car stereo units that support a cell phone, support the iPhone only. Even considering just how much Android has in terms of market share (which is steadily growing) it's sad that all the manufactures are jocking Apple this badly. I figure its because a good portion of the world leaves their stock stereo intact, so there isnt much need for market diversity. I was initially aiming to settling with the Alpine CD-less unit, with the HD and BT add-ons. After adding it up, thats pretty much $1k of stereo for... what exactly? I saw this unit and decided, hell, might as well try it, and return for the pricier unit if it sucked. Luckily, it was worth it!

Verdict: more than worth the cost. It's like using Ubuntu. No fancy name, but does everything you want it to at a cost much less than anyone else.

Details: BT once set-up, syncs upon start. Nice. Streaming audio works great, no sound issues. I stream radio stations, Last.fm and my mp3s. Playing video in surround is great (yay Bill Maher in traffic). In terms of hands-free, you can take and hang up calls just fine. The mic is embedded into the player (when you buy the add-on modules other manufactures make you purchase, you can usually mount the mic somewhere). The mic in this case works well enough, but maybe if you're one of those talk-all-the-time people, you'd want something different. HD radio is nice! I have zero reception problems, as others have complained about. You can set the radio to try and pick up every radio station in the world, or just the strong/digital ones, which is cool. No glare issues - it has three brightness settings. When you plug in a thumb drive, it automatically flips to USB mode. Remote works good. As you may have read in other reviews, the face does feel a bit on the light/plastic side and I could see possibly worrying about the face on/off wear and tear, but since I don't live in the ghetto, I don't take off the face, ever.

Overall, you're getting a $200 no-name player that does it all, compared to $800-$1000 you'd spend on a name brand and all the stupid modules they make you buy. Funny how a company can magically squeeze everything into a single player, but EVERY OTHER COMPANY can't figure that one out. Billion dollar companies, and the only one that I found that has both HD radio and BT built in, was a double din $800+ unit. Bottom line? If you have an iPhone and shop at the Gap and drive a BMW convertible and order Heineken, you'll probably to spend the extra cash on a Sony or Alpine. I'm stoked and personally spending the rest of the money I saved on a down-pipe and some Delirium ale. Good stuff!

I bought this stereo because it was one of only a few other models that have the Bluetooth, HD Radio, and Aux/USB/ipod Trifecta. Price wise none of the others come close. Typically other stereos require a special cable connected to the back of the stereo and require you to drill through your dash or have wires exposed under the console. The fact that this stereo has USB on the faceplate is really one ups the competition.

My area has 14 HD radio stations and you really can tell the difference when the HD signal locks in. Disc play back is what you would expect from any other player. The Aux and USB work great.

My favorite feature is the integrated Bluetooth. Pairing with my phone was a snap and receiving calls is simple and easy. Your music is muted while the caller id information (name and number) is displayed and when you end a call sound resumes. The microphone has good pickup and I have not had any complaints from people saying they could not hear me. I did not have to raise my voice either to talk.

There are only a couple of issues I have that warrant 4/5 stars.
1) The display is very difficult to read during the day time unless it is in direct sunlight (think black and white gameboy)
2) The display options are limited in that you cannot display the station call sign or song data while also displaying the time of day. You have to choose between seeing the station number and time, or station call sign and song name.

With that said though, these are only real minor issues and all of the other positive features outweigh them by far. I would recommend this to anyone, and would purchase again if I had another car.

I picked up this product on the strengh of it being able to satisfy all of my needs while driving. First you will need to read the manual to navigate all of the levels to fine tune the unit. The HD radio is a nice bonus feature and automaticly switches over from analog when it finds a signal for that station. The CD works flawlessly, but again you need to read up on how to search (MP3 files/titles). I was a bit upset that the USB did not work with my Smart Phone (blackjack II) but the USB does work fine with my 2gig mem stick. The best for last, The built-in bluetooth works awesome, (again read the manual on set-up). This unit has a lot to offer and can make your drive time a real pleasure and ease once you get it fine tune to your other gagets. This is an update of my review, I have been using this unit for about a year now and it still works as advertised. I have worked out the issues with my smart phone and it works both via Bluetooth and direct USB connection. With this unit I wish I was still commuting to work (2 hours each way), with the wide selection of music I can listen to and ease of use it would be a real pleasure on the road.

I bought the XHD7714 eight months ago from my local WM and have been very happy with it.

I was looking to get a head unit which had both bluetooth hands-free capability and HD radio. Other head units had these features available, but as "options", making a rather expensive combination. I had never had a Dual product before, but the price feature combination made it worth a try. Luckily, the local WM where I bought the unit had several Dual head units on display, so I was able to get physically touch the products. I'm glad that I did, so I wouldn't be too disappointed with the cheap feeling controls.

Good Qualities:
- Bluetooth hand-free capability: Works great with my Motorola RazrV3 phone. Pairs automatically when I start up the vehicle, incoming calls display on the screen, music mutes when in phone mode, when configured for all speakers the kids in the back can easily hear mommy on the phone. :) I like how there is a separate volume level for each mode/device, so hands-free volume is different than radio volume, plus after a call is completed, the 7714 goes back to the previous mode. I usually speed dial through my phone, since the dialing interface on the 7714 is a bit clumsy, but it can be done. The microphone seems to work okay for me. At the very least, it's better than other hands-free devices that I've used.

- USB player: Awesome being able to insert a USB flash drive with MP3s on it. Oh, it appears that I can also charge my USB hand-free headset via this port, so that's cool.

- Aux In: Okay, I'm a geek. Worse, I'm a train geek, meaning I like to listen to trains on a radio scanner. With the Aux input, I can hook my scanner up to the head unit and listen to the radio communications through the car stereo speakers.

- HD radio: Great stuff. I like finding the sub channels out there and locally there's a neat 80's rap (when it was fun, not violent) and some nice country. My only disappointment is with AM HD. It's not quite as good as I'd like and there's a strange digital artifact sometimes, sounding like a badly encoded MP3. My main beef with AM HD is that it is sometimes slow to kick back to non-HD AM, making me miss some stuff. I listen to talk radio and sports radio, so when AM HD is available, it's nice. I really like to see the song and artist info when I don't know who's singing a song, so that feature is nice when radio stations actually enter the information. As other have said, HD stuff fades away when far from the source, but it works pretty well overall and the transition between FM and HD FM is pretty seamless (as long as the stations have everything properly synched).

- Lot of presets: There are three sets of six FM presets and two sets of six AM presets. I like presets, so this makes me happy. I'd probably rather have ten preset buttons instead of six, but there's no space left on this product!

- Price: Awesome. Seriously, you can't touch this feature set anywhere else near this price.


Bad Qualities:
- Button feel. Wow, it's cheap feeling. Seriously, the buttons have a weird, non-positive feel to them. As I said earlier, I'm be bummed if I didn't know that coming in, but for the price, I really can't complain since the buttons do work.

- Non-adjustable illumination: Well, you can select bright or dim, but it doesn't hook up to the dash light wire, allowing it to be dimmed with the rest of the dash lights. When I drive lo0ng distances at night, I like to keep all cabin lights dim, but can't do it with this head unit. I'm seriously thinking of opening up the unit and seeing if I can install a PWM controller to dim the LEDs based on the dash lights, but it's probably not possible to do without a LOT of work.


It had been a few years before I had installed a stereo, and man are things easier these days. I was heavily into car audio back in the late 1980's early 1990's, and you had to do real work to install things correctly. Now, you just buy some harnesses and the correct dash kit and you're good to go. You people who bought through Crutchfield probably did the right thing. Crutchfield does it right, supplying you with all that you need. I got a generic Scosche install kit and it turned out to be too generic, with my head unit sticking an inch out of my dash.... Luckily, terrific customer service by Scosche got me a free, vehicle specific install kit for my truck and all is well now.

I'm wondering if they could have made the buttons feel sturdier if the faceplate wasn't removable? I've only removed it once to see how it worked, but I guess some people actually do remove the face plate. It has to fold down anyways to insert a CD, so I guess it wouldn't make much difference anyways.

I don't own an iPod, so I can't comment on that functionality.

I bought this unit primarily for its USB, Bluetooth, and HD radio functions as I do not own an iPod. Though far from perfect, this unit is a great bargain considering all the functions you get for the price. The breakdown, starting with what I use most:

The USB functionality has great potential, but some blatant flaws is what ultimately reduced the overall rating of this product from five stars to four. I plugged in my USB and it instantly recognized it and began playing. Load times are slower than what I expected, but not so slow to make it unusable. Thereafter, the two most serious flaws of this unit came to light. First off, when scrolling through your library to find a song, the unit allows you to scroll through the songs in the current album or to go up one level and scroll through the albums; HOWEVER, it does not allow you to go up one more level and scroll through the artists, as you would in an mp3 player. As a result, instead of being able to search by artist (for example, instead of scrolling through "Aerosmith, Beatles, Coldplay, etc....) you have to search by albums (so the list would look something like "Greatest Hits"; "Permanent Vacation"; "White Album"; "Yellow Submarine"; "Parachutes"; "X&Y" and so on). This just makes searching take a lot longer, as you have to scroll through every single album instead of limiting the choices by the artist. The second serious flaw is that the unit displays the albums in the order they were copied to the USB device rather than automatically sorting them in alphabetical order. So, using the above example, if you were to copy a Beatles album first, then a Coldplay album, then another Beatles album, and finally an Aerosmith album, when you are searching/scrolling through the USB using the unit it will display the albums in the exact order in which you copied them onto the USB, NOT in alphabetical order (unless you copied them in alphabetical order). This means that if you want to go back and add more songs to your USB, you'll either have to erase everything and copy everything all over again (in alphabetical order) or you'll have to scroll through the albums in the order they were copied, and try to remember which ones you copied first and which ones you copied last. Both of these things can be highly annoying, and are really nonsensical. Those two things aside, the USB functions great. The sound quality is great, and it's certainly easier than using a bunch of CDs. One more criticism of the USB is the pause function. Hitting the pause button will cause the sound to stop, but the song itself is still "playing" so when you hit play again you'll find that you are not at the same point where you left off.

The HD radio works flawlessly. It takes about three to five seconds to pick up the HD signal, and once it does it rarely ever loses it. I do, however, live in the Houston area, so I can not attest to the quality of the signal in rural areas. Keep in mind that the HD radio function in this unit is BUILT IN, which means all you need is this unit to listen to HD radio. Other units that state they are "HD capable" or something similar simply mean that you have to buy an additional, usually expensive, add-on to the unit to receive the HD signal.

The Bluetooth functionality also works great. Pairing my phone to the unit the first time took a matter of seconds, and now as soon as I get in the car they instantly connect. As described, when a call comes in, the unit automatically mutes the music and allows you to answer the call using your car's speakers and the built-in microphone. Sound quality was better than expected, and people on the other line reported that they could hear me just fine. You can also disable automatic pairing if you wish, so that it only connects to your phone when you want it to, and not ever time your phone is within range.

I have used the CD functionality sparingly, and have not had any problems with hit. Functions just as any other CD player would.

I have not used the auxiliary functionality as of yet.

The unit itself, as others have mentioned, is made of cheap plastic. However, since it doesn't feel so cheap that it might break at the slightest touch, this is irrelevant since the unit's job is to play music, not feel good/expensive. The face plate is detachable, which is always a nice touch. It lights up well, but unfortunately does not have a dimmer.

All in all, I feel this was a great buy. It's a real bargain, and the unit works great, barring the two flaws I discussed regarding the USB functionality.

Now if you have read other reviews commenting on the brightness of the display you should not have a real issue unless you're using this unit in a convertible or the placement on the unit will be high on your dash. Mine is in the middle of dash and I do not have any problems seeing the display [which if driving you should not be looking long at anyway]. The faceplate buttons easily memorized so I really don't need to look at display. That being said, I thing the display is large and clear and having it located on the left side of the unit is brilliant , I sit on that side not in the middle you view is not blocked by a knob.

I've had the Dual 7714 for 5 weeks now and simply love it. I selected this unit because i wanted HD radio but almost all other heads units did not have preset buttons. Some may think that is not important, but if you driving in traffic and you want to select another station and you don't have the presets you would have to take your eyes off the road to find another station. If you've driven a few years you know it only takes a second to get into an accident, presets will save you. The HD radio for my area works well even with all of the hills, there are times when the station fades outs but it comes back quickly [you actually hear a replay effect]. I have discovered that after you have save a HD1 station to whatever preset you can very easily go to that stations next HD channel [HD2,HD3...] by pushing the FF toggle at the top right of the select knob. This saves you from adding different HD2, HD stations to different bands.

I can't speak to the Blue-tooth feature since my current phone is so old, but I looking forward to this option. But not being able to use this feature should not stop you from getting this unit.

The USB input is something I also really wanted and find my self using a lot. It is easy to use and can read all of my MP3; you can also select the random play feature if you don't want the unit to play tracks alphabetically.
The iPod player is also great and it comes with a very long connector so someone in the back seat could work if you wanted. I do wish I had another info line on display [3 vs 2 for iPod] but again no way a deal breaker. You can easily select another toggle and get all info scrolling across screen. I really like the iTunes(tm) tagging feature, if you are a iPod user and want to get that song you just heard on the radio for your iPod this if a killer feature and a must have. It remembers ~50 songs and stores then to your iPod next time it plugged in, go the store and get what you heard.

The CD player nicely hidden behind the faceplate, since I use the USB and iPod i don't play many Cd's but I did put one in to hear how that unit plays. It does well, in fact very well but it still can't hold the tracks the other plugs have.

This unit does not have a graphic EQ, I do not think it is missed much since it does provide 5 preset EQ curves that cover any listen style and you also have the tone controls that can be adjusted in fine increments so you add or remove just a little at a time. The 17 watts per channel is more than enough for my 4 Infinity speakers.
Another great feature is the fact you can add a powered sub to you car and control its output from the 7714 [it does not affect the other speakers]. I found this to be very usefully since my 95 Subaru has no real space to add a sub and most remote sub volume controls that come with power sub's suck. I plan to upgrade to a amp in the future so the 7714 will be a perfect preamp.

Bottom line: Can't beat price and features any slight flaws can easily be over looked, no one head unit has this much for this kind of a price.

I wanted to try HDRadio since I heard about it. My search started on hdradio.com. That's where I came across the deal listed for XHD7714.(April,2009). I did more research on the web and took the dive !
I have to tell you, after replacing my Toyota factory installed Stereo with XHD7714, I am really impressed ! This product has tons of features and possibilities of use.
Price - At less than $150 you get full HDRadio (not - HD Ready) and also fully working, out of the box Bluetooth (not - BT ready).
The main - HDRadio - rocks!. The reception is smooth and consistent. I could tune all known HD stations in my area.(find list for your area on hdradio.com) No Hassle at all. In 'HD Seek' mode, you can feel the difference between regular AM/FM reception and HD mode as soon as the receiver switches to HD, for sure! The 'TAG' button also changes color indicating, the song info is downloaded and ready for your ipod.
The Bluetooth - This receiver is fully ready for BT operation. With my Nokia E71, I tried all - AV Streaming (A2DP), YouTube Video (played on phone , heard on Car Speakers), Received and Dialed Phone Calls, controlled Phone music from Car Stereo, all works smooth!
CD/MP3/WMA - This was piece of cake. The display support is good for all compressed music you can play. The number of CD is my car are suddenly dropped to a few since I can put at least 10-20 albums on a single CD now!
Aux/USB - this is really useful for the impatient. As soon as you copy/download unprotected music on your flash drive, just pop it in the port on the front, you are ready to go! Listen and scroll all music on your flash drive.
Audio settings - impressive - it has - Equalizers, regular - Bass,Treble,Balance and Fader. Great to have - Loudness control and for each Source, Level control! (most of the MP3 players play so low volume otherwise). DUAL has done perfect job here!
Overall - This is my first DUAL purchase and I am very happy!
If you are a Do it YourSelfer, don't forget to buy the replacement kit (in Dash plastic housing and harness) from WalMart. It is available for at least 1/4 the price of kits what BestBuy sells ! The kit worked perfectly for me !

This car stereo was a breeze to install. There are several problems, however. The mounting sleeve has a lot of play where it attaches to the plastic adapter for the car. Hence, the radio jiggles whenever the car hits a bump. Also, FM and AM reception is not as good as the original factory radio. That being said, the bluetooth works well, conversations are audible. Sound quality from the ipod, from the bluetooth, and the CD are excellent. HD radio even in the NY metro area is totally useless and the difference between HD radio and regular radio is barely audible. Also, the HD radio signal is much weaker and drops back and forth between HD radio and regular radio every few seconds.

I bought this to replace the factory stereo in my Ford Ranger. I wanted something that would do MP3s and work with my cell phone and my iPod. The HD radio and USB capability was a bonus.

So far, I've been pleased. Installation was relatively simple and very straightforward, with decent instructions.
I have run into problems seeing the screen (a problem noted in several other reviews) only once, when the sun was just in the wrong place. I have tinted windows and the radio sits pretty low in the dash, so that may keep this from being a problem more often. I do wish that the unit dimmed with the interior lights, though.

Sound quality with my factory speakers is good, with a tonal quality that's a bit "brighter" than the old factory unit. This is particularly true when on a HD station or using an MP3 or the iPod. HD reception is also good, though there is a weird shuddering noise when the station jumps back and forth between HD and analog versions of channels. It receives HD on my most common stations almost as well as my old unit received the analog signals, and it gets analog channels farther than the old unit.

The iPod/USB connection is, of course, vastly better than the cassette adapter I was using. No comparison, really. I've found myself using the USB more than I thought. It's a lot smaller than the iPod and there's no cable. Just plug and go. Read/load times have been fairly short, but it does get confused every once in a while and I have to pull out my USB stick and try again, but even then it picks up right where I left off.

Bluetooth operation is pretty straightforward, and I really like not having to have a headset on while I drive. Sound quality on my end is great, but folks on the other end have said it is a good bit muddier than my headset. Makes sense since the microphone is a foot or so farther away. It does do a good job of filtering background noise, though. I haven't yet tried it for bluetooth music. The only hassle is remembering to switch the audio back to the headset before you turn off the ignition -- otherwise the call usually drops before I remember.

If I were to ask for changes, I would want lights that dimmed with the rest of the interior, a better microphone, and some way to turn the car off and switch to the accessory position without dropping a call.

Overall, I've been very happy.