Customer Reviews

Dual XHD7720 In-Dash CD/MP3/WMA Player with Motorized Face, Remote, Built-in HD Radio Tuner, iTunes Tagging, iPod Cable, and 3.5mm Aux Input

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I bought this radio about a week ago and was overflowing with excitement. to think i had found a radio with all these features for such a low price was beyond amazing. Here are some key things i liked.

HD Radio-
yeah, its that cool. for those of you out there that are skeptical of whether or not HD Radio is worth your money, ill go ahead and answer that question for you. yes. yes it is. I wasnt sure myself before i bought this but it was like rediscovering radio. for people who aren't sure how it works, its like this. HD doesn't have its own band like AM, FM, or XM, but it improves the FM sound quality. and single stations can have more than one channel such as 97.9 HD1 and 97.9 HD2.

Sound Quality-
This radio can pump out 50W x 4 PEAK. that translates into at most 25W x 4 RMS. for a stock sound system in just about any car, THAT'S PLENTY. The quality of sound in my old speakers is much better than it was. that little radio powered my 8 speaker Boston Acoustics system. nuf said.

Ipod/ipod tagging-
Here's something you don't see often: the cable needed to unlock the full capabilities of iPod integration _is included_. music control can be done from the included remote or the radio itself. The music tagging feature is very useful as well. beware, it only works on HD stations.

Bluetooth-
Ok. the one con of this product. The bluetooth is fully compatible with H2DP, handsfree is convenient, clarity is excellent. BUT, you must first purchase the BTM 60 ($40ish) Dual Btm60 Bluetooth Interface Module before you can use BT anything. even music streaming.

Misc-
installation was easy and clearly described in the instructions.
The EQ system as well as the menu and button system is well thought out.
Included remote is very handy and useful.
Works well with MP3 players.
Music can be imported and organized from mass storage devices(e.g. thumb drive). just dont make it bigger than 4-8 GB or your in for a good wait.
Detachable face plate is nice.
dedicated SUB OUTS.

All in all this receiver is a winner. i think dual put a good amount of consideration into this and it definatly paid off. wont find a better radio for the price

====> EDIT: For those of you who are experiencing weak signal pickup on the radio of this unit, the problem may not be with the radio. Twist the antenna connector in it's socket while the radio is on and see if that helps. I had to use an adapter to go from the GM style antenna connector to the standard size, and I found that the adapter would lose it's connection if it was rotated into a certain spot, making the signal VERY weak.

#1- This is the only unit I have seen that has large buttons. This is important to me because it's almost impossible to nail the microscopic buttons on other units while driving. The only negative about these buttons is that they don't have the best 'feel' about them (you have to hit them on their right or left side), so you have to 'learn' them. The volume ring is a tad flimsy, but so are others I have seen.

#2- There are not many units available anymore that have a straight-up, easy-to-read, no-frills-or-glitz display. This one does, and I like it. The downside is that the lettering is pretty large, which doesn't allow for the display of more than ten or twelve characters at a time. This is a negative for artist & song info, but the info scrolls at the beginning of each tune, so that helps. An easier to use dimmer would be nice, because you have to go into a menu to do it and only the information display dims; not the LED button lights, which put out quite a bit of light.

#3- The fold out panel is nice because it is easier for the user to operate the controls while they are in a semi-horizontal plane. There might be an issue in some vehicles where the driver's eyes are not high enough above the faceplate to see the entire display, because the control panel blocks the lower end of it somewhat. This hasn't been a problem in my two cars.

#4- As others have stated, the inability to block the HD mode for radio stations is irritating because the tuner switches back and forth between HD and normal signal when going under street or railroad overpasses. I have read that other units also don't have a manual 'defeat' mode for HD, so this unit may not be any worse than others in this respect. It's tolerable because there isn't any delay when the radio switches back and forth (on AM or FM) which is nice, but the change in fidelity is bothersome.

#5- I am convinced that this unit has some really great tuner design, in that it 'throttles' radio station fidelity on the AM band depending on signal strength to keep noise to a minimum. I have not seen this on any other head unit. It is a mixed bag because in a car, signal strength can vary greatly in urban areas, causing the station to go back and forth between being 'muffled' and sounding really good when the tuner widens the bandwidth as signal increases. On other radios I have had, power line noise can almost drown out the station; on this unit, the station muffles and just weakens. I have come to prefer this unit because on a strong signal, the fidelity is very good. I can't give any info on the FM band behavior because I seldom listen to it around here in Detroit. For me it's pretty much AM for talk & commercial-free oldies, or my mp3's.

#6- I'm not an I-pod aficionado, so I don't use the front audio input jack, but the USB jack is so great for playing mp3's from my PC that I actually haven't even put a CD in it yet.

#7- I installed this unit last summer and had a problem shortly after when it went kaput after a car battery change. Reset button did nothing. Called the service number and after getting permission to ship back and a few weeks wait, I got a fresh unit shipped free. This one has been working fine now for over a year, so I'm going to say it is probably a keeper.

#8- This thing appears to have a 'short time' internal battery backup in it, because after disconnecting the car battery it holds your settings info. Nice feature. I don't know how long it lasts; definitely not overnight without power.

For the low price, I haven't seen a unit as nice or full featured. I don't even use the phone features. It's a quality unit; it weighs five pounds! I like it well enough that I bought a spare, just in case.

For the price this is the best car radio I could find. It has HD radio, bluetooth (adapter is only $29 to $40 - much cheaper than many), and Iphone/ipod control/display. Works great. Radio must be below driver when mounted in car to see information when in open position (no problem in my Saturn). Install was like any other car radio (it takes time).

I like this one a lot. Installed in F250 4x4 diesel. Everything works well, sounds great, enough power, I can read the display in the daytime, bluetooth phone is clear - no feedback with input level setup right. HD is fantastic in this small-town semi-rural area. Motorized faceplate feels a little less than heavy-duty, but works great - I do close it before offroading. 8gb stick in USB takes a minute to read, then everything is good. Nice feature is input level settings for each mode, to level volume between them. I used to have the XDM6400 which had a couple problems. This one is a huge improvement!!!

I researched everywhere for an affordable, stylish, feature packed stereo, and this is the one. What an amazing deal for such a high quality stereo. The bluetooth adapter works flawlessly; seamless connection and autoconnection with any bluetooth enabled phone, even my ipod touch 2nd gen streams music over bluetooth flawlessly. Sound quality on HD Radio is amazing, like CD quality. I would highly recommend this radio to anyone looking for a great radio.

Pros: Stylish, easy installation, HD radio, everything..

Cons: Plastic feeling keys, kind of feel like toy buttons, but you get used to them.

This radio not only fit all of my needs, but was cheap too! The AUX port and the USB drive are the perfect add ons I was looking for, and both work great. I am currently using a random off brand 16gb flash drive and it works flawlessly to play music off of.

Pro's - HD radio is nice. I noticed other reviews for similar producs speaking of how when it is going in and out of HD that it would repeat like 5 seconds and it was getting very annoying, that is not the case in my experience. When my radio goes out of HD mode, you can only tell by sound quality (as well as looking at the display obviously), but the signal did not miss a beat. There was never a delay, it was barely even noticeable. Another Pro is the USB feature, fantastic and works flawlessly thus far. MP3 playback from a CD is better than the radio I replaced with this one. Some songs or files would randomly skip by in my old radio I believe based on exceeding a certain file name length, this radio will play all the CD's I had previously made that would not be played in my other MP3 playing radio. Another pro of this is that the time is always displayed! The time is displayed in the upper right corner, and the main part of the display is changable to things like Artist, Track, Title, etc. But, the time is always in the upper right corner which I think should be that way with every radio! I was very pleased when I saw this.

Cons - The radio feels like it is kind of "cheaply" built. It sort of feels as if I am going to break it when I push some of the buttons. It's held up thus far though (2 months), so time will tell. Another Con is the display. It's only one color, so it's kind of "blah", but I can live with that. The issue is that it is meant to be low in the dash. In my Explorer, it's slightly underneath my vision line, so it works ok, but the bottom of the words on the display get cut off by the lower panel, so if I want to read the full title, I have to sit up really high and look down at it. Note, however, that the time is displayed in the upper right corner, so that is still visible, so if you are thinking that you won't be able to see the time, you will. Nothing that should stop you from buying this radio, but just something to note. I also saw other reviews about this display not being readable in the sun...I personally do not have this problem. I drive an explorer, so the rear windows are tinted (factory tinted, not aftermarket tint), so I'm not sure if this has something to do with it, but sunlight, darkness, no issues reading the radio display. Those are really the only cons I can think of.

Great sound quality, cheap price, Aux port, USB port, installation was simplistic (about the same as any other car stereo, it took me approximately 20 minutes to swap my old aftermarket in for this one). I would say this is a great buy!

I finally replace my old Kenwood CD/Stereo. I was looking for something which would allow me to play my Ipod and MP3 player as well as regular CD's and data CDs. I almost overlooked the Hi Def radio. This DUAL has it all and the price is great. I live on my boat so this is it for my music. I was using the FM transmitter that they sell to play MP3s thru the car stereo but it was horrible. The High Def stations are great and I am in an area where there are plenty of them sometimes as many as 3 to a station the clarity is unbelieveable. I am now going to get one for my car.

Just installed this and so far, I really like it a lot (especially for the price). I bought it because of the HDRadio ability, the USB ability, the iPod integration (comes with cable), and it just looks neat.

My nits with the unit is that it sticks out about an inch from the dash front (due to the screen being a part of the face, I think). It's not a big deal, but something you'll want to consider. Also, the motorized faceplate doesn't drop enough to see the screen behind it. It's neat that it's like this, but since it's mounted high up the center console on my Dodge Ram, you can't really see the display very well. You have to peer over the control panel. If it's mounted lower in the console, it won't be a problem. Also, it's not the easiest faceplate to remove or reinstall. First, you have to remove two tiny screws on the back of the faceplate (just once). Then the mechanics of removing it is really awkward. You have to keep it powered on, open the display, press a button on the back of the bottom, and then twist it off.

Besides these problems, it sounds great (especially with Loudness on) and I'm finally able to play my mp3's from my USB 2.5" external hard drive (beware! if you have a lot of songs, it takes a LONG time for the unit to parse through them all before it even starts to play a song). Because of the time it takes to go through all the songs, it might be better to get multiple 4-8 GB USB flash sticks instead of one big one. I might just buy a few smaller USB sticks and put songs on each sorted by category. Then I won't have to try to find a album or song through hundreds of songs, and I won't have to wait for it to parse all the songs before it plays.

attractive and sleek design. easy installation, built in features are state of the art, sounds great, better than i thought it would be

The Dual XHD7720 seems like a feature rich, high end unit with all the bells and whistles. After using it for two days I'm returning it, however, because it simply DOESN'T WORK correctly. The unit would crash after 20-40 minutes of use and either forget which buttons did what or become unresponsive. Shoddy is the only word I can use to describe this unit. Also, the remote didn't work.

I've never been as frustrated at a product as I have about the XHD7720, and I'm never going to buy anything made by Dual again.

I also used the BTM60 Bluetooth module with it, it worked well for about 10 minutes before losing connection with my iphone. I don't know if that was a fault of the XHD7720 or the BTM60. I'm not going to buy another Dual radio to try it out with though.