Customer Reviews

JVC RCEZ38 Boombox

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

 

 

I just received my unit a few days ago, and it is a good value for all of the features. As others have said, the bottom end is weak for a unit its size, but there also a bug in the USB directory system that makes it very difficult to use with USB sticks. The bug is that it doesn't read the directory tree properly, and when you work through the menu to a track, it ends up playing a completely different track.

This is with a 4GB stick formatted FAT32; I don't know how it works with FAT or NTFS. The manual was also underwhelming, and really didn't talk about this in much detail. All of the tracks are available, and play properly, it's just very difficult to locate them.

It also doesn't recognize a 1GB stick that I have that works fine with the computer and the USB car radio that I have, so not all sticks will work with this. I have no idea why that particular stick is a problem.

Update - I discovered by trial and error that despite what it says in the manual, you can't mix tracks and subfolders in a folder, if you want the directory system to work correctly. After rearranging the folders so that there are all tracks or all subfolders in a folder, it works properly.

I wanted to get a portable, capable of playing MP3 CDs to listen to out by the pool. After doing much looking and research, I figured I'd give this JVC a try. I have a JVC home stereo that I love, and have always thought highly of JVC products. The boombox arrived today...and within three minutes of unwrapping it, I knew it would be going back!
I plugged it in and popped in an MP3 CD. Although my main intention for buying this was to listen to my MP3 audio bible and downloaded sermons, I figured I'd try out the music too. I wasn't expecting home-stereo sound...but I was expecting at least halfway decent sound. I have to say, this box had no problem reading the homemade MP3 disc on CD-R- it actually read it faster than my home stereo....but the sound was ridiculous! It sounded like a cheap transistor radio from the 60's! Even with the EQ and bass-boost on, the sound was cheap and tinny- with no bass. It sounded about what I'd expect a $30 boombox to sound like. I had bought this $100 box hoping for better. Not that I'm an audiophile or anything (far from it), but on this piece of junk, I couldn't even enjoy my favorite songs!
And while it sounded O-K as far as spoken word stuff, the volume was far too weak, even when maxed out, to be of any use outdoors. It was pretty much good for nothing indoors! My old mono 2 watt cassette player puts out more sound!
The cassette deck was also quite cheesey. It's an old-fashioned job with mechanical control;s, and it doesn't even have auto-stop. Seems more like something one would expect on a $28 GPX box, rather than on a $100 JVC!
I didn't even try the radio tuner- I don't listen to the radio (Does anybody still listen to that crap?).
Overall, the box seemed to function well- and you can cue and review even in the MP3s on CD- but the sound quality; whimpy volume and cheesey cassette deck made me box this baby right back up- and made me glad that I chose to buy from Amazon, where returns are easy and hassle-free. I guess they're just not making quality portables anymore that can play MP3s and that have decent sound and volume. Sure, there's always the JVC RV-NB1 "Kaboom"....if you're willing to spend $250 on a portable CD player- I am not!
You would think in this day and age that they could make a decent MP3 capable portable for around $100. Apparently they can't.
I really tried to like this JVC! I rarely ever return anything- I do my research and usually know what I'm getting- plus buy brand names that I trust...but this baby let me down! It's a shame too, as at least this is a nice looking box- unlike many others, it doesn't look like a refugee from a cosmic junkyard....but alas! I was tired of this box within 3 minutes. I expect better from JVC.

UPDATE 1/15/08. I see that the price has been nearly slashed in half on this item. It's STILL not worth it!!- The sound is so cheesey, that this is not a good value at any price- which is a shame, as it has some nice features and works well compared to many other boxes. :(

pros -

plays MP3s on USB drive or CD

portable

cons -

everything else

mediocre sound, especially muddy bass.

poor user interface for USB or CD

plays MP3 files in directory order, does not sort by name. Perhaps when you copy to a USB drive from windows, they get sorted this way, but when i do it on my mac, it seems to put the files in the directory in random order. === UPDATE : I discovered that if you copy the files to the USB drive one at a time, in order, it works.

does not save position in file and/or on disk between sessions if powered off. I'm sure you could "pause" and come back tomorrow and pick up again but sheesh.

this combination is really annoying. If i make one long mp3 file it doesn't save my position the next day. if i make small files it won't play them in order.

eats power in "standby mode." Put a set of fresh alkaline batteries in it, listened to MP3-USB for maybe 2 hours total (while i showered every morning). after 5 days the batteries were dead.

FM tuner performance is horrible; i get slight static on a station whose tower is 5 miles from my house.

Mediocre build quality - the cd door is difficult to open.

no line-in.

I have not tried the cassette deck or the cd-ripper functionality.

if anyone who reads this knows of a boombox that plays USB drives that works better than this one, let me know. I'd be willing to pay a lot more, but this was the only one i could find. email DANNO me AT if UMICH you EDU would. thanks

=== LATER

We've used this as a cd boombox for several years now. Recently it stopped reading cd-r's, and cleaning it did not help.

Sound from this unit is fair...nothing to call home about. In the Washington, DC where the station frequencies are quite crowded, tuning in to my favorite stations is impossible. My boss has an older Philips unit that tunes in with no problem. The units are separated by about 20 feet and are both sitting in windows on the same same side of the building. If you intend to use the radio, forget this unit.

Sound from this unit is fair...nothing to call home about. In the Washington, DC where the station frequencies are quite crowded, tuning in to my favorite stations is impossible. My boss has an older Philips unit that tunes in with no problem. The units are separated by about 20 feet and are both sitting in windows on the same same side of the building. If you intend to use the radio, forget this unit.

Good sound, usb slot for thumb drives, plays mp3 cds too. Nice to have a tape deck, remote. Happy, happy, happy.

It looks nice not like terrible SONY ,sounds great I don't care about radio and tape recorder, but anyway this is great product!

the audio response goes down to maybe 90 hz. the hi
end is a bit better since it has dedicated tweeters.
this box is very flexible because it can play any type
of regular or compressed cd, usb thumb drive, radio,
and cassette. it will display the id3 tags, but not
regular cd text. there is buttons for sound eq but
they really only make the hi end flat or emphasized.
the volume and distortion is acceptable. the remote is
decent, you can turn it on and off using it. even
though there is no separate memory battery, my unit
seemed to retain the fm presets just fine after
unplugging it for a few seconds to move from one room
to another. the front lcd is about 2 x 3 inches and
glows a nice backlit blue while plugged into ac.
maybe coulda gotten a 4 if it had decent internal
ports to enhance the bass.

I bought this item also as a gift for my mother-in-law and she enjoys it a lot.

Thanks,

Shai