Customer Reviews

Kenwood KDC-HD942U USB/AAC/WMA/MP3 CD Receiver with Built-In HD Radio

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

First a little information about HD-Radio...
HD-Radio is broadcast at 1% of the stations normal power, in other words if the station's analog signal is 100 watts, the HD signal is only 1 watt! So, make sure you've got a top quality antenna, don't bother with a "booster", I've never seen one that works. Also make sure you choose a receiver with higher sensitivity (lowest dBf).

On to the review...
I purchased this radio to replace a JVC KD-HDR1 which also has HD-Radio but not as good sensitivity. It's installed in a '93 Explorer with Kenwood 6X9 door speakers but no external amp or eq. I do not use the cell phone, Bluetooth, satellite radio or iPod features but do use the USB interface with a 64Gig "thumb drive" with over 200 albums and some singles ripped at 250K sample rate and plan to connect the AUX input to the audio from my ham radio in the future (which is one of the reasons I picked this radio).

Sound quality is very good. Even without an external amp I can get enough volume to overcome road noise from my off-road tires and wind noise without distortion. The built in EQ, is only three bands which is somewhat disappointing for a radio of this caliber. I would expect at least 7 bands if not more.

The HD-Radio reception outperforms my old JVC KD-HDR1 hands down. I can receive all the local stations (Denver-Boulder-FortCollins) without any problems, something the JVC couldn't come close to doing. The CD player works fine although I would prefer not having to tip down the faceplate to change CDs. The USB interface works as expected and while some people prefer a front panel connector, I like the attached 1meter cable. I've routed the cable into the glove box and have the "thumb drive" attached at all times. I'm still figuring out the supplied "Kenwood Music Editor" and creating play-lists but that's just getting over the learning curve of a new piece of software.

The menu system could be improved. It just isn't intuitive and getting to some features is a pain in the behind. I also don't like the quick access to bass-boost/balance/fader via the volume control. Once they are set, they are seldom changed so why bother. I wish it had a front panel mute feature (this would be better than the bass-boost/balance/fader in the volume control). Maybe I'm too "old school", but I miss the six preset station buttons that none of the newer radios have. They allowed direct access to my favorite stations without stepping up and down or taking my attention away from the road to find a specific station. I would also like a way to have the data/time in place of the SPA/Clock on the bottom line of the display (who really cares about the real-time audio levels?). The manual is poor at best. It covers 4 radios and contains errors. There is very little explanation of what features and settings do, just how to change them, even then you have to be in certain modes to access them and those limits are in one place in the manual while the so called detailed information on the feature is in another.

Over all, if I had to choose again I would still buy this over any other radio in the price range, or even twice the price.

I have been desiring a quality HD radio, along with iPod connectivity for awhile now. I finally selected this unit, and after installing it, and using it for several months, I never wish I had purchased it.

I feel like the team who designed the usability, ergonomics, and menu system, must have been forced to work 18 hours with no sleep or something. Did they actually attempt to use and enjoy their creation?

There is absolutely nothing intuitive about this unit. I once gave a passenger the gigantic user manual to read on a road trip so she could learn how to use the iPod feature. Lame. I challenged another passenger to just turn the unit on. No luck.

Here is a rundown of some of the frustrating aspects of this unit:

1. Display VERY difficult to read. I had to switch the unit to "negative" and full brightness. Even then, it is still very dim and hard to read when it's not the blackest hour of the darkest night ever. I have a sunroof too, and the glossy, curved surface of the display totally renders the screen unusable in certain lighting situations. Like daylight.

2. Annoying splash screen. When changing volume, and switching main functions from iPod, HD radio, and standby (why do I even need standby?), there is a very annoying 3-4 second splash screen effect. There is no way to turn it off, at least that I've found in the depth of the most horrible menu system designed by modern man. The splash effect is really annoying when you just turn the volume up a bit, and are trying to read the display for more info about a song. Guess what! You get to wait. Don't hit anything while you are swerving down the road fumbling with this garbage.

3. HD radio. This is maybe a curse of HD radio in general, but if a station does not have an analog signal as well, the unit stalls for 10 seconds while it "links". Reception has not been the best with HD only signals as well. I do like having all the other HD radio stations, but I cannot really tell if the quality is any better.

4. Horrible, horrible interface knob. I have read the instruction manual time and time again, yet struggling to interact with the unit with the main interface control button is counter intuitive and frustrating. For many various functions or this radio, you need to press this button (the far right knob). Because it is a knob similar to a joystick, 70% of the time a press is needed, you will instead inadvertently move the knob up or down, or side to side. Even a slight miss-press will cause this. Pressing becomes a careful, two fingered, spine-tingling escapade of careful, delicate application of force precisely in line with the intended press. Add to this driving down a road, and it's very annoying.

5. Remote. Ok, so I have struggled through the menus. I have finally figured out how to set radio station presets to numbers. The remote has a main joystick button, similar to the radio's main interface button, but thankfully not as sensitive. The bad part is that it functions totally different. Your instinct would be to use this button while in radio mode to switch between station presets. But you can only switch station presets by pressing the corresponding 1-6 numbers on the remote. That works sort of OK, until its dark and you can't see the remote. There is no remote lighting, and no tactile "index" to locate a reference point for your thumb (like a nub on the 5 button, something to feel for, so you know where your thumb is). Very lame. Oh, and try entering a station number, like 105.9. Guaranteed, you will have to pull over, read the manual, try it, read the manual again, just to enter a station. Very, very lame.

6. iPod interface. Love having the iPod controllable via the radio. To bad that radio is this hunk of junk. So, lets say you navigate using the horrible interface knob I mentioned above, through all the typically listed iPod menu's displayed on the radio. I will use an example to listen to a particular song: The steps involved are pressing a search button on the radio face, using the interface knob to select "Artist", then you choose which "Album", then the "Song". Great. Well....unlike the iPod, when scrolling through a large menu like artists, there is no acceleration option. You spin that interface knob, over and over, and over. Yay! Oh, and when you shut the radio off, it won't remember which iPod menu tree you went down, so you'll have to start the whole process over after your 2 minute stop for a Latte. Genius!

I really could go on, but all I want to tell you is please, please don't make the same mistake. Go to a retailer, play with many different radios in person, and then buy on Amazon.com. After this radio experience, I can never recommend a Kenwood to anyone.

I installed one of the first integrated HD Decks in 2006 (JVC). The wife's car had a Sirius sat tuner and a 5 year old Kenwood CD Deck. For 3 years, the only way to upgrade her car HD was to replace the deck and Sat tuner module and go with another brand. The other option was to buy a new Kenwood and an expensive external HD tuner module.

Kenwood hit a home run for me by releasing this deck this year. I had talked to some car stereo installers that ensured me that Kenwood had kept the plugs consistent for harness jacks and Sat tuner modules. Installation was a simple matter of pulling and unplugging the old deck and plugging in the old harness and sat tuner module to this one.

Works perfectly and there are so many more options compared to the old one. It plays MP3 discs. It has the USB port that allows the deck to control an IPOD that is hooked via the standard USB IPOD cable (unique IPOD controller cables used to cost money and make installers rich too). It controls the Sirius Sat module as well as the old one and displays four lines of info instead of having to switch between single line displays on the old one.

There is a little bit of a learning curve learning how to access everything with fewer buttons and two large knobs. It is pretty intuitive once you play with it for a few days. You definitely need to read the manual on this one to figure out all the features.

I have not had any problems tuning in HD stations and I live 30 miles from the big city. One of the above reviewers mentioned that problem and it sounds to me like they have an antenna problem. I had the same issue on my JVC deck because the antenna jack was larger than my car antenna plug and it required an adapter to get ideal reception. It sort of worked without the adapter similar to the above review.

I am still awaiting delivery on some 3 way Kenwood speakers to see how this unit really sounds. The wife's car still has the OEM speakers and one of them has a slight rattle on a few of the HD Radio highs.

I bought this unit because it has the HD tuner built in. I also wanted an equalizer I could tweak. This unit doesn't produce the bass I wanted. (But none of head units seem to.) So I got a Bazooka 50 watt powered sub and now it has enough thump for me. It took me a week to figure out all the features packed into this amazing little unit. Very pleased.

PLEASE NOTE: If you want to use the iPod dock with this unit and are using an iPhone or iPod touch with 3.0 firmware. It will not work. You must use 2.2.1 or lower for the deck to correctly recognize the directories.

This is a great unit other than the above comment. I chose this one because it had everything I wanted in a deck for a pretty good price. The HD radio is nice and clear, but please note because of the issues with HD radio propagation in general if you're having static with an analog AM/FM radio station you will have many issues with receiving that station in HD. The AM news station I listen to is 1000x better with HD radio same with my FM top 40 station, but if it's a cloudy day it's dodgy. So, all of the people who complain that the deck doesn't receive good HD radio are misled. It's not the deck's fault; it's the station's fault. They need to have higher output transmitters.

Problems I have with the deck are: that the screen is very reflective so I often find myself holding my hand in front of it to shield the screen to see it. Also, there's no one touch memory for radio stations. It's also very cumbersome navigating the iPod controls from the deck.

After all the bashing here's what I love. I love the deck's ability to run EQ for different inputs including a different eq setting depending on if it's AM or FM. I also dig the spectrum analyzer on the deck. The best part of it is it has a great sound. I'm using stock speakers and amp that came with my Ranger. It sounds tons better from the Alpine deck I had previously.

In short:
Would I recommend this deck. Yes highly, this is still in my opinion and research the best deck out there with built-in HD radio and iPod docking even with it's flaws.

Pros:
Great sound. Truly a flat response.
Built in HD radio support
Built in USB support
Dedicated equalizer settings for AM, FM, iPod, and CD
Spectrum analyzer is a cool touch

Cons:
Doesn't work with the newest iPod touch/iPhone firmware (3.0+) [this is as of December 22, 2009]
Very cumbersome menu navigation
No one touch memory for stations
Very hard to read screen even in indirect sunlight
No bluetooth for hands-free calling (not a biggie but wish it had it.)

I love this stereo.I am the type of person who cant stand bad music thus i switch thru lots of stations. I love having the satellite (optional) and HD Radio to flip thru along with the Ipod, and cd to go back to. Yes the controls are a little complicated but once you get them its pretty easy. Yes there are no preset buttons on the face but there are on the remote which is always in my hand. The ipod controls are pretty good considering all you can choose from. The Satellite hooks up easily, the HR comes ready set and you're off. Considering the price I paid vs. the best buy price, i call this a helluva deal.

I bought this Kenwood head unit because of the built in HD radio tuner. But when i got it home, the HD tuner sucks. I live in a big city i get a lot of stations and they never breaks up. But when i try to listen to the HD radio with this unit, it cuts out all the time. I sent it in for replacement 3 times, and every time back its just the same. All 3 decks cant hold a consistent signal. It is sad because everything else works and sound good. But this is Kenwood's first built in HD tuner and they need to redesign the tuner. I've always had good reception with my car antenna so that is not the issue. So tired of this issue, i might just give up on the whole HD radio thing. Should have bought the Alpine or the Clarion without the built in HD tuner, i wouldn't be disappointed.

I've had Kenwoods in the past, and liked their sound. This one, though, is EXTRAORDINARILY frustrating to use. The controls feel rubbery, and there's little consistency in what pushing or tipping the knob on the right actually does in different scenarios. I haven't adjusted the time for DST because I can't figure out how (yeah, I COULD go dig for the manual). I set the stations once, but had to use the manual to do that....SO not intuitive.

Every function you use launches the display into a cutesy but IRRITATING 3 to 5 second goofy animated display.

The knob on the right is used for pretty much everything but volume, but it's really difficult to work it while driving as it's not very precise.

The Bluetooth is nearly unusable. I can hear OK, but nobody else seems to be able to hear me. Yes, it was professionally installed. Same shop put an Alpine in another car of mine (Bluetooth works great there) and a Parrot standalone Bluetooth in another (also very clear).

The display is essentially invisible during the day, even without direct sunlight on it. I live in Oregon, so direct sunlight isn't normally a problem :-), especially in winter.

At night, the display shows "DOWNLOADING" most of the time, while more interesting info like the station or artist or title scrolls by a few letters at a time. I have no idea what it's downloading but it never seems to finish.

I'll buy a Kenwood again, but not one with this style controls or user interface. And definitely I'll check on reviews of the Bluetooth performance before buying next time.

Okay, I think I've figured out what some of the folks here have been griping about...and I disagree with most of it, though not all.

First of all, to say this unit is "feature-packed" is like saying the U.S. Federal Deficit is large. I mean, this thing has features the typical consumer is never going to use. And all those features coupled with a spartan onboard control panel is the main reason so many people here think it's "too hard to use." It's really not. But it IS difficult to LEARN to use; once you've figured it out (it took me one day, but I'm pretty smart), it's not bad from there.

To exacerbate things, this thing comes with what has to be one of the worst user manuals I've ever seen for a name-brand electronics product. I mean, I understand if you're buying some off-brand made-in-Taiwan gadget, you're going to get a manual written in "Engrish." But c'mon, this is KENWOOD, one of the most popular brands going!

The manual was written by, putting it mildly, someone whose first language is NOT English. For the most part it's just annoying, if mildly amusing, but there are parts where you have no idea what the writer is trying to say. Couple that with its leaving out a lot of pertinent information - or at least making you dig hard for it - and it's no wonder some users throw up their hands with this unit.

For instance, it isn't clear at all from the manual that you have THREE FM selection groups. While it would be obvious from your typical control panel (which would have an AM-FM1-FM2-FM3 button so labeled), there's no way to tell this from just looking at the blank face of this unit.

The secret to learning how to use and enjoy your KDC-HD942U receiver is THE REMOTE CONTROL. Think of it the same way that you think of almost all consumer electronics for the home nowadays: without the remote, you're screwed. Most DVD/Blu-Ray players, for instance, are nearly impossible to use without the remote. My DirecTV receiver is certainly that way.

You would never think it, but you're now in the same boat with your car stereo. Now, why they would give you an UNLIGHTED remote for this I'll never know, but there you are. You really can't use this thing very efficiently without the remote, and that's just the plain truth of it. You can try to navigate through the menus on the unit, but for the most frequently-used functions you're going to get frustrated. Use the remote.

By the way, with all the hoopla about "texting while driving," could frequent use of a remote control for your car stereo be more hazardous? Talk about your distracted driving.

At any rate I'll probably add more to this review as I get more experience with the unit. I'm giving it four stars because it really is impressive, if a bit intimidating.

I really wish i would have gotten another head unit. The controls on this must have been designed by a 2 year old. You can not see the screen in the sunlight. It takes forever and a day to read my ipod which isn't that full of data. I highly recommend something different.