- The good: The JVC KD-PDR30
comes ready to play iPods out of the box. Its bright display, simple
faceplate design, and innovative D-pad make the system easy to use on
the move, and we like its auxiliary input jack for non-iPodrians. - The bad: As
with many other "made-for-iPod" car stereos, the KD-PDR30 fails to give
users a means of quickly and easily navigating large iPod libraries. - The bottom line: The
JVC KD-PDR30 looks and sounds good, and its standard iPod connectivity
will endear it to those looking to take their iTunes on the road.
However, its lack of a decent search mechanism for navigating large
iPod lists means that it fails one of its primary usability functions.
The JVC KD-PDR30 is a car stereo designed specifically for use with
iPods. Its simple design and straightforward interface make it easy to
plug in and play--but navigating through iPod libraries is not as
straightforward.
Design
The JVC KD-PDR30 features a stylish, silver-plastic-trimmed faceplate
with two circular controls on the left-hand side: one is a standard
volume dial, and the other is a four-way D-pad similar to one we saw
recently on the JVC KD-HDR1.
Being specifically designed as an iPod interface (note the PD in the
product name), the JVC KD-PDR30 comes with an iPod connector as
standard. When installing the stereo in a car, users can run the cable
for the connector through the glove box (as we did in our test) or
place it elsewhere in the cabin; however, as the iPod controls
themselves are rendered redundant when the player is connected to the
stereo, the iPod does not need to be accessible while driving. The
scenario is different for those connecting other (non-iPod) MP3 players
to the JVC KD-PDR30 via its front-mounted auxiliary input jack, as
music selection on those players must be performed using the player
itself.
The JVC KD-PDR30's display consists of an eight-character monochrome
white-on-black LCD panel, with various backlit icons indicating
playback source, playback mode, and EQ controls. Six radio-preset hard
buttons along the bottom of the screen double as a means of altering
the playback mode for CDs and iPod playback and are flanked by the
Source Select and Mode buttons. We like the simple layout of the
faceplate, and found it easy to program while on the road. In
particular, the LCD text display is impressively visible in direct
sunlight.
Features
In addition to its primary iPod playback capability, the KD-PDR30 can
handle regular CDs and CD/RWs encoded in the MP3 or WMA formats. For
the latter, the stereo will show ID3/WMA tag information, with users
able to switch between artist/ album tags, track name, and an elapsed
time readout by pressing the DISP button on the top-right side of the
four-way D-pad. As with many single-DIN systems, the limited screen
size of the KD-PDR30 means that tags are nearly always truncated,
although an option is available to scroll them along.
The KD-PDR30 features five preconfigured EQ settings (Rock, Pop, Jazz,
Vocal, Hip-Hop) as well as user-adjustable settings for bass, midrange,
and treble. There is also a Super Bass setting, which sets the stereo
to maintain a full bass signal irrespective of audio volume. In Rock
and Hip-Hop modes, Super Bass is activated automatically, leading to a
very aggressive (and often overwhelming) bass tone.
Performance
JVC's attempt to create a stereo specifically for the iPod age is not a
bad effort, but it could use some improvements. (An FYI to early
adopters: the JVC KD-PDR30 will not work with iPhones: having plugged
an iPhone into the standard 30-pin iPod connector, we were met the
message that "this product was not designed to work with iPhone".)When playing songs from a connected iPod, users are given many of
the options they get from the iPod player itself, including: Shuffle
(albums, songs, playlists, and so on) and Repeat. The D-pad controller
is loosely based on the design of the iPod wheel itself, and, while it
does take some time to get used to (there is no center button, for
example), it generally succeeds in giving drivers a useful means of
transferring control of the player to the stereo. Each of the four
compass point buttons corresponds to a function on the iPod, with Up
acting as the Menu button, and Down as the Play/ Pause and Select
button.
One difference between the D-pad and the iPod wheel is the Menu
structure: whereas pressing the Menu button on an iPod takes you back
only one level, the Up button on the JVC D-pad takes you right back to
the category select level (playlist/ artist/ track/ genre). This can be
slightly annoying if you want to hear a different album by the same
artist without going all the way back to the root level to make the
selection.
Where the JVC KD-PDR30's iPod interface really falls down, however, is
in its inability to enable drivers to quickly search large iPod
libraries. The only way to get through a list of songs/ artists/ tracks
is to press or hold down the forward and back Skip buttons; these
actions allow the driver to skip one track or 10 tracks at a time,
respectively. But this is still an inadequate means of getting through
larger playlists that might be thousands of entries long. We would have
liked a more sophisticated interface that enables drivers to search for
tracks/ artist/albums by first letter, for example.
In terms of output and sound quality, the JVC KD-PDR30's built-in
MOS-FET amp delivers 20w-per-channel's worth of decent output, although
MP3 discs sounded a little too soft for our liking, especially at
freeway speeds with the car windows or sunroof open when the
full-volume output was in danger of being overwhelmed. Other sources
including Red Book CDs and iPods sounded loud enough, however. For
those wanting more volume, the JVC KD-PDR30 comes with two pairs of
2.5-volt preouts and a dedicated output for an external subwoofer which
might be the means of getting the most out of the Super Bass and Rock
and Hip-Hop EQ settings.
In sum
We wanted to like the JVC KD-PDR30: its plain, usable faceplate design
and standard iPod compatibility are definite plus points in any modern
car stereo. However, after pressing the forward Skip button a couple of
dozen times to get to the bottom of our iPod library, we have to say
we're disappointed in the search and navigation interface.
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Distributed by Hasan Shrek, independence blogger. Also run online business ,internet marketing solution , online store script .
Beside he is writing some others blogs for notebook computer , computer training , computer software and personal computer
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