Say goodbye to your FM tuner, and the static and frustration that come with it. With the Sony Xplod’s USB 1-Wire, you can now hook your iPod, iPhone or any other USB-compatible digital music player right into your car’s stereo system and get the kind of crisp sound quality an FM tuner could never provide. And with Bluetooth hands-free calling capabilities, MP3/WMA/AAC playback, Satellite radio and HD Radio compatibility, and a wireless remote, the Xplod MEX-BT5700U, provided by Sony for this review, is ready for just about anything you can throw at it.
Give Sony credit for coming up with a menu style that makes browsing through your iPod’s library to find a particular song much easier than similar units. The Quick-BrowZer function allows users to search for music by artist, album, genre or playlist, but when you’ve got hundreds of artists and thousands of songs on your player, that’s just not enough. Fortunately, the Jump Mode gets you where you need to go much more efficiently by fast-forwarding through a category in 10% increments. No worries about having to turn the dial for five minutes just to get to your “R” artists. Finally, Zappin mode will play music in six-, nine- or 30-second segments to help speed up your search for that one elusive song.
Of course, some of us are stubborn and have grown very comfortable with our music player’s navigation menu, making the switch to a new format – no matter how intuitive it may be – a bit of a challenge. Fortunately, the Xplod features Passenger Control, which puts the menu back in the palm of your hand and allows you (or, ostensibly, your passenger) to control your tunes directly from the portable player. While it doesn’t take long to learn how to navigate the Xplod’s menu, it’s pretty handy to have the option of switching to Passenger Control when needed. Unfortunately, this feature doesn’t work with iPod Nano 1st generation and iPod 5th generation, much to my chagrin since I have no plans to replace my iPod 5G anytime soon. Ah, but don’t forget about the handy front auxiliary input, which lets me hook into the stereo while still controlling everything from my iPod. Of course, connecting this way won’t charge your portable music player, but it’s nice to have that option.
The Xplod’s appeal doesn’t end with the iPod connectivity. The unit’s Bluetooth capabilities are impressive, to say the least, and are fully compatible with the iPhone 3G and 3GS. The new Phonebook Access Profile feature allows you to browse your linked cell’s phonebook to make a call, save a contact, or download your entire phonebook (up to 300 contacts) for easy access via the Xplod’s Bluetooth menu. Speaking of the menu, there are all sorts of options to play with, whether you want to choose your phone’s ringtone or the stereo’s default tone, enable “Auto Answer” or “Echo Canceller/Noise Canceller Mode,” or set the microphone’s default volume level. And since the unit comes standard with an external microphone in addition to the built-in mic, you’re able to easily improve your audio quality. Finally, if your portable music player supports Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP), you can stream your audio via Bluetooth.
In short, this is one heavy duty car stereo with more features than most people would probably ever use. As a bonus, the in-dash unit looks great, with a customizable, bright and easy-to-read display that offers up to four lines of music and phone call data, the ability to choose between red, blue or green illuminated keys, and a flip-down, detachable faceplate. Anyone who’s ever battled with an FM tuner will fall for the instant iPod connectivity the Sony Xplod MEX-BT5700U offers, but the fun most definitely doesn’t stop there.
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