DSX-S100
3.4
5
5
5
Pros and cons
First of all, the Tune Tray, BRILLIANT IDEA! I found this deck simply by searching for the concept. I don't use the CD player anymore, everything is on my iPod. The sound quality of this deck through my factory speakers in my 98 GMC is fantastic. It blows the sound quality away of my Pioneer deck and matched speakers in my car.
The downside. The lack of features is a HUGE downer. I bought this deck before the two upper models were released. You cannot have the clock and the song display on at the same time. Same for the radio station. The shuffle is horrible. I set the shuffle for random songs, but if I hit the up or down buttons on the remote, it changes from random songs to random albums and there doesn't appear to be any way to change it back other than to remove the iPod and manually switch it to shuffle. To avoid that hassle, one must remember to use the left and right buttons on the remote. The remote itself is very basic, my previously mentioned Pioneer has a much superior design. I use the remote all the time while driving a standard, it's just easier to have it in hand instead of looking at the deck between shifts.
It's an OK deck at best and it gets that because of the sound quality and Tune Tray, but the lack of functionality makes it one to avoid, spend the extra on one of the upper models.
November 20, 2010
good but not great
i had one of this to replace a Default manufacturing audio for VW (Clarion), my first look is the great potency without loose sound quality, no more cd's with scratches, only with your Ipod, the most beatifull is the search mode by genre, artist, album or playlist i love it, but when i drive to aother city in the night the blue led is too high and i need change the settings to turn off all panel, only had a customize display but not all blue led panel, and only had a blue color. the performace is great.
September 21, 2010
I had a JVC in my truck before i went to the Sony, and I could tell a huge difference in performance. this is a great product! The iPod tray is awesome as well and works perfectly fine with my iPod touch. Gret purchase!
August 1, 2010
Plays digital audio files perfectly. Bye, bye CDs!
I was contemplating purchasing the much pricier Pioneer MVH-P8200 when the Sony DSX-S100 was not yet available. Then I saw an ad for this unit in the weekly Best Buy flyer. And man, am I glad I waited! So much more value for my money (in my opinion). Sony did a great job of packing in useful features at the expense of rarely-used, esoteric features (Pioneer seems to have done the opposite with the 8200).
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The price was less-than half of the Pioneer unit and the audio output is way better (read: more powerful, check the specs). It definitely sounds better/louder than my previous Pioneer DEH-1500 CD player that was 50x4.
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The front display is not as advanced as the 8200, but it reads my USB drive so much faster (I tested the Pioneer at the store and it took forever to index my drive before it was ready to play). Unit looks very sharp in my dashboard and everyone who has seen and heard it is impressed. The internal bay nicely hides my flash drive or iPod away, so there is nothing sticking out of my dash (unlike what the Pioneer would require for anything besides an SD card). An iPod adapter is included (unlike the Pioneer 8200).
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Browsing for albums, playlists or individual songs is a snap. And it even remembers play position on my USB stick and my wife's iPod when we switch back and forth--starts right up where we left off the second the new device is attached.
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Up to 128 folders and something like 1000 files per folder supported. That turns out to be a lot of audio. Would like to see Sony up the support for more folders (albums) at the expense of number of files per folder (usually 10-15 tracks per folder for me). Handles several popular file formats up to a pretty decent bit rate (no lossless though); I am very satisfied with the audio quality. Displays metadata like artist, album and title for digital audio files and similar for local radio stations.
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Haven't used the radio feature too much yet, since playing my chosen files from a USB stick is so compelling. Wife likes to listen to audiobooks/podcasts from her iPod and they play great. Easy for her to setup a playlist in iTunes and then select it on the unit for continuous play without any interaction.
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Only complaints so far are 1) the faceplate is a bit difficult (for me at least) to reattach and 2) the metadata doesn't continuously scroll when too long to fit the display (which is only about 8 characters on the first line and 15 on the second). Using an iPhone requires switching it to airplane mode. Would prefer to be able to leave it as-is and also use the unit to answer/make calls, but maybe that is a feature that will be included in a future model.
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I am extremely happy with this unit. I would purchase it again if I had to go back. Getting excited for the new models; will probably be getting one of them and moving this unit to wife's car. She will be super happy if I do that, because she does not like her car's setup after borrowing my car for two weeks with this baby in it!
July 31, 2010
