Home > Consumer Reviews > Boss Audio 534UA In-Dash CD/MP3 Receiver with Drop-Down Front Panel

Didnt read any cds.
I decided to use it only with usb drives. Didnt work either. I emailed customer service, they said the usb is only for drives of 512 mb or less!! I only have 1, 2, and 4 gb drives.

So it only worked for fm radio, and i have to plug my mp3 player through the audio input to listen to my own music. Thats the only way i could use it. I cant return it or anything since i live outside the US.

I've been living with this for two weeks. I think it's a great product. Sound quality is superb. AM and FM radios work fine. The full-size USB Type A port finds all the MP3s on my flash drives. The big volume knob is easy to find and use. I love the basic functionality - I can easily listen to all digital media, not just commercial CDs like my old car CD player which cost $600 in 1997.

But this stereo comes with several annoyances. The front panel displays a visualization of your audio in red lights. It doesn't affect night vision, but it's cheesy and distracting.

Two buttons that I never use - mono/stereo and loudness - are big, red, and backlit. Buttons I often use - mode, next/prev, band - are small, unlit, and hard to find. Disp - to show the clock - is particularly awkward. To alternate between AM and FM stations you have to cycle through the three FM bands - to jump from FM1 to AM means pressing mode,mode,mode. The scheme for locating songs by name is hopelessly complicated, but it might occupy the front seat passenger for the better part of a long trip. Removing and replacing the front panel is a little tricky, and the latch doesn't have the positive feel of my old stereo. This device does NOT support the Ogg Vorbis digital audio format. It works fine with my 1GB and 2GB USB drives.

The product works great, and it's a terrific value at the current price, but the user interface wants improvement.

If you don't care about sound quality or features and just need a simple receiver to play your music from CDs or USB flash drives this is good for the price. However, you cannot expect this to have the quality of other more expensive brands.

Bought this to mount in our boat. So I was looking for a cheaper priced stereo with a detachable faceplate and MP3 / Aux input. This one works well, dim display but it doesn't affect it's performance for us. If it we're in a car then I'm sure it's good enoungh. The face plate is hard to mount for some reason, other than that it's worked and sounded great. I'd recommend it for someone looking for a decent inexpensive stereo.

I was looking for a cheap radio for my civic; when i saw this one i couldnt believe it...your hardly find another radio better that has usb, mp3 and all stuff this radio has at this price...
The only thing i didnt like of it is the display, just show few word...but it doesnt matter!!! i just want music!!!!