Home > Consumer Reviews > Clarion DXZ385USB CD/MP3/WMA/AAC Receiver with CeNET Control, Front Panel USB Port, Satellite Radio Ready

Not very often is anything car audio a great value. This is certainly a great value. Sounds better than I ever imagined. I have a Nakamichi CD400 in my other car with a home made amp 9 from 41hz.com (absolutely amazing sound/imaging), but this thing being so cheap and easy to use is hard to beat at its price point.

This receiver replaced a Blaupunkt receiver in my son's Mercedes 260E. The installation went smoothly and we were done in an hour. The sound of the receiver is excellent and the best part of all is that it has the USB port in the front and my son uses it to attach an IPOD. No special adapter or cable is needed to use the IPOD, the standard IPOD cable works fine, and the IPOD can charge when the cable is attached. One thing that would be nice to have would be a way to display the name of the song while it is playing. The display does not continuously display even the FM station it is playing, it will only display the memory number. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to use their IPOD and have a descent sound too. The price of this receiver was well worth it and at Amazon it was cheaper than at Crutchfield.

I researched car receivers to find the perfect one for my daughter's first car. This seems to have it all. I'll upgrade this review after it's installed and tested.

I like the OEM styling of this head unit. I was looking for something that would play iPod content from my iPhone 3G, especially podcasts. I assumed that any head unit that featured a USB input for iPod control would recognize the Podcast category, but no such luck. And even with the limited ways to get at content, the controls are feeble for getting around on your iPod. Fortunately, I can hook it up to the AUX port on the front as well, but I wanted the line-level out that the USB port would have offered.

As I said, the styling is great and for all other functions, the controls work pretty well. But the display is too dim, even in indirect sunlight, especially if you have a light colored interior.

Installation was straightforward except for the antenna lead. The one built into my '96 Accord does not reach all the way out of my radio opening. Since antenna connection is flush in the back of the unit, I had to buy a $16 6" antenna extension (basically a pigtail that was built onto the previous Kenwood unit).

I wish all manufacturers would get off the Las Vegas style design like Clarion has. The was practically the only unit I wasn't embarrassed to put in the car.

The unit has descent sound. It's an inexpensive way to hook-up an mp3 player to an auto sound system. But the user-interface is very confusing. The UI is non-intuitive, very hard to learn, and just as hard to use.

If you want to spend a mere $90 to play your mp3's and you don't feel the need adjust base/treble very often, then this is a unit you might like. However, if you like to adjust and control base/treble and such, get something else. (mucking with the buttons on this unit is an auto accident just waiting to happen.)