Home > Consumer Reviews > Kenwood eXcelon KDC-X792 - Radio / CD / MP3 player / digital player - Full-DIN - in-dash - 50 Watts x 4

Pros:
This is a great HU and blows away my old aftermarket Sony and Clarion. Sound quality is a huge step forward and has lots of nice features. The HD radio is a big plus. Will display station name, call letters, song title, band name, and even gives you a text readout of emergency alerts so long as the radio station itself broadcasts in hd! I love the built in active crossovers which makes your system sound much better if you are running subs. I have my front stage crossed at 80hz and my subs at 120hz to give a little extra kick to the chest while listening to rock. The display is bright and easy to read. You also have the option to turn off the built in amplifier, which will give a much cleaner signal if running all speakers off amp power thus less distortion at higher volumes. The supplied remote is a nice touch and keeps me from having to lean forward while driving when I'm channel surfing. I also have a 8gig usb drive connected to listen to my music library. Seek times are pretty minimal and even with a few songs at downloaded at 128, the built in up-converter in the HU makes them sound great.

Cons:
While I love everything this HU offers, my only gripe is the right side control knob. It takes a bit to get used to and navigating folders of mp3s becomes a bit awkward. A few features and display options are quite useless. The feature to measure g-force and calculate horsepower gives my mustang a fairly low rating and is nowhere near accurate. Most of the display settings will go unused for lack of information they display on screen. The animated "screen saver" is nice in theory but the lack of a higher bit support makes them look muddy.

Overall Impression:
Great HU. I would definitely recommend this for anyone wanting an upgrade on a budget. If you don't care about top of the line true color display, this head unit is for you. The sound quality, active crossover, and usb support alone makes this a great buy.
Hope this helps

I purchased the Kenwood Excelon KDC-X792 and installed it on my own. Installation was pretty easy once the adapters were purchased.

Features:
Love the different views, but it's hard to find one that lists both the radio/song data and the clock at the same time. As in most cars/trucks, the radio has the only clock, so I need to be able to see it all the time.

As other reviewers have noted, the use of the right side knob to scroll through menus, select items, etc takes a bit to get used to. It has a tendency to react to minute adjustments to the left and right, making your selection change from what was intended. However, once aware of the issue, it takes a little bit of adjustment on the users part to work with.

MP3 playback - do NOT get this radio if you want to use an MP3 player other than an iPod. I have a Sony, and according to Kenwood support, the ONLY MP3 player you can connect to and control through the unit is an iPod. Other MP3 players can be connected via an auxiliary cable, but then all the control and song selection is through the player, not the reciever. However, you can connect pretty much any jump/travel/flash USB drive and use it through the USB port. The only disadvantage to this is the inability to use a playlist. You have to make sure the songs are in the folders in the order you want them played.

All in all, it's a good receiver if you're paying under $200 (which I did). If you're paying more than that, I'd go with a Pioneer or Alpine.

I got this a few days ago and installed it without a problem.

The GOOD:
The sound is amazing compared to the stock Porsche radio I had. It has a lot of neat features like a G-meter.

The BAD(which makes this item a no go):
The right knob rotates and pushes up, down left and right. You push it left and right to change the tracks and up and down to change playlists/folders. It rotates to allow you to scroll through your playlists faster. The problem is to select the playlist you have to push the knob in but when you do this while driving you end up pushing it left/right/up/down but not easy to push it in. So instead of pushing it in to select your playlist you end up pushing the knob right and changing to the next track. This is so annoying that I want to return it.

I would not buy this again.

The UI for this head unit is completely useless if the unit is actually mounted in a car and you try to use it while driving.

- the right multi-function knob that can be pressed down, rotated, or moved left, right, up and down cannot be used with precision while driving. You end up skipping to the next play list rather then pausing, or selecting the next menu item rather than the next menu, etc.

- the display is too dim and grainy to see in daylight.

- the embedded software UI is poorly designed as far as mobile while-driving use is concerned.

I will toss this unit and reinstall the 5 year-old Excelon that actually worked. Kenwood didn't just miss the target with this new series of units, they totally missed the mobile application space.

I bought this receiver and installed it immediately into a 99 Mazda Miata. I had previously replaced the stock Bose system with an aftermarket setup and the latest stereo was last years high-end Pioneer (not tip top, but close). I wasn't as pleased with the pioneer as i had hoped to be, so I had been looking for a new stereo and found it in Kenwood! The ONLY thing that my Pioneer had that this doesnt is ASL (auto sound leveling) which allows the stereo to increase/decrease volume levels based on the noise in the cockpit. Meaning as you get on the highway, the volume increases to give the same 'sound' as what you could hear parked or in residential streets.

The things I LOVE about the Kenwood vs. Pioneer:
1) There is a 1 button pause on the kenwood, on the pioneer its hidden in several layers of menus.
2) 1 button random -- same as above.
3) Customize the display ---- and I mean really customize it!
4) Less cluttered display
5) Sound quality seems slightly better to me (running thru component blaupunkts in the doors and added 3.5 in blaupunkts to the windblocker
6) Customize the sound -- hi-pass settings/crossovers/hell, even send separate audio to the rear.
7) USB and aux plugs (and uncluttered as they go thru the rear)
8) has G-Force analyzer for est. HP and g rating and acceleration
9) bluetooth/cell/and a few other things i dont have a use for
10) tuner picks up WAY more than my pioneer did, even where i work where it's tought to pick up stations

Overall, I am seriously impressed with this unit! Love the sound, display, and features. the x692 seems to be very simmilar just without the color display and g-force stuff as the major differences.