USB Headunits

I'm looking to buy a new headunit, nothing too fancy, just something in the $200-300 range. But I'd like to get something with a USB port on it, but rather than use a thumb drive, buy an external hard drive loaded with my entire music library. I'd prefer a 2.5" hard drive since those can be powered off a USB port and I won't have to worry about hooking into my car's power, but does anyone know if these head units actually put out enough power on the USB bus to power a HD? Thanks.

STOP STOP STOP think outside the box. How far do you drive?? Do you really have a MUSIC LIBARY??
Kenwood and JVC make some nice CHEAP price range head units with usb ports. A hard drive is ROAD KILL. MP3 and USB you will have plenty of music. BEST deal is get a headunit and cd changer that plays mp3's both and has a USB drive.

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If it's not custom, then it's not you.

throwback2332 wrote:

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STOP STOP STOP think outside the box. How far do you drive??

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Within town, not too terribly far, but I frequently go between home and college which is about 100 miles each way.

I was also thinking about the MP3 changer as well, but the only companies that seem to offer them are JVC and Sony. I was kind of hoping Pioneer would bring one out in 2007 because I love their headunits, but it seems like they aren't.

One of the problems with USB head units is that there can be serious issues with formatting and locating the files for the HU to read.  The file structure required tends to be annoying and often more trouble than it's worth in temrs of formatting and navigating while playing.  In all reality, your best option in my opinion would be to use the money you'd spend on a hard drive and get an MP3 player and then just use an AUX cable or direct connect cable for whatever deck you get.  Plus, if you're looking for a USB deck you'll probably end up with a HU from a less than reliable company.  JVC, Sony, Dual and the like tend to throw features like that in to draw customers to their otherwise substandard products.  Again though, just my thoughts here.

the new Blaupunkt St. Louis MP46 has USB and SD on it.....most people use the USB for a memory stick tho, not a HD

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Kevin Gerry
Certified Electronics Technician
MECP First Class Installer

Owner/Installer
Classic Car Audio
since 1979

probably my favorite deck on the market with USB that I have seen is the JVC KD-AR870.  You can find it some places as cheap as $150.  It has high-volt pre-outs and you can also customize the screen color.  It's in JVC's arsenal series, so you know it's awesome.  It isn't a TOP-O-DA-LINE deck, but it's sure awesome for the money it retails for around $270.  here's what JVC says on their website:

Power Output: 20W X 4 (RMS), 50W X 4 Max.

MOS-FET Power Amp

24-bit Resolution Burr-Brown 1-bit DAC

PICT (Personalized Image Capture Technology)

3-Band Parametric iEQ

Ready for iPod

USB Memory Slot for Music File Playback (MP3/WMA) Up to 1GB

SAT Radio Ready

MP3/WMA, CD/CD-R/CD-RW Compatible with ID3/WMA Tag

Gold-Plated Line Output Terminals (2 Pairs)

Gold-Plated Subwoofer Output Terminals with Level/Frequency Control

Gold-Plated Adjustable Line Input Terminals

Tele-Mute with CD Pause

Variable-Color 3D Graphics Display

Rotary Encoder Multi-Control

Flip-Down Faceplace

https://mobile.jvc.com/product.jsp?modelId=MODL027700&pathId=52&page=2

as you can see, JVC states that it can take up to 1gb, but i've seen people connect 20gb hard drives into it before and it played mp3 and wma files just fine....

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Brent

MECP Advanced Installer
"I don't claim to know it all, just more than you."

There a Kenwood KDC-532u  that has a usb cable in the back. . Its has the 4-6 ft cable. Not the usb in the front thing. It goes for less than $200

a471789 wrote:

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It's in JVC's arsenal series, so you know it's awesome.

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Shyah, right. That's like sayin' Dubya is a good president...

JVC is not a good sounding deck at all in my opinion. 1-bit DACs are not audiophile whatsoever, but they are good enough to reproduce whatever "music" might remain after trashing an audio track with MP3 or WMA compression. (Oh, that, and they're CHEAP. That's why they're used...)

Why don't you just save yourself the headaches, buy a quality CD-RW/MP3 compatible deck, compress all your files at whatever rate you are wanting to use (I recommend nothing less than 320kbps, if you are going to INSIST on MP3), and burn them onto CD-RW? (between 4 and 5 albums will fit on a CD-RW at 320k, BTW...) FAR easier, and as an RW format, you can erase 'em and re-use 'em, every day for about 5 years. Also, geting your 20G USB hard drive ripped off is disheartening at best (I speak from experience). You can buy a cakebox full of CD-RWs for 15 dollars, and a 20G external drive is gonna start at about 100.

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It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."

Clarion makes quite a few USB decks this year. Just to throw out a couple of models that we sell here at our shop:

DXZ575USB
DXZ675USB
DXZ775USB
VRX375USB
VRX575USB
UDB275MP

And I'm not sure because it won't be out 'til May, but the FB275BT might have one, also. But that one doesn't have any internal moving parts (i.e., no CD player).

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G. Rick (aka; Tha "R")
**Peter North is my idol***
MECP-Certified 1st Class Installer

Also, Pioneer makes a USB adapter which connects to pretty much all of there 2007 decks - so you can use a portable HDD (we've connected a 20gb portable HDD to it, with recognition of all MP3 files and no issues).