Car Finance / Car Audio Tech Checklist for Car Shoppers
Car Audio Head Unit, Controls and Display Basics
Is the car stereo head unit:
Standard DIN size?
Double-DIN size?
Easy to replace with an aftermarket unit, or does the car have individual audio components spread throughout the dash?
Do the audio controls consist of:
Touchscreen interface?
Physical knobs and buttons?
Steering-wheel controls?
A combination of the above?
Are the controls easy to operate while driving?
Does the system have steering-wheel audio controls? If so, does it allow you to:
Change audio sources?
Turn the volume up/down?
Skip forward/back on a CD and switch radio stations?
Does the vehicle have voice activation?
No.
If yes, how well does it work, especially in a moving vehicle?
Does the display for the audio system:
Have a screen large enough to easily see and read at a glance and in bright sunlight?
Provide information such as artist/song/album for a CD or music playing from a connected music player?
Show artist/song/channel for satellite radio?
Radio Features
Which radio sources are available:
AM/FM?
Satellite?
HD Radio?
Does the radio have:
Seek-and-scan tuning?
The ability to save favorite stations as presets? How many ___?
Do the controls for radio tuning consist of:
Knobs?
Buttons and switches?
Does the radio display:
Mimic an old-fashioned radio dial?
Only show station frequencies?
Does the radio offer:
Radio Data Service (RDS)?
A "time-shift" feature to record live programming?
The ability to easy and quickly tune to the satellite radio categories and channels?
Alerts when favorite songs play on a satellite radio channel?
Parental controls to block mature content?
CD and DVD Features
Does the CD player have:
Play/pause?
Skip forward/back?
Fast-forward/rewind?
Repeat and random playback?
Will it play MP3 files burned onto recordable discs? If so, what formats:
MP3?
WMA?
AAC?
Others?
Will the system play:
DVDs and CDs?
DVD movies when the car isn't moving?
DVD-Audio discs? If so, does it play:
High-resolution, multichannel surround?
Or does it "down mix" the audio to two-channel stereo?
Music Player, Bluetooth Audio and Hard Disk Features
Does the system have an aux-in jack?
Does the system allow you to plug in portable players like an iPod? If yes, is it through a:
USB port?
Proprietary cable?
Does the system allow you to plug in a USB thumb drive with music files?
Does the system have Bluetooth audio for wireless music streaming from a compatible device?
Does the system have a hard-disk drive (HDD) for storing music files? If yes:
Does the hard-disk system allow you to record music files from a CD?
From a USB thumb drive?
Allows both?
Does it catalog files in a song/artist/album format?
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Inexpensive portable navigation systems and even cheaper smartphone nav applications are making the pricey in-dash systems offered by automakers less attractive to many consumers. But some people prefer in-dash systems because of their larger screens and because they offer more features. Plus, you never have to worry about forgetting an in-dash system at home. Finally, prices for in-dash systems are starting to drop.
Bluetooth is a wireless technology that allows two compatible devices to communicate. In the car, it lets you operate a mobile phone "hands-free," meaning you don't have to hold the device while making or taking a call or performing such functions as accessing the phone's address book. (Of course, you have to use your hands to operate certain Bluetooth features via the vehicle's controls.)
Automotive sound systems are more complex now that portable media players, hard-disk drives and smartphones are along for the ride. But the basic radio/speaker setup hasn't drastically changed, even though more speakers and more amplifier power have been added over the years.
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