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The other day I was in a car audio shop (imagine that!) and I heard a lady looking at new CD players ask, 鈥淒oes anyone even bother with CD鈥檚 in the car anymore?鈥� Well, while a few of us audiophile types don鈥檛 go far without a few favorite discs on hand, of course the compressed digital formats and portable music players have been the go to source for your traveling tunes for quite a few years now. Obviously, this fact isn鈥檛 lost on the aftermarket head unit manufacturers who are producing more and more DMR鈥檚 or 鈥淒igital Media Receivers鈥� that do not even have a CD slot.
This time we鈥檙e going to have a look at a very modestly priced DMR from Sony, the new $149.95 DSX-S100. 听With the Sony, you insert your iPod, Walkman, or flash drive into the unit where you鈥檇 normally load a disc. Behind the fold down faceplate is something Sony calls a 鈥淭une Tray鈥� to securely store your iPod庐 or Walkman庐 MP3 player neatly within the receiver.
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COOL FEATURES
The Sony DSX-S100 is a single DIN sized receiver with a fold down removable faceplate. Behind the faceplate is a tray that rotates out to hold your portable media player or USB drive, and then allows it to be totally concealed behind the faceplate with no wires showing. A special connector to adapt an iPod to the USB connection is also included, so your iPod cable is not required. Also located on the right side of the faceplate is an auxiliary input jack allowing connectivity to any non-USB based player. Also included of course is a high performance AM/FM RDS tuner which is compatible with Sony鈥檚 optional Satellite Radio or HD Radio tuner module for even more stations and selection in CD quality. A wireless remote control is also included for those who prefer not reaching for the dash to adjust basic functions.
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Even though the DSX-S100 is definitely on the value oriented end of the scale, Sony has seen fit to include many of the same features and functions found in their much more expensive units. The DSX-S100 incorporates Sony鈥檚 innovative and handy 鈥淶appin鈩� function that plays 6, 9, or 30 second snippets of songs until you find the one you want. If you prefer, you can also quickly search and select songs by category, including artist, album, genre, or playlist., or using Sony鈥檚 Jump Mode allows you to fast forward through a music category in 10 percent increments.It also has a built in 3 band EQ with preset curves as well as the ability to customize your own frequency shaping. Then there is a feature called DSO (Dynamic Soundstage Organizer) which uses special circuitry to 鈥渧irtually鈥� raise the soundstage and spread it wider across the dashboard. This can be a welcome feature for vehicles with badly compromised speaker positioning. Sony鈥檚 Digital Music Plus is an enhancer technology designed to improve detail and high frequency definition in compressed music formats.
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The audio section of the DSX-S100 has it鈥檚 own set of respectable credentials as well, with 2 pairs of 2 volt pre-outs, with one pair selectable as sub or rear outputs. An independent volume control for the sub out channel offers bass level control from the driver鈥檚 seat, and there are even adjustable built in high and low pass crossovers. A built in power amplifier is rated at 17 watts x 4 for a total of 68 watts of continuous power, and because the rating follows the stringent CEA-2006 guidelines, you can be sure of getting all the power advertised.
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CONTROLS AND ERGONOMICS
I liked the look and feel of the DSX-S100 as soon as I turned in on and began playing with it. I liked the rotary volume control, and the fact that it uses a very easy to read 2 line fluorescent LCD display. Other controls and buttons are logically laid out, and I was able to find most of the functions settings and adjustments without even reading the printed manual. My iPod and USB drive fit perfectly inside the chassis, and were recognized instantly, and I was quite impressed with the speed of the interface. Finding a particular song on either storage device was fast and simple, especially after I got the hang of the correct series of button presses. If you are one of those people who are constantly looking for the song you want, you鈥檒l get the hang of the Sony quickly, and it鈥檚 very fast at searching or scrolling through folders and files. Making adjustments was also pretty straight forward, with a simple menu driven system that is quite easy to use, despite sometimes requiring what seemed like an inordinate amount of items to get through to find the one I was looking for. The removable faceplate comes on and off positively, and folds down far enough to not be in the way when inserting or removing your iPod.
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Read on for Results
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LISTENING
Frankly, I wasn鈥檛 expecting anything special when I connected the DSX-S100 into my reference system. I mean it is after all a pretty economical unit, so I was pleasantly surprised with the rather fine sounding performance it delivered. The tuner did a good job of pulling in all the usual stations, and the sound of the tuner was very competitive with other receivers costing hundreds more. When playing MP3 tracks recorded at 192kbits or higher, the Sony actually sounded very good in all respects. And this was with all of the DSP trickery and enhancements turned off. The frequency response sounded very natural and flat, with very good low extension and excellent detail in the upper registers as well. Female vocal, acoustic guitar and grand piano all came across with very natural and realistic timbre. I won鈥檛 claim that it鈥檚 as good as my reference CD player, but for playback of compressed digital media, it sounds very good indeed. I experimented with the EQ and crossover functions, and everything seemed to work as you鈥檇 expect. Because I do not do my listening in a car, I can鈥檛 really comment on the DSO function except to say that it definitely made a difference in the sonics when I turned it on. Throughout the listening session, I could find no serious faults at all with the sonics of the Sony.
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ON THE BENCH
Moving back into the electronics lab, I connected the DSX-S100 to the test bench and fired up my trusty Audio Precision analyzer. I put the unit through the full battery of tests, and it met or exceeded all of its published specifications for audio performance. Output impedance measured a respectable 146 ohms, and distortion numbers were well below anything approaching audibility. Frequency response was also nice and flat, especially for a USB based device. Check out the measured specification section for details on the DSX-S100鈥檚 performance.
CONCLUSION
The Sony DSX-S100 is proof that you don鈥檛 have to spend a fortune to get a good quality, easy to use, very good sounding digital media receiver. It wasn鈥檛 all that long ago when CD players would struggle to meet the kind of performance specs laid down by this unit. Sure, it doesn鈥檛 have the coolest display, or maybe lacks some of the more advanced technologies or conveniences, but when you remember that it allows you to take thousands of your favorite songs with you, and costs less than an average cassette player did in 1990, the value is obvious.
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