mikey67

I'm thinking about picking one of these up. How is the USB interface with thumbdrives? Any likes or dislikes?

habeba86

iTrader: (2)

That unit is sexy.... I kinda want one myself. My friend has the 880 prs......eq is crazy on them.

mikey67

I haven't bought any car audio stuff in years. I like the styling, nice and clean. I like parametric EQ's but the graphic is probably a bit easier to tweak on the fly.
Can anyone weigh in on the USB input? I would like the convenience of using a thumbdrive at times. Kinda curious about how well that works...
My only issue with it, is it's another HU that doesn't have red illumination. I know it has a parameter to have the display off, but it appears the lighting around the ***** stays on? How obnoxious is the white lighting at night?

95TAJade

iTrader: (4)

All of the new line Pioneer's with USB are designed to be hella-fast in the loading aspect. Full control over iPod's as well. Your sound quality is going to depend on the quality of the song file that you've got it saved onto the thumb-drive though. I up-convert all my music to the highest bitrate possible on my pc before I store them anywhere. It does help a little bit here and there.

KEE AUDIO

iTrader: (65)

That is exactly correct however....if the beginning file has been recorded badly in production (studio), no matter the bit rate, it will still sound crappy. I have had guys with MP3/iPod players that were using 128bit sound files have good luck even though the lower bit rate because the recording was good. Granted it would have sounded better at a higher bit rate but it wasn't too bad because the production on the record was good to begin with. I've also had some at that same 128bit rate that sounded horrible because it was a very poorly produced album.
My personal preferance is to get my music in VBR or 320bit if possible. Some of the stuff I have is so rare or old it is difficult to find in higher bit rates though ie: Van Halens demos for Gene Simmons. For more mainstream stuff there is no excuse though.
I love having a USB input because it negates the need for an actual player. The unit becomes the player and you just need the files. Plus changing playlists is made extremely easy and I can carry it with me everywhere without having to worry about losing an expensive MP3 player or iPod. Personally I love the USB input option.

95TAJade

iTrader: (4)

You are most correct Kee. I forgot that there are sound files out there in such a state. I look for the same or higher bitrate if I can. Otherwise I'll just get them from iTunes and hen transfer to my iTouch.