Sony CDX-GT630UI MP3/WMA/AAC Compliant CD Receiver with iPod Direct Control via USB

I'm an old audiophile, and am very picky about the sound quality of anything I use to play music. This radio replaced an old Denon unit in my Fiero. I normally buy Pioneer stereos for my cars, because I prefer their tuner section, but this radio managed to pull in a low power college station from 25 miles away (in the mountains), even while in the garage, with a metal roof and the steel garage door closed! The sensitivity is as good as I could hope for.

The volume/multi-function control is not as bad as some reviewers stated. If you are careful the volume control works well, but if you inadvertently press it in, you will have to locate the "cancel" button or wait 5 seconds for it to return to normal mode - not a good thing when you need to concentrate on the road. It would be better if Sony had engineered it so you have to hold the control in for a second or so (rather than instantaneous response) in order to access those functions.

Another mild annoyance is with the backlighting. The display dims when you turn on the car's lights, but the backlighting for the buttons doesn't, and that can be a distraction; I had to switch the lighting color from blue (my preference) to green to reduce the glare somewhat.

One final problem is with the MP3 playback. If you have a huge single file, there is no way to jump forward in large steps; the fast forward only goes at (maybe) 3-4 times normal speed. Most people don't have 1 or 2 hour long MP3s, though, so this might not be an issue for you.

The programming options are pretty comprehensive. The ability to turn off the animations on the display is a great feature, IMO.

Overall, I'm very satisfied with the stereo - the sound quality is equal to the quality of the Infinity speakers I have, and the sale price made this purchase a no-brainer. I think you would have to spend well over twice the price to get any better audio system for your car.

Low noise, high fidelity, but you need to read the manual, for all the complex function it have.

Love my new radio. I really enjoy being able to shuffle by playlist, genre, artist, et cetera. And the usb charger also plays and charges my Samsung Rogue. No problem with installation. When I finally did read the manual it was weeks later just because I wanted to turn off demo mode. The sound quality is amazing. The radio is beautiful. And the ease of use really pleases me.

I really like this head unit. I bought it for my wife. It works on her fourth-generation iPod, but it doesn't support on my iPhone 3GS with the latest OS 3.1.2. I've read elsewhere it worked with the iPhone 3GS previous to 3.1.2. Hopefully, it will get fixed in a later OS update.

This unit sounds good. The support for browsing the music on an attached usb device is OK, but not as easy as using the device itself (it wouldn't be an easy thing to achieve). Happily you can still use your usb devices own browsing capabilities with this receiver. I've been very happy with the purchase.