Customer Ratings & Reviews

Inexpensive stereo for your car

I would def. recommend this head unit for 1) low price 2) ipod controls and it also charges it, so you won't end up with a pile of wires all over your center console or whatever 3) it has relatively larger screen from previous models

CONS: Although you can change the text color on the screen, most of the time it is unreadable when you drive in sunny weather however looks cool during night time. Someone said that before but yes, if you have music turned up too much - it will take some time to turn the volume down if you use the knob. I also don't like the front USB port as I really hate seeing my white iPod cord sticking out all the time.

Other notes: I am very satisfied with this product, just make sure you pair it with some nice speakers (MB quart components in my case front and rear)

Great entry-level head unit!

I bought this for my girlfriends car 6 months back. It's a great headunit, no complaints here. It does glitch sometimes though when it comes to the iPod control, the name display freezes but it's usually resolved quick enough. Compared to my Kenwood eXcelon x994, the iPod controls are actually quicker. My only gripe is that the USB is on the front of the unit. Overall I'd recommend it, it's a great price for a good unit.

Nice- looking but something missing

I purchased this car stereo because I like how it looks. Not so many buttons in front. Installation was easy. From the manual, I thought Bluetooth is available but it's not. Also, FM radio doesn't work properly, can't seek all the stations, made sure the antenna adaptor is tight, but still the same. I did a quick re-install of the old radio and the FM is good but not this unit. Also, I found out that you cannot jump folders when playing the USB. You have to do it from the front control knob.
This should have been a great unit except for these miscues.

great unit

Bought this unit for my first build and it was an incredibly easy install. Sonic sent me everything I needed. The unit functions great as well. Lots of tuning options.

Very nice and not so expensive car stereo

I recently got this model because of how it looks and not so much of buttons on the front. Initially, I thought it would be hard to install and have it up and running because I don't have the wiring informations to adapt it to my car. But with a few basic knowledge I made it to work except for the FM radio where it cannot seek any channel.I found out that the Scosche antenna adaptor that came with it has a big center wire that won't fit with the car's female antenna receptacle. I manage to open up the connector and replaced the middle wire with a thinner conductor taken from a telephone wire. Now the FM radio is superb.
I would really like it more if there is a built-in Bluetooth. Also, wish that the remote has more function button like display. I would like to recommend it of course to anyone wanting to change their car radio.

Satisfying stereo

Pros: Shifting colors are quite nifty. USB and RJ-45 inputs are handy for using your own collection of music. I'm no audiophile, but it sounds good.

Cons: USB file system browser is a little confusing, and limits to 256 files per folder. Did not come with clear instructions for the UI.

Good Price, Spazzes out sometimes though

I would recommend this product for the price. It gets overheated fast if played loud with the high and low pass filters built-in. I have to keep my Air Conditioner on sometimes just to keep my mids and highs from not fading out. The display will also turn off randomly but does not interrupt whatever is playing. I have to detach the face or push the face in for it to turn back on and light up. I guess I may have gotten a defective unit but it's not bad enough to bother returning it and all that jazz....

Good Deck for the money!

Ive had this deck in my truck for about a month now and it was easy to install with Sonic's free wire harness's and works great!
Pros: Looks great! you can choose what ever color you want the lights to be to fight your vehicle or have them variable. USB and aux work good, sound is good.
Cons: If you dont have the remote in your hand, it takes a long time to turn down the volume if you want it down quickly with the knob.
When you change songs with the knob quickly, it freezes while the music is playing and it keeps playing but the deck turns off for a second and then turns back on, while still playing the music but you cant pause it, turn it up or down, or anything until it turns back on and dont know why it does that.

Good

Thing sounds good. Has TONS of options for the display. I like that if the sun hits it straight on, the color of the text goes away but it all turns a visible shade of gey so you can still read it. Sometime though, the sun hits it at just the right angle so that the glare makes it impossible to read anything. It's built very sturdy and came with a few extras in box like remote, and pouch thing for the face. Sounds nice, has some decent EQ control. I like that you can control the Subwoofer in dB. Does take a few seconds to start up, but what does a few seconds matter?

Great Deck

I order this deck 6 months ago and it's running strong sounds good and works well with subwoofers.

wow!!!!!

installed this in my car and immediately my sub hit TWICE AS HARD!!!! this head unit is incredible. has the coolest features of any deck ive had

Don't waste your cash!!!!

Pro's - It' looks cool, color changing and all.

Negatives - Broke within 5 months of use. The unit periodically shuts down, then the usb port began to be "touchy" after reading online reviews, a lot of people with similar problems in the cold. Then the usb port completly went out and wont even recognize my Ipod wich is the only reason I bought it in the first place!

Whatever good qualities I bought this unit for are negated because I can't play any music!

kenwood kdc-448u

It sounds like you have an amp hooked up; it has that much power.

Good

For the money, it's alright. You could expect it to be a little nicer maybe, but it does everything it needs to well. The only thing I HATE about it is how dim it is. Very hard to read in the light.

Grrreat head unit

3 band equalizer. Low pass filter for sub, high pass filter for door speakers. Lots of colors, super easy to use. What more could you want?

Good HU for the price point.

I ordered two of these units (one for myself and one for my neighbor) and installed them both the following week. It's been a little over 8 months and they are both still working great. Mine has been in two different vehicles and is now resting in a 1999 Integra powering four 6.5" speakers (Pioneer 4-ways in front and stock in back) very nicely. My neighbor's are in a stock F-150 and are serving his purpose of adding some "umph" quite well. The sub controls are above average and the HPF/LPF's are accurate and simple. Multiple pre-out's are nice and the remote is adequate, although barely functioning at present, the battery is on it's last leg already. Overall, quality for cheap. Nice looking display too.

Great value

Good stereo was in my girlfriends car and I ended up stealing it from her lol! Good stereo like the colors and sound it puts out

Great Player For The Price

I have always had Pioneer HU in my vehicles but I decided that I would try a Kenwood. It has many of the same features of my previous Pioneer except the equalizer adjustments are not as fine. With this Kenwood you can adjust bass mids and treble....that is it. Its nice that it does have a LPF and HPF built in. It has many different colors to choose from, I really like how you can customize the display screen with different text. I currently have this installed in an 2000 Yukon and it seems to work great

It's just okay.

This headunit isnt terrible, but its not great either. It really is just a "meh" reciever. I owned it for about a week and then returned. For the normal person who wants a radio in which they can connect their ipod to, its wonderful, but I was looking for something with a little more options, and usability.

Pros: Easiest head unit I may have ever used. Extremely User friendly. Worked great with the radio, ipod and cd's and everything. Colors are awesome to fool around with. HPF & LPF work great and have good options.

Cons: 3 band EQ with NO parameters, just +/-8 bass, middle, and treble without being able to change the hz that it is adjusting and q factors really limits the equalization, I was never able to really find a eq setting that i liked, MY UNIT WAS VERY GLITCHY, hopefully this was just mine and no one elses, but it would restart at least 3-4 times a DAY on me, whether I was trying to change an eq band, skip to the next song, run through the menu, or even just search through my ipod, it would just shut down for 10 seconds and reset itself.

Like I stated, I feel that my unit may have been semi defective with the restarting so often, but other than that, this head unit was okay, especially for the price, but it won't be extensive or crisp enough for someone who really really enjoys their music.

Always a Good Choice

I really like Kenwood receivers. It has all the options and is easy to set up. I would recommend to anyone building a stereo. Great value as well.

By Wally on February 1, 2020 Verified purchase