Sony MEX-1GP: The Next Generation of Car Audio players
For all of those MP3 music owners, the future of car audio and video is finally here for you. Gone are the days where you had to burn your MP3s onto a CD for playback in your car audio and video system. Sony recently released the MEX-1GP CD receiver, a CD receiver that also features a built-in 1 GB flash memory unit. So now your vehicle audio CD receiver behaves very much the same as the iPod or other kind of MP3 player. The 1 GB flash memory unit can store as much as 500 of your your favorite music, providing you with lots of playback time for your music. This little device can make even the longest of trips in your car smoother and more enjoyable, because you won’t have to worry about changing CDs any more.
Aside from playing MP3s, this CD receiver also plays CDs (as the name implies) along with burned CD-Rs and CD-RWs so that people who desire to play their old CDs can still take advantage of this nifty product. However, the actual attraction for this new car audio and video head unit may be the MP3 playability. The flash memory unit is found in the detachable faceplate. Here resides the USB port that allows you to connect the faceplate for your PC (much like your iPod or any other MP3 player). Once your faceplate is connected to your CD, you just drag and drop the MP3 files onto the flash memory unit of the faceplate. Unfortunately the faceplate is only compatible with Windows os’s, so all individuals Mac owners will have to see your buddy’s house to copy the MP3s to and from the Sony MEX-1GP.
The brand new receiver can also be great looking towards the eye too. It is finished inside a high-gloss black color and includes a 13-segment LCD display for straightforward navigation of track and title information. The screen displays album, artist and track name when playing your MP3 music files. Users can shuffle or repeat tracks, albums or personalized groups through controls about the faceplate or with the supplied remote control. The MEX-1GP unit includes a built-in 208-watt power amplifier and a three-band equalizer enabling clear, rich sound. The selectable rear/subwoofer preamp outputs, controls the regularity and output level of another amplifier.
After installing this receiver and experiencing it for any little on the week, I must say that I am quite impressed with this particular product. For just one, the quality of sound when playing MP3s through this unit is certainly not less than phenomenal. If you didn’t know much better, you would think that you simply were playing a CD with the crisp and clear playback quality of this head unit. On a trip on the three hour road trip (three hours each way, six hours total) I was able to pay attention to one choice of songs on the way up and an entirely different choice of songs on the way back, all without the headache of changing CDs and enduring a pause in play. I’m slightly surprised it took such a long time for a product such as this hitting the market, especially with the increasing popularity of portable MP3 devices such as the iPod during the last many years. Although it may take awhile for any product like this to hit the marketplace, I’m certain Sony may have lots of competitors very soon, which will benefit car audio and video enthusiasts like myself.