Recently we bought an i10(about which I will post a review soon) and when it came to the car audio me and my wife did a little bit of market survey. We are music lovers but not the loud kinds and we travel maybe half an hour a day and longer on some weekends. We wanted something which would be pleasing to the ears, light to the pocket, sturdy and should play all mp3s. Internet search began to get a bit complicated for us as both of us are not from this field(I am a doc, wifey’s a MBA)!
So we decided to go with the dealer, according to him sales and lesser complaints wise pioneer was topper with sony and JVC lagging behind. Sony gave the background sounds more prominence whereas pioneer gives more emphasis on pure sounds which we felt was more soothing on the nerves. Adding to pioneer’s favor was the offer of head unit+ 4 door speakers(front 4 inch+ rear 6 inch) for 6200/-! Pioneer is marketed in India by Autocop and gives 2 year warranty with 1 year insurance free.
So we went for the pioneer DEH 2090MP which has an auxillary in but no USB port(But then we have a laptop and it doesnt take much to record a CD). It has rotary volume control and looks stylish enough in the i10. Its 1 week since we have been listening to it and its upto our mark. Mind you, of course its not the best, but then we dont want the best for our car where we dont even spend an hour a day!
I will keep you informed about any problems we would be facing(hope not! touch wood), but for now we feel that its a good player for your car if you want it to provide you with decent listening pleasure. Sound from both the FM and CDs is cystal clear with no distortions even at low volumes. The sounds are not that clear at very high volumes, but then we are not interested in making our car a public speaker system!