| sony Cdx M9900 the Unit
We picked a head unit from Sony's lineup and took it for a ride. Our criteria for the choice wasn't particularly stringent. We wanted a head unit that looked middling-upscale with a correspondent price, settling on the Xplod AM/FM/CD CDX-M9900. Installation was straightforward, after we bought a couple of universal wiring harnesses from a local 12-volt dealer that allowed a quick-click connection of the head unit into our truck's sound system. After installing the CDX-M9900, set up of the date and time was easy, via the Menu button on the head unit and navigating the simple menu. Then, we set the radio station presets and sat back to get a first impression of the unit.
If you look at many of the head units on the market, you can spot the ones that are designed to appeal to the bling-bling sensibility of a significant number of car audio consumers. Even the simple styling and refined lines of the high-end models targeted at the moneyed (older) class still sparkle with faux-billet cladding. But, some of us appreciate the stylish functionality of a head unit designed with clean lines and understated visual cues. The CDX-M9900's gray face blends in well with a stock, dark-gray dashboard, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't stand out. Rounded corners frame a prominent TLT display that beams a variety of cool-looking static and dynamic images in addition to functional alphanumeric text. Two large control knobs flank the sparse population of smaller-sized buttons on the faceplate. At night, the unit disappears behind the muted glow that highlights the knobs and buttons in a rich red that's reminiscent of the color in Sony's Xplod logo.
There is no detachable face for the CDX-M9900, a drawback for those who take comfort in hiding their pricey radio in plain sight of thieves. The unit does come with a black, plastic cover that obscures the unit moderately well, but its swoopy shape is probably as effective at drawing attention away from itself as a giggling three-year-old standing behind a lamp post during a game of hide-and-seek.
Learning the basic functions of this head unit, such as finding favorite radio stations or jumping from track to track on a CD, didn't take very long. Turning the tuner knob on the head unit only tunes from one preset station to another, unless you press Menu to trigger a frequency-to-frequency search. But, if you're an incessant channel-surfer or want to mine the multiple strata of functions on this unit, such as during a long, dull commute, then you better wait for the stop lights before you start tweaking knobs, or you can simply grab the remote and have at it.
Let's touch on a few of the more interesting CDX-M9900's features. A neat, but unique, feature is the ability to adjust the highpass and lowpass filters to better match the capabilities of your vehicle's sound system, switching, in the case of this unit, from cut-off frequencies of 78 and 125Hz. BBE MP processing warms the sound of coldly compact MP3. Dynamic Soundstage Organizer electronically raises the imaging of the speakers, bringing the sound of the stereo up from the footwells or doors and closer to the listener's head. The head unit is XM Satellite-ready, and acts as a controller for CD and MiniDisc changers, and is compatible with components that rely on Memory Stick.
The CDX-M9900 sounds great. But what stands out the most is what amounts to a small, TLT video monitor on its faceplate, particularly when you compare it to head units from other makers that are priced within $100 of the M9900. The full-color display offers visual experiences that vary from, oddly enough, baseball footage, to the ability to load and display as many as 100 photos, view video feeds, or even dipslay PlayStation 2 carnage. Users can select skins, the color of text characters, the speed at which the images change or move, panorama-sized images, nine aspect ratios, and more. Granted, the display is somewhat gimmicky in that, compared to a full-blown video monitor, its small size probably discourages people from doing more than showing off pictures of their pets or short video clips of them drag racing down the street. That said, it looks a heck of lot better than the displays on comparable products.
All in all, Sony's CDX-M9900 is a very good product. Whether or not the $650 price tag is worth it is up to you. But, considering that you would be paying for solid audio performance, eye-catching and full-featured video that is, albeit, better suited for a flip-out monitor, and chilled out design, this head unit is a solid piece of equipment.
