CDE-HD137BT - Alpine In-Dash 1DIN CD/MP3/USB Receiver with Bluetooth and HD Radio
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Product Feature
- CD receiver with AM/FM tuner featuring 12 FM memory presets and six AM.
- Built-in MOSFET amplifier (18 watts RMS CEA-2006/50 peak x 4 channels)
- Built-in Bluetooth for hands-free calling and audio streaming
- Built-in HD Radio tuner
- Pandora® playback via iPhone, Android and BlackBerry
Product Description
CDE-HD137BT - Alpine In-Dash 1DIN CD/MP3/USB Receiver with Bluetooth and HD Radio Review
TLDR; Pros: Excellent sound (even better with external amplification), lots of features for the price, hands free phone function, easy folder navigation, Pandora interface, quality feel, no constant music driven graphicsCons: USB playback folder/file limitations, could use just a tiny bit more oomph
Bottom line: WELL WORTH THE MONEY!
I bought my first Alpine head unit (CDA-7894) back in 2002 when I had just purchased my new 2002 Ford Escort ZX2. The quality of sound, the sound shaping functions, and the longevity of the product made me an Alpine fan for life. I used the 7894 for 9 years in various vehicles until it was traded in with one of them.
When I bought my new (to me) econo-car (97 Escort for $800), the radio was a defunct Sony XPLOD that would only play AM radio. Because of my past experience with Alpine, I began to research their newer models. I was looking for something that would be a great bang for the buck while giving me modern features such as Bluetooth streaming (so I could make phone calls and play music), HD radio, and easy access to alternative inputs. It wasn't difficult to find the CDE-ED137BT shine out over the others. For the price, it is loaded with lots of goodies that make you wonder how anyone in their right mind would spend the same amount on inferior brands (Wal-mart stereo shoppers, I'm looking at you).
Obviously I ordered it (would be a much shorter/presumptuous review if I hadn't) and installed it. I had upgraded the stock speakers with this installation as well with some Kenwoods (for a basic, inexpensive upgrade from stock speakers). In fronts I got KFC-1664S and for the rears I got KFC-C6894PS (again, not great, but economical and much better than stock). I also have an Alpine Type-R 10" sub paired with an Alpine MRP-M500 amp (both of which I have had and used with the 7894) plugged in and sitting in the trunk. So now that I have it all installed, let me run through my checklist:
Stereo installed - check
Speakers upgraded - check
Sub and amp installed - check
Android phone (Samsung Exhibit II) - check
I turn the key and start the car. Of course the first thing you hear is the FM radio tuned to 88.7, which is static. The familiar face layout makes it easy to find my way around it, with the source/power button glowing and easy to find with a glance. I notice that everything about the unit feels to be better quality than my 7894, which is odd because this one cost me 1/3 the price of the 7894. Either way, the layout is the same: control button quad on the left, selector knob to the right of it, sharp display to the right of that and your multifuntion/preset buttons along the bottom. Although, I am used to the face that you could angle, which proved handy when the sun would sometimes glare off the shiny display. Since the CD feeds along the top (and not from inside the unit, behind the head like the 7894), I will not have the luxury of deflecting randoms sun glares, but since I am a capable being that can simply move my head elsewhere, I won't count this against it at all. I do notice a couple extra buttons hugging the left edge of the selector knob. A phone, audio, and back button. The back button and it's location makes all the difference in navigating through the various menus.
So I go tune to local station and the first one it picks up is the local NPR station in HD. The multicast of the NPR station (or HD2) is playing some jazz with sax and bass. Perfect. I toy with the tone controls, setting the bass, mid and treble up and down. I have to get out to adjust the amp settings for the sub, but once they are set I am able to tweak the subwoofer level easily with a single push of a button and twisting the knob. I push and hold the audio button and it gets me into the settings menu which allows me to tweak various aspects of the unit, including customized EQ settings for each source. That means I can have the bass curve bandwidth wider for the radio, and narrow for the CD or Bluetooth. [This is also true for the high and low pass filters (HPF/LPF) for each setting.] A very nice feature, but can be a bit bothersome for those who don't want to put the time into tweaking each source to sound it's best. I welcome the feature, but was unaware of it and even called my phone a dirty name for having inferior sound from it's headphone jack when it was really because I had not tweaked the sound yet for the AUX input. When all is said and done, after happily experimenting with different configurations I find a good EQ mix for the radio. The bass was warm and smooth without being murky. The highs were as crisp as they could be with the Kenwoods, but I felt that the speakers were hindering in my ability to truly find the high's that I wanted (perhaps some tweeters or a set of Inifinity's will help). Either way, it was a clear, vibrant sound. As I turned the volume up more and more, there was little noise and distortion. Very, very nice!
Alright, it's time to try the Bluetooth streaming. Pairing my phone with it was easy, as all I had to do was find it and hit "Pair". So far so good. I can control playing from the stereo so I don't have to reach down and unlock my phone each time I want to skip to the next track (though I have not tried to navigate through my phone's music via the unit, and I'm not sure if that is possible). Stream quality is pretty good though. There seems to be little evidence of digital artifacts. I tweak the sound a bit (but probably not as much as I should have) and play Linkin Park's "Lying From You", which is one song I use to test most system's ability to push loud and heavy sound. (Don't judge! It has a very deep and large bass bellow throughout the song that really make turns the sub into a body massager.) The expected bass "drop" did not produce the desired effects though. Instead of the large boom that was expected, it sounded like it lacked a bit. [I later chalk this up as not having the settings right on the amp and the EQ.] I continue with a few other various songs (Project 86, August Burns Red, etc) and the sound quality is still great. But the sound begins to skip, and cut out after a bit. I don't know whether it is the unit, or the lower-mid range smartphone to blame for it at this point, but I find it sadly unacceptable. I try the AUX jack, but like I said earlier, was not aware that sound settings are not universal throughtout sources, and declared my phone dead to me as a music player in the car (mostly).
I decide to give the USB terminal a try. I get a 16GB stick and load it up with some various folders of artists. I open the cover (which flips easily to the right) and plug it in. It takes a couple seconds for it to read all the contents, but it isn't long before music starts beaming out of the speakers again. It's at this point I realize each source has it's own EQ and I once again, tweak tweak tweak (fun fun fun!). Once I find a good mix, I once again give the Linkin Park song a try, and this time with much better results. A nice, clean BOOOOMMMM resonates through the car without a hint of distortion. The rest of the song kicks up pushing a barrage of guitar and more booms through. Clean and clear, still with no distortion. Alright then... let's turn this up a bit more... it's still clear... more.... clear... more... my ears are almost bleeding and the sound is still clear and clean. VERY nicely done for a head unit without external amplification for the mains. Pushing the selector knob allows you select between a folder and file search, which is surprisingly easy to navigate with. I take some time to format an external hard drive to FAT32 and load my music collection onto it. When I bring it out to the car, I realize that there is a limitation to how many folders and files that the unit will load (100 folders with 100 songs in each folder). This cramps my "entire music library, never have to worry about whether I have a song with me or not" vision badly. It's very frustrating. I then find myself trying to weed out stuff that I really may not want to listen to in the car anyway and re-arranging files within artist's folders to minimize folders within folders (since it would work against my count). A couple hours later I finally have widdled the library down to 99 folders (plus random songs in the root of the drive, which counts as a folder). In all of this craziness I did find that you don't have to separate the files into folders by album in order to listen to the album in order (it makes getting to the album a bit more work with the search knob, but it's easy enough where it shouldn't bother you too much) ***See Update Below***. By doing this is makes it easier to play all songs by one artist at random (since your random options are "Folder" and "All"), and you free up precious folders. Though, if the artist have more than 100 songs, you may find yourself making 2 folders for the artist (1 for albums A-M, 2 for N-Z or however you want). Either way, the prospects of having so much music available so easily really blew my mind as much as it did when I was able to make MP3 CDs for my 7894 (making CD changes a lot less frequent). Within the setup options, though, there is a selection for "FW UPDATE", which gives me hope that they could possibly expand the amount of folders/files detectable with a firmware update. Until then, I will enjoy my ability to easily access more music, more easily than I ever have before. Switching between the HD Radio and USB sources, I found that there was quite a difference in the sound level (almost ruined a pair of jeans the level was so drastic). Further digging into the settings, there is an option to raise or lower the level of each source, so you have smooth transitions between them without a sudden, jarring wall of sound.
The Pandora interface was really great. I do not use Pandora a lot (mostly on my TV through the home stereo), but for the sake of the feature, I gave it another go. I downloaded it on my phone and logged in. I played with it for a little bit and liked how I could "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" a song from the stereo. The stream quality, however, was not great so I stopped playing with it, as I satisfied my curiosity of the interface (this is not at fault of the unit, as much as it is the phone and data connection). I would say that if you do you Pandora, and have a decent enough phone and data connection, then this would be a very nice option for you.
I did not try making a call to an actual person yet to test the quality of microphone, but my call to my voicemail was clear and smooth. There is an option to download your phonebook as well. I have read somewhere that you can somehow speak a number to dial, or a contact name and it will dial it, but I haven't tried this feature yet.
A couple features I do miss from the 7894 is the Mediaexpander (MX), and the 4 channel digital time correction feature (Bass focus). While there is a loudness feature, I found it to make the sound too murky and compressed. With the MX, I was able to adjust the level of "loudness" that I wanted, making it a viable option to boost the sound without over baking it. The "Bass Focus" (as the display called it when adjusting it) really make a big difference in how the sound reached your ears but allowing you to adjust the delay of the signal (in miliseconds) to the different speakers. This way you could tailor the sound to whatever vehicle it was in and get the most out of your sound.
Altogether, I find this to be a great deal for the money. It has it's little quirks, but each system will. I look forward to enjoying this unit for a long time as much as I did my last one. I do intend to epxand this unit with KTP-445U which will give it an extra punch and handle the amplification, leaving the unit to focus on playing my music. Well done, Alpine.
***UPDATE***: After having the system for a while now, I can still say that I am very pleased with it! The phone feature is very easy to use, and quite clear. The voice dial system has been hit or miss, but I have not experimented with it too much. I use either the HD radio, or the USB audio the most with this unit.
One annoyance I have found with the USB playback is the folder/file order system. The order of folders/files is determined by the modification date of the folder/file, rather than alphanumeric. For instance, if you add a new folder, "August Burns Red", to a hard drive that already has 66 folders on it, it will be folder 67. It also means that if you pre-assemble folders to copy to an external drive (with all songs from one artist in one folder), then your files will be in alphanumeric order order according to the file name (since Windows usually copies in alphanumeric order.) A file managment system based on the artist/album would be much easier to deal with, and would reduce a lot of headaches of having to completely redo a hard drive's worth of music to add one album in proper order. To me, this truly is the bane of this unit. However, I still find it well worth the money. A lot of function for the price...just a little bit of awkward execution.
5/10/13 UPDATE -- I have recently moved the system from the 97 Escort into a 2000 Escort ZX2 which seems to have a bit better acoustics. I have already had the unit paired with a sub configuration consisting of an Alpine MRP-M500 mono subwoofer amp and an Alpine R-Type 10 woofer, which has worked great for pumping out the lows that the basic Kenwood speaker upgrades simple cannot deliver.
I decided to try to see if I could really tap this unit's potential, and added a Power Acoustik BAMF 1600/4 amp into the mix to power the main speakers (not my first choice in amps. Would have gone Alpine but I got this brand new and cheap from a member on a car forum, so I figured I would give it a shot.) After getting everything installed it took a little bit of time to "re-tune" all the EQ settings for each input and to set the levels on the amp(s) so everything would work in harmony (no pun intended,) but it was well worth it. When the unit is left to simply focus sound quality (leaving the amplification to a separate amp) it REALLY begins to shine even more. Clear, distint sound that is a pleasure to listen to. The extra oomph from the amp really allows you to hear the clarity that the Alpine can deliver past it's internal amp circuits.
I have used the phone feature on multiple occasions and am pleased with it. The call sound is clear and callers have not complained about any excessive noise or an inability to hear me. It is really one of the features I bought the unit for and it works great.
Although I do find myself wishing for the digital time correction feature from my last Alpine, I am VERY satisfied with how this headunit has constantly given nothing but incredible performance for the price.
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