Dual XD642W In-Dash CD/MP3/WMA Receiver Review

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(More customer reviews)I have tested four car receivers that are currently on the market: two Duals (including this one), a Sony with their add-on HD unit, and a JVC with built in HD. If you are looking for the best audio you can get with mediocre speakers, the Duals in general, excel, and this one tops the list in many ways. Of particular note is the audio quality of the AM receiver. It is nearly hi-fi and barely diminished from the quality of the FM audio! That kind of performance is nearly impossible to find on today's aftermarket receivers, but being a Dual it's not quite as surprising.
The weather band is very well designed. You are able to tune all seven channels either manually, or you can use the presets with seven of the buttons on the right side corresponding to each channel. The actual frequencies are displayed, and sensitivity on this band is comparable with the best quality weather radios made. (Why the weatherband is not standard on ALL factory and aftermarket car receivers, by this point in time, is beyond me.)
However, the receiver has a few obvious drawbacks, one or two of which are "fatal" and the reason why I have decided not to keep this receiver in my car. First and foremost is the display. It is white florescent and VERY bright because the entire display is illuminated. This is wonderful during daylight hours and it can be read even in the brightest sunlight. But Dual has (foolishly!) not designed headlight switched dimmer capability in any of their receivers. If there is any receiver in their lineup that absolutely requires it, this is the model (and a couple others that use the same chassis). The display is so bright at night, I considered it a safety hazard. It is difficult enough to see objects outside of your headlights' direct aim without this "moonbeam" shining from your dashboard. Also, unlike models up the Dual line, the clock cannot be given priority in the display. You can only read it momentarily, which makes the whole clock function largely useless.
FM selectivity is also lacking compared to units farther up in the Dual line (namely their HD models). Why they didn't use 150 kHz FM IF filters is beyond me, because my experiments revealed that such filters produced the same FM selectivity and performance in this radio as in their HD radios. And, in spite of brilliant AM audio, AM sensitivity is noticeably lacking, too, particularly with very weak stations in the upper end of the band. I was able to receive "talking house" - powered AM stations TWICE as far with the Sony and JVC models than with this model. There is no excuse for this kind of weak AM performance and Dual needs to correct it in succeeding manufacturing runs.

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