Group test: In-car CD tuners pt2

Overview Price: £200 More info: Alpine Claimed power: 4x50W Bluetooth: Needs KCE-300BT Bluetooth Interface - TSP £100 iPod: Yes - KCE-422i adapter cable supplied USB socket: Yes -compatible with memory stick/drives Formats: CD Text MP3/WMA/AAC Remote control: RUE-4202 - £20 Alpine CDE-9882Ri This is one of Alpine's latest releases and, in common with many other units, has a fashionably large rotary/tilting control and Alpine's iconic glowing square preset buttons in blue against the bright red illumination around the main control. The button lighting can also be changed to red and there is a 9882R model with a green and amber combination but as yet there are no plans to release it in the UK. An iPod lead is supplied as standard and is connected to a data-bus socket leaving the USB socket free for other devices. The iPod address-ability is very slick and, like most iPod-friendly units, includes both charging and a manufacturer's logo display on the iPod while connected. Using the USB socket with a memory dongle playing WMA MP3 files sounded slightly warmer and more rounded than its rivals. The Alpine has good power, being almost as strong as the commendably loud Pioneer, and it shares with Kenwood the least distortion at high volumes but knocks the Kenny into second place by achieving this result and going slightly louder. Its ability to resolve detail of massed instruments at high volumes was marginally ahead of the rest too. Verdict Plus points Appearance, build and sound quality. It doesn't automatically divert to any external feeds when they are plugged in, giving the user the choice of staying with the source being played Minus points The iPod performance and music search is one of the fastest, but more LCD resolution or continuous scrolling of the one-line display would be nice

Overview Price: £200 More info: JVC Claimed power: 4x50W Bluetooth: Needs KS-BTA200 adaptor £130 iPod: No - Needs JVC KS-PD100 iPod Interface £50 USB socket: Yes, compatible with memory stick drives and some HDDs Formats: CD Audio MP3/WMA/AAC plus CD Text Remote control: Standard equipment JVC KD-G731 More showy than the rest with a bright silver finish and large main display characters but with only eight for titling the user has to rely on scrolling to get folder and title information. Like the Kenwood, the JVC annoyingly scrolls a demo mode but this is easy to defeat by selecting 'off' in the menu accessed by holding down the 'Select' button. It's the only head unit tested that has a USB socket on the front panel - ideal for small MP3 players with a USB plug and memory dongles. For those who want a full iPod/charging interface, this plugs into the changer socket on the back leaving the USB socket ready for action with any other audio storage devices. It also has interfaces available for aux/line-in audio inputs for simple jack-plug connections. Other useful options for the JVC include a DAB digital tuner interface KT-DB1000, which also plugs into the back of the set. The retail price is £130 but to get the best from it, a proper glass-mount mast-style antenna will be needed. One of the best available is a (non-glass fitment) replacement FM/DAB roof aerial HIT AUTA 16 V DAB made by Hirschmann. Unlike the others, it also has the simplicity of ejecting the disc when the front panel is opened. Also simpler than most are the tone controls with a high/mid/low adjustment without extensive filtering choices. Subwoofer level control is provided and it has full external amplifier outputs (3x stereo). A choice of tone profiles, Jazz, Rock etcetera, are available including a user set-able mode. Sound-wise it's little more powerful than the Kenwood but the extra volume was unfortunately tinged with the most distorted sound of the group when pushed to extremes. The JVC could be considered to be sonically the worst of the bunch, but a tribute to the high standards in this price band is that lots of aural nit-picking was made against a more than adequate performance in its class.

Verdict Plus points Good sound quality from most compressed music. DAB tuner conveniently interfaces to the set and offers excellent performance and value Minus points A bit plasticky with less sophisticated lighting and display compared to some of the latest sets

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