Opinions on the Kenwood DNX693S ?

[Guru Woodman]

I am about to pull the trigger on a Kenwood DNX693S.

It looks like a nice head unit. It does not do Android Auto, but that is not important to me. It does support Apple Carplay and iDatalink Maestro RR
I gave it a go in the shop and the screen is responsive and the menu's straight forward, unlike previous units I tried and purchased.

Anybody else have this unit? Any opinions?

[Guru Woodman]

I ordered one of these units along with a backup camera and the goodies for an easy install.

Thanks for the input guys !

[FNCrazy]

I wanted badly to go with Kenwood. I ended up with a Pioneer 4100NEX instead. Unlike you, Android Auto was something I definitely wanted, so that ruled out most Kenwoods, but I don't need most, just one. I tried out a couple, even a couple more that didn't have AA, because it was weird. Maybe it was just these ones, but I noticed the touchscreen was much harder to use than Pioneer's. It often took a lot of effort to get it to recognize touch commands, scrolling, etc.

Again, that's semi off topic, since it doesn't specifically pertain to your model #. Just the experience I've had this last month with finding and getting a head unit installed. And this is coming from someone that's never had anything except Kenwood Excelon head units installed in all vehicles.

Just couldn't do it this time because of the touchscreen thing. Okay, I'm rambling again, sorry. But to be a bit more clear, I know there's two different kinds of touch screens. The cheap kind is the one my Pioneer and the Kenwoods I used have. They're more susceptible to touch problems and even sun glare (that's why mine can rotate to reduce sun glare. I don't know your specific model #, it may be one with the more expensive touch screen style (again, can't remember it's name), so then it probably wouldn't be an issue. Hopefully it won't be an issue either way for you. Good luck, and let us know how it works!

I thought about getting the idatalink really hard, but if memory serves, a lot of the functions didn't work on our car? Or they did and I just didn't want to spend the money? I'm not sure, I can't remember. It seemed awfully damn cool though! Still might buy it at some point.

Let us know what you get and how it works for you!

[FNCrazy]

Okay, more of my opinion, as if you haven't gotten sick of it already!

I looked up that model, and it has "resistive" touchscreen, which I'm almost positive is the good one, so you probably won't have any problem with the screen. So that's awesome.

Also, for what it's worth, I absolutely love the Garmin GPS that the Kenwood comes with. Best I've used. Mine was a bunch cheaper, so it works with my phone, and for Nav it uses Google Maps on my phone through bluetooth to display directions and turn by turn voice, all that stuff. So technically it's not a full on Nav head unit. Needs my phone. Which, I've had medically attached to me, so that's not too much of a problem.

Good choice it looks like!

I'm kind of a car audio junkie. What else are you putting in your system? Just the head unit? If so, you've got pretty decent power and setup controls directly through your head unit, if you don't get an amp and speakers.

One thing I like about mine, the way I had it installed anyway, and don't tell anyone, cause it's illegal. Mine let's you watch movies, etc. But only when the parking brake is on. I removed that "feature" so it will play whenever you want. My son was happy when he got to watch a movie on a trip.

Of course, and honestly, not just joking, I would never watch while I was driving. I did it strictly to give him something to do while driving.

[Guru Woodman]

lol: I was typing this while you were typing your second post...

Yes, I know what you mean regarding the kenwood touch screens. I have an older unit and it is horrible tbh, but my wife doesn't seem to mind. I was reluctant to go the kenwood route again and seriously considered a Pioneer. But after playing with the unit at the dealer I was quite impressed with the improvements.
They use a new type of screen now called a Clear Resistive Panel and it is crisp and responsive, at least during the demo. The unit now runs Linux and it seems miles ahead of the old OS they had in the past.

I am still on the fence as far as the iDatalink. It shows a bunch of user selectable gauges and you can read/reset check engine codes. The last option is not important to me because I have a BlueDriver unit.
I also ordered a Rydeen Duo backup camera. The head unit support two camera inputs (front and rear) but one is enough for now.
I also ordered a wiring harnas and a dash kit to make installation easy. I will probably do the parking brake wire trick so I can access the backup camera while driving (just because it's possible). I doubt I will be watching dvd's on the unit.

I am leaving the speakers and amp stock for now, mostly because I can't afford a speaker upgrade for now. I am going to see how it all works and maybe update in the future if the sound quality is not to my liking.

As for the navigation, I don't mind Garmin (but prefer TT) but the unit supports Apple Maps. It relies on your phone reception and it uses data. That is why I prefer a unit with built in nav (as a backup). Data usage can be in issue when traveling in another country and I don't always have a good cell reception where I live.

The DNX693s is Apple Carplay only but the 893s has a bigger screen and supports Android Auto.

So yeah, I am pretty happy with my decision and can't wait to get it, probably next week.

[FNCrazy]

Even without the amp or new speakers, it still should sound better, especially since your head unit has a decent array of digital sound processing abilities that you can set.

Are you having it professionally installed? If so, make sure they tweak all those settings before they're done.

If you're doing it, it has time alignment, so the sound from each speaker hits your location at the exact same time, instead of rear speakers being slightly slower, dash faster, passenger side slower, etc. Geek stuff I know, and not incredibly important on this small of a car.

You can set the car type, speaker sizes, locations, etc. so it does a little of it's own processing.

Also, maybe the most important thing, it has it's own crossovers. This makes it so you can set which frequencies each speaker attempts to play. For instance, we don't have any particularly good speakers at bass, so you would cut off the signal for deep bass so your door woofers don't try to play what they can't. Then, same goes for the others, like you don't want your tweeter trying to play anything except high range. Unfortunately, the crossovers I know the least about.

Okay, now after looking at these newest Excelons, I want the DNX773S with Android Auto! A little early to switch out I guess, since I've only had mine a week. Oh well, we'll see how Pioneer does!

[Guru Woodman]

No, I am just going to do the installation myself. It will be pretty straight forward I would think.

Thanks for the tips on the settings. I will look into it. Maybe I can find someones preferred setting for this specific car online.
I am a bit of an audiophile but I usually keep it simple when it comes to cars. There is too much ambient noise to fully enjoy music.

[FNCrazy]

How do you play your music? Bluetooth? Corded i - whatever? CD?

All we know is.... He's called The Stig

[Guru Woodman]

Originally Posted by FNCrazy

How do you play your music? Bluetooth? Corded i - whatever? CD?

I now use bluetooth to stream music to my stock head unit. I tried the same on the new Kenwood in the shop and it worked fine. But I also tried using Carplay (comparable to Android auto) and I love it. It uses a wired USB connection. So I will probably do that in the future. It has been a while since I have used a CD in a car.

[FNCrazy]

Originally Posted by Norville Rogers

One word in three made sense....

Hmmm...Not sure if you're joking, being funny, being sarcastic, or just mean. Anyway, yes I know I ramble. I apologize.

Originally Posted by Guru Woodman

I now use bluetooth to stream music to my stock head unit. I tried the same on the new Kenwood in the shop and it worked fine. But I also tried using Carplay (comparable to Android auto) and I love it. It uses a wired USB connection. So I will probably do that in the future. It has been a while since I have used a CD in a car.

I was going to say, as much as I love the simplicity of bluetooth, the sound quality out of each of these ways is unfortunately the worst. Corded is better, CD is obviously better, but what I'm going to try is copying all my music onto a MicroSD card and using that. I'm thinking that should preserve the quality of the recordings I have (good and bad quality). Just a hunch, so I figure I'll give it a whirl. Then I don't have to worry about cording up every time either.

[Guru Woodman]

I was going to say, as much as I love the simplicity of bluetooth, the sound quality out of each of these ways is unfortunately the worst. Corded is better, CD is obviously better, but what I'm going to try is copying all my music onto a MicroSD card and using that. I'm thinking that should preserve the quality of the recordings I have (good and bad quality). Just a hunch, so I figure I'll give it a whirl. Then I don't have to worry about cording up every time either.

I beg to differ as far as bluetooth in concerned. It's digital media, one's and zero's. If you stream music, it receives the file and plays it or it does not. Wireless or corded doesn't matter.
I actually had a comparable discussion with my 'audio guy' and stated the same about bluetooth. The quality of the file recording (bitrate or format) does matter. Compression of the music files (like the mp3 format) makes the file smaller but cuts of highs and lows which will influences the quality of the music.
That is why I was quite pleased to see that CarPlay also support VOX, a media player that supports FLAC. This audio format is not compressed and give you the full (cd) quality. And I have a collection of FLAC files.

Note to reader: Only one word in three will make sense..

[FNCrazy]

Originally Posted by Norville Rogers

First with a bit of third and fourth.

That's okay, just not too mean. I have people for that already.

[FNCrazy]

Originally Posted by Guru Woodman

I beg to differ as far as bluetooth in concerned. It's digital media, one's and zero's. If you stream music, it receives the file and plays it or it does not. Wireless or corded doesn't matter.
I actually had a comparable discussion with my 'audio guy' and stated the same about bluetooth. The quality of the file recording (bitrate or format) does matter. Compression of the music files (like the mp3 format) makes the file smaller but cuts of highs and lows which will influences the quality of the music.
That is why I was quite pleased to see that CarPlay also support VOX, a media player that supports FLAC. This audio format is not compressed and give you the full (cd) quality. And I have a collection of FLAC files.

Note to reader: Only one word in three will make sense..

I understood every word! I love the fact that it has FLAC, but a few years ago, when FLAC wasn't widely supported, I just said screw it, and converted them out of FLAC. Or else I would definitely go that way.

The bluetooth thing. Um, I guess I don't know enough about it. I'd heard from various people (which who, and their level of actual knowledge vs. bullshit is unknown at this point), that the bandwidth isn't there for bluetooth to properly render music without it being compressed further. That very well could be untrue. Hopefully it is, I think I'll research it.

Now I need to find a way to convert backwards to FLAC!

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Guru Woodman

I beg to differ as far as bluetooth in concerned. It's digital media, one's and zero's. If you stream music, it receives the file and plays it or it does not. Wireless or corded doesn't matter.

Originally Posted by FNCrazy

The bluetooth thing. Um, I guess I don't know enough about it. I'd heard from various people (which who, and their level of actual knowledge vs. bullshit is unknown at this point), that the bandwidth isn't there for bluetooth to properly render music without it being compressed further. That very well could be untrue. Hopefully it is, I think I'll research it.

Yes Bluetooth is ones and zeros but remember it is not transmitting digital data directly from the song file and then interpreting it into music, it is taking the sound wave produced by the player, resampling it, and transmitting the sound to the player. So, in theory at least, you are getting a sampled version of a sampled, compressed version of the song.

Also, the amount of bandwidth matters. BT has a maximum throughput of 50Mbit/s IF you are using version 5. Most audio devices I believe still use version 3 which is limited to 25Mbit/s.

I explain it like watching Netflix on a slow Internet connection. Yes the 1s and 0s get through but you aren't going to receive enough of them to get HD. You might if you are lucky get SD.

Now, I say all this from a technical prospective. From a practical prospective I personally can't tell the difference, but the rest of my family (all who are musicians and two who make part of their living in music) can.