Kenwood KDC-W9537U

This is Kenwood’s top of the CD tuner pile. It bristles with cunning that doesn’t really show on the surface. The rotary controller can scroll and hit through all the menus and the device is easy to get at. It has an OEL (or OLED if you prefer) display which is capable of showing most any image you like and there’s even a website that the Kenny site describes thus:

‘Owners of the models incorporating the Display Customize function can access the special website link) to download desired wallpapers and movies, and display them on the CD receiver. This website also offers the specialized PC application “PICTURE ENGINE” so that a user downloading it can process JPEG and bitmap files into the desired display sizes and display them on the CD receiver.’

Since the images look so good, I can see this feature being a reason to buy. The specification is reference grade with a whopping 110dB signal to noise ratio and the unit will eat and use a slew of digital files. It has a 512mb of space in its heart for whatever your heart desires to store inside via USB or ripped clean off a CD. It has good connectivity and the fascia design is upmarket.

– 4 x 50w (MOSFET Power IC)
– Wolfson (British!) 24 Bit Digital to Analogue converter
– Three step angle-adjustable motorised removable faceplate plus code security
– 4,096 colour, 256 x 64 pixel Organic Electro Luminescent display (OLED) with full graphic user interface
– Attenuator with smooth volume return
– USB 1.1/2.0, interface, so you can have iPod or another mass-storage device connected
– CD- DA, R/RW, CD Text, Decodes WAV, MP3 (with ID3 tag), WMA and AAC digital files
– Supreme audio compensation technology to allow use of 64k and 96k bit rate recordings
– CD ripping function with 512mb internal memory
– Dual changer controls and dual zone output with source and volume control
– SRS WOW Digital (SR 3D/TruBass/Focus) & SRS WOW HDDigital
– Digital Time Alignment
– iPod USB Direct Connection with optional cable (KCA-iP200 or KCA-iP500)
– iPod Full Control/ iPod Video/ iPod Album Art
– Mini-jack AUX stereo input
– Front/rear/sub RCA out @ 5V
– System Q EX (HPF and LPF crossovers)
– Will control the (’02’06) Kenwood PowerSlide amplifiers
– Bluetooth handsfree with optional KCA-BT100 unit
– RC-547 remote control supplied
– 8dB boost or cut for bass mid and treble at 100Hz, 1kHz and 10kHz
– Dynamic range 93dB
– Signal to Noise Ratio 110dB

Review by Adam Rayner
For my money this unit has the prettiest and cleverest use of OEL yet. The thirteen-odd images that come up at the end of the demo sequence are just delicious and show stuff like tropical sunsets and a pile of peppers all colourful like a still life but with better resolution than a painting! The website where you can get the picture of your partner’s chest processed to put it on the display is not a new idea (JVC have done this for a while) but it is dead cool. Functionality is huge. You can set your system up with real world details like the shape of your cabin, be it car, van or big van, whatever. Plus you can dial in the sizes of your speakers front, rear and subwoofer, all by gorgeous graphical user interface in the centimetre size rating of your stuff. The DSP engine is a brute and can deal with time alignment as well a deal of user and Kenwood-designed DSP and EQ settings. It has a parametric 4-band EQ over and above the fully adjustable bass-mid-treble adjustment system.

It can rip CDs to its own 512mb memory and can also take this data from a USB gizmo or other device, happily digesting most of the digital file formats around. With Kenwood’s ‘Supreme’ technology it also is able to expand and enlarge the result from MP3 and other files. This is stated as being for space reasons, enabling more, lower resolution (bit rate) recordings to fit onto one disc.

The performance of the CD mechanism and associated gubbins itself is very high, with a dynamic output and a great 110dB signal to noise ratio that means high purity and clean sound with good detail retrieval. It does seem a bit sensitive to picking up transport noise but that is more than likely to be with my rig hanging on a battery and not being encapsulated in metal car body.

The whole package looks stunning with piano black and shiny chrome parts all adding up to one sexy bit of kit. Kenwood have really stonked out a badass desirable item with this one. There’s literally yards of data I could churn out to tell you all about the clever stuff this is packed with tighter than a Yankee fruit cake but it is on their website in columns and columns of lists of features. One small thing though, they do have a couple of errors upon it. The output IS 5V on the RCAs, despite one bit of their spec saying it was a preout level of 2500mV. The unit tells you itself on the wicked OEL (Er or OLED) demo mode sequence. I like this unit so much and consider it more than able to be called a reference-level bit of kit, so it is going to be used as the source unit for a massive test of around twenty pairs of six and a half inch speaker components.

In terms of pure fun and entertainment appeal, as well as function and quality, this is about as sexy as 1-DIN can get these days. Unreservedly a Talk Audio Best Buy rating!

Sound Quality 9.0
Appearance/Display 10.0
Ease Of Use/HMI 10.0
Features 9.0
Value For Money 8.0
Overall rating 9.2