Clarion DXZ388RUSB

Single DIN sized CD receiver with front mounted USB and Auxiliary input sockets. Reads MP3 (with ID3 tag system) WMA and AAC files and has Clarion Ce-Net control for use with multimedia products such as CD  changers and TV tuners. USB connection for use with iPod part of the Made For iPod recognition scheme. USB and microjack sockets are hidden under a rubbery lid that opens on an articulated hinge. White FL display, complete with battery-supplied Infra-red remote control.
– 4 x 50w (4x19w RMS)
– Detachable control panel with hard case
– Clarion Z-Enhancer preset EQ booster options, including a custom setting
– CD/USB/MP3/WMA/AAC playback
– RDS equipped FM tuner, also MW & LW
– 1 USB input
– 1 Microjack input
– 3 pairs RCA Out
– Subwoofer RCA output has +/-6 volume output control from headunit
– Magna Bass Extend function which ’emphasises the deep bass frequencies’
– Bluetooth hands free with optional BLT583 unit
– 13 button RCB-176 control supplied
– Lowpass crossover settable at 50Hz, 80Hz or 120Hz or ‘Through’ ( = off)
– Highpass crossover settable at 120Hz only, or ‘Through’ ( = off)
– OEM remote control ready
– Signal to Noise Ratio 100dB
– Dynamic range 80dB
Review by Adam Rayner
The Clarion DXZ388RUSB is a well equipped piece of kit. It can read all the file types that matter and has a lovely feel of solidity and quality to the machine. All buttons have pleasantly clicky breakout forces you can feel them being used rather than their being all mushy and you are not certain they have been pressed.
The back of the deck has the right plug holes in the shape of the still-useful and was years-ahead-of-its-time Clarion Ce-Net. It can do a few different things, many of which are obviated by use of an iPod or a USB stick. I tried the unit on CD with a known audiophile disk and discovered that the basic mechanism is a significant chunk better quality in performance than of even a couple of years ago. The signal to noise ratio of 100dB may not impress mad-end HiFi fans yet the 96dB you would normally get at best at this sort of price point is well exceeded.
And it’s worth it as of course the ‘real’ story is not how many CD’s you can carry about but rather how much music. And the Digital To Analogue converters (not that we are told which sort they are) are what is going to decode the stuff from USB and iPod, so it all matters like hell.
I listened to Adele over and over on my computer’s Diamond Audio aftermarket 2.1 system on both iPod AAC file format and the highest pig-for-space WMA full resolution versions and found the difference to be relatively minor unless you have this sort of well produced material to listen to. That said, I personally prefer the full resolution WMA to the AAC sound by a chalk and cheese level of preference and I could hear the same fidelity-of-file differences between the same song off the iPod hooked into the DXZ388RUSB as well as lossless WMA from a freshly emptied and re-used 2GB stick I filched out of a Navteq PR information stick.
All of which serves to show what astonishing sound quality the Clarion deck can muster. It has way better exclusion of CD transport noise than many decks in its class (I recently had a Blaupunkt that was so full of squirty transport noises in its badly-hooked up RCA converter thingies as to be close to unlistenable for a fussy git like me.)
The whole feel of the sound and the look belies its lowish cost. Yes, it has a relatively low-bling ordinary FL display so if flashing lights are more your thing than sonic performance then it’ll be another deck for you rather than this one.
The only real down check was the inevitable issue of how the music files are pulled off an iPod. Like so many, if you really want full list-flinging wonders, you’ll need a higher spec unit as navigating through files and folders can be a little convoluted versus simple menu access on your ‘Pod.
Also, and this can get very geeky very fast, I slapped a bunch of stuff onto the Navteq USB stick and while it read and played Adele with all her titles and lists, the Clarion showed me that the files were all on the stick (and yes I had checked by playing them on my PC) but would only play me the first album. Adele’s ’19’ does have full CD text which this deck can also read from the discs and it all transferred a treat to the PC and thence by drag and drop to the stick, just wouldn’t play the others.
For the money the Clarion DXZ388RUSB has it all and plays a fabulously high quality, tight and sweet output. Use with really good amplifiers with high signal to noise ratios OVER 100dB.
Clarion make some good ones of those, too by the way
The high feature count and super SQ at the price add up to total VFM and that all means it scores enough to garner a Talk Audio Recommended award and we don’t fling them about.
Sound Quality 9.0
Appearance/Display 8.0
Ease Of Use/HMI 7.0
Features 10.0
Value For Money 10.0
Overall rating 8.8