Kenwood KDC-BT8044U

Chosen as the subject of an internal marketing brainstorm by Kenwood, this headunit has had a best-ever-for-TA video made about it. I had one member of staff operating a zoom on the camera (note most of the videos are fixed focus tripod jobs) and another sat outside so I could phone them up via the headunit. This is a single DIN CD player with a great deal of digital connectivity. It will play many formats of digital compressed music files and it will play them via full control of an iPod or iPhone. Both are tried in the video and worked well. The headunit is also equipped with proprietary Bluetooth functionality by Parrot so will pair with up to five telephones in your car and will work via the included microphone. Aimed at the affordable end of digital connectivity, it nevertheless uses the same very high specification D/A converter and has the same high specs as the high end CD player, just without the digital time alignment and the 5V preout op amps inside. A simpler display than the high end, with a five line single colour fluorescent doing a wide range of tasks.- 50W x 4 Power Output
– iPod/iPhone Direct Control
– Alphabetical Music Search for latest iPods
– Built-in Parrot Bluetooth Hands-free
– Automatic Incoming Call Answering function
– Making Calls from Phonebook
– Making Calls from Incoming/Outgoing Call History
– Direct Dial Function / Private Talk function
– Call Interrupt indication
– Remaining Battery indication
– Phone Registration (Up to 5 Phones)
– Phone Selection / Phonebook Download From Mobile Phone
– Voice Tag Registration / Phonebook Search by Voice Tag
– Short Message Receive (Unopened SMS Available Display)
– Short Message Send (Visual Model Only)
– Wireless Audio Streaming
– Audio Control from Remote
– Supplied with Microphone (3M Long)
– Flip Down Removable Faceplate with fluorescent 5 line display
– AAC/WMA/MP3 Playback
– RDS with Radio Text
– Rear Panel USB/AUX Input
– Sound Excellence DSP
– 3 Preouts at 4V
– Dual Sound Zone Control
– Subwoofer Level and Frequency Control
– Remote Control supplied
– Microphone supplied
– Optional CD Changer Control
– Steering Wheel Remote Control option
– 24 Bit Digital to Analogue converter
– Dynamic range 93dB
– Signal to Noise Ratio 110dB
Review by Adam Rayner
Way back in the Eighties, I can recall head units peaking in the world of cassettes. You could have Metal Chromium Dioxide tape bias and you could have Dolby B or even C noise reduction. The plot was that you recorded a cast aluminium chassis metal tape with Dolby C and then played it back with the Dolby off. I had some spanking mixes of Go West made as a snide extra copy at the Tape Gallery by my mate who worked in the West End at this copy house. They would make mass copies of the twelve inch mixes and these would be used at the record companies to decide with effort to put out! It was serious business. Now they get e-mailed the digital file.
And digital files from audio to packet data and more is what this deck is all about. It lacks a few of the high end features and yet is way pricier than a lowest common denominator CD player to fill the hole AND stop the draught. This is because it has a fat slice of extra electronics inside. It has been a while since car radios were crap at bossing iPods, with some faster than others and some just dire. Most work well and this one is easy once you get in there.
A world of menus is always going to take a little learning but it is easy if not colour-coded moron-intuitive and the five line display may not be terribly high resolution but it is still a world better than found on any deck with a dedicated Dolby button! Seriously, it is good but monochrome still lacks enough to make plenty folks spend far more as this HMI bit is important to some people
However, if you are looking for what looks pretty but not too thief-worthy and yet does all the stuff the fabulously costly OEM stuff can do with your phone, then this is it.
I played a bit of CD and also some music from an iPod. The iPod was not as dynamic and sweet as the CD, sounding veiled with the resolution available through the deck. This was just an object lesson in AAC compression rates and why personally, I would rather have a big old drive or else carry less music but always use the best, fullest, least lossy codec available. 100 songs is loads if you love them properly rather than want wallpaper.
But that is a bigger debate for a different place. The point is you can tell through this deck.
The iPhone of course paired up a treat but I did find the display less easy for my eyes than some, which just says I am an old grunter who would be tempted by a bigger ticket deck. If you don’t need reading glasses, it ain’t an issue!
A truly excellent workmanlike deck but while the video was cool, it wasn’t picked as future whole-thrust of how Kenwood wanted to market the stuff (cannot imagine why!!) and even the voucher price mentioned in the video has been slapped on the internet. Do consider a bricks & mortar dealer if you are not a skilled fitter as it’s a good bit harder to install properly than a fling it in the dash deck as you will need to run the microphone wire sensibly, rather than stuck it in with tape. Done right, it is inconspicuous, done wrong, you will get your car window smashed for it.
Particularly impressed with the same 110dB signal to noise ratio on the CD as the posher five hundred pound product.
Sound Quality 8.0
Appearance/Display 7.0
Ease Of Use/HMI 7.0
Features 10.0
Value For Money 8.0
Overall rating 8.0