Pioneer DEH-3300UB CD Receiver with iPod Direct Control and USB Input

• Single-DIN AM/FM radio, CD, CD-R/RW, MP3/WMA/WAV, USB, iPod/iPhone receiver
• 4 x 50W MOSFET amplifier with one RCA preamp output (2V)
• Detachable faceplate with 10-character LCD display, red key illumination
• Includes front panel auxiliary input, USB port with direct iPod control
• Advanced Sound Retriever restores audio from compressed digital recordings

I bought and returned this unit. The main reason is because the screen is too bright, and the brightness cannot be adjusted. That means it cannot be adjusted in the menu and there's no illumination wire on the connector that can be controlled by the headlight setting.

The screen is very bright. Excellent on a sunny day but glaringly bright and distracting at night. The black background of the display is even washed out by the brightness to the point where it's not quite black when the unit is on.

Also this unit is lacking a High Pass Filter. My speakers were getting distorted at moderate to high volume levels. A HPF would solve this. This feature existed on its predecessor, the 3200.

Also lacking is the EQ. The 5-band graphic EQ from previous models has been replaced with a 3-band bass/mid/high.

On the plus side the mechanics on the 3300 are excellent. The buttons have a great tactile feel and there is plenty of grip length on the control knob. I tried out the 3200 in the store and the 3300 by comparison has better buttons.

But the brightness of the screen and lack of HPF were the real deal-breakers for me. I returned it and bought one of last year's models, the DEH-5200HD.

As for the DEH-5200HD it is an excellent unit. It has a HPF, which stops the speaker distortion and helps the overall sound quality. Plus the 5-band EQ allows for better fine tuning, and the brightness is adjustable. Finally, I found I really like the HD radio feature as it opened up additional FM channels that I didn't have access to before.

Overall I'd recommend buying a 2010 Pioneer model instead of their 2011 models. The 4300 also lacks a HPF, but at least the brightness can be tuned to 1 custom setting. It wasn't immediately clear though from my reading if the 4300 allows for a preset low/high setting. That could make switching brightness tedious.

Pioneer should always have a HPF and low/high brightness setting at the very least. In addition they should have an illumination wire on all their radios so brightness is set to low/high automatically when the headlights are turned on/off.

The DEH-5200HD is a better unit in my own experience, and based on looking at the specs their other 2010 models are a better choice than the 2011 models since they have removed the HPF and brightness settings.

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Works great. As i could not find any info anywhere about this being compatible with Android as well it indeed does work fine. Since not everyone in the world likes or has an Apple device as it only says it will play Ipod and Iphones thru the usb port on the front.

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Honestly, I don't know why some people have given it such poor reviews. Now, I just received the item and perhaps I should wait a few months to see how this thing will do, but so far, I am nothing but impressed. It took me about 20 minutes to install it, and I'm not extremely knowledgable about such things. All the complaints and gripes that make this sound like it is only decent are such minor things that I can't see why people put up such a fuss. The LCD front display is bright, but it's not blinding and I think it's needed if you want to see it clearly during the day. The controls are not overly confusing as some have said. They take a little getting use to, but like anything worthwhile, it just takes some time and practice.

Honestly, this item is great and I have nothing negative to say about it. My speakers sound as good as they are going to now, and the ipod control is amazing. Scrolling through my playlists or artists is very easy to do and I can find things quickly. A good FM transmitter and charger will cost you half this price, so why not go a little farther and get something you won't regret and makes your ipod music clear, with no static at all? I honestly love this device and for the price you really can't go wrong.

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In general this is a decent entry-level car CD/USB/iPod receiver. One of the most important improvements in this model from the previous year's version was reworking the main function knob to a rotary encoder and push button only, with direction-pad functions moved to separate buttons. On the earlier unit, it would have been a frustrating game attempting to turn up the volume, for instance, without accidentally pushing the "joystick" and changing a track or station.

At this point in my ownership, the biggest drawback is the lack of AAC file support. If you're like me, you might be browsing several models that support MP3 and AAC (not to mention WMA) directly from a USB thumb drive, but fail to spot those that do *not* include AAC. Does this make (the DEH-3300UB) a bad product? No. But it feels a little bit like a fine-print gotcha.

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I bought one of these today for the used Acura I just bought (unexpectedly found it on sale, cheap!). It's not installed yet, but based on a similar Pioneer I put in another vehicle last year, I expect this one to be *very* worth the price. I've been buying Pioneer decks since the early 90's because I use the radio function most of the time, and the Pioneer "SuperTuner" has consistently been the strongest FM receiver I've found,at least in the low-to-mid-level decks I buy.

I wouldn't have written this review, but about the bad reviews based on losing the memory when the ignition is switched off? IT'S NOT THE RADIO'S FAULT. All modern vehicles have a constant 12 volt line to supply voltage to the radio to maintain the memory settings. If your radio is losing memory settings when the key is turned off, then the radio's main power connection is wired to something other than the intended constant 12 volt supply. So, it's like blaming your TV for going dark when a tree falls across the power lines down the road and knocks out the power to your house.

So, next time, consider finding somebody who knows what they're doing to install your car stereo. I'm just sayin'.

Cheers!