Kenwood KDC-X890: USB/iPod capabilities question...

[gordholio 10+ year member]

Hey guys:

I'm totally new here, but I asked a question a couple weeks back and I got some great help. Thanks.

This time, I want to ask about the Kenwood Excelon KDC-X890. I have no question about the sound or build quality. What I'd like to know are the opinions of anyone who's used this unit's USB capabilities and iPod interface. I just want to know if there are any severe limitations or strange quirks when using a thumb/flash drive via the USB cable or an iPod through its connection. Are there any weird slowdows or incompatibility issues? Can you pretty much see everything you need to see on the display? I've read a few reports on USB-equipped decks not handling data in an expedient and efficient manner, displaying only part of what should be displayed, etc.

Here's the latest user "review" on the X890 from the Crutchfield site. It's not exactly glowing when it discusses digital data accessibility:

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I bought this because I love the Kenwood Music Keg but they're discontinued. This is the obvious and logical next step, USB hard drives. Kenwood COMPLETELY FAILED at transferring the functionality to this unit. Not only does the browser take forever, but it forces you to use only one of the categories. You can't scroll to Foo Fighters and then choose among their albums, You have to pick one album and go to it. Then if you want to listen to their next album, you can't just hit next, you have to do a complete new album search. It's completely non intuitive. If you're in album mode and hit next album it takes you to the next album alphabetically, instead of the next album by the artist you're on. If you switch to artist mode it takes you to the next artist. Using any of these modes takes you to playlist #1, all music, so you can't just switch to playlist mode and find the next album. Oh and to top it all off, they disable alphabetical browsing in playlist mode, so actually using playlists is impossible if you have more than say, 20. It forces you to do a search for every album you want to hear. Then to top it all off, they removed direct playlist access, which the Keg had as a fallback in case you happened to memorize which playlist number was assigned to a particular disc. I could get to my most played discs in less than one second on the keg, with this head unit I have to cycle through search categories, then wait for it to slowly plod through the alphabet and then hit next disc over and over till I find the right album.

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Thanks in advance to anyone who can help out. I'm strongly considering buying this deck this week, and just looking for a little firsthand info prior to purchasing it.

gordo

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[g8rforester 10+ year member]

That reviewer pretty much got it right. The interface is slow as molasses. Forget about searching for a specific song or artist unless you've got a 1 GB Ipod Nano.

I've got a 60 GB Ipod...I basically just put it on random and skip the stuff I'm not in the mood for. Of course I bought it as a replacement for Sirius, so that works for me.

 

[gordholio 10+ year member]

Thanks Forester.

So, when you mention the slow as molasses speed, you're referring to the iPod connection (the AUX jack)? You're not talking about the USB port, correct?

gordo

 

[gordholio 10+ year member]

I'll try bumping this once for the weekend crowd.

gordo

 

[OldOneEye 10+ year member]

Don't they have access to the owners manual on crutchfield? I just got a Kenwood training manual and reading that review I'm not sure if he is using the other functionality (the AC Drive I think). He might be used to the music keg speed and functionality. I would look for a few more reviews, some of the other Ipod interface options are pretty lame as well.

Juan

 

[San Diego Dude]

I recently installed a Kenwood KDC-X890 in my Expedition and I love the sound quality!

I choose this model after sending emails to Kenwood and Sony asking if their USB ports would allow me to connect a USB enabled hard-drive. Sony never answered, Kenwood sent me an email indicating that several of their models would allow this including the KDC-X890 model I purchased.

Loaded up my hard-drive with MP3s and connected to the USB connection, the head unit indicates that it is searching and then reports no audio files found? Next I loaded up a couple of songs on two different thumb drives and it still does not recognize that there are audio files present. Turns out you must load files via a proprietary program PhatNoise, and this in turn is set to recognize only certain manufacturers and drives…none of mine are on there and guess what? The only truly large capacity storage drives recognized are those you can purchase from PhatNoise or the old Kenwood MusicKegs (see this page for supported drives: http://www.kenwood.com/usb/).

I have only had the unit a week and have posted on a couple of web discussion boards to see if there is a work-around, but so far I am very disappointed in this feature.

If anyone had any success in setting up a computer hard-drive in a USB enclosure and then getting there head unit to recognize the audio files?

Hope this helps in your decision making.

 

[gordholio 10+ year member]

San Diego Dude:

I went to a local retailer yesterday to check out the USB functions of the x890. My salesperson stuck no less than three thumb-type drives in the USB port. Each time, the same result: No audio files found. He conjectured that none of the devices had audio files loaded on them. But, hearing your story (and after hearing some of the problems other people are having with this head unit and other head units with USB capabilities), I really have to wonder what's up. Sure, the concept of tiny USB drives with hundreds of songs is EXTREMELY appealing, but not if there's a ton of weird restrictions and problems.

Can anyone else chime in about this deck or any others with USB (ie: Alpine decks with the super-pricey USB add-on, the JVC KD-SH1000, the Kenwood X590 to x990, Clarion 365USB, etc?

gordo

 

[OldOneEye 10+ year member]

I got a training manual from the guys at Kenwood, and a few things came up. It treats the Ipod as an external drive. It doesn't recognize the Ipod's music if it has DRM (like if you bought it off of Itunes).

You didn't make it clear, did you try it out (setting up the Phat Noise trying a few tracks) or are you going off the list (so many devices, I suspect they only put up the ones they have tested which are probably few). Seems that they post what they know won't work and what they know will work, but what they know and what works seem to be two different things.

Juan

I recently installed a Kenwood KDC-X890 in my Expedition and I love the sound quality!
I choose this model after sending emails to Kenwood and Sony asking if their USB ports would allow me to connect a USB enabled hard-drive. Sony never answered, Kenwood sent me an email indicating that several of their models would allow this including the KDC-X890 model I purchased.

Loaded up my hard-drive with MP3s and connected to the USB connection, the head unit indicates that it is searching and then reports no audio files found? Next I loaded up a couple of songs on two different thumb drives and it still does not recognize that there are audio files present. Turns out you must load files via a proprietary program PhatNoise, and this in turn is set to recognize only certain manufacturers and drives…none of mine are on there and guess what? The only truly large capacity storage drives recognized are those you can purchase from PhatNoise or the old Kenwood MusicKegs (see this page for supported drives: http://www.kenwood.com/usb/).

I have only had the unit a week and have posted on a couple of web discussion boards to see if there is a work-around, but so far I am very disappointed in this feature.

If anyone had any success in setting up a computer hard-drive in a USB enclosure and then getting there head unit to recognize the audio files?

Hope this helps in your decision making.

 

[gordholio 10+ year member]

Hey Juan:

Thanks for getting involved here, BTW.

Both San Diego Dude and myself are talking about thumb drives/flash drives/hard drives connected via the included USB cable, not iPods connected via an iPod cable or an AUX port. I don't even own an iPod and I don't think I ever will, but I'm REAL interested in the potential of USB and straight-up drives. Coming from a computer background, I have been hoping USB-capable head units would simply see an attatched drive just as my computer does, and have the ability to play files that are recognized as audio files. But, from what I'm seeing, so much of this stuff looks too proprietary and/or limited.

gordo

 

[OldOneEye 10+ year member]

I guess my point is that the marketing was very "WOW.... USE YOUR IPOD!!!!!" and then the fine print was "if the music on it doesn't have DRM, and you need to use our software too... if not, you need our regular Ipod adaptor".

The USB might be a case where the marketing wasn't as clear as it should be.

I'm not sure why one USB drive would work over another, or even why DRM is such a big deal in using the Ipod.

You can connnect the Ipod through the USB port though, it just treats it like a hard drive, not like an Ipod (Ipod being sort of a 1 way device I guess that has other functionality).

Anyway, I was confused by all of this, and I have the handbook.

So the question still is, did you guys use the phat noise/acdrive deal or just tried straight up?

Juan

Hey Juan:
Thanks for getting involved here, BTW.

Both San Diego Dude and myself are talking about thumb drives/flash drives/hard drives connected via the included USB cable, not iPods connected via an iPod cable or an AUX port. I don't even own an iPod and I don't think I ever will, but I'm REAL interested in the potential of USB and straight-up drives. Coming from a computer background, I have been hoping USB-capable head units would simply see an attatched drive just as my computer does, and have the ability to play files that are recognized as audio files. But, from what I'm seeing, so much of this stuff looks too proprietary and/or limited.

gordo

 

[gordholio 10+ year member]

Hey Juan:

I don't own the X890 yet. Still trying to determine if it (or the Alpine 9857, or the JVC KD-SH1000, etc) have are sophisticated enough in their USB capabilities to make me happy after I've spent my money. I'll have to try another store, but most of the shops I've spoken with via telephone don't have an answer for me. I guess that's what you get with new technology. It's obviously the way of the future. CDs - even burned CDs with lots of songs - seem so archaic in comparison.

gordo

 

[San Diego Dude]

I did try the PhatNoise Media Manager. I installed Media Manager on my PC and it will play anyMP3 that I have. However, in order to use PhatNoise to install an MP3 on the drive you must use PhatNoise's program. If there is a supported drive an option to Click "USB Drive (×× MB) – Click here to load." will appear...it doesn't with any of my drives.

I sent the following email to PhatNoise with response:

"I have a USB connected drive that I want to use with my Kenwood ACDrive ready reciever, but do not have the option: "Click "USB Drive (×× MB) - Click here to load" in my PhatNoise MediaManager that Kenwood provided with my headunit (KDC-X890).

If I purchase the online version of the program will this be there...or do I have it already and just cannot find it?

Thanks for any help you can provide"

They responded with:

"Thank you for using the PhatNoise Media Manager! This feature should be in the PMM if you installed the program from the CD that came with your head unit. If your USB drive is compatible, it should appear in the "Devices" section of the PhatNoise Media Manager.

Note that the PMM and Kenwood head unit are only compatible with USB devices that are "Mass Storage" and appear as a separate drive in "My Computer".

Please connect your USB drive and open My Computer from your desktop. Do you see a drive letter mapped to the USB device?

Also access your device manager from Start->Settings->Control

Panel->System->Hardware->Device Manager. Expand the Universal Serial Bus

Controllers item. Does the USB device appear as a "USB Mass Storage" device?

If not, your USB device is not compatible. Thank you for your feedback."

My drives do show up in "My Computer". However, when checking the Device Manager while I find that the devices show up under drives (as USB drives), there is no category "USB Mass Storage". The drives do show up in the "USB Serial Bus controllers".

I am sending the above back to PhatNoise in the hope that I am missing something...but I don't hold out much hope at this point.

Given that major reason I choose this drive was to be able to play my collection in the vehicle I cannot say that I am very happy at this point.

 

[LeofromtheH 10+ year member]

man i never thought that this would be so complicated... although like stated before it is new technology; i wouldn't think manufactueres would put all this confusion into their products..

i was actually going to buy one of these decks, i thought it would be convenient to just grab some usb drives offa my keychain and pop it in, and theres music.. but i guess thats not the case

thanks for the heads up guys

 

[gordholio 10+ year member]

One of the most annoying things is that the respective websites do little to demystify the confusion. You can check the sites for USB details, check the online manuals, etc., but the explanations are either cryptic or not forthcoming.

gordo

 

[prochobo 10+ year member]

I've got an X890 and my flash drive works fine. It's a San Disk Micro, 1GB model. My external HD didn't work, it would just sit there and click. Make sure your thumb drive is formatted to FAT32.

The interface is FAST. Songs switch instantly and it's easy for me to scroll through folders.