DMP what?
MP3 the digital music format that many artists
and music companies would have you believe is the format that
will bring an end to the music business itself... Whether you
agree with this or not you can't ignore that it is one of the
biggest things to change the way we store and play our favourite
choons...
Anyway all this talk of MP3 brings me on to the point of
this review, the Dension DMP3. The unit is essentially an
80GB hard disc giving enough space to be a 1000CD sized jukebox...
Sounds good? Well it gets better. Via the use of a Connects2
adapter you can use a DMP3 instead of your CD changer with
the standard head unit in your Ibiza/Cordoba/Leon/Alhambra,
in fact all the recent Seat range... And if you have an aftermarket
HU then you're laughing too, because you can buy it without
the Connects2 box, all that's required of the Stereo you have
is an Aux in...
Ok so lets start at the beginning, opening the box... So what
do you get for your money? Well to start off you get the DMP3
itself, a Car host ( the cradle that it plugs into in the car
), a 5 1/4" removable drive cradle to fit inside your PC,
the satellite display, and all the required cables and fixings.
If you have bought the unit to plug into your standard HU then
you will also receive the Connect2 adapter. The adapter converts
the commands coming from your HU into the commands for Sony
CD changer. The DMP3 itself then "pretends" to be
a real Sony changer, although obviously a much bigger one than
a 10 disc jobbie...
Installation
Installation is simple enough. First you find a convenient
location for the Car host to be fixed to the car. Then you need
to run the RJ11 cable from the unit to the front of the car.
This cable plugs into the back of the satellite display which
you will want within reach of the drivers seat, I'll explain
more on this later. Then you need to connect the Connects 2
adapter ( not used if you are using just the lineouts ) and
the cabling to the Car host and to the CD cable coming from
the HU.
Even if you don't have the Changer cable running from the HU
then Dension should be able to supply you an alternative cable
to plug directly into the HU itself. One of the cables has a
red flying lead attached. This lead needs to be connected to
a 12v feed, which would be best run straight from the battery
( And remember to fuse it within 12" of the battery too
)
Setting up with MP3s
That takes care of installing the unit into the car but now
you have an empty 80GB to fill up with MP3 files... The first
thing to do is to install the cradle into your PC. If you don't
want to open your PC then you can also buy a USB kit soyou can
plug straight into a spare USB1 or 2 plug instead. This will
cost an extra £50 but if you don't have a spare drive
bay then this might be the only way to get music onto the unit.
The DMP3 comes with "musicmatch" software which you
can use to encode your MP3 files straight from CD. You can,
if you already have MP3 files, or prefer to use a specific ripper,
just copy the files directly to the hard disc itself and not
use the software supplied. But there is an important section
within musicmatch that you would be advised to use. It's a feature
of the DMP3 called "My radio", this is the really
clever bit... With it you can set up 6 suedo radio stations.
Basically you choose what music is in a station and can bias
it towards particular songs, so they will get played more often.
Usage
OK so you have music on the Hard Disc, so you can now start
to use it. Simply plug the DMP3 in to the Car Host and settle
down to listen to it. Use is very simple. Just switch on the
HU and select CD. The satellite display should spring into life.
I won't bore you with the details of how to use the device as
the manual goes through this. What I will say is that the satellite
display shows all the ID3 tag data for each file and allows
you to play specific directories, tracks etc. If you just want
to skip tracks then you don't have to use the display, simply
press the next track button on the Stereo and the next song
will start. Remember those radio stations you set yourself up?
Well to play one just press one of the CD select buttons, and
the unit will start playing tracks randomly from the list in
that station... It really is simple to use.
Verdict
I've run the unit for over a month now and
I've enjoyed hours of music played through it. It has been tried
running through my Kenwood In-dash screen, on a Standard Leon
HU, and in an Ibiza. None have posed any real problems. The only
thing I would say is that you really do need the battery feed
to get the unit to work in a Seat. The power requirements of a
Hard disc are much higher than a CD Changer so the HU doesn't
appear to be able to supply enough power for the DMP3. This isn't
a major problem though, and one that is easily solved buy spending
an hour or so feeding a power cable from the battery to the DMP3.
The only criticism I have is the colour choice for the wiring
when using the unit with an aftermarket HU. As you would expect
+12v is red, but GND is blue, a colour normally used for the remote
in, and the remote in is purple... In all fairness to Dension
it does give you the colour scheme in the manual so as long as
you've read it you'd be fine.
So is it any good then I hear you ask... Well yes it is. It
allows you to hold thousands of songs in a compact unit which
is removable for security. It my tests it was completely free
of any audible noise and once you get used to the display it's
very simple to use. OK so it costs more than a CD Changer but
just think what you are getting, it will hold probably all of
your CDs and you'll never be bored on long journeys again.
Prices
The current prices are...
DMP3 80GB: £399.99 inc VAT. Universal (aux-in),
Sony- or Alpine MBUS-compatible
OE head unit installation adaptor: £49.99 inc VAT
Blaupunkt installation adaptor: £49.99 inc VAT
(works with any Blaupunkt head unit where original changer is
an A08)
USB2.0 adaptor: £49.99 inc VAT (backwards compatible
with USB1.1)
Contact details
Check out http://www.dension.com/ for more
info. |
