Review on 🚗 Pioneer MVH-S215BT Bluetooth Car Stereo Receiver with USB, MP3, AUX, AM/FM, Android Smartphone Compatibility, and ALPHASONIK Earbuds by Steven Doty

For the last ten years I have used almost exclusively Pioneer products in my cars. I say "almost" because I've worked with other manufacturers a few times - Alpine, Sony and Company - but always come back to Pioneer for the quality and ease of use. So when I realized that I now mostly listen to digital media and not physical media, this head unit was the logical choice. Overall I'm very pleased, but let me put it in Pro/Con/Note format. Pros: + Appearance: Recently, Pioneer is moving in the right direction with its design - looks more stylish and OEM-oh, while other manufacturers (looking at you, JVC and Sony) are still producing banging, loud head units that are more look more like a Las Vegas Strip than a Toyota Camry. Plus, the minimalism really complements the look. It does everything it's supposed to do with as few buttons as possible. + Sound Options: You have many equalizer options. Instead of just bass, mids and treble, you have a 5-band equalizer that you can tweak. There's also standard volume, source level control, bass boost, and independent subwoofer control for bassheads. It's important to have adjustable EQs, as Pioneer's preset EQs (especially the "powerful ones") sizzle a bit, at least on my Infinity speakers. The sound quality is about right. It doesn't sound as good as my previous receiver (Pioneer AVH-P4300), but again this receiver costs more than three times as much. and calls are excellent, and it comes with a quality microphone so you can start making hands-free calls right out of the box. Size: Since it doesn't work with optical discs, the main unit is very small and light. It is about half the length and half the weight of a comparable CD player. This is great as it gives those of you with narrow strokes extra wiring space. I'm used to stuffing extra cables into slots in the dashboard - I didn't have to this time. + Lighting Options: You can set the display to any color you want by playing around with the RGB values. Every color. Well, except black and gray. It can even do a weird green/blue hybrid on my Dodge's dashboard. Cons: - Plastic: As much as I love the look, I don't like that Pioneer decided to use the shiniest plastic they could find for most. Devices. A bit of haze wouldn't go amiss here, especially since most cars these days have matte interiors. Dimmer: It does NOT have an automatic dimmer. Really Pioneer? Would it be that difficult to connect another wire to the harness? Luckily it has a manual dimmer, but the lack of a headlight-activated one blew me away. This is a feature that should be standard in this price range. Notes: Mixtrax: It seems to me that Mixtrax is nothing more than a gimmick. I've tried this several times and the transitions aren't as smooth as I'd like. Nice to have but wouldn't miss it if it went away. Front panel: The front panel is detachable. I would prefer it not to be removable but that's just my opinion. As I said; Overall I am happy with my purchase. This main unit does what it's designed to do and does it well, and at $100 that's a pretty good price. If you're looking for something modern to replace your standard CD player, this is the perfect way to bring you back to modern day car audio.