Review on 🎶 Pioneer DEH-S4200BT Single-DIN CD AM/FM Receiver with MIXTRAX, Bluetooth Dual Phone Connection, USB, Spotify, Pandora, iPhone & Android Music Support, Smart Sync App + Alphasonik Earbuds by Tim Wilske

If you have known the Pioneer car stereo receivers for 5-10 years, you will immediately feel at home. I bought this unit to upgrade my 4 year old DEH-P4000UB with USB/iPod interface. This 9500 adds Bluetooth, a second USB input, HD radio reception, selectable color lighting, Mixtrax, a fold-out CD slot and a few other useful features over the 4000. My favorite features are: Control panel area, which allows you to enlarge the front panel display. User-programmable color lighting gives you the ability to customize the colors of your vehicle's dashboard. Bluetooth for hands-free calling and smartphone streaming. HD radio reception to enjoy CD quality programs broadcast free of charge. HD FM radio reception with this receiver is much better than the older JVC set I had previously. Of course, it still turns on and off depending on the signal strength, but the sound quality is excellent. AM HD is a bit different. It switches between HD modes without any break in transmission, except for a noticeable change in audio quality, which is a little annoying at times. I wish they would provide an option to manually disable the disk so this doesn't happen. Overall sound quality is pretty good, maybe a little better than the 4000 I just had. In any case, I did without an external amplifier. The user interface is a little more intuitive, although it retains much of the typical Pioneer layout. The lever behind the big round Multi-Function Controller (MFC) makes music selection a little easier by removing some functions from the MFC. The buttons are still micro-sized, so you'll have to take your eyes off the road to make sure you're pressing the right button. The graphics on the front display are a bit cluttered and hard to read no matter how I adjust the color and contrast. It's good that the graphics are programmable, so I was able to choose the simplest one. However, the dot-matrix display isn't as sharp as we'd like. Also, the simple graphics emit too much light to be distracting when driving at night (yes, even with headlight dimming enabled/enabled). I wish there was a way to adjust the brightness of the display. Because the front bezel folds out, be careful when choosing a front bezel adapter for your vehicle. Some "ISO" adapters mount the faceplate flush with the adapter, which may prevent or limit your new receiver's tilting capability by restricting access to the CD slot. Sound settings are typical of Pioneer. Too many sound settings (e.g. volume, graphic equalizer, bass boost, etc. etc.). It takes time to find the best combination for your car. You have to have a little patience and a lot of trial and error. One feature I haven't used and can't comment on is Mixtrax. Overall, I'm very happy with my upgrade to this device. While not entirely satisfied, switching to this receiver was well worth the time, effort and expense.