Good music makes long journeys this much shorter and pleasant. Among the things I do when embarking on a road trip is make a travel playlist depending on my mood for the day. Among the most common household names in the car stereo world is Pioneer, which has been producing sound for years. The first time I ever interacted with the brand was not with a car stereo, but with a home entertainment system that was my brother’s first asset and which he protected with all he had.
Over the years Pioneer has had quite a journey of innovations and enhancements to their products and are easily known to have among the best sound systems in the world. As things moves more and more into digital operations, the company is also moving in that direction and this is evident from the recent launch of two new A/V receivers aimed at enhancing in-vehicle entertainment and connectivity.
One of these is the Pioneer AVH-X8850BT, a 7 inch, 13 band equalizer touch screen system which is made to fully integrate with smartphones by use of Apple Car Play and Android Auto. Both of these features are world firsts. Those using Siri will only need their Apple smart phones while those on Android will need to down load the app from the play store. You’ll need OS 5 and higher to be able to use Android Auto. It supports iPhone 5 onwards.
Pioneer is also introducing the AppRadioLive App which will collect all your digital life into one place and sync with your calendar so you’re reminded of your meetings. It will also inform you of events and gives you access to maps as well as your play list.
We also have Pioneer ARC (Advanced Remote Control) which turns your mobile phone into a car remote control and enables you to access your playlist without needing a separate remote. From this app you’re able to operate your music functions like swype track up or down, tap to play or pause and even play around with speaker level settings among other features.
With this integration with smartphones, the results will go as far as improving road safety since are able to interact with the systems by talking as opposed to fiddling with the controls while at the same time driving. Users will now be able to play music, pick calls, navigate and find out the status of things like weather and traffic without having to pick a gadget to use.
Other products introduced are the TS-S20C car twitter, a tiny high quality sound twitter not unlike what you see in matatus but more advanced. It is easy to install and compatible with amplifiers. Also the dual illumination DEH-X1952UB and the GMD-9605 amplifier with subwoofer connection, a dedicated 5th channel and remote control for bass boost.