Boss615UA MP3 Compatible Solid State AM/FM Receiver

5 Comments

1. C. Biswas says:

   September 16, 2009 at 6:33 pm

   This player perfectly fits my needs. In my used Accord I had a Sony CD player installed and it started skipping tracks and made my life miserable. So I switched to this digital player as I decided to skip CD forever.

   The audio quality of the player is great considering my original basic Honda speakers of the LX model. It is not premium speakers and it does not benefit from premium stereo. It plays SD and USB both and that is the main reason I bought, and the radio reception is also decent.

   Regarding the SD card, I was thrilled to find that it accepts SDHC card, as many SD receivers do not do that. I have used both 2 GB SD and 4 GB SDHC card. The only problem is the song selection and organization – there is nothing. It plays according to the order the songs are added to the card, and for me it was the order Windows decided to copy the files from my Hard Disk of my music folder. I had songs organized in folders and sub folders for the type (Rock, Pop, Classical) and artist and album, but this player does not understand any such organization. The only option is to skip 10 songs to probably move to the next album. In a way it is better; as less control is better for road safety.

   However, my biggest complain is the power/ mute button. I do not see any need for a Mute button in a digital car receiver. If the power is switched off it serves the same purpose of muting the audio. Moreover, if a song was getting played, it stops there itself and when started it starts from there. I normally use this power off in my earlier Sony receiver many times during travel whenever I get a call on my headset. After the call, I switch it on again and the song continues from the same place. For this, I need to pause and for that I have to fish out the small first number button which is also very difficult to get at since it is next to the volume control. The other option is keeping the power button pressed to power it off. Both are cumbersome and bad design.

   The installation was pretty simple as I was replacing another aftermarket stereo. All the wiring harness and frame was already present. I just had to look in the internet how to open my car stereo and I got help from my mechanic friend to open it without any scratches. Wiring was easy and it worked the first time.

   Finally I am able to enjoy my music without any skipping and changing disks. All my music fits in a 8GB or 16GB disc and so no changing is required. However, I am planning to use smaller cards for each music type (Rock or classical) as it is impossible to select them on this player.

   One important thing to note is that the faceplate is not removable for security. Hence, if security is important, it is better to look for other models.
   

   Rating: 4 / 5
2. C. SHEN says:

   September 16, 2009 at 7:17 pm

   For the price and the specs, this item delivers just what I expected. A decent sounding radio that lets me load up a standard SD card with 2GB of music. I installed this unit myself, and I was able to do it in an afternoon with no problem. The color-coded wires were pretty straight forward, and I already had an amp from a previous radio which worked fine with the Boss’ RCA output jacks.

   Some minor knocks:
   
   The display graphics feel a bit over-done (although my pre-teen kids think it’s cool), but overall the controls and interface are reasonable.
   
   The radio preselect buttons are a bit small, the first one is too crowded with the volume knob collar.
   
   It took me a while to learn to hold the power button to turn the radio off (tapping it mutes the radio). Not a big deal, but it was initially irritating.

   Overall, the Boss 615 is a decent sounding radio with media support that is a nice advancement beyond your old CD-based system.

   Rating: 4 / 5
3. Chan Dos says:

   September 16, 2009 at 8:59 pm

   If you have a good car radio before and decided to switch with this radio you will notice that there is difference in sound quality. My alpine radio had a built in amplifier which enhanced the audio level. This radio doesn’t. If you turn the bass level too high you can hear the distortion. However if you do not care too much for the sound quality than this radio is perfect because it has all the media adapter. USB feature works perfectly.

   Rating: 2 / 5
4. R. N. says:

   September 16, 2009 at 9:40 pm

   I am very pleased with this purchase. I wanted a radio for my boat and didn’t want or need a CD player. I DID want a SD card reader and didn’t see one in the photo although it claimed to have one. Well, it does have one and it’s in the lower right corner of the unit. The volume control is the large center knob and is easy to reach and use. This unit has little to no learning curve. The markings, however, are a little too small for my “mature” eyes. I have not and probably will not use the remote and so I have no comments to make about that.

   Rating: 4 / 5
5. Jonathan P. Garza says:

   September 16, 2009 at 10:34 pm

   First of all, I made the mistake of not paying enough attention, and consequently did not notice that it does not say anywhere that this device plays CDs; however, that is my own fault, and I have no right to complain.

   Once you get over that fact, this really is a great player. I don’t think that I would want to use CDs in the stereo, even if I had the option, because using the SD cards or USB port is so much better. The sound quality is very good, and installation was simple (I used an install kit). The device looks like it came with the car, and does not look out of place at all.

   There is no restriction to the size of SD card that you can use (some other similar devices will not read the card if it is over a certain size; ex: it will play files from a 512mb card, but not a 2gb card).

   Also, you can have an SD card and USB device plugged in at the same time, and it is easy to switch back and forth between them. It will save your place in the track when you turn off your car, or plug in another device (ie, if you’re playing songs off of your SD card, then plug in your USB to listen to that, then remove the USB, it will pick up where you left off on the SD card).

   You don’t have to save songs under a particular file name on your SD/USB in order for the stereo to find them, which makes things easier. It will also play songs in the order in which they are listed on your SD or USB, so you don’t have to worry about them playing in some random order; unless you want them to, in which case, there is a random option. (There is also a repeat option).

   You can skip tracks, forward or back, and there are also buttons to skip 10 tracks at a time, forward or back. The only problem that I have discovered with the player at this time, is that there is no fast forward or rewind, so you cannot search within a track, which can be a problem if you are searching for something specific in a very long track, like if you are looking for a specific spot in an audio book, for example.

   The volume knob is large, and easy to find. The power button doubles as a mute button after you have turned the stereo on, which is useful when you are using the radio. When you are using an SD or USB, the first of the radio station preset buttons is used to pause the track. It comes with several preset equalizer settings, or you can tweak the treble/bass yourself. There are also controls for fade and balance. There is a loud button, to turn up the bass, which is useful when traveling on the highway, and there is a lot of noise.

   It uses ID3 tags, and when a track is playing, the display scrolls between artist name, album, track title, and the track number/current time of track. The display is big, bright, and easy to read.

   The aux-in port is easy to use and find, and you just use the controls on your mp3 player to control things.

   The sound quality for the radio is very good, and it is easy to set the station presets.

   I haven’t bothered fiddling with the clock, because I have one built into my dash.

   The aux-in, SD and USB ports are all on the front of the device and very easy to find. Oh, and by the way, the SD cards have to be inserted upside down. It took me about half an hour to figure why my SD card wasn’t reading.

   So, like I said, the only problem I could find was no fast forward/rewind. Other than that, this device is the best one I’ve ever had in my vehicles.

   This was my first ever review, so I hope it was informative and helpful.
   
   Enjoy.

   Rating: 5 / 5