# Showtime's Eclipse CD5030 Review



## SHOWTIME (Aug 18, 2009)

Over all score: 4.5
(Based on a 1-10 scale)

The Good:
-Bluetooth is amazing
-Sleek look that is appealing to the eye
-Simple installation

The Bad:
-Sound Quality
-Terrible USB Support
-Awkward and frustrating sound adjustment

As a background to how this all began. ive been on a quest to find the
best all around deck for a few months now. i am very picky about sound
quality but also respect a unit that is user friendly. i started with the new
pioneer line. excellent features (usb, bluetooth, fancy display, ect...) but
they really lacked a wide range of decent sound quality.

So i had great excitement when i heard about the eclipse CD5030. I
purchased the Eclipse CD5030 from Crutchfield about 3 weeks ago. I was
really excited! I had done alot of research online,information was very hard
to find but all sounded pretty good. A few people used it and had good
things to say so i figured...what the hell, might as well give it a try. 

As always crutchfield was great to work with. I received the unit, bluetooth
was easy to install, all in all, the install process was a snap. 

Display:
the units appearance was pretty much like any other, not much more can
be done these days...fancy blue lights (which can be set to red) nice clear
display, it was a nice looking unit. No motorized faceplate but i didnt
really mind. i was more concerned about sound quality than appearance 
anyways.

Now, heres where it all took a turn for the worse...

Function: 
Now my primary source of music is throught the usb. i used 2 different usb
drives for a more accurate review. my first issue was that the usb file 
system was very complicated...not user friendly at all. usb navigation is
VERY slow. my biggest complaint was that when i turned the car off, then
back on, the unit wouldnt read the drives. i would have to plug it in the
usb port again...a huge issue being that it was in the glove compartment.
overall usb support is very poor. 

now on to the ipod support. i pluged in my iphone and waited...and waited...
and waited some more. FINALLY it reads it...i will go easy on the unit because
i know iphone support on decks nowadays is hit and miss. so once it read the
device, all was fine. ipod functions worked well...just dont unplug it hahaa!

radio and cd support was fine. XM and Sirius was not tested. 

Sound Quality:
Now above all else, sounds quality is the most important thing to me. i will
deal with many issues if the unit has good SQ. Unfortunately this unit really
dissapointed me. The sound quality was horrible. The equalizer and crossover
capeabilities are what really got my attention when i made the purchase.
the probablem was that it didnt make any difference. sound adjusting was
ackward and annoying, the button configuration for adjustments was 
frustrating. honesly, adjusting the sound made no difference at all. im no
competition professional when it comes to sound, but im not an idiot either.
over sound quality was painfully bad. 

The Good Part.....
Well with all this, i was really disapointed. i figured id give eclipse another
chance at redeeming itself. BLUETOOTH! Pairing the iphone and the CD5030
was like a dream come true. it was so simple. the bluetooth quality was 
perfect. this was by far the best function, unfortunately not enough to 
save the deck from its fate of being pulled out of my vehicle but i will admit
the bluetooth feature was amazing.

Conclusion...
unfortunately for eclipse, this was a swing and a miss. they took too 
many shortcuts. they put too much time into SQ adjustments which 
in the end leave you angry and frustrated.

reviewers note:
after returning the Eclipse CD5030 i purchased the alpine cda-9887.
in my opinion, its the best deck out there. the SQ is amazing. it lacks
the fancy features (usb support) but the SQ totally makes up for the
lack of usb support. hey mp3 disks are fine with me! 

Alpine Electronics of America, Inc. - CDA-9887


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