Kenwood DDX9704S in-Dash DVD Receiver with Apple CarPlay & Android Auto

This is a pretty fresh review as I have only had the product installed just over 1 week. I have been a dedicated Kenwood Audio guy for the past 13 years and this is the 3rd or 4th deck I have installed into one of my cars. I installed the unit into a 2005 GMC Sierra SLT that was equipped with Bose & OnStar. Install was easy and purchased necessary adapters and modules to allow steering wheel interface. The first thing I noticed is that the output and the audio control REALLY brought the factory Bose speakers to life. The first comment I had from a friend that jumped in after install was "did you change the speakers?" because it did a fantastic job changing the audio of the car. The usability and interface is much friendlier than other Kenwood units I have used in the past. Navigation and control is easy and intuitive.The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 was because of the following:1. Length of Boot Time- It takes a bit for the unit to come to life when turning the car on. You can start the car, buckle up and be in drive before audio will begin to play.2. Home Display Screen Contrast- Specifically Hard to read clock and equalizer. When on the home screen it can be hard to see the clock and graphic equalizerI did not use any of the Camera functions so I cannot comment.

10/19/19 - EDIT: 5 stars to a 1 star. It was great until it wasn't. The 03 Explorer this went into was more or less a weekend/trip driver. No trips were taken since this went in and now the HD radio album art no longer shows, but the worst part is when you change stations you have to switch bands (AM/FM) and go back for the audio to play... on EVERY station change be it with the presets or auto station scan. Being this was used very little (i.e. a weekend driver) it failed rather quickly. I will have to check again, but I think it mentioned a 2 year warranty on this. Pretty sure they will say it was sold through amazon and not an "authorized dealer" so the warranty doesn't work. Let's see how it goes.The DDX9704S is amazing and without a doubt the best upgrade/update I could have chosen for my 03 Explorer! Large capacitive touch screen and a backup camera (purchased separately). There are lots and lots of menus/settings so some people may complain about that (too many or cannot find what they want) but if they were not there other people would complain there are not enough options; cannot please everyone no matter what. As with any screen you will get some glare and reflections depending on time of day and driving conditions, but I found you can help reduce or get rid of it by tilting the screen to a different angle. When I first powered it on I thought I may have made a mistake purchasing this model because the sound was not good at all. Then I started getting into the menus and saw the EQ is set flat by factory default. WOW there more audio settings in there than I will ever use and it sounds Great now after a few adjustments and still using factory speakers. Maybe it's just me but one thing I thought is a neat bell/whistle is the info it shows about the radio station (logo)/artist/song/album art. My original radio from 03 had RDS but that is nothing compared to this. Granted the station has to be broadcasting the info and not all do, but still I thought it was neat. I bought 2 port extension cables, one for the USB (dual USB 3.0 extension) and one for the AUX (this extension also has an HDMI port that I know I cannot use with this head unit, but hey maybe on another one when this one dies and the extension is already there so no removing panels/plates/etc later to install one). Unfortunately I have not gotten the Android Auto to work with my phone but that is because it's a cheap ass phone; not the radios fault. Apparently AA doesn't play well with most Huawei phones. I did get it to work with a friends phone so on the bright side there is another reason to get a new phone ;). I put the GPS antenna on the right front corner of the dash at the windshield and the Sirius XM (purchased separately) antenna on the left front corner of the dash at the windshield. As some had suggested I also ordered a set of small metal plates to attach the antenna to, but am surprised neither one has slid around at all just like they are and both seem to have good reception so I'm not messing with them unless they start moving around.So far I have not seen anything that would be considered a "Con" with this unit (the warning every time it starts is annoying but I understand why it is there and you can check the box to make it go away after 10 seconds so not really a Con). I am very pleased with it without even getting into all it can do yet!

Just had this installed earlier today...Amazon had it for $120 less than Crutchfield, though it was similarly priced at a couple other shops...this unit is awesome, does just about everything you could want. CarPlay (or Android Auto), HD Radio, DVD/CD player, nice EQ and display options, tons of vehicle info thanks to the Maestro interface. After reading issues others were having getting everything to work, I was a little worried, but the guys who installed it for me must have known what they were doing because everything works perfectly - backup camera goes on automatically when in reverse, steering wheel controls, etc...major pro for me is the tiltable screen, which should help tons with glare as the sun moves throughout the day. Also offers a lot of customization, e.g. custom button color, background image etc. HUGE improvement over my stock radio in my new Jeep Renegade. The sound from the stock speakers is tons better just from swapping out the head unit. Besides possibly a larger screen and wireless connectivity, not sure why you would spend $1000 or more for the pricier models. This does everything. Oh - and it also has the superior "capacitative" touch screen, which has been very smooth so far. For under $500, I couldn't have asked for more.

Great unit with numerous features. The screen is clear and bright, although the glossy surface tends to show fingerprints in bright sunlight. However, it's easy to clean, and is very responsive to touch. The installation requires some thought, as there are a number of connections that must be made. Take your time and label everything as you go. Once installed, the system is fairly straight forward. One of the reasons I wanted to update from my previous (10 year old) system was to have Car Play. It's fantastic and takes advantage of the power in my iPhone. Handy tip: there are two USB connections to this unit; one is for Car Play (or Android), and the other essentially a data connection. I installed a dash-mounted USB port for my iPhone, and put the other USB pigtail in my glove box, connected to a 256 Gig USB drive that contains music. I have a nice jukebox built into the car this way, even when I don't connect my iPhone.