Kenwood DMX905S - Install, Reviews and Quirks thread - 2018 TRD Sport

Quirk/Feature of the day:

I noticed yesterday that Waze was in night mode in the afternoon, and had no idea why. This morning, still in night mode. I realized I had my DRLs on (in the position to put on fogs as well). I turned them off, and Waze went into day mode.

If you turn on your headlights, and are running Waze, it automatically goes into night mode. Kind of neat.

 

Quirk/irritation of the day:

I have been playing all songs on random from the thumb drive, and occasionally it will get hung up on an album. For instance, say the song playing is Everybody Wants Some by Van Halen, the artwork as well the song/band/album info is up, and it plays the song. Sometimes it will go to the next song on the random playlist, for instance, we'll say Box of Rain by the Grateful Dead, and it will show the artwork/song/album/band on the display for that, but will play Fools (the next song on VH's Women and Children First album). I hit next or back and it corrects itself. It doesn't do it all the time, but it does do it here and there. That thumb drive is full (all 64gb).

Anyway, I still love it.

 

Apple Music via wireless/wired Android Auto:

Let me again preface this by saying I understand that not all Android phones work with Android Auto (AA), in fact: I believe only Google Phones such as the old Nexus and the Pixel series phones are the only reliably connecting phones via AA. I have a Pixel 2, and have zero issues connecting to AA.

Also let me just say, I like Apple Music. The only reason I switched to an Android phone this time around is when I found out you could use Apple Music on Android phones now. I have a family subscription to Apple Music, and believe me, my family uses it like a hooker gets used during fleet week in NYC. We get our money's worth. I don't care to learn Spotify or Slacker, and I can't stand Pandora.

Shopping for a head unit is a hard task quite frankly. You can do all sorts of research via Crutchfield, SonicElectronix, Amazon, and all other corners of the internet, but unless you can actually touch/play/screw with the particular units you are interested in, you'll never really know what you are in for. This was especially true for me, as I had certain criteria for what I wanted, and could not find answers anywhere. Having the ability to go to a Kenwood Authorized dealer, that had a wall of head units set up, gave me the ability to get my questions answered.

Get to the point Ron:

One of my bigger questions was in regards to Apple Music while utilizing AA (wired or wireless). Would Apple Music even show up as a selection in the music? The answer was yes. It works very well via wireless/wired AA, and sounds great. I had been using an iPhone 6 with the SIM card removed set up as an iPod in one of the USB jacks (the black one, as the gray is for AA), and that has been working great for me, but sometimes I want to hear what Apple Music has for a play list for me. Lately it's been The Blues. Today it was Motley Crue (I don't have very much Crue).

All of these pictures were taken while running AA wireless.

From the AA home screen:

Someone had mentioned that the AA UI looked like it was designed by a 12 year old. I'm a pretty simple guy, so I don't mind the simple UI



How now playing music shows up in AA for Apple Music:


Finding music:



Crue:



The UI for Apple Music is easy enough for me to maneuver around.

You can see the WiFi symbol in the top right info section of the screens. That is how my phone links up wirelessly to AA. Generally speaking, I let my phone hook up to the wireless, and once it is connected, I plug in to the USB as well (more for charging than anything else). The red circle over in the middle left of the screen in some of the pictures takes you to "Now Playing" screen when You press it.

This system has some quirks, but I am really enjoying it so far. I hope these posts help others make a decision for purchasing. Tomorrow I'll do Amazon Music (yes, I have a subscription to that as well, and it shows up as a selection. I should really trim down my music subscriptions......)

 

Feature:

This button:



Activates "OK Google". Which is really cool and never used the function on my phone before. Also, I set up my phone for voice prompt "OK Google", and that works too!

 

Today I finished up installing a front view camera. I got a $18.99 special from Amazon



Install was fairly simple after some typical hand wringing by me. Details of how I mounted it, etc are in my build thread.

Anyway, now when you hit CAM button on head unit, the front cam comes up



Long press screen and it switches to back up camera





Pretty slick. It also auto turns on forward camera when I'm doing like 1 or 2 mph.

 

I have been looking at the DDX-9705s(i used to have the DDX-9903s in my 15 Sport), but now you have me thinking about this model instead. I dont think i really need a CD/DVD player...

 

were you able to get the up/down buttons on the steering wheel working?

 

These?
Or these:

 

the first one, the stereo function (track up/track down)buttons

 

Volume works as normal
the up/down buttons on that same pad do nothing for audio. The up button changes the home screen (there are 5 home screens), and that is it. Nothing from the down button that I have found yet.

 

Well damn... that could be an issue for me. Ill have to look a little deeper. Im also going to leave a wire accessible for upgrading the firmware on the maestro this time around. I didnt do that last time in my 15 sport, and it was a pain to get to if i wanted to change anything after the install

 

i tried wiring in one of those bypass thingys on my radio once and it did not work on either of my two head units....

 

the other up/down changes the song, but you have to be on the audio screen on the console.

 

Interesting. This is the second time I have done it, and the second time it has worked.....

 

maybe i got a faulty bypass. it was a cheap one on Amazon and they claimed it was my user error during install...

while that isn't out of the realm of possibilities, i have not touched it for over a year now out of pure frustration.

i should also note it was on Pioneer head units

 

the system I did in my last truck was pioneer. I used the bypass so the kids could watch movies on long trips.

 

with the kenwood head unit, i recall there was a way to connect a few wires together to create your own "bypass". this was with my DDX-9903s, so things could be different with current models

 

got mine installed today, and it sounds 10X better than the stock unit with my amp and speakers!!! thanks for the heads up on the blue/yellow wire too, i almost missed that one!

 

Excellent!

 

weird... i lost my backup sensors??