| Rating | Where to buy |
 | Amazon.com *Same or similar item |
Pyle PLR44MU Single Din Car Stereo is a radio tuner and MP3 player. It’s a Mechless head unit, that is, it doesn’t come with a CD player. It can play MP3 songs from your flash drive, SD/MMC cards, or other mobile devices. It features 4 x 60 Watts output, which is higher than most other car stereo systems of its class. This means PLR44MU can play music louder. It can read ID3 tags of MP3 songs, that is, it can show song information on its display.
What is in the box?
The box contains Pyle PLR44MU head unit, the detachable face panel in a carrying case, accessory cables, remote control, and user manual.
Design and features
Pyle PLR44MU Single Din Car Stereo comes in black color. The face panel is detachable. The face panel comes in black color too. It does not come with a CD player. The volume control glows blue when power is on. It looks nice. The face panel has buttons for directory (songs folder) switching, which is very convenient for playing a large number of songs distributed over multiple folders. PLR44MU has an equalizer button. It also lets you choose from bass, treble, fader, and loud mode options.
Choosing between AM/ FM/ USB/ SD card/ AUX requires just a couple of press on the mode button on the face panel or on the remote control. Each time you turn on Pyle PLR44MU, it resumes from the latest selected source. Radio reception is good. Seek and scan function automatically fine-tunes radio channels. You can save up to 30 channels at a time.
Pyle PLR44MU Single Din Car Stereo can display ID3 Tags of Songs, which is a nice function especially when you are playing MP3s from a flash drive or memory card. The Aux-in gives you the liberty to play songs from your iPhone/ iPod/ or any other mobile devices with a 3.5mm audio out port. The full function remote control works fine as long as you keep the remote at no more than 30-degree angle from the IR sensor of Pyle PLR44MU.
The back panel of the head unit has an external antenna connector port for radio reception. RCA Jacks and harness cable connectors.
Performance
To start with, we used 8GB flash drive filled with more than 1500 songs in 25 folders. The songs sounded nice on Pyle PL683BL 6 x 8-Inch 360-Watt 3-Way Speakers. We can’t say we heard the deepest bass or mind-blowing fidelity, but for a $40 car stereo, Pyle PLR44MU’s sound output was a joy to our ears. Using speakers and car stereo of the same brand could have made the whole system sound better. The display was good; it made song browsing easier. The DIR+ and DIR- made it easy to switch to different folders with different genres of songs. We were able to enjoy different genres of songs such as trans, indie, rock, pop, grunge, and metal.
Radio reception was good and sounded clear without any noise or break. We connected our iPhone 4S via a cable with a 3.5mm jacks on both ends; however, this time we had a slightly better bass with a slight reduction in fidelity.
| Pros | Cons |
| 240 Watts max power, easy directory browsing for a large number of songs in multiple folders, works with 8GB flash drive/ SD card. Decent sound with bass and treble control. The ID3 tag is readable. Aux-in port. Great radio reception | Music distorts at volume over 90%, remote control does not work at an angle more than 40 degrees. |
Conclusion
Pyle PLR44MU Single Din Car Stereo doesn’t have a CD player. But you can play MP3 songs from your flash drive or SD/MMC card. Or, you can play songs directly from your iPhone or other mobile devices. Overall output was good with high fidelity, but the bass could have been deeper. The sound quality can be improved by using the right speakers with it. If you are looking for the best single din car stereo
Specifications
* Dimensions: 7 W x 4.72 D x 1.96 H (inches)
* 4 x 60 Watts Maximum Power Output
* MP3 ID3 Tag Digital Readout Compatible
* Full Function Wireless Remote Control
* Illuminated Blue Glowing Control Button
* AM/FM-MPX PLL Tuning Car Radio
* White LCD Display
* Detachable Face Panel
* Front Auxiliary Input Jack
* Stereo RCA Line Out Jack