Clarion touchscreen Optimedia
The Clarion ProAudio DXZ945MP really deserves its own full-length review. Luckily, the Advisor's Robert Ferency-Viars did that already, so I don't have to. In a lot of ways, this receiver is a different animal than the others in this article — its display is touchscreen. Usually, I think about touchscreen displays in the context of 6" or larger in-dash DVD monitors. But the DXZ945MP is a regular, DIN-sized receiver with a small-ish display. Is touchscreen really useful in this context, or just a "cool-factor" distraction?

When I slid the Clarion into my dash, I was skeptical. The wavy frame around the display…a little frou-frou, I thought, not my thing. Plus, when I read that the display was an LCD (albeit a 16-gradation, full-dot matrix LCD), I immediately had visions of a washed-out, hard-to-read disaster. But when I fired up the ignition and the receiver blinked on, my mind started to open.

Like the Alpine CDA-9835, this display is black and white (and gray) — no bright colors. And when I realized that the wavy frame was there for a reason — to make touchscreen operation easier by guiding your fingers to the right places on the screen — it suddenly started looking less frivolous and a lot more practical.

The Clarion DXZ945MP in "cloud" mode.

In fact, the more I drove around with the DXZ945MP, the better I liked it. The screensavers are admittedly a little goofy, but you can turn them off for a plain and simple information readout. Or, just embrace the goofy and personalize a screensaver with your own message. (See photos below.) Plus, I was surprised and pleased to find that this receiver performed wonderfully in the readability department — in fact, on the completely subjective score sheet in my mind, it came in second (after the Alpine BioLite) when it came to visibility in bright sunlight.

Above: Enter a message of your choice using the touchscreen LCD. Below: Moments later, my message appears as one of the screensaver options! Hands off my CR-V, buster.