At first glance, JVC's KD-AR5500 looks like a pretty simple CD player — black faceplate, LCD screen, a handful of buttons, and that's about it. But the KD-AR5500's sleek, futuristic style belies the powerful technology it's packing under the hood. CrutchfieldAdvisor recently took this in-dash wonder out for a spin to see if its performance features — from the touch-screen display to the SD memory card reader — can live up to its style.

The KD-AR5500's black, touch-screen faceplate certainly earns points in the style department.

Front and center

"Wow, what a looker." Out of the box, the KD-AR5500 just plain looks great. And for me, its stripped-down touch-panel was a nice change from my button-crowded factory stereo. Before even getting it into the car, the stereo was looking cool and offering far more style than I was used to; good news all around.

Best of all, those good looks are just the beginning. The KD-AR5500 is a deceptively advanced CD player. Once installed, you've got a touch-panel control screen, a full palette of background colors and images, and even an SD card input at your disposal. These high-performance features really set the KD-AR5500 apart from the pack. So now the question is; how well did JVC incorporate all that technology into a usable, real-world stereo?

SD memory cards pack a lot of storage power into very little space.

So what about these SD cards?

Originally found in digital cameras, Secure Digital (SD) memory cards have morphed into the catch-all memory format for all sorts of electronic gadgets, and it's easy to see why. These tiny cards can fit into just about any device, pack in up to 1GB of data, and store your files for years.

For JVC, incorporating the SD format into their high-end CD players just made sense. Not only does the SD card reader offer a simple and convenient way to transfer graphics and other custom information into the player, but you can also fill a card with MP3 and WMA files and use the SD reader as a convenient playback drive. And, unlike single-use CD-R discs, SD cards can be used over and over again, saving you money in the long run. Besides, how many burned and forgotten old CD-Rs do you really need lying around, anyway?

I'll admit, the SD input on the KD-AR5500 is a little clunky — you have to remove the whole faceplate to access the slot. But once you've inserted a card, navigating around the data couldn't be simpler. It works just like the CD drive, allowing you to organize and click through all your folders and files right from the touch panel. When you're done, just pop it out of the player, add and delete files as needed from your computer, and reuse the card.

Use the touch-screen interface to adjust your sound. The graphic display is bright and easy to read.

Touch control makes it easy

While the SD card input is certainly a cool feature, there's just no getting around the KD-AR5500's touch-panel control screen. It's right in front of you, after all, stretching across the faceplate and offering hands-on control of just about every aspect of receiver performance. Just give it a light touch — I actually found that a fingernail poke works best — and you're off. Thanks to JVC's graphic menu system, navigating through even the most advanced options is fairly straightforward, too.

JVC's remote control lets your passengers control the show.

Coming from a factory stereo, the touch panel took me some getting used to. Once I'd mastered the organization scheme, however, I didn't really have any problems. The screen options change for each source, ensuring that the most useful options are always front and center. For example, when you're listening to a CD, you can change tracks right from the main screen. Tweaking sound settings like fade / balance and EQ takes a little more digging, but nothing is more than a few touches away.

Take the 7-band iEQ, for instance. Once you access the system menu (by pressing "menu" on the faceplate) and select iEQ, you get a graphic display of all seven tone curves. Couldn't be simpler — just decide which setting you want (jazz, rock, pop, etc.) and press accordingly. Further tweak-ability is available via the on-screen EQ sliders.

One of my favorite things about the touch-screen system is JVC's Voice Support feature. Every time to you make a menu selection you get an audible announcement of what you're doing. Select the Aux-In source and you get a cheerful female voice saying "external component," for example. Non-menu selections, like volume or track adjustments, are accompanied by a subdued "click" to let you know the system has processed your touch. It's nice for the "wow factor," sure, but the audible cues also serve a very real safety role, allowing you to make adjustments without taking your eyes off the road.

Crisp, clear graphics, thanks to the KD-AR5500's display.

Go custom

Behind that touch-panel, the KD-AR5500 is packing a variable-color display screen capable of some pretty impressive visual acrobatics. It comes loaded with basic "intro" and "outro" animations that show off the system's capabilities, but it takes JVC's PICT system to really cut loose. Just install the included imaging software on your computer, pull up some favorite photos, and tweak them into stills or animations for use with the KD-AR5500. Still not enough for you? Check out the library of prepared files that are available for free at JVC.com.

This is where the SD card input really shines. Since you don't have to use the CD drive to load data into the player (though you can, if that's your thing), you can fill up an SD card with all your favorites, leave it in the reader, and select photos for download on the fly. This is a great solution for storing bunches of PICT files to swap out on a regular basis.

A near-endless palette of background colors — 1,728, to be exact — lets you customize the lighting to match your interior. (Note: the KD-AR5500 comes out of the box in a "display demo" mode that scrolls endlessly through a series of colors while the stereo is on. It gets old quick, and can be switched off by pressing the "menu" key and following the Preferred Setting Mode prompts.) Your PICT images will show up in pixilated black against the background color of your choice. Keep in mind, though, that the buttons around the display will always light up in red, regardless of the background you select.

The faceplate motors down out of the way so you can access the CD slot.

Final thoughts

OK, that's a lot of technology. So, did JVC succeed in bringing it all together? In a word: yes.

Once I had the player installed in my dash, it took mere minutes to set up. And, in this age of high-tech, complex electronics, that's saying something. The fact of the matter is, the KD-AR5500 doesn't just look simple and streamlined, it works that way, too. If you're in the market for a CD player that's as easy to use as it is powerful, take a long look at JVC's KD-AR5500. It's style with substance.