Customer Reviews

Tech Support? Yeah, right.

Unfortunately, this is not a good unit. I have been back and forth with tech support at both Crutchfield AND Kenwood directly. When trying to playback high res audio from a USB, this unit will freeze time and time again. On an 8 hour drive, the unit freezed over 30 times at various points. I have tried 2 different units of this model, different USB configurations, and even smaller USB sizes. The problem persists, so this is not an isolated issue. Despite troubleshooting, updating, reinstalling, and being on the phone with Crutchfield for hours, there is no resolution. Everything is within spec and has been verified as correct by the Crutchfield team. Despite all this, both tech support teams are telling me to buy a different unit at this point. They are stumped and I can get no resolution to my issue. USB audio playback is one of the most basic functionalities of a head unit, so I am frustrated that this basic feature is so problematic. So, now I am stuck with removing the unit AGAIN and purchasing a different unit. This is resulting in hours of time on my end and I am likely going to have to pay more for a different unit. And, I'm unsure if another unit will even work. I would hope that Crutchfield would take responsibility for this and help me resolve the issue as they sell this unit and it does not work as advertised. I am reasonable person that would be open to resonable corrective action. But, as of now, there has been none.

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Crutchfield response on 7/14/2025

Gage, we're sorry you're having issues with your receiver. Gage contacted our Tech Support team to set up a return a there is a 2-year warranty on this receiver. Lifetime tech support comes with every Crutchfield purchase.

Love This Head Unit, Love The Display

I waited a little bit to put this review just to get a feel for the head unit, which I love. The kit that came with it was a perfect fit and I'll never not get the harness service, so so worth it to make it a simple plug and play. The unit itself works fantastic, the display is absolutely beautiful, and I'm super please with this purchase. I'll also definitely be getting those speakers. I also purchased the dash plug and installed that myself which was super super easy. Tips: you'll need a high speed USB cord. My phone isn't the best (Nokia X100) and the radio kept crashing until I connected it with a good high speed cord, works perfect now. And due to my phone, or at least I think that's the reason, I use waze for maps. Google maps if I don't keep my phone active and on maps it'll keep "searching for GPS." Again, I truly believe that's on the side of my phone and it works perfectly now. Their customer service was also really good in helping me figuring out that it was the cord that I was using that was causing the radio to crash. Which wasn't surprising being I bought the cord at a gas station, that cheap cord that cost 10 bucks. I didn't at first realize that could be a potential issue, and it most certainly was the issue.

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Kenwood DMX40S

screen is small, volume buttons need to be pressed for every notch, tons of wires. Good sound EQ

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Kenwood DMX40S

Happy easy to use

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Kenwood DMX40S

This is a great head unit and helped give my 2011 F-150 a modern feel with amenities.

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Great receiving signal for the radio

It works so far it sounds good has good connection to my Google phone

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Crappy tuner, Decent sound.

I set out to purchase a decent sounding radio with apple car play for my work car. I was looking for three things - a radio with a decent tuner (since I'm in the broadcast industry and have to hear what's on the radio), a good sounding unit, and Apple CarPlay. I had decided on the Sony XAV-AX3200. Before I hit the buy button, I watched the video review. There was nothing about it I didn't like, but it mentioned this Kenwood DMX40S and the insanely sensitive FM tuner. I did some poking around the site and found this unit. So, this past weekend I finally had a chance to install the unit in my work car, replacing a factory Pioneer which i was never happy with. (This and every Toyota radio I have ever experienced has just been odd sounding, but good reception.) The install went very smooth, as I also got the adaptors and wiring necessary to be plug and play and put the wiring together in my shop before I started. After installing, I tweaked the EQ some and some of the settings, got Apple CarPlay set up with my phone, and went for a ride. I decided the review of the Sony I watched falsely identified the tuner in this. It is much worse than the one I removed. I wish I would have stuck with the Sony, as I'm pretty sure I would have been much happier with that one. I'm sure down the road, I'll be able to sell this one to someone who doesn't care about the tuner or put it in a different vehicle that I'm NOT driving every day and get a dec

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Kenwood DMX40S

It works and sounds wonderful. I am still getting all the settings loaded. It does take a few steps to get everything functioning. The setup is not intuitive, but the online manuals are great. I would recommend this as a replacement for the original.

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Kenwood DMX40S

So far so good product came in quick and everything was there.

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Exactly what I needed

Great little set up, easy to install with all the different wiring and install kits available. I was able to be up and running in just a short bit. Massive difference over stock setup, couldn't be happier with this purchase.

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Great radio

Wonderful! This is one nice setup. One drawback no remote came with it. If you have big fingers hard hitting buttons. That's my only flaw sounds great looks great.

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Kenwood DMX40S

Great radio head unit for the price!

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Does everthing I needed a head unit to do

Head unit is great, and the price was reasonable. Provided everything needed, and added a noticable improvement in sound quality and clarity over the stock setup.

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Receiver is great; Crutchfield Install Kit Outdated

I put this receiver in a 2015 F-150 with the factory 8-inch display and an aftermarket upgraded sound-system (speakers and amp only). I also purchased the full install kit. Overall, it took me about 6 hours to get everything installed, including approximately 5 calls into Tech Support, all of who were very helpful. So far, I'm very happy with the receiver. The controls are fast and fairly intuitive. I even now have digital control over my climate controls, something I didn't have previously. I have noticed that the volume controls take some getting used to. When I turn the volume knob, it's great. But when I use my steering wheel Volume control buttons, there's a very noticeable lag. Also, there's a huge volume/quality difference between music played over BlueTooth vs. when you have your phone physically plugged into the receiver's provided USB. The only thing I'm not a huge fan of is the fact that when you're using an app, instead of taking up the whole screen, it leaves about an inch at the bottom for the menu, which means you don't ever get the full benefit of the nearly 8" screen. That's a big difference when you're used to having the stock 8" display. One thing I'll mention that is not in reference to the Kenwood Receiver, but in reference to the big kit of things Crutchfield provides, neither of the provided USB harnesses (a USB-C and a USB-A), work with today's smartphones.

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Kenwood DMX40S

Very good budget radio for anybody that just wants better availability and quality out of their speakers. Super easy to use with tons of compatibility!

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Great sound nice display

Love the unit so far after 2 weeks. Been using apple carplay with the usb connection . No issues using nav Spotify or Apple Music.

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