Parrot RKi8400 Tests / Review Thread

[Guru]

Ok, i got my hands on the new Parrot Rki84000 courtesy of Car Audio Direct on the 1st September and have now had a chance to run it through a few bench tests.

Here are a few pics and results, but feel free to ask any questions on bits i missed in this thread while i have the unit available on the bench still!

For those who do not know the Parrot RKi8400 is a car stereo without a CD mechanism but with a "cubby" hole for an iPod/iPhone or USB device, an SDHC card slot and has built in high quality Bluetooth handsfree capability.

The unit supports playlists and album art from USB and iPod and browsing by genre, album, artist etc via its Jog wheel and TFT display.

Here she is, powered up and showing the default "sunset" wallpaper design:





Initially i grabbed my iPhone 3G and it fitted perfectly inside the cubby hole behind the facia. The pocket is lined with a rippled grippy rubber material to keep things protected and nice and still.

The unit scanned the iPhone music content in a few seconds and was instantly off and running with music playback. You can browse by artist, genre, album, playlist etc as previously seen with Alpine units and also search within the current list using an alpha search called up with the numeric kepad on the left.





With the iPhone/iPod everything was pretty seemless and certainly a match for any offering from other brands. The TFT screen is excellent and the colour scheme can be changed with "themes" within the menus.

Next I grabbed my portable Lacie 40GB 2.5" HDD and it also fitted perfectly inside the cubby hole



The unit took a slightly worrying two minutes to initially scan the drive, not a great start when the drive only had 7GB of music onboard (1948 files, 103 folders) ! However once off and running it offers the same browsing and searching experience as the iPod. Interestingly if you turn off the iginition, it does need to rescan on power-up but it only took 30 seconds on the second sweep. With the HDD i was able to confuse the unit with fast searching, scrolling and selecting, resulting in an "initialising" message being displayed for a long period. My advice is to stick with solid state USB drives up to 16GB with this unit. (The SDHC card slot is located in the end of the facia and offers the same options as USB)

For those tempted to plug in a USB drive AND the iPod at the same time (they will both fit in the cubby hole) the Parrot Rki8400 gives priority to the iPod and wont let you choose the USB device until the iPod is unplugged - curses, oh well you cant have it all!





The build quality is well up to par for a £200+ head-unit and the new magnetic catch facia systems is superb. It pulls the right hand edge into place (quite firmly!) and leaves you to action the left side catch as usual. The facia and jog dial are finished in a rubberised soft touch finish which feels very OE and understated.

Bluetooth performance as you would expect is second to none (it uses Parrots latest and best twin mic system) but special mention must go to the internal amplifier. It is without doubt one of the best sounding and most powerful internal amps currently available. I wound it up to very high levels on the test rig and was rewarded with incredible bass control and undistored playback - other office members could not believe it was not an external amp - praise indeed!

Last two pics showing the TFT display:





Fire away with questions....

[bradavon]

Some questions please:

1. Did you ever test the RK8200? To compare.
2. Does it need to scan every time? It sounds like it does but it's quick on the iPhone 3G so not a problem.
3. How many GBs of MP3s do you have on the iPhone 3G?
4. Can you access radio presets from one button or do you have to go into a menu first?
5. Does it read Folder.jpg Album Art files Windows Media Player creates?
6. What does OE mean?

I plan to get a 16GB USB Stick (or SDHC Card), so hopefully speed won't be an issue. I have 12GB of MP3s and significantly more files/folders than you do on your HDD so even 1 minute is too long.

This Car Stereo looks just what I've been looking for and this time "it actually works".

[Guru]

1. Did you ever test the RK8200? To compare.

Nope i dont think they ever made it past the first few batches into Halfords so i have to take this one at face value compared to Alpine etc

2. Does it need to scan every time? It sounds like it does but it's quick on the iPhone 3G so not a problem.

It certainly does, although strangely its faster after the very first scan - i will test this some more with big flash drives.

3. How many GBs of MP3s do you have on the iPhone 3G?

Dunno. i think its not huge, around 2GB. I will therefore test with my 40GB iPod classic as a comparison tomorrow..

4. Can you access radio presets from one button or do you have to go into a menu first?

It has direct access numeric preset buttons, so i would hope so, but will clarify tomorrow.

5. Does it read Folder.jpg Album Art files Windows Media Player creates?

It was picking up Album art from regular MP3's but i need to check if these are tagged art or jpgs inthe root folders....more testing needed

6. What does OE mean?

Original Equipment ie. Factory Fit in a car as standard

[RickyT]

does it have any eq or crossover functions mike ?

[gcogger]

Can you browse by folder, as well as artist, album etc.? Cheers.

[bradavon]

Good question Gcogger.

Thanks Guru. Please clarify if you can also use Folder.jpg in the Album folder too. All my Cover Art is done this way, instead of inside the MP3 itself.

The cheapest I can this through Google Shopping is £269. Can anyone beat this? That's too much IMO.

[Arg0t]

Really tempted to get one of these, just a couple of questions.

Can you connect the iPhone outside the cubby hole? Just shelled out for TomTom for the iPhone, bit of a problem if I cannot see the screen as its behind the facsia. Looking at the manual it appears there is no way of connecting "externally"

Does the unit output iPhone sounds or only play the mp3's stored on the iPhone. Could I use something like tunin.fm app and stream radio to the head unit or have the voice from TomTom play over the speakers. My Alpine head unit does not output anything but the music on the phone. If it doesn't play sounds through the dock is it possible to play mp3's and have sounds played via the bluetooth connection switching between the 2 automatically when needed?

Thanks.

[ShadowTD]

Originally Posted by bradavon

The cheapest I can this through Google Shopping is £269. Can anyone beat this? That's too much IMO.

Sorry, but what? Full colour display, bluetooth from one of the biggest manufacturers and iPod control that's as good as Alpine's best efforts? An Alpine 305 is £250 on CAD and you're begrudging paying an extra £20 for bluetooth? WTF?

[jacobstisen]

There are some questions I haven't been able to find the answer to - maybe you can help?

What color lights up the buttons at night: red, white, green or?

Is the dual microphone wireless (bluetooth)?

I was thinking to "permanently” install a large 2,5” HDD or a large USB flash drive. But that might not be a good idea (Thinking of the performance issues you mentioned with your 40GB 2,5 HDD)? So might it be better to buy smaller USB drives and then switch between them? Cut to the bone the question is: If you want all your music in the car - what would your recommendation be?

Thanks!

[Amraam]

Sorry to be a noob (also I'm about to leave the hosue so I haven't had time to read the article, so apologies if it's answered there) but is this a standalone HU or designed to work with a standard HU?

[RickyT]

Its a standalone hu mate.

[mmpk]

Hi Guru, I'm wondering if you can help me. I posted on the Parrot Facebook forum asking about connecting the iPhone simultaneously to the TomTom car-kit and the RKi8400 (outside of compartment), especially with regard to music quality. Here's their reply.
"The Parrot RKi8400 has 2 line input functions
- on FrontPanel with jack 3,5mm
- and another behind the radio with RCA plugs
So if you want to keep your navigation instruction and select songs from your iPhone, one solution we will be to use the jack 3,5mm of your iPhone and connect it to one of the RKi8400’s line input. With this configuration, you will have to select manually your songs on your iPhone."
Guru, are you able to test this unit and comment on this type of setup; music quality from the iPhone to the external 3.5 line-in jack.
And, what do they mean by 'manually select songs'? Does that mean that the primary use of the radial knob becomes redundant, and I then need to select via my iPhone direct?
that would suck!
And what is your general comment on the quality of sound playback, could you say it was excellent?
Look forward to your reply, MMPK
ps, must say all thing being equal I'm very excited by this product, looks fantastic; a very smart solution.

[Guru]

Been a bit busy this week to test all these requests but will try and get some bench time to clarify the features very soon.

mmpk - i can tell you that if you use the 3.5mm line-in it will definitley be just audio with no controls possible, you would need to use the iPod controls as normal.

The Parrots iPod control cable is for the internal cubby hole only and is designed in such a way it is impossible to plug-in when the face is back on.

Mike

[jacobstisen]

Hi
I have now bought one of these babies my selves

Answers to my own questions:

Originally Posted by jacobstisen

What color lights up the buttons at night: red, white, green or?

Answer: White can't be changed (only the brightness).

Originally Posted by jacobstisen

Is the dual microphone wireless (bluetooth)?

Answer: Not wireless.

Originally Posted by jacobstisen

I was thinking to "permanently” install a large 2,5” HDD....

Answer: My 2,5" HDD can't fit into the hole behind the font - so now I'm thinking of using a large USB flash drive.

But there is still something I can't find out.
- If I connect it to the computer via USB cable the display say "USB MODE". But I can't do anything - the divice won't show in Windows Vista?

And one more thing: have you tried to connect a large USB flash drive (over 32 GB) - is it still slow? I would like to know if I should buy one large USB flash drive or more smaller ones?

My over all impression so far:

[bradavon]

Odd I didn't get an e-mail when people commented. Where did you buy one from jacobstisen?

Are you trying to plug the head unit itself into your PC or the USB Stick? It sounds like the best choice is a large (say 16-32Gb) USB Stick. Which obviously should work fine in Vista.

Connecting the head unit fascia itself to Vista should be no different to XP. USB Mass storage is USB Mass storage (i.e - I'm guessing what it means by USB Mode).

Jacobstisen, can you please answer? -

Originally Posted by bradavon

Some questions please:

1. As it needs to rescan every time, how long does it take for say 16Gb of MP3s on a USB Stick?
2. Can you access radio presets from one button or do you have to go into a menu first?
3. Does it read Folder.jpg Album Art files Windows Media Player creates?

Originally Posted by ShadowTD

Sorry, but what? Full colour display, bluetooth from one of the biggest manufacturers and iPod control that's as good as Alpine's best efforts? An Alpine 305 is £250 on CAD and you're begrudging paying an extra £20 for bluetooth? WTF?

At the end of the day I'd likely pay that but it is a lot more when you consider the prior model was going for £180. Which granted never actually worked but the specification was roughly the same.

Is audio quality really as good as the likes of Alpine and Pioneer? I'm not so sure, not that I'm an audiophile, so would be happy with it.

[jacobstisen]

I bought it from a Danish web site: ipodyourcar.dk - I am from Denmark

Yes it's the head unit (the front panel) I plug into my PC.

1: I haven't tried with a USB stick (but I think that I will buy a 64 GB stick later this week can't wait any longer on someone to test it for me). I tried it with my 8GB IPOD Nano and it takes some seconds every time I start the car before I can use it - nothing big (but I am curious if it becomes a problem with a 64GB USB stick - time will show!).

2: Yes you can. No problem. Just press "source" and you will loop though only the active inputs. So if you only have say a USB stick pluged in - the FM radio will be the first to show pushing "source"

3: don't know. All my covers are created via iTunes.

The price: I would say that there is value for the money.

Audio quality: I can only say that I am satisfied.

[bradavon]

Originally Posted by jacobstisen

I bought it from a Danish web site: ipodyourcar.dk - I am from Denmark

Ah, thanks. Fill the "location" field in then .

Originally Posted by jacobstisen

Yes it's the head unit (the front panel) I plug into my PC.

Upgrading Firmware aside, I don't really see the point bothering. Isn't the "on-board" memory only something like 300Mb? I doubt I'll bother using it.

I'd prefer to use a SD Card reader, if using an SD card and leave the head unit fascia itself in the car.

Originally Posted by jacobstisen

1: I haven't tried with a USB stick (but I think that I will buy a 64 GB stick later this week can't wait any longer on someone to test it for me).

Good man! Don't they cost loads though? I was thinking 16GB or 32Gb. I'm sure some type of flash memory is the way to go over more normal hard drive types.

Originally Posted by jacobstisen

I tried it with my 8GB IPOD Nano and it takes some seconds every time I start the car before I can use it - nothing big (but I am curious if it becomes a problem with a 64GB USB stick - time will show!).

I'm worried too. How many seconds? How many Gigabytes on your Nano? Do you find it gets faster the second time? Like Guru did. Sorry for all the questions, thanks.

The time it takes to scan is a worry but I don't reckon it will be a deal breaker for me. Provided it isn't minutes each time.

Originally Posted by jacobstisen

2: Yes you can. No problem. Just press "source" and you will loop though only the active inputs. So if you only have say a USB stick pluged in - the FM radio will be the first to show pushing "source"

Thanks. Do the number buttons cycle through saved preset FM stations? When in the Radio mode.

Originally Posted by jacobstisen

3: don't know. All my covers are created via iTunes.

How does that create them? Via .jpg or inside the MP3/AAC.

Originally Posted by jacobstisen

The price: I would say that there is value for the money. Audio quality: I can only say that I am satisfied.

Thanks.

[bradavon]

Phone compatibility:

http://www.parrot.com/uk/support/onl.../compatibility

My phone isn't listed but many HTC models are, including the HTC Hero.

Oddly Contacts and Display Picture Push aren't compatible on the Hero. So whilst you can use the BT Microphone fine, Contact names won't appear on the display.

[bass_junkie83]

Should do, my hero syncs fine with the mki9200 kit.

[bradavon]

Nice! Thanks. Does it sync Contact names and Display pictures too?

[jacobstisen]

I have just bought my 64GB USB stick but I got this message "ERROR DEVICE NOT SUPPORTED"

I have talked to Parrot in France and they say that RKI8400 have been tested compatibel with a 64GB USB stick.... ???

bradavon:
- 8 Gigabytes on my Nano and yes it's faster the second time.
- Yes number buttons cycle through saved preset FM stations if FM mode is selected
- My cover pictures are created inside the MP3/AAC via iTunes.
- My contact pictures are not synchronized and displayed (Sony Ericsson X1)

As I am writing this I am desperately trying different file system modes on my stick to make it work (FAT, FAT32, XFAT). The stick works just fine on my computer...

[bradavon]

Thanks Jacobstisen. Have you tried 32Gb? Please post if you get anywhere.

[bradavon]

There's also this:

http://www.sextonsdirect.co.uk/fusion/p~CA-IP500.html

I cannot imagine it's as good, is iPod only and has no Bluetooth though but much cheaper.

[mini_malistisch]

@guru: thanks for your test report on that unit, clears a lot which is not standing in Parrot's specs.

perfect unit, exactly that what I want with my Iphone 3G. Just 3 points are unclear if they are working.

Therefor I would need your help, to try this out for me or have a look at your Parrot.
1) Internet radio: start an INternet radio on your Iphone (eg via radiobox app or safari), wait till it plays (so your sure the stream works) and then connect it to the Iphone-Plug inside(!) of Parrot compartment. Can you hear the radio sound via Parrot? if yes I find a way to get this connector cable outside (eg. cut+enlarge cable and find a way out, if necessary I drill a whole in the chassis). Done crazier things before and I now what I do. And screwing the warranty, I don't care.
2) RCA-Output? Can you connect external amplifier, if yes how many outputs? i have to connect my 8 channel DSP-Amplifier to it, needs minimum 2 RCA for front but 4 RCA front&rear would be better.
3) USB-Port inside Parrot: can somebody please try if it is possible to put a 2 or 4 port Hub/Switcher and connect 2 HD/Flash drives. What happens? Can you play both sources or just one or none?? If none, diconnect 1 and leave the other connected. can I play the one source now?

Thanks for the help testing/clarifying this.

[bradavon]

I bet regarding the hub, at best it will only see one of them.