Swiss Audio may be the new kid on the block compared to some of the mainstays of the car audio world but it is made up of well-seasoned folks that know how to maximize the cost/performance ratio from many years' experience. The new SCD2000 CD/MP3 player is a sample of this synthesis.
The silver faceplate is motorized for access to the CD slot, and detachable for theft-prevention. A section that looks like brushed aluminum surrounds the display area, which has a contrast adjustment with 10 levels to maximize visibility at your viewing angle. The display has a pair of VU meters at the bottom, topped by a set of 12 dot-matrix characters. The buttons and the rotary encoder (for level settings) all have backlighting that can be set for red or green to match your dash illumination. Finding the buttons needed for various operations was not difficult, although the button labels are not easy to read when you are looking at them from the side. The rotary encoder, which also selects the source when you press it, could use a bit more height to make adjustments easier. To the left of this knob are up/down buttons for selecting presets and MP3 folders. To the right are up/down buttons for tuning and fast forward/reverse. Across the bottom of the faceplate are buttons for power on/off, direct access to the primary functions of the deck, and the eject function. To the right of the display there are six buttons that select tuner bands when the tuner source is selected, and the various CD playback functions when the CD or CD Changer sources are selected. These buttons are too close together for my taste; I had trouble pressing one without hitting the one next to it.
Discs that can be played include CD, CD-R, and CD-RW. Supported formats include CD-ROM XA, Mixed Mode CD, enhanced CD (CD-Extra), and Multi-Session (Track At Once and packet writing are not supported). ISO9660 Level 1 and Level 2 MP3 formats are supported. Other formats such as Joliet can be played, but filenames longer than 64 characters will be truncated when displayed as scrolling text. Bit rates from 8kbps to 380kbps are allowed, and VBR (variable bit rate) files are also supported. Sampling frequencies from 16kHz to 48kHz are allowed. There is a memory buffer for the data coming off the disc that prevents loss of audio when the transport receives a physical shock. This buffer can be set for longer skip prevention time (40 seconds with CD audio, 1:40 with MP3 at 128kbps compression) at the cost of lower sound quality by enabling compression of the data stored in the buffer.
When playing audio CDs, the transport has audible fast-forward and reverse, pause, track up/down, track repeat (disc repeat is always enabled), random track playback, and intro scan (plays the first 10 seconds of each track). Direct track selection is also provided, with selections made by turning the rotary encoder. There is a track program that can memorize a sequence of tracks to play on the current disc but this memory disappears when you remove the CD. Control of an external CD changer is provided, with the same transport controls, except that the intro scan function only plays the first 10 seconds of the first track on each disc.