SimonJM

Dear all,

I have recently fitted the above in-dash unit (DH-101) and would like to post some feedback on this unit and the service offered by Ian Harris @ H2.

Unfortunately this will probably be a rather long posting, but for anyone interested in one of the units it would be worth reading.

Lee offers two units (check out his website www.dension.com):
-DH101 which is a 20Gb hard disk contained with in the headunit. This can be upgraded to a 60Gb disk for a little extra £.
A FM/MW radio is included in the headunit
-DH201 which is a 80Gb hard disk located within a DMP3 player in the boot of the car and connected to the headunit via a BUS lead. The headunit also contains a CD player and FM/MW radio.


I was originally a beta tester for the DH-201 unit.
Whilst testing the unit I had numerous problems and it eventually had to be removed as I discovered the headunit was overheating (didn't fancy a car in my brand new car). The CD playback quality was very poor, flip down front didn't work, radio reception was very poor etc
This was replaced with a production unit when they became available. However, after several weeks of playing and testing this unit I eventually returned it to Ian and swapped it for a DH101 with a 60Gb hard disk.
Some of the above problems remained, but the biggest problem was the hard disk in the boot would not spin up and therefore there was no MP3 music. The problem was related to battery voltage output and the earthing of the DMP3 unit in the boot. This was eventually fixed by creating a direct earth from the unit to the side of the car with a piece of wire I had in the garage.
Even when this was fixed the unit would still be very tempremental, especially the display on the headunit - sometimes it would display info, sometimes it wouldn't. When it didn't, the track playing would eventually jump back to the beginning and start again at which point the track info would be displayed - really annoying.

Would I recommend the DH201 unit to anyone?
Sorry Ian, but I wouldn't.


My experiences with the DH101 unit are comletely different - FANTASTIC BIT OF KIT.
I wish I had gone for that option in the first place.
Works perfectly.

Transfer of music to hard disk:

Dead easy.
Simply connect the disk to your PC / laptop via a USB port and using MusicMatch simply copy the CD to the disk. Takes about 5 minutes per CD.
If you are connected to the internet at the time MusicMatch will automatically download all the album info for you i.e.Artist name / Album / every song title. If not, you can enter the info manually, but this would be rather time consuming.
Tip - be careful when allowing MusicMatch to download the info for you. This information has been entered by someone anywhere in the world and albums released in different countries often have the songs in a different order. If MusicMatch can't find the info it will ask you to enter the data and submit it for the rest of humanity to use.
Once you have all your CD's copied it is worth investing a little time (OK quite a lot of time) making sure every album is correct.
How you organise the music files is entirely a personal thing. I have done it under the following headings:
Blues
Classical
Complilations
Rock and pop A-G, H-R, S-Z

So far I have about 300 CD's saved in MP3 format and have used about 25Gb of the disk.


Using the headunit:

A nice simple looking headunit. No flashing lights or fancy graphics. The display colour and contrast can be changed to just about any colour imaginable, including a perfect match for the green dash of a scooby (or the slighly more yellow colour of a PSI3).

There are numerous ways of selecting the music you want:
Simplest way is to select an album. This is done by selecting the file from a menu on the screen. Say I wanted to listen to Pink Floyd I would scroll to Rock and Pop H-R. This would then display all those bands, which you would scroll through until Floyd was reached. You would then scroll to which album you wanted.
The only difficult bit is that you have to keep taking your eyes off the road - maybe voice activation could be a thing for the future (what do you think Ian).
You can create your own playlists.
Best function and the one I use the most is the "MY RADIO STATIONS". You can pregrogramme six stations with any music you want and then play them completely at random. The 6 stations I have set up are:
All music
Blues
Classical
Rock and Pop
Pink Floyd
David Sylvian / Japan
e.g. If I select ALL MUSIC the MP3 player will just select absolutely any song at random. One minute it will be The Scorpions, then Bach, followed by Southpark (strange taste in music I know).
All the programming is really easy and is done using your PC. You can even alter the frequency / odds of a song from any particular group / album being played.
Should a song come up and you sudden think "That's a fantastic album, I haven't listen to that for ages", the press of a single button and the whole album will start playing from the very beginning. Press of a single button and everything returns to the completely random play mode of the radio stations.

The flexibility with this system is absolutely incredible and I still don't think I use it to its full capabilities!!!


The sound quality is very good also. The internal amp is ample to drive the unit, although I do use an external Sony amp. I perfer to use the external amp as it gives more flexibilty in creating a sound stage within the car.
I would certainly recommend changing the standard scooby speakers - I have used Kenwood components in the front and have put two small Kenwood subs in the rear parcel shelf. Certainly fine for my liking.


There has to be something wrong with this unit surely, and I'm afraid there is.
Whilst the FM reception is perfect, the MW is non existent. With the DH201 it was poor and the volume had to be turned up almost to full to hear anything. With the DH101 I have no reception at all - which means no radio 5 and hence no football in the car (probably keeps the wife happy. Actually it doesn't 'cause that means more Pink Floyd!!!!).
This problem may not fully be the fault of the system. In the STi8 the radio reciever is under the rear parcel shelf and is directly next to (almost touching) one of the rear speakers.
I'm wondering if this could interfer with the reception.
Mind you the speakers weren't there originally and the reception was still crap.

The only other very slight problem was that the HDD inside the headunit rattles - fixed very simply with a match.

Total marks out 10 = 9 (marked down on the MW reception)

Would I recommend a DH101 to anyone?
MOST CERTAINLY, especially with the 60Gb disk

For the same price as a good headunit / CD changer the DH-101 is much better value for money. Compared to the other HDD units on the market this has to be the best value around.
If nothing else, it is one sure way of impressing your mates!! Then you can just copy all their CD's as well!!!!(Oops forgot about the copyright thing!!!)



Customer service from Lee Harris:

Best described as BRILLIANT.
Lee has been really helpful from the very beginning. He is really easy to contact either by phone or by e-mail - always replies quickly. Full of ideas and suggestions. He fulfills everything he promises and I never had any doubt that he would deliver exactly what he says (and also when he says).

If only there were more businesses offering the same customer service.

I think I probably need to point out that I have no ties to Lee, his family or his business.
I am just a satisfied customer wanting to share my experiences.


I have some photos of the unit that I would like to post.
Could someone please tell me how to do it?

If anyone would like more details please don't hesitate to get in touch, either on or off-line.

Cheers

Simon

12LEE

Thanks for this post Simon. We've had a lot of enquiries from people looking for 3rd party real-world experience and this is really useful.

A few points:

1. Lee is the guy that looks after Dension in the UK. Ian is the guy who sold you your car

2. We're (Progressive Consumer Electronics Ltd) the UK distributors for Dension (www.dension.com).

3. There's a bunch of new firmware now available that really improves performance of DH-200 <-> DMP3-A communication for customers that (a) want the capacity of a 3.5" HD or (b) can't live without a CD slot. Having said that, DH-100 with internal removable 2.5" USB2.0 hard disk is proving to be the popular choice.

4. Keep your eyes peeled for a really exciting firmware development.... integrated support for Moodlogic which will give the option of turning AlbumPlay into a "more songs like this one" play mode.

5. We're exhibiting at Stuff Live from 26-28 September at Olympia under our sister retail company brand www.ihavetohave.it. If you're in London that weekend, please pop by and say Hi! We're stand number....... 1 We'll have all the Dension products on demo including the 150db Mini Cooper S demonstrator with DH-100 and integrated Sony DVX-100 DVD changer (yep, the Dension head unit controls it); DH-200/DMP3-A 80GB; DMP3-A upgrade for factory fit, Alpine, Sony and *new* Kenwood integration as well as a really exciting car kit for the Apple iPod that Dension are launching at the show.

For any Dension-related Qs, please feel free to email as per profile or call 0871 871 9747.

Cheers

Lee (not Ian ).

SimonJM

Hi LEE,

Many apologies for the slight name mix up - at least I got it right in the e-mail I sent you.
However, I do feel a complete twit now.

My only defense is that it was 2am.
Either that or the Alzheimers is kicking in early.
Errr, I can't remember which now!!!!

Many thanks for all your help and support. I'm really pleased with the DH101.


You don't know how to post pictures do you?


Cheers

Simon

12LEE

For pic posting [ IMG ]www.thelocationoftheimage.com/file.jpg[ /IMG ] and delete the spaces from within the square brackets.