Kenwood Excelon KDC-X304

Why Kenwood Excelon?

In my 22 years with Crutchfield, Kenwood’s Excelon car stereos have always included in-depth customization capabilities, the latest technology, and super-clean sound. The Kenwood Excelon KDC-X304 CD receiver upholds that tradition by providing a variable-color display, Internet radio controls, and a USB port for high-res music playback. You may notice a dedicated button on the front panel — Amazon Alexa gives you voice control over your music and much more. Kenwood also added Bluetooth® to wirelessly stream music and make hands-free calls quickly and easily. Deep tone controls, plenty of options for system expansion, a huge variety of music sources, and a 2-year warranty really put a stamp on what makes Excelon great.

Alexa voice control

After you load the Alexa app onto your phone and pair your phone to this Kenwood receiver, simply press the dedicated “Alexa” button on the faceplate, and you can access music, audiobooks, news, weather, traffic, and smart home controls using your voice.

Bluetooth means wireless and more

In addition to wireless access to music and calls, the KDC-X304 enables you to pair two Bluetooth-equipped phones and quickly switch between them for hands-free calling. And when you’re streaming audio, the Music Mix feature lets you pair five phones so everybody in the car can take turns picking the tunes. This Kenwood also offers iPhone® control and displays music info when using Apple Music® through Bluetooth.

Speaking of control, you can also operate this stereo directly from your iPhone or Android™ phone using Kenwood’s free Remote app, which comes in handy if your stereo is hidden away or in a custom location — super handy for installation in a vintage vehicle.

Lots of music sources

This Kenwood is ready for radio, with controls for Spotify® and Pandora®, along with an option for SiriusXM (optional tuner and subscription required). Its front-panel USB port also lets you plug in and play music from your iPhone®, or you can play your own digital music stored on a USB drive including high-res WAV and FLAC files. And if that isn’t enough music for you, you can also satisfy your music fix using the receiver’s front aux input for a portable music player.

Add power and tweak away

With its three sets of 5-volt preamp outputs, the KDC-X304 delivers a super-clean signal to amplifiers in your setup. Combine those with the built-in 13-band equalizer and digital time alignment, and you’ve got a serious audio hub for an ever-growing sound system. And just to make sure you have the right look in your vehicle, you get to pick the color for the receiver’s 1.5-line display and control buttons.

Bluetooth note: Use of this receiver’s Bluetooth features will depend upon your phone’s Bluetooth capabilities.

iPod/smartphone note: If you’re going to use your iPod or smartphone with this receiver, be sure to check “Details” for compatibility information.