Product review: Soundfly SD WMA/MP3 Player Car Fm Transmitter for SD Card, USB Stick, Mp3 Players. Audio books in the car

My main use for Soundfly FM Transmitter is to listen to audio books while I drive. Other than the quality of the sound the feature that is most important to me is the ability to restart listening where I left off. This player does an excellent job in this respect with the feature called "bookmark". Soundfly fit my car (Honda CRV) perfectly. The sound quality is excellent.

I am attaching a collage of four photos that I will be referencing in this review.

Soundfly has three options for audio input: USB stick, SD card, and stereo headphone jack to which any device such as phone or MP3 player can be connected. The USB port is located at the bottom of the device, SD card slot and stereo jack ports are located on the sides. In my photos you see the usage of USB stick. Photos #1, #2, #3 show the transmitter working in the side console compartment. Photo #4 show the transmitter in the outlet below the dash. Both positions generated equally good sound. I found the side console more convenient for several reasons: (1) I don't see the USB stick flashing out of the corner of my eye (2) it is out of sight (3) it is always out of the direct sun light.

The remote control is small and thin. I mostly use it to bookmark my place in the book before I turn off the car. Photo #3 shows the screen displaying "SAV" when you hit the bookmark button on the remote. I keep the remote in the cup holder in the central console. I can easily control the transmitter from the sitting position where the transmitter is slightly behind me in the side compartment.

Inserting the plug into the outlet requires a bit of fussing mostly due to the position of the outlets in my car. For that reason I keep the unit plugged in most of the time. It starts playing as soon as I start the car even if I turned off the unit with the remote during the previous ride. When you turn the unit off without unplugging the speakers generate an unpleasant hiss, so I normally switch the radio to another station before I turn off the receiver via remote.

To find vacant FM stations in my area I used a web site "radio-locator (dot) com/cgi-bin/vacant" where you can enter your zip code and get a list of stations to try. This web site ranks vacant stations as "best", "great" and "good". Their suggestions worked well for me, the third station on their best list gave me the best sound quality. You can save vacant stations in the transmitter's memory, and change stations if needed using the remote.

The only minor issue I have with the transmitter is that when I set the volume to its max on the transmitter it is still a bit too low at my regular volume setting on the radio. I need to turn up the sound on the radio to get it to my normal listening range. This means I need to remember to turn the volume down before I switch to the radio options otherwise my ears get blasted.

Overall I am very pleased. This is my second FM transmitter. Years ago I bought a really cheap FM transmitter that would disconnect and start generating hiss on bumps in the road. It was so annoying that dismissed the FM transmitter as a good option for the car. Well, I guess you get what you paid for. This transmitter has not lost the transmission on the same ride that the old transmitter could not handle. I wish this was the unit I tried a few years ago, I would have been enjoying audio books in the car all these years.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★