Best Single DIN HeadUnit?

[Bun-Bun 10+ year member]

X2 on the Alpine-9887.

I stumbled upon it by accident when I was looking for a replacement deck for my car when it got flooded out. Walked into a local dealer saw there highest end deck... offered them a price and they took it (like $300 off the sticker price //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif) and since then I have read nothing but good things about the deck and I love it in everyway.

Great sound, mp3 capable, ipod connectable, compatible with steering wheel control units, easy to use interface, great tuning potential with its built in crossover and EQ. Just awesome.

I find the new kenwoods to feel cheap and offer less quality DAC's and other components then Alpine.

 

[BALDEAGLE57]

PIO DEH-1600 //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

 

[x2o 10+ year member]

Hm, so now it's between the X991 and the Alpine 9887. The 9887 just feels as though it's missing something but I don't quite know what

 

[Bun-Bun 10+ year member]

Hm, so now it's between the X991 and the Alpine 9887. The 9887 just feels as though it's missing something but I don't quite know what

Hype?

 

[x2o 10+ year member]

Hype?

That might be it. Lol no, it just looks as though it's lacking something I need but can't think of at the moment. I don't know //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crazy.gif.c13912c32de98515d3142759a824dae7.gif

 

[Bun-Bun 10+ year member]

That might be it. Lol no, it just looks as though it's lacking something I need but can't think of at the moment. I don't know //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crazy.gif.c13912c32de98515d3142759a824dae7.gif

A silly USB jack on teh front? it has an awesome screen (I thought otherwise when reading reviews and looking at pics but useing it in person it is just wow... so clear and no ghosting at all)

I cant think of anything the kenwood can do that the alpine cant do (or more like the awesome crossovers) except for its silly G sensing stuff and onboard memory which is useless IMO.

EDIT: The kenwoods look and feel cheeply built. The alpine feels like a solid unit. the whole experience is just so much nicer.

 

[Megalomaniac 5,000+ posts]

I don't like the pioneer's b/c of the ghey uni-pivot controller knob...
Can't stand it. Refuse to use it.

nG

i believe my cd7k uses that too. its a pia at times

 

[x2o 10+ year member]

A silly USB jack on teh front? it has an awesome screen (I thought otherwise when reading reviews and looking at pics but useing it in person it is just wow... so clear and no ghosting at all)
I cant think of anything the kenwood can do that the alpine cant do (or more like the awesome crossovers) except for its silly G sensing stuff and onboard memory which is useless IMO.

EDIT: The kenwoods look and feel cheeply built. The alpine feels like a solid unit. the whole experience is just so much nicer.

Hm, your positives on the alpine HU have made me seem more fond of it. It's currently #1 on my list atm. Although I disliked the kenwood flaming as I don't like any flaming, it was in good nature and your trying to help so I'm not gonna say anything about that.

Thanks for the info and suggestion, I believe the alpine 9887 has everything I need and it's almost $100 cheaper than the kenwood. Still not a final decision, but it's pulling ahead.

 

[matrxx dude 5,000+ posts]

the x-991 usb port is in the back attached to a cable,i leave mine in my glove box,and as far as going active this hu does it pretty much all,very solid deck.

 

[Bun-Bun 10+ year member]

the x-991 usb port is in the back attached to a cable,i leave mine in my glove box,and as far as going active this hu does it pretty much all,very solid deck.

Even worse it is on teh back of the unit! lol

Alpine has a switch on it that turns its pre-outs into highs, mids, lows instead of fronts, backs, subs. Designed specifically for active setup's. The crossovers can go a wide range of frequencies with octave steps of 3,6,12,18, and 24DB. At least I think it goes down to 3...

And back to the screen... the biolite screen is much more crisp then the x-991. All I can say is when I went to the dealer and looked at the x-991 (which was the deck I intended on buying at the time) I said to myself... why would I pay $900 (CAD) for this cheap plastic looking thing? and the volume knob just felt flimsy... I was concerned with the biolite screen on the alpine not having color but now that I have it I wouldnt have it any other way. All this flashyness on other decks takes away from what is important. Functionality and quality. That and the biolite is just so crisp and easy to read and has relaly cool animations on all its menus (and major holidays //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif)

And then I saw the Alpine for $300 less (and I got them down another $300 //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif) and went yeah!!! and the audio quality is awesome and if you plan to plug an ipod into then there is none better then alpine. I use my ipod with it all the time and on lossless files or very high bit rate mp3's I am hard pressed to tell the difference between the ipod and the CD from which I ripped the music (granted I actually know how to rip MP3's...). And the screen just surprised me and the volume knob is solid and has very good feedback with its click. Overall just a supurb unit.

In the end they are both veyr good units and you need to go see them for yourself I think. But I personally love the Alpine and would never go to kenwood over it. (although I have heard it has a cleaner sub preout... but I dont beleive it... not that ive compared them myself however)

 

[x2o 10+ year member]

Yeah I think I'm gonna have to see these myself. I'll have to check around. Actually, a friend of mine runs one of the kenwoods, not the X-991 though I think its the X791 or something? Not sure, but would that look / feel the same as the 991?

 

[Bun-Bun 10+ year member]

Yeah I think I'm gonna have to see these myself. I'll have to check around. Actually, a friend of mine runs one of the kenwoods, not the X-991 though I think its the X791 or something? Not sure, but would that look / feel the same as the 991?

X-991 has all the bells and whistles and the nicer screen. However for a general feel of kenwood the X-791 is a good subject.

 

[x2o 10+ year member]

X-991 has all the bells and whistles and the nicer screen. However for a general feel of kenwood the X-791 is a good subject.

Alright I'll try to head out to his house this weekend and out to a store for the alpine //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif Thanks for all the suggestions guys!

 

[zero7404 10+ year member]

the x 991 has built in 512 hard drive,usb,all kinds of goodies,i love mine,i got a 8 gig flash drive hooked up to the usb port,all the music you can ever want at 1 time i figure,plus you can ripp songs directly to the hard drive built in.

you know i almost bought this head unit for an install this saturday, but something held me back.

somehow i am not really all that convinced that it's as good as, if not better than my CD7000. yeah i messed with it, and loved the GUI and alot of adjustability parameters & features, BUT what's up with all the speaker settings that you don't see on other high-end decks ? like the fields and speaker sizes & other parameters that aren't really described in the manual. i have no idea what these features are actually doing to the audio signal. i don't really want to add extra processing to an audio signal without first knowing what it does to what is being sent to my amp.

because chances are, if it's degrading or introducing noise into it, then why would i want to send it to an audison 5.1K, to blow my expensive speakers ?

only real peeve i have about eclipse, is that the face swing mech. they use makes it a royal PITA to install in some cars and still have the faceplate open right.

 

[Bass911 10+ year member]

I have the Alpine 9887 and I too think it is better than the Kenwood. A lot of headunits don't even sound close to Eclipse and Alpines to me. I also like the Eclipse CD7100. I've owned almost every brand out there. I also was impressed with the Rockford headunits but they don't make them anymore.