I spent a long time looking for a head-unit. My initial demands were black face and red lights, to match the german interior. I am not one impressed by or looking for bling-bling so I knew that most HUs were junk. JUNK SELLS. I decided on this unit over a Alpine because of greater features and small enough difference in price. $285 - $200 for the CDA-9815. I also wouldn't have to hack the face apart to change to red led, losing the warranty.
Many things I thought I did not want and were silly. A few surprised me.
Some things that surprised me:
I actually really like the sub-woofer volume control. It is a full range volume control and does the full sub freqency, unlike small freq. boosters. This is very useful and I use it a lot.
Through the controls you can turn the Subwoofer completely off. This is good and I use it often. This impressed me a lot when I first installed the HU.
The display has a reversible LCD. black/color background/letters The negative is coolest and awesome at night. The positive I use in the day time because the sun can't make it unreadable. Though I have gotten stuck where I was not able to see the display and change it over. In bright sun all the color is washed out to the unpowered tan color but the letters can all be read.
The display does have 728 colors. I only used red but it is still super tuneable to perfect desire. The display has the one perfect color you need. The rest are a waste.
The remote is good to use in the trunk so you can fiddle with amps and not have to go in the car. Still kind of silly.
The MP3 player is mad cool. I see no problem with load time. It is faster than my computer. You can have a lot of music and not need to carry a case of CD's or worry about theft. I only have a couple mp3 disc as I do not have a cdburner
The CD's sound better than my tape deck. I could not provide a fair sound comparison but it seems pretty good.
What I don't like/care for:
This model has the black chroming. Corny bling-bling! I do not use the trim ring and will purchase/trade for a black trim ring off a dxz535 or 735mp. The buttons are not so bad. The face plate sticks out kind of far though but can still blend in.
The motorrized face plate. Just something else to break. Heck, screw anything that does not have a slot in the face plate. Big Screens are retarded on radios.
The 4 volt pre-out. This was a serious buy point for me. Honestly I noticed no difference between my stock unit. I expected the gains to go all the way down. I do not know the volts on my stock unit but preout volts should NOT be a serious buying point.
The mute button. The remote has a mute and there is a wire for a cell phone. I will try and figure some kind of external switch set up. Overall , Not to important.
I enjoy my radio and am overall happy. Though I wouldn't mind a little less bling-bling and a little more ching-ching($) in my pocket.
HU's need something better to chain them with for anti-theft. Most salesmen are jokes and know nothing about the product. They are also ignorantly biased about product.
Dave
Audi 80
Clarion dxz835mp
4" kenwood kfc-1077
5.5" and tweeters Fosgate fnq1514 fnq1414 4" on the way
Kenwood 100X2rms 728s
Rockford Punch bd500.1
Fosgate Punch hx2 rfd2212 12"
All sleeper-style hidden. Looks stock except Radio
Many things I thought I did not want and were silly. A few surprised me.
Some things that surprised me:
I actually really like the sub-woofer volume control. It is a full range volume control and does the full sub freqency, unlike small freq. boosters. This is very useful and I use it a lot.
Through the controls you can turn the Subwoofer completely off. This is good and I use it often. This impressed me a lot when I first installed the HU.
The display has a reversible LCD. black/color background/letters The negative is coolest and awesome at night. The positive I use in the day time because the sun can't make it unreadable. Though I have gotten stuck where I was not able to see the display and change it over. In bright sun all the color is washed out to the unpowered tan color but the letters can all be read.
The display does have 728 colors. I only used red but it is still super tuneable to perfect desire. The display has the one perfect color you need. The rest are a waste.
The remote is good to use in the trunk so you can fiddle with amps and not have to go in the car. Still kind of silly.
The MP3 player is mad cool. I see no problem with load time. It is faster than my computer. You can have a lot of music and not need to carry a case of CD's or worry about theft. I only have a couple mp3 disc as I do not have a cdburner
The CD's sound better than my tape deck. I could not provide a fair sound comparison but it seems pretty good.
What I don't like/care for:
This model has the black chroming. Corny bling-bling! I do not use the trim ring and will purchase/trade for a black trim ring off a dxz535 or 735mp. The buttons are not so bad. The face plate sticks out kind of far though but can still blend in.
The motorrized face plate. Just something else to break. Heck, screw anything that does not have a slot in the face plate. Big Screens are retarded on radios.
The 4 volt pre-out. This was a serious buy point for me. Honestly I noticed no difference between my stock unit. I expected the gains to go all the way down. I do not know the volts on my stock unit but preout volts should NOT be a serious buying point.
The mute button. The remote has a mute and there is a wire for a cell phone. I will try and figure some kind of external switch set up. Overall , Not to important.
I enjoy my radio and am overall happy. Though I wouldn't mind a little less bling-bling and a little more ching-ching($) in my pocket.
HU's need something better to chain them with for anti-theft. Most salesmen are jokes and know nothing about the product. They are also ignorantly biased about product.
Dave
Audi 80
Clarion dxz835mp
4" kenwood kfc-1077
5.5" and tweeters Fosgate fnq1514 fnq1414 4" on the way
Kenwood 100X2rms 728s
Rockford Punch bd500.1
Fosgate Punch hx2 rfd2212 12"
All sleeper-style hidden. Looks stock except Radio
