calling all Alpine fans!

[Steveopevo 10+ year member]

I want an alpine deck but whats up with the cda-9884 and 9886 only having a 2 band parametric eq and you can only adjust the Q on the bass band??????????

no adjusting the mids????????? and I don't want to have to spend more money on the imprint mod. I know the alpines are supposed to be the bomb but I might end up going with a pioneer just on principle of having more adjustability.

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[cam5860 10+ year member]

I had the pioneer premier 880 headunit and I replaced it with the alpine 9886. And the alpine is much better. Alpine has the best sound quality period! Pioneer cannot touch alpine in sound quality. When it comes to headunits alpine is the only option you have if you want the best.

 

[Upzaw2000]

x792

 

[cbrei1023 10+ year member]

I had the pioneer premier 880 headunit and I replaced it with the alpine 9886. And the alpine is much better. Alpine has the best sound quality period! Pioneer cannot touch alpine in sound quality. When it comes to headunits alpine is the only option you have if you want the best.

I completly agree. I have the 9884 and I have never had to mess with the 2-band EQ it has. havent had to touch anything really. The only thing I reall use is volume and bass. Fantastic decks.

 

[Bass Addict 10+ year member]

i have the old 9825 still.no need to upgrade until it takes a dump.this is the longest time i've owned a hu without upgrading.in fact,if i could find another one brand new.i would buy it and keep it in the closet until needed

 

[James Bang 5,000+ posts]

for the general alpine line this year.. get the 9887...

 

[James Bang 5,000+ posts]

I had the pioneer premier 880 headunit and I replaced it with the alpine 9886. And the alpine is much better. Alpine has the best sound quality period! Pioneer cannot touch alpine in sound quality. When it comes to headunits alpine is the only option you have if you want the best.

what a way to downgrade

 

[drtool]

For SQ I like Mac or Nak had both. The Nak was stolen.

 

[captaincheesey 10+ year member]

what a way to downgrade

x2. Alpine is not the end all best SQ line out there. Given the F1 status headunit and processor and such is good. Their everyday units are just average this year, 9887 set aside. I have a Eclipse 7200 that would walk all over their lower to mid lines and some of the higher ones. Although a F1 Status would pwn me any day.

 

[Steveopevo 10+ year member]

maybe they are better but I feel like I'm buying a BMW with no power windows. And I've heard alot of people complaining about needing the imprint mod in order to make it sound right.

 

[endofdays89 5,000+ posts]

i am asking this seriously...........

how exactly do you know if a head unit is good SQ? Explain this please. Why are the Pioneer's not good sound quality?

Thanks

 

[eharri3 10+ year member]

I have the 9883 and would probably get a Pioneer or eclipse next time. Leaning more towards Eclipse. Just based on my readings on IMPRINT, you spend the extra 150 bucks for the kit it puts it worlds apart from any other HU but if you're just going by built-in SQ features other stuff out there gives you so much more for the same or a bit extra. I mean there are HUS out there with a better EQ AND things like built in time-alignment. Also when I bought mine I didn't do the reasearch so I didn't realize there are units with Blue tooth built in and IPOD cable included.

From what I hear alpine didn't put as much content in the newer lines because they found for their market most people weren't interested or don't normally use them. Probably figured for more elaborate setups make people fork over money for imprint. Makes me wonder if they only surveyed Best Buy/Chain store customers who mostly buy an HU and maybe a couple coaxes and call it a day.

 

[eharri3 10+ year member]

Alpine seems to have dedicated itself to the chain store buyer who wants a simple, user friendly unit with a brand name associated with quality, and anybody who wants more content can pay for extra components. I have the 9883 and would probably get a Pioneer or eclipse next time. Leaning more towards Eclipse. Just based on my readings on IMPRINT, you spend the extra 150 bucks for the kit it puts it worlds apart from other HUs but if you're looking for built-in stuff out to get the most out of a HU you can without adding extra componenents, there's others out there that give you more for not much more money.

From what I hear alpine didn't put as much content in the newer lines because they found for their market most people weren't interested or don't normally use them. Probably figured for more elaborate setups make people fork over $$$ for imprint. I guess they only surveyed Best Buy/Chain store customers who mostly buy an HU and maybe a couple coaxes and call it a day.

 

[James Bang 5,000+ posts]

what a way to downgrade

that reply was about the exact models he replaced. He went from a higher end Pioneer to a lower line Alpine...

you gotta compare apples to apples.

 

[infamous_e46 5,000+ posts]

I had the pioneer premier 880 headunit and I replaced it with the alpine 9886. And the alpine is much better. Alpine has the best sound quality period! Pioneer cannot touch alpine in sound quality. When it comes to headunits alpine is the only option you have if you want the best.

YEAH screw nakamichi and eclipse lawl

 

[groove269 10+ year member]

would this include the Pioneer AVIC F900BT?

 

[nineball 10+ year member]

i had an x-001 earlier this year and was not impressed at all with the sq. as a matter of fact i was quite displeased. i have an x-100 sitting next to me waiting to be installed when it warms up again, but i will also be using the imprint kit with it. everything i have read, like stated in this thread, says that the imprint makes a world of difference in sq.

that being said, while i was never a fan of jvc before i am currently running a kd-sh1000 and absolutely love the sq it has. usb AND sd slots, parametric eq, t/a and the other eq features on this really have a huge impact on the sound. there is no noticable distortion until i reach 48/50 on the volume control as well. unless the x100/imprint can surpass what i have now, which i hope it can, i will be staying with the jvc until it dies. i had it up for sale before just because i had a few hus at the time but it is now my keeper.

 

[James Bang 5,000+ posts]

i had an x-001 earlier this year and was not impressed at all with the sq. as a matter of fact i was quite displeased. i have an x-100 sitting next to me waiting to be installed when it warms up again, but i will also be using the imprint kit with it. everything i have read, like stated in this thread, says that the imprint makes a world of difference in sq.
that being said, while i was never a fan of jvc before i am currently running a kd-sh1000 and absolutely love the sq it has. usb AND sd slots, parametric eq, t/a and the other eq features on this really have a huge impact on the sound. there is no noticable distortion until i reach 48/50 on the volume control as well. unless the x100/imprint can surpass what i have now, which i hope it can, i will be staying with the jvc until it dies. i had it up for sale before just because i had a few hus at the time but it is now my keeper.

well... those alpine units don't even play audio CDs.... don't expect great sound from mp3s.

 

[nineball 10+ year member]

who said anything about mp3 files? i use wav for most everything, 320 if i don't.

 

[Ferendon 10+ year member]

I use Alpine, Kenwood, and Pioneer all day long. Mind you, I only deal Premier on the Pioneer side of things, except the 700BT and 7010BT. We carry the 90BT, instead of the 900BT (5v pre-outs instead of 2.2v, 2 year warranty, iPod cable included, etc). Customer satisfaction, bang for the buck, reliability, and general consensus for best sound, ALL go to Pioneer. You get so much more for your money, better displays, more functionality, better EQ, stronger pre-outs, USB AND iPod with a single cable + and adapter, as compared to most other decks with just the iPod. Same holds true with the new nav units. A ton more for the money. Not to mention all of the add-ons for Alpine blow, hard. Kenwood decks, especially DDINs, can only handle 2 add-ons at most, and even then only if one of them is XM. The 8120 can only take one add on at the moment.

Alpines interface is decent, except for the face that you can't exit the menus. You have to wait for them to time out. And the Imprint piece is loaded full of noise, and spends a lot of time being replaced to get rid of the whine. It also likes to lose it's programming.

Tell me what deck you want, and I tell which Pioneer is better, and usually cheaper. Keep in mind, I deal pretty exclusively with the Premier series, and couldn't give two shits about the regular line-up.