DXZ775USB: First Impressions

[Fast1one 10+ year member]

Theres been a lot of chatter about this budget active headunit, i already had one on the way when it started. Its available for 300 at cruthfield authorized, but I bought mine used off this forum...

First impressions are extremely positive, I ran it with my passive components, no variables changed, and it was noticeably cleaner than My Alpine 9831. Then I went active, upgraded wires and RCAs and well...you'll just have to wait and see for the full review in a couple days //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif Lets just say this will be my last HU for a very long time...

Click to read more...

 

[Babs 10+ year member]

I'll be waiting.. If you can, I'd love to see some real world installed pics of this thing.. Clarion's pics don't do so well to show what this thing would actually look like in your dash.

Also, I wonder what kind of dac's they're using.. Doesn't say anything but 24-bit, that I've seen anyway.

Sounds like a decent HU for the money. Glad you're liking it sofar.

 

[Monologuist 10+ year member]

can you be sure to give us the details on the USB functionality? Is it anice interface for playing tracks off of an external hard drive? Does it have full Ipod control and digital audio path through USB like the IDax001 and the p6900ub, or do you have to use the Clarion Ipod adapter? What is the level of adjustability of the crossovers and the time alginment?

 

[Fast1one 10+ year member]

Ill try to answer all the questions in time. Im writing the review and Im already at a page and a half on word, it may be very long and thorough, but thats a good thing. I will say that you do need the iPod adapter. And so far the USB is just like any other, its main flaw is the lack of playlists especially if you have such a huge library. Not sure if other decks have playlists features, but even if they do they probably wont have the onboard processing capablilities as this unit. Its a give and take...

 

[brad1011a 10+ year member]

Not sure if other decks have playlists features, but even if they do they probably wont have the onboard processing capablilities as this unit. Its a give and take...

Excluding the Kenwoods on both counts.

 

[Monologuist 10+ year member]

Ill try to answer all the questions in time. Im writing the review and Im already at a page and a half on word, it may be very long and thorough, but thats a good thing. I will say that you do need the iPod adapter. And so far the USB is just like any other, its main flaw is the lack of playlists especially if you have such a huge library. Not sure if other decks have playlists features, but even if they do they probably wont have the onboard processing capablilities as this unit. Its a give and take...

So there is no way of playing pure digital signal from an ipod through USB huh? That's disappointing. So far only the Alpine and the Pioneer decks seem to be able to control the Ipod AND play it digitally. oh well..

 

[brad1011a 10+ year member]

So there is no way of playing pure digital signal from an ipod through USB huh?

I believe the reason for that is because Apple doesn't allow protected iTunes tracks to be played over the digital connection. HU's with analog iPod inputs get around that. Also I'm sure the DAC in an iPod easily out classes any means of reproducing music in a car anyway.

 

[Babs 10+ year member]

I'm sure the DAC in an iPod easily out classes any means of reproducing music in a car anyway.

.. For real? Even the better head units with burr-brown DAC's etc... I would have thought the better head units or processors would do a better job with the DAC's and processing, especially as the iPod DAC's just produce a left/right signal without any car-specific crossover capability, time alignment, etc.

Is there a means of getting digital input from an iPod to a full-feature processor (head unit or external) for crossovers, time-alignment or eq in the digital domain?

 

[brad1011a 10+ year member]

.. For real? Even the better head units with burr-brown DAC's etc... I would have thought the better head units or processors would do a better job with the DAC's and processing, especially as the iPod DAC's just produce a left/right signal without any car-specific crossover capability, time alignment, etc.

But that can still be handled in the HU.

I'm sure better DAC's process 'better', but I sincerely doubt that if you listened to an iPod over a digital connection in a car, then played it again over an analog connection (all else being equal) you probably wouldn't hear a difference.

 

[Babs 10+ year member]

But that can still be handled in the HU.
I'm sure better DAC's process 'better', but I sincerely doubt that if you listened to an iPod over a digital connection in a car, then played it again over an analog connection (all else being equal) you probably wouldn't hear a difference.

Agreed, unless it was a pretty serious system.

Seems like the one bottleneck is time-alignment..

Might just be showing my ignorance, but I don't know of any post-DA conversion time-alignment processors out there.. Typically it's done before the DA conversion I thought, though crossovers and EQ can be done analog all day long.

I imagine D/A by the iPod (using wolfsons) or D/A by the head unit (burr-browns, wolfsons, etc) would be about equal for just L/R signal quality at the amps, but adding another level of A to D to A conversion is where you could run into trouble with signal degradation.. That's the thing that bugs me about the OEM units like the 3sixty, h650, ms-8, cleansweep, etc. or running analog into an H701 or similar.

 

[brad1011a 10+ year member]

T/A can only be done digitally as far as I know, but with a HU with TA, and analog-in it can be done.

Yes we're talking about D-A-D-A, but what I'm saying is that all that conversion given the quality of the DAC's wouldn't be noticable in the quietest car going down the road with the best speakers.

If you know someone with a HU with both types of inputs (iPod, SD, USB (with a thumb drive and analog) you can try it.

 

[Fast1one 10+ year member]

Yeah in the manual it specifically states to not use an iPod through the USB hub, as it may not play properly. I guess i could try it, if the iPod is recognized as a mass storage device then it should work, I just dont own one yet. You will lose the control though, thats what the adapter is for...

Its going to take a while to finish this review, its looking like it may be long, and with work i dont really have time to work on it too much...

 

[Monologuist 10+ year member]

Yeah in the manual it specifically states to not use an iPod through the USB hub, as it may not play properly. I guess i could try it, if the iPod is recognized as a mass storage device then it should work, I just dont own one yet. You will lose the control though, thats what the adapter is for...
Its going to take a while to finish this review, its looking like it may be long, and with work i dont really have time to work on it too much...

Then can you jsut give us the quick rundown on the specifics of what crossover settings and adjustability there and the same for TA? The manual is not clear as to what increments of adjustability there is for crossover frequencies, slopes, TA, etc.

 

[Fast1one 10+ year member]

Then can you jsut give us the quick rundown on the specifics of what crossover settings and adjustability there and the same for TA? The manual is not clear as to what increments of adjustability there is for crossover frequencies, slopes, TA, etc.

Slopes are adjustable from 6, 12, and 18db. Crossover and PEQ frequencies I believe are by 1/4 octave, Time alignment is in CM, 2.3 to be exact, or about one inch, i dont know what that is exactly in milliseconds if you need that.

 

[Babs 10+ year member]

I'd be really interested in comparisons to other "SQ" style head units from the stand-point of just pure two-channel output quality regardless of crossover, TA or EQ capabilities.. How would this little clarion 775 compare say to a Premier 880 or Eclipse 7100 or 7000 or to it's much more expensive sibling the 9255 for example.. or to similarly capable Alpines.. oops.. Aren't any at the moment that are current models until the 9887 comes out.

Seems like the little 775 is a lot of head unit for the money.. but doesn't boast anything like 192khz burr-brown or wolfson dac's.. just 24-bit D/A. I wonder how good just the pure digital to analog to preamp sound quality is.

Also build quality and user interface.. I've read some not-so-great statements about the less-than-DRZ9255 clarions as far as physically holding up.

I look forward to your write up.