Headunit, anything else good stuff besides Alpine and Eclipse?

[tweekerz 10+ year member]

I currently am running a JVC KDSH99, it is a decent unit but looking to get a unit that is crisper and clearer, something that I can say is quality shi*. Alpine and Eclipse seem to get all of the love but what about the others like Kenwood, Clarion, Pioneer? Need the best unit for around 500 or so, maybe a little more if its worth it. Would like an MP3 unit but heard that it takes quality away from the CD aspect. If so, I may ditch the MP3 aspect. Any decks you guys know thats tried and tested?

Thanks,

Andrew

Click to read more...

 

[no_vendetas 10+ year member]

I just got this Pioneer last week. It pretty good so far, but i dont know how to use it all the way yet. its a 2004 model. I think they came out in March. http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/product/detail/0,,2076_4041_64496605_tab=B,00.html?compName=PNA_ProductDetailComponent

I have never heard of mp3 playback taking away from SQ for the CD player. I never noticed any difference. You can get this HU off of www.savinglots.com for about $470

 

[dbhittin 5,000+ posts]

i got the 9600 same deck, but mine hasn't showed up in the mail yet

 

[no_vendetas 10+ year member]

i got the 9600 same deck, but mine hasn't showed up in the mail yet

Just wait till you install it. You gonna like it. Trust me

 

[jonny69]

I have had an Alpine, eclipse, and my newest is an Pioneer screen and I must tell you that eclipse is the best. And on Mp3 you burn the disc at above CD quality (that means that it is better, dumb ***....). I have also had a JVC but I usally dont admit to that.

 

[urwhatueati8god 10+ year member]

I have had an Alpine, eclipse, and my newest is an Pioneer screen and I must tell you that eclipse is the best. And on Mp3 you burn the disc at above CD quality (that means that it is better, dumb ***....). I have also had a JVC but I usally dont admit to that.

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/clap.gif.178cba2c538c68e720c727fcb024b19c.gif :hilarious JONNY69 FOR COOLEST PERSON WITH UNDER 10 POSTS!

 

[urwhatueati8god 10+ year member]

I currently am running a JVC KDSH99, it is a decent unit but looking to get a unit that is crisper and clearer, something that I can say is quality shi*. Alpine and Eclipse seem to get all of the love but what about the others like Kenwood, Clarion, Pioneer? Need the best unit for around 500 or so, maybe a little more if its worth it. Would like an MP3 unit but heard that it takes quality away from the CD aspect. If so, I may ditch the MP3 aspect. Any decks you guys know thats tried and tested?
Thanks,

Andrew

As for under $500.00, try the CD5444, 5 volt preamp outputs and a setting where you can program the headunit's crossover with a memory stick from a digital camera. It's an Eclipse. Oh, and by the way, this board doesn't censor shit. See? Shit, shit shit....

 

[nyankee97 10+ year member]

I just got an Alpine 9815 installed a couple days ago, got a lot of features for adjusting the sound. The unit supports I-personalize, which is actually pretty cool, at the alpine website you can make adjustments to the HU and download the file with the settings and burn it on a disc, then just pop the disk in the HU and it will download the settings. You can control the crossover, eq, and also time delay (staggers the time sound comes our of your speakers so that the sound for all the speakers in the car hits your ears at the same time). I just started playing around with it today and I've had some really good results. Retail is 500, but you should be able to get for around 400. It also supports MP3 playback. If you have an ipod look out this summer Alpine is coming out with a module that will integrate your ipod to your HU through AI-net.

 

[scottrc5391 10+ year member]

NO, 99% of all mp3's (downloaded off the internet or using filesharing programs) are NOT even close to CD quality. True CD quality is supposedly about 1400 kb/s. Most of the mp3's I see are at 128 kb/s bitrate meaning they aren't close and MANY people can tell the difference. I like at least 192 kbps for my mp3's. Some people can even (with great ears and great equipment) tell the difference between 320 kbps (considered VERY near CD quality) and CD bitrate! For me, 192 is fine, and yes I do notice distortion in 128. What sucks is that every idiot on the net rips music at 128kbps and you can barely find music at 192 and above (or at least in my experience). So there is no way you can call him a dumbass when you yourself were wrong.

 

[CAMSHAFT 10+ year member]

Kenwood Excelon

Nakamichi

Clarion Pro

 

[Unreal 10+ year member]

Clarion and Kenwood both make solid decks. I went with a kenwood because I wanted Sirius support and Alpine supports XM.

 

[no_vendetas 10+ year member]

NO, 99% of all mp3's (downloaded off the internet or using filesharing programs) are NOT even close to CD quality. Most of the mp3's I see are at 128 kb/s bitrate meaning they aren't close and MANY people can tell the difference. I like at least 192 kbps for my mp3's. For me, 192 is fine. What sucks is that every idiot on the net rips music at 128kbps and you can barely find music at 192 and above (or at least in my experience).

He's Right. Its 192 and up for me too.

 

[JLCivic 10+ year member]

I think there are plenty of good decks out there. I have owned most major brands, and I prefer any eclipse I have owned to any of the other decks I have owned. Find what suits you best(what sounds best to you, has the features you need and the price you can afford).

I will say this, I would never equate how "good" a deck is by the number of features it has, nor do I think that just because a deck has a ton of features, it must sound good.

Ok, I also don't want to have to "tweak" a head unit all the time to get it to sound good(I am amazed at the number of people who seem to enjoy tweawking their head unit for hours). We popped my eclipse in, eq is set flat, and it sounds awesome. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[NaztyNate 10+ year member]

Alpine's Media Xpander helps a little bit with those lower quality mp3's, but not enough to make them sound decent. 192 kb/s and up is the way to go. As for HUs besides Alpine (which I have and reccomend) and Eclipse, Clarion's are good too. In my opinion you pay too much to have to fancy screens of Pioneer and Kenwood and don't get as good features and quality as some other, but Pioneer and Kenwood are not bad.

 

[scottrc5391 10+ year member]

With an Alpine with 100 different tweaking features, you have no excuse for bad sounding music, lol. Well, it's not that they will definately make your music a lot better, it's just that they couldn't hurt, and it's cool how you have an equalizer, crossovers, phase adjustments, etc. all within your headunit, without a need for external things except speakers. For me, I don't want/need amps for the regular speakers because the Alpine puts out sufficient power and does everything I need. All companies make you go for the flashy screens and cool looks (and put out essentially the same products every year with changed appearances), but I think the Alpines are the easiest to use from my experience. Just my opinions.