High End Head Unit Selection Help

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

How many times must I say this? Instead of arguing over the clarion/alpine setups, get the Premier P9 combo and gain the advantages of both. It's a win-win.
P9P9P9P9P9P9P9P9P9P9P9P9P9P9

The P9 and H701 are on pretty level playing fields......

 

[alphakenny1 10+ year member]

Likewise Alphakenny1 , with all sincere respect , the McIntosh MX-406 is LIGHT YEARS behind the DRZ in literally EVERY way imaginable.

oh, also you totally missed my point. even with an "SQ HU" such as the mcintosh mx406, it cannot make up the deficiences of how the car affects sound. i mentioned that a thousand times already but just wanted to say that you missed my point completely. i wasn't even comparing the drz to the mcintosh.

 

[blue 10+ year member]

oh, also you totally missed my point. even with an "SQ HU" such as the mcintosh mx406, it cannot make up the deficiences of how the car affects sound. i mentioned that a thousand times already but just wanted to say that you missed my point completely. i wasn't even comparing the drz to the mcintosh.

Oh , sorry man .... Without acception , every customer or friend I have personally seen go from one of the " other " high-end HU offerings to the DRZ , has noticed a very significant improvement in SQ .... MANY will argue against this , but people know what they hear.

I'll boil my own personal opinion down : The ONE thing I find the DRZ to do better than ANYTHING else , is just sound like music. It sounds considerably more natural than the rest to me ....

Many times in a car's hostile environment , those differences can't very well be discenrable , but with the EXACT right set-up , the difference to me is NOT subtle.

Best thing is : We all can have our own opinions , and ONLY have to satisfy ourselves in the end ... ( or in MY case myself and my customers ) //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[blue 10+ year member]

As far as the P-9 ..... I owned it , and found it to have AWESOME flexibility and features , but it ALWAYS sounded somewhat thin and un-musical. After switching out numerous speakers , amp , ect .... I finally realized that was just how the P-9 sounded. TONS of resolution , but it just didn't convey the music. There are actually several Professional reviews that claimed they heard the same exact trait for what it's worth ....

 

[alphakenny1 10+ year member]

yes in the end, as long as we are happy with our equipment then it doesn't matter. but there aren't too many people here who have the "exact" setup. thats a very idealistic point of view. you have to be like an iasca champ to have that "exact" setup, but this is ca.com and there aren't many iasca competitors active in this forum. what if someone wants a simple setup such as mids in doors (a location that is definately not ideal for staging and imaging) and tweeters in sails because he doesn't want to make time to make kicks to decrease the PLD? will the drz overcome the staging issues that car has because the drz has dual burr brown dacs and makeup for the PLD? i highly doubt it and again you won't find too many systems (including mine) that is "exact." to me there are 3 parts of an sq system: staging, imaging and tonality. your argument of "dual burr brown dacs" only covers one part, tonality. doesn't even touch the other 2.

just next time someone asks for advice about an sq hu, think of their setup, not yours //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif.

 

[Eugenics 5,000+ posts]

haha yeah okay, you obviously dont want to acknowledge any of those threads. and if they do so good then why do you go through so many? why do you still drive those old cars? i'd think you'd step up to something quite a bit nicer... instead you come to a website and pick fights. must not be that busy with your failures.... no, im not talking about your children. or wife with downs syndrom.

 

[Hintzyboy 5,000+ posts]

The P9 and H701 are on pretty level playing fields......

True, the processors are pretty equal, but the P9 headunit is better than the alpine HU that this guy was looking at. And I've only ever found the combo for sale within his budget. Purchasing the HU and DSP separately (ergo going with the H701) would be outside his range if he wanted the better HU.

that's just my .02

 

[Hintzyboy 5,000+ posts]

As far as the P-9 ..... I owned it , and found it to have AWESOME flexibility and features , but it ALWAYS sounded somewhat thin and un-musical. After switching out numerous speakers , amp , ect .... I finally realized that was just how the P-9 sounded. TONS of resolution , but it just didn't convey the music. There are actually several Professional reviews that claimed they heard the same exact trait for what it's worth ....

If you still have it laying around and want to donate it to a charitable cause (i.e. me) Pm me and I'll send you my address:laugh:

 

[MDXBLUE 10+ year member]

AlphaKenny1 and Blue,

I think you two had both make excellent points!!!

I strongly agree with Alphakenny1 that tuning is essential for "repairing" acoustic defficiencies in a car cabin. An environment with a small volume, untreated hard reflecting surfaces, and limited speakers positions are the challenges to ultimate sound quality. These things are responsible for the freq rsponse peak and dips. No high quality head unit can repair these alone. Therefore a processor with flexible tuning capabilites is needed to flat the freq response (tonality)so the sound output is true to the source.

I also completely agree with Blue that the sound from a quality cd player can not be duplicated by a mediocre player with a quality processor. The resolution, and "realness" of the sound simply have to produce by a head unit with good design and quality parts. These qualities are what separate the "Wow! your stereo sound fxxking good" from the "Holy cow! the musician is singing right in front of me". However, it really depend on how critical you are and what kind of music you listen to. Most guys here just want a good "radio" to hook up his ipod. Average guys would not know what to listen for unless they have listen to a high quality setup. Again, these "realness" and "naturalness" Blue talked about can only be heard after the acoustics problems in the car have been "repaired".

Essentially, I am looking for a setup that has a balanced of compromises between good tuning capabilities and high resolution simply because I can not afford to have both. A good specification only tell you part of the story.

Too bad, me and Thermal can not listen to the Alpine and the Clarion in our own vehicle to decide which way sound better. That would be the easiest way as only the end result count!

 

[Black_Jesus 10+ year member]

go big or go home

alpine 9835.

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

True, the processors are pretty equal, but the P9 headunit is better than the alpine HU that this guy was looking at. And I've only ever found the combo for sale within his budget. Purchasing the HU and DSP separately (ergo going with the H701) would be outside his range if he wanted the better HU.
that's just my .02

Not really sure why you think the p9 headunit is flat out "better" //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif

Running digital, the headunit doesn't matter a whole hell of a lot. All it's being used for is a transport. Heck, some people just have their stock HU's modded to run digi output.....keeps the dash OEM, but gives you high quality audio at the same time.

You can get the H701/C701 combo from an authorized dealer for around $700 (much cheaper if you go unauthorized)....that leaves him atleast $300 to find any headunit with digital outputs to run with it.

Or, he can go with an Alpine headunit (like the 9860/9861) and the H701 and still be under his budget. Both of which are great units.

I got my H701/9860 for around $725 for the combo...brand new with warranty on everything //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[thermal 10+ year member]

I did an internet search for "Clarion DRZ9255 Review" and found the following discussion.............

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2586&page=1&pp=10&highlight=drz

I though some of you might be interested in reading it.