Prowler,
I'll continually opine about the 01D model in the next few weeks but after 15hrs. of playing time with it, it's a top performer in my book.
In comparing the build quality, I see that the PCB is not as good as the Eclipse; Kenwood uses a PCB material called CEM while Eclipse uses FR4 (I work in electronics manufacturing). From what I could see without opening the unit's internals, Eclipse seem to use more SMT (surface mount technology) components vs. some back end TH (through hole) of the Kenwood.
This is information I would suggest I'd have never gotten anywhere else.
The extruded aluminum heatsink is better on the Eclipse as well.
For those XXV-01D users that plan on using the unit as a dead-head, however, Eclipse's advantage there is eliminated. The internal amp in mine has never been powered. After installing it before I ever turned the unit on I got into the Standby Mode menu and turned deck power off. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif
However, the pre-amp connections and cabling is much better on the Kenwood.
The better cabling is one of the points touted in the Kenwood's advertising material. It's pointed out that the 25th Anniversary gear has better preamp output / auxiliary input OFC cabling than the rest of its e
Xcelon brethren.
The motorized mechanisms for both is solid but I prefer the Kenwoods speedier and shorter singface design.
The deck that my 01D replaced was the first with Kenwood's "AutoSlide" faceplate design - the KDC-X679 and I really liked it on the older one. I like it just as much on this one. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif
The Kenwood is manufactured in Malaysia while Eclipse 8455 is made in China. From my travels, I still think Malaysia still has a slight edge on quality builds vs. China. But there are world class factories in China as well. Hardly any models are still made in Japan (except the $1K overseas units) which is still top dog in world class manufacturing IMO. I had an Eclipse 8053 and 8443 2-3 yrs ago and those were still made in Japan; the 1990's Alpines were also made in Japan.
Just to let you know, I'm madly scribbling notes here. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif Always nice to have some solid ammunition in my never-ending battle in defense of Kenwood //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif
I'm not sure how Kenwood implemented Texas Instrument's Burr-Brown DACs, but they sure sound lusch and full bodied in the 01D unit. I had a Clarion DRZ9255 18 months ago and it uses BB but that unit always sounded warm to me. Same with the Sony C90. The high end Eclipse's DAC was recently confirmed by another member here to be BB as well. But the Eclipse's sound is very much different, dry and analytical (I'm not saying that as a criticism, just my perception of the sonic signature). The Kenwood is just right in my set up; it's might lose out on ultimate resolution in the upper end to Eclipse, but it sounds more musical to me. Like I said, this is a very nice surprise discovery and I'm glad I had an open mind to try Kenwood.
I am too. Admittedly Kenwood dropped the ball there for awhile and whatever created their apparent lapse in quality control (or even the appearance that they truly cared about what grade of product was leaving their factories en route to more than a few ultimately dissatisfied customers) came back to bite them in the backside pretty severely. Public opinion is a very powerful force that can work greatly in your advantage or irresistably against you. Make one customer happy and they'll tell two friends about it. Make that same customer
unhappy and they'll tell twenty.
I do have to give major props to Kenwood's OEL display. It's clear, precise, and can give so much info vs. the VF (vaccum flourescent) of Eclipse and Clarion. It might not be as bright as Alpine's BioLite but it puts out much more text and color to boot. What impresses me is Kenwood's GUI in that it lets you choose the information you want to display.
And to a certain extent the manner in which it is displayed to you as well.
Also having the RDS info integrated in this unit is just great for local stations.
There is exactly
one station here that broadcasts RDS information. Somewhat annoying to me to have this deck that will do all this neat stuff and my locality is too backwater to implement it. Akin to my disappointment that the SWS functions in my radar detector are useless in my neck of the woods. An interesting drawback to the RDS information reception (to me anyway) is that it overrides user-custom station naming. I like to program whatever nickname a station is known by locally (ergo 98 Rocks, The Mix, The Zoo, etc etc) into the deck for my own purposes and I have done so since the first HU I owned that was capable of it.
The one station here that broadcasts the RDS info (an urban station, 99.7 FM, call letters KMJJ) will display KMJJ-FM no matter how I label it or how many times I reconfirm my choice of Band + Freq + SNPS for the display format. *meh* A minor annoyance but it's there nonetheless.
Also, the GUI used with the two knobs is very intuitive and great to use; I do not miss those hard buttons at all.
The last HU I owned with no radio preset buttons, strangly enough, was the
very first aftermarket stereo I ever owned. (A Coustic RX504 dual-shaft cassette deck) It took a bit of getting used to visually but like I always have I set the tuner movement to "Auto 2" and simply scroll through my presets. As such I don't particularly miss buttons I never used anyway. Add to that being able to input direct frequency choices from the remote as well as access your presets with a single button-touch and the on-deck presets are nothing more than redundant anyway, I reckon.
Certainly there are questionable "features" such as the G-Analyzer
I agree but some users seem to enjoy it on this and other eXcelon decks that are so equipped so I reckon it isn't a total waste seeing as it does appeal to some. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif
but then again even serious Eclipse receivers has the GPS Area Shot feature.
What does that do, exactly? Never heard of it (no direct experience with an Eclipse HU)
The only thing I find lacking is it does not support a 3-way active setup and is missing 1-2 bands of PEQ (vs. Eclipse) but it's no biggie in a passive setup.
As that is all I run is a passive setup and having no plans for going active anytime soon (if ever) it's more than good enough for this user. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif
I'll see how it does in the incoming weeks but I'm very impressed so far.
I look forward to your further critique. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif
