Kenwood X693 vs Alpine 9887

[Mattd0344 10+ year member]

So I just installed my Kenwood Excelon KDC-X693 in my Explorer this weekend and I am very impressed with it. I have an Alpine CDA-9887 in my daily driver and I think the Kenwood sounds quite a bit better and is almost half the cost.

Keep in mind, I don't have imprint or are my speakers amped, but I expected a little more out of my Alpine. I'm temporarily using an old pair of 6.5" Pioneer 4-ways that I had in my daily driver and in the back I still have the stock 6x8's. The Kenwood gets louder with less distortion, sounds better, and has much better radio reception. Also, I'm still getting use to all the controls and what not, but so far it seems pretty easy to navigate. I'm just hoping it proves to be durable, because that's all I'm really worried about.

The only problems I had were that Crutchfield sent me the wrong wire harness and part of my dash kit was broken. I had to go to Best Buy to get the correct harness and I just super glued the part that was broken on my dash kit.

All in all, it is a GREAT head unit for the money and nobody should hesitate to purchase it.

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[Sideways17 10+ year member]

wanna sell that 9887?

 

[blkbeater 10+ year member]

kenwoods sound very clean. thats a bad *** radio too

 

[Mattd0344 10+ year member]

wanna sell that 9887?

haha nah..I'd rather keep it and not have to deal with uninstalling and reinstalling a new head unit.

kenwoods sound very clean. thats a bad *** radio too

For sure! I'm glad I pulled the trigger and just bought it.

 

[bose301s 5,000+ posts]

I have never actually used an Alpine HU so I can't comment on the differences between the two brands or models, however I do know that the Kenwood unit is VERY nice. It does a lot of things and has amazing iPod control, plus it will play Apple Lossless files off of the iPod which is very nice. The Kenwood HU does not have the ability to do an active set up however and can't do all of the things that the Alpine does, but what it does do, especially for the price, it does amazingly well and is one of the best HUs out there IMO.

 

[hockeytoker 10+ year member]

so kenwood over the 9887?

 

[Mattd0344 10+ year member]

so kenwood over the 9887?

IMO, I couldn't justify paying the extra for the Alpine. It's a great head unit and all, but I like how the Kenwood sounds over the Alpine. I still have to mess with more EQ settings and what not as well. However, the Alpine is is a bit more user friendly, seems to be built a little more rugged, and I think the Alpine has the edge in looks. Both are great head units, but for the price, Kenwood takes the cake.

 

[wu501 10+ year member]

Kenwood head units ftw //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif Especially for usb/ipod playback. I have had the 991 and now have the 693 and both are great decks.

 

[raverx3m 10+ year member]

alpine sounds alot crisper to begin with.

alpine + alluminum or plastic tweeter= headache for some people.

i listen to them at work all day trying to compare and figure out the differences.

heres what i came up with.

pioneer vs alpine vs kenwood

headunits:

pioneer have very impressive bass reproduction very smooth, but lacks crispness and highs.so it gives you overall smooth sound.

alpine is great sound very crisp and detailed even with internal amp, but lacks bass

there is bass and very good quality just less than u get with pioneed or kenwood.

kenwood i belive is somewhere in the middle between those two it has decent amount of bass and lil more control over highs.

heres why:

my car setup

95 integra with sps-171a components and 4 channel alpine amp

jlW3 sub

headunits i had

deh-p8600mp great sound very smooth bass , but i did not find a right setting for treble as long as i owned it. got stolen

i went with alpine cda-9833 sounded amazing with same setup really brought sound to life, very clear treble but the opposite from pioneer i could not find a sweet spot with bass i had to always tweak it.

kenwood kdc-x592 th eonly reason i got it is because i needed usb

turns out to be pretty good unit also and is somewhat between pioneer an alpine

has tonns of sound controls but sounds a lil dead kinda.

all 3 had 24bit D/A, pioneer had burr brown, alpine had bass engine pro.

so in short

the sound i enjoyed the most

1cda-9833

2deh-p8600mp

3kdc-x592

as far as features for the money itsa different story that i think everyone will agree with me

1 kenwood

2 pioneer

3 alpine

 

[DBBOOM 10+ year member]

Kenwood is the best value. I have X-792s in two of my cars and my boat.

 

[raverx3m 10+ year member]

now alot of people buy a unit like that wnd just use bass treble volume adjustment.

and say "man that sounds like garbage"

even some installers put subs or speakers in and be like **** that sounds terrible

but they never take time and adjust the settings they just tell the customer to buy something else.

i had a guy with the pioneer DEH-P88RS come to a shop

he had it for 2 years

didnt know how to get to the EQ

didnt even know how to take the faceplate off

he said man i think i should replace my headunit or speakers it just dont sound right.

so i went in there for about 5-10 minutes ear tuned it he comes back like

**** never mind it sounds great and how did u take the faceplate off?(after 2 YEARS OF OWNING THE UNIT HE NEVER RED THE FN MANUAL)

and i see people like that every day in our shop.

 

[1hawaii50 10+ year member]

I had a Kenwood Excelon 600 series, a CDA-9887, and now a Pioneer Premier DEH-P980BT. As far as value for the money...Kenwood. The Pioneer is an awesome radio, but it is expensive. I, personally, was not impressed with the Alpine after all of the hype. I also purchased the Imprint kit for it, and the Imprint kit was nothing but a pain in the nuts.

 

[nineball 10+ year member]

while they are both essentially the same thing (radio/cd player) you are not really comparing apples to apples. the 9887 has sound tuning features that make the kenwood look like a tinkertoy. the kenwood has creature comfort type features (like ipod control) that the alpine does not. it really depends on what the user wants to achieve and what features are most important. if the terms time alignment and imaging are foreign words to you then the kenwood is the way to go.

on the same note if you buy the imprint kit for the 9887 you have wasted cash. the only thing it does it auto-tune the system, and personally i have never heard an auto-tune that was worth keeping. every option that is changed with the imprint auto-tuning can be achieved with the 9887 alone.

 

[MBrock4u 10+ year member]

I have the Excelon flagship head unit of a few years ago, the X-990. It sounds amazing! I have always been satisfied with it. I won't compare it to the decks you all have been talking about. All I will say is, it is one bad *** deck.

 

[Mattd0344 10+ year member]

while they are both essentially the same thing (radio/cd player) you are not really comparing apples to apples. the 9887 has sound tuning features that make the kenwood look like a tinkertoy. the kenwood has creature comfort type features (like ipod control) that the alpine does not. it really depends on what the user wants to achieve and what features are most important. if the terms time alignment and imaging are foreign words to you then the kenwood is the way to go.
on the same note if you buy the imprint kit for the 9887 you have wasted cash. the only thing it does it auto-tune the system, and personally i have never heard an auto-tune that was worth keeping. every option that is changed with the imprint auto-tuning can be achieved with the 9887 alone.

You're saying that the 9887 doesn't have as good of an ipod control as the kenwood? I think the Alpine's actually better and easier to use. Both units are great, I just wouldn't spend the extra to get the 9887.