Kenwood XXV-01d/X990 vs Pioneer 880

[Chad T 10+ year member]

Well, I'm down to considering these units. Any thoughts as to which way I should go? I'll be replacing an old Kenwood KDC-PS907, which was a great unit, so I'm a Kenwood fan.

This will be installed in a 1991 Toyota Extended Cab 4x4 pickup. Visually, I'm thinking the Kenwoods might look best in the dash, but I'm not sure. They appear to be kind of a dark gray color in pictures? I like how they have several time alignment presets & HD Radio capabilities. But it looks like they only support Sirius and not XM?

However, the 880 has a ton of cool features as well. And I like its clean layout, however, I'm not sure about the silver-ish color.

They are all fairly close in price looking at street prices. The XXV would probably be the least expensive, followed by the 880, and the X990 would probably be the most expensive. But they're all fairly close.

Any help would be appreciated. I need some nudging here. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

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[Chad T 10+ year member]

BTW, this may seem like a lame feature, but I always like CD controls that have the ability to show track time elapsed & remaining. And also total CD time elapsed & remaining. How do these units do with that?

 

[yacob.naif 10+ year member]

Love my xxv-01D, can't say for sure on remaining time..... I almost always display title/artist.......

Mp3's sound **** good on this deck, definitely has a nice decoder, but it REALLY shines on real cd's, better than any deck i've owned.

 

[alphakenny1 10+ year member]

i'm all about tuning features when looking at an hu and all of kenwoods offerings hasn't impressed me one bit. the best they offer i believe is 4 band peq and none their HUs offer a 3 way xover. on the other hand the 880 has a 16 band graphic peq on each side so a total of 32 bands and offer 3 way xover if you ever think about going active.

 

[zachzchw 5,000+ posts]

Ive never used either kenwood model, but I really love my 880.

 

[Burts 10+ year member]

The kenwood has srs Wow processing, I have the kenwood special edition and the model below it. I think the kdc mp828 would be my better choice, I got that one for $206.00 shipped new from ebay, the special edition I bought for 400 or 500 when it first came out. I rather the buttons on the non special edition better, unless I could get a small video in the special edition that would be kewl.

 

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

BTW, this may seem like a lame feature, but I always like CD controls that have the ability to show track time elapsed & remaining. And also total CD time elapsed & remaining. How do these units do with that?

The XXV-01D doesn't display time remaining, sadly. Only time elapsed and only for the current track rather than the whole disc.

Still a solid HU for sure, though. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

unless I could get a small video in the special edition that would be kewl.

You can.Using the Picture Engine software downloadable from the site listed in the owner's manual.

 

[vetkilr 10+ year member]

I love my Kenwood 25th...........a great unit...........with way too many options for one man to play with.............lol

 

[Ignatowski 5,000+ posts]

All have thier short comings and niether brand IMO has made the perfect headunit

IMO its the lesser of 2 evils

However the Excelons have awsome SQ and output

I wont buy another Pioneer because the internally short out by the RCA's

 

[Chad T 10+ year member]

A couple questions from the OP:

Are the Kenwoods kind of a dark gray color? That's the way it appears in pictures, but it can be hard to tell. Anybody got a pic of one installed in a vehicle?

Do the Kenwoods support XM?

 

[Chad T 10+ year member]

I wont buy another Pioneer because the internally short out by the RCA's

Is this something that is happening with new units as well or did it only happen with past head units?

 

[yacob.naif 10+ year member]

the xxv-01d is black, my x979 was dark PURPLE!!!!

It pays to try and see one in person, they vary.

Kenwood equalizers don't sound good on paper, but if you actually play with one, it's much more involved than '4-band eq' would lead you to believe.

And i'm now active, i just use all 4 channels of my headunit, along with the high/low pass xovers on my amplifier. Kind of a non-issue if you're gonna use an amp (which i would imagine you would for actives)

 

[alphakenny1 10+ year member]

Kenwood equalizers don't sound good on paper, but if you actually play with one, it's much more involved than '4-band eq' would lead you to believe.

what do you mean more involved? a PEQ is a PEQ. you can change the "Q" setting on a PEQ and choose whatever frequency you want but to truly affect a really small percentage of the frequency spectrum for me aint cutting it.

 

[billybrown66 10+ year member]

what do you mean more involved? a PEQ is a PEQ. you can change the "Q" setting on a PEQ and choose whatever frequency you want but to truly affect a really small percentage of the frequency spectrum for me aint cutting it.

it does for me. i am running passive, components up front, coaxials in the rear and for anyone looking to run passive crossovers with their system the XXV is absolutely perfect for this situation. the SQ is also really great, the ability to turn off the internal amp is awesome, many different background and screen options to choose from, good tuning features for those of us running passive. quality preouts as well. i like mine a lot.

 

[MBrock4u 10+ year member]

I'm with excelarater. Excelons have awesome SQ. No way to be dissapionted with either choice though!