Man the Headunit Game Changed audio wise

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Anyone noticed that SQ options on head units have made leaps and bounds forward after late 2015?

Even cheapo 99 dollar pioneer head units can go 3 way network mode now with 13 bands of EQ and time alignment.

Kenwood units are half active capable since you can only control the tweeter high pass crossover and slope but their other sound options make a crazy difference. AKA supreme, space enhancer, stage EQ. Really saves a lot of time trying to mess with the EQ on pioneer counterparts to get your sound stage up high and wide and does a good job at it too. Pretty flat out impressed, might be a kenwood convert if they make an all out audiophile head unit.

I Still remember a time where There was no touchscreen double din on the market that can go active, have time align and proper EQ. Even when they started introducing those options, all were costing an arm and a leg at that time $350+. Now even a cheapo kenwood or pioneer double din would run you like 180-220 dollars new and you get every tuning option needed for a nice SQ like setup.

Also found out about phone mirroring with MHL to HDMI to composite. Which allows watching netflix/youtube/sports on your head unit without the lag of the stock mirroring software on head units which is pretty bad @ss.

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[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

Alpine F#1, clarion, Denon, pioneer premier. There use to be way more and better fit and finish. But cost a grip

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Alpine F#1, clarion, Denon, pioneer premier. There use to be way more and better fit and finish. But cost a grip

no sh*t arm and a leg. Talking about peasant class income here!

well more like moderate income but FKED up taxes and mortgage rates or high rent for some others here in California.

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

Yeah you didn't see those very much. No online sales, only select dealers.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Yeah you didn't see those very much. No online sales, only select dealers.

Yeah and now even the cheap china mainstream stuff is pretty good for what you get. The kenwood ddx373 i got for my girl's setup is actually sounding better than my setup SQ wise. Stage is wider and more open, detail without any sibilance and did not need to reduce the typical 5khz to 8khz range that I always have to do with pioneer head units. Not to mention its with aluminium dome tweets which usually are extremely sibilant and harsh in my older pioneer head unit setups.

I'll post a build log of her 2016 civic install soon.

 

[jeepguylv]

been happy with my 80prs but getting board lol, kinda want a change

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

been happy with my 80prs but getting board lol, kinda want a change

Same, kinda want a touchscreen double din. Might actually swap to a kenwood ddx773 and use amp crossovers.

 

[germanyt 10+ year member]

I remember when Nakamichi and Eclipse made solid head units. Pioneer was always good but now it seems like its the only brand worth owning anymore. I suppose Alpine and Kenwood are still great for most people. I just wish someone would make more attractive faceplates. As I get older I care less for the look of aftermarket head units.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

I remember when Nakamichi and Eclipse made solid head units. Pioneer was always good but now it seems like its the only brand worth owning anymore. I suppose Alpine and Kenwood are still great for most people. I just wish someone would make more attractive faceplates. As I get older I care less for the look of aftermarket head units.

I dont play the judge purely on brand game, i actually look at the tuning options each specific model offers. If its an expensive 5 band eq pioneer with no t/a or any other features and its costing 200 then gtfo with that bullsh*t same with kenwood. They still sneak in some garbage models that offer no SQ options in every brand.

In the double din game, unless you need full 3 way network mode, kenwood has both pioneer and alpine beat in terms of SQ capabilities comparing their flagship upper tier to lower lines with the cream of the crop tuning features

 

[JohnKuthe]

I remember when Nakamichi and Eclipse made solid head units. Pioneer was always good but now it seems like its the only brand worth owning anymore. I suppose Alpine and Kenwood are still great for most people. I just wish someone would make more attractive faceplates. As I get older I care less for the look of aftermarket head units.

I hear that!! I have an Alpine CDE-153BT and it's on screen displays are stupidly confusing. Not at all like my old Alpine HU. I want to listen to music, not tie anything into a phone I don't have! :-(

I'll figure it out someday though.

John Kuthe...

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

I hear that!! I have an Alpine CDE-153BT and it's on screen displays are stupidly confusing. Not at all like my old Alpine HU. I want to listen to music, not tie anything into a phone I don't have! :-(
I'll figure it out someday though.

John Kuthe...

I really shouldn't do anything nice for you but here. You want to look at this. Alpine PDX-V9 design flaw? - Car Audio | DiyMobileAudio.com | Car Stereo Forum

 

[JohnKuthe]

I really shouldn't do anything nice for you but here. You want to look at this. Alpine PDX-V9 design flaw? - Car Audio | DiyMobileAudio.com | Car Stereo Forum

I thank you sir! Bookmarked the discussion thread, and may peel my PDX-A9 open and see for myself. Thanks!

John Kuthe...

 

[audiobaun 5,000+ posts]

I run Kenwood HUs in both vehicles atm..Tuned decently,and the clarity is pretty surprising paired with my Kicker KQ-9 EQ. Dont care for the faint lighting that is almost impossible to see during the daytime..But both are still decent HUs to say the least..BT955HD,and the BT558U..Still throw in my old Eclipse Cd3000 in from time to time mixing sh/t up.not a whole lot of features,but been a great unit and easily to work around, miss my 8445 i sold couple years back..it was easy to work..Even the ElCheapo KDC X396 not a bad intro HU for the money.I like the looks of the Touch screens, but cant stand the dammned finger prints all over the jokers, and especially dont like when they freeze up and dont function properly///banging the hell out of the screen while driving:furious:

 

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

That's change in technology for ya. And as with anything else, it gets improved with almost everything we do, use, buy, etc.

I remember my 1st cd player, it was a Sony 8wx4 lol. That barely made any sound it had such low wattage at the time. Nowadays it's as much as 26 but that's beside the point. And the Sony barely had any features built in. We didn't have bluetooth like we do now, USB like we do now, 3.5mm aux input like we do now,etc. etc. Also some Hu can change diff colors, my Clarion cz702 has like 10 diff color options.

I'm still waiting for something like this to happen: A HU with a harddrive built in so you can load up music w/o the use of plugging in anything. Just file search or play random songs. Unless there is one I just haven't seen yet.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

That's change in technology for ya. And as with anything else, it gets improved with almost everything we do, use, buy, etc.
I remember my 1st cd player, it was a Sony 8wx4 lol. That barely made any sound it had such low wattage at the time. Nowadays it's as much as 26 but that's beside the point. And the Sony barely had any features built in. We didn't have bluetooth like we do now, USB like we do now, 3.5mm aux input like we do now,etc. etc. Also some Hu can change diff colors, my Clarion cz702 has like 10 diff color options.

I'm still waiting for something like this to happen: A HU with a harddrive built in so you can load up music w/o the use of plugging in anything. Just file search or play random songs. Unless there is one I just haven't seen yet.

You dont need a hard drive. Some head units accept a 512 GB SD card.

You also dont want to use hard drives. Slow as ****, mechanical moving parts = prone to failure. The absolute worse way to go to be honest. Only thing that would moderately work is a Solid State Hard drive "SSD" but even then an SD card would be just as fast.

A head unit with a built in SSD would cost an exhorbitant amount of money which you could have achieved the same results with a normal head unit with an SD card reader.

Even with your computer bud, if you are still using a normal hard drive, its the main reason why a computer can feel sluggish.

Between a normal hard drive and an SSD drive its not just a night and day difference. Its way beyond that, it can make a 10 year old computer look like sonic the hedgehog from a 8 minute boot up time to 15 seconds bootup speed. I'd look into putting one into your comp asap bud.