Pioneer DEH-P800PRS vs Alpine CDA-9887 IPOD

[gunz4me 10+ year member]

I am thinking of changing out the CDA-9885 that is in my Mustang to go with an active crossover setup, but I am having a hard time choosing between the Pioneer 800 and the Alpine 9887. Since I have most of my music in Apple Lossless format on my IPODs, decent IPOD control is important to me.

With that said, has anyone compared the IPOD controls on an Alpine to the Pioneer with a Pioneer CD-IB100II? My guess is that the Pioneer may be slower than the Alpine with its full speed technology, but how slow are we talking here?

Besides IPOD controls, the Pioneer seems to do more stuff out of the box. The only other thing I don't like about it is the motorized face.

The Alpine probably has better IPOD integration, but to get EQing and all the other fancy gizmos, I need to spend more money.

I can live with the Pioneer being a little slow on the IPOD, as long as we are talking about a second or two versus seconds to minutes!

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[AVX Mike 10+ year member]

I actually own both decks. The ipod is a little slower on the pioneer but not too bad. I like the fact that the pioneer does a lot more from the remote than the Alpine. I run both decks active and I personally like the available adjustments on the pioneer better than the alpine. The imprint tuning on the alpine is nice, but leaves a little to be desired. If I am still running the alpine next year I plan to get an audiocontrol eq to fix the things that imprint didn't tune quite right. If you want to know more pm me.

 

[HNaga 10+ year member]

What I hate in CDA-9887 is the remote nothing to do with IPod. but the HU itself is great

I didn't try pioneer.

 

[AVX Mike 10+ year member]

I realized again the other day switching from my car with the pioneer to my wife's with the alpine. Pain in the azz alpine won't let you switch artist or album while shuffle is turned on. You have to turn shuffle off, then pick your new playlist and then turn shuffle back on. Pioneer just lets you do whatever you want even if shuffle is one. I know it's small but it gets irratating.

 

[eggster34]

what interface do you need on the pioneer to connect an ipod 3GS?

can you connect a usb drive or usb memory stick instead (or connect both a usb source and the ipod at the same time? )

 

[Beerdrnkr 5,000+ posts]

I realized again the other day switching from my car with the pioneer to my wife's with the alpine. Pain in the azz alpine won't let you switch artist or album while shuffle is turned on. You have to turn shuffle off, then pick your new playlist and then turn shuffle back on. Pioneer just lets you do whatever you want even if shuffle is one. I know it's small but it gets irratating.

I agree, that is really irritating. I liked the Pioneer overall better because exactly what Mike said, a lot easier to control overall settings and I thought it sounded a little better IMO (more laid back which I like). I can't comment on the Pioneer Ipod controls because I never used it but I wasn't overly impressed with the ones from Alpine.

 

[rumblefish 10+ year member]

I currently use a 9887. I also have a pioneer 880 (almost the same as the 800). There are two things I like better about the alpine. One is the sub level control access. I love having it right there. The other is the direct connection for the ipod and it's speed. That being said, I have never gotten the Alpine (with the imprint) to sound as good as the 880. Even though it is less involved, I prefer the sound of the 880's auto tune. The ipod is quite a bit slower, but I usually just put it on a play list and go. I think I might have just talked myself into putting the pioneer back in to my truck.