Well, quick update, after much debate and not getting to toy with either one of them, I ended up going with the Kenwood and man, what a great decision that was.
First off, it was nothing less than stellar purchasing from
Crutchfield...I got the head unit, Scosche factory integration adapter w/ gain adjustability for all 4 channels, antenna adapter, Scosche mounting kit, and Kenwood iPod cable for $319, which included 2-day UPS shipping.
Install was a breeze and after a 10 second phone call to CField's technicians to figure out which wire was the Bose amp trigger, everything was playing fine. A massive improvement in SQ over the factory in-dash 6 disc/casette deck.
Like I said, I never got to even mess with one or the Pioneer, but I have no earthly idea why people complain about the Kenwood functionality/user interface/menu or navigating it. In less than 5 minutes I knew where everything was and what buttons did what.
I haven't gotten the time alignment or custom EQ setup yet, which im sure will incease SQ even further. But for just a head unit swap, I can't imagine being anymore pleased.