The current state of Sony headunits?

[94Mazda626 10+ year member]

they're/they are?
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if you are going to correct someone at least be correct when correcting //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

LOL, What can I say. Working 12 ten hour days in a row can get to you.

JVC is about the same as Sony, id stay away from both.
Go with the Kenwood or Pioneer.

JVC is not about the same as Sony. I have a JVC KD-G820 that is ~3 years old in my car and never had a problem with it, previously I had a KD-G210 (I think was the model) that was also bulletproof. The 820 I have has a 24 bit burr brown DAC, very good SQ for the price.

 

[olds97_lss 10+ year member]

I had a JVC that was a step or two above the KD-R210. It sounded great if you didn't turn up the bass or run the volume very high. If you did both, you could only turn the volume up about 75% then this horrible popping sound would happen through the speakers. I took it back and tried another one that was another step up, it did the same exact thing.

Then I tried a pioneer that was around the same price at the time (2 years ago, $140) and it's sound was flat out hideous. I took it back and got another pioneer that was a step up in price and it sounded exactly the same, horrible.

Then I picked up a kenwood KDC-X692 and after a lot of tweaking, it sounded great and went almost 100% volume without cracking. Lasted a whole year, then just yesterday went belly up on me on my way home from work. Was running the volume around 75% and all of the sudden, it shut off. I thought maybe it overheated, so I tried it the next morning. Still dead. Pulled it and checked all contacts and fuses. Still dead.

Just got home from BB and picked up a Sony KD-R210. Sounded great in the store, had more features than a comparable kenwood and since my last kenwood died in a year, I was kind of looking at all of them. The pioneers still sound horrible and the JVC's still pop.

I don' run an amp and my car is a 06 Mercury Grand Marquis. I'm running Pioneer TS-A6973R speakers in the rear deck and front doors. They sounded pretty good with the kenwood and also in the store where I tried the Sony.

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

I would take my sony over about anything but a new stage 4 pioneer

 

[hellouser 10+ year member]

If youre planning on using a USB drive, be prepared for some really miserable experiences all around. Most units ive test (and all units from sony) organize files and folders by creation date, NOT in alphabetical order. The only units that seem to organize by alphabet are JVCs. Pioneers, some do it right, some don't (the logic is amazing, i've only recently gotten into car audio and I can't believe how poor the choices are for mp3 based playback).

Check out the youtube video posted by mporettim, that should be the deck of your choice. Spend a little more and you get a LOT more benefits. I've got a R900 on order, should arrive on monday. I'll give you my take on it if you want (prolly will make a video of it as well).

I am looking for buy a HU for my cr-v soon and have been lurking around here for info. my budget is below 130-140 and have narrowed my search down to Pioneer deh-2200ub, Kenwood KDC-MP345U (MP342U replacement), JVC KD-HDR50 and the Sony CDX-GT640UI. I plan on using the stock speakers and my only requirement is USB to use with a thumb stick. It seems that pioneer and kenwood are fairly well respected but i am not sure about sony. any insight and suggestions would be awesome.

thanks

 

[blazeplacid 10+ year member]

the sony units ive installed in my friends cars have always been decent

top notch SQ, no. But for the $200 they are ok for most

 

[connersdad19 10+ year member]

i have had my sony for almost 4 years now and have not had a problem out of it

 

[nateberrier 10+ year member]

Alpine CDE-100 has usb and aux for less than 100. Not amazing but it will do what youre asking and it sounds good. Put one in my GFs car, great budget unit.

Not a huge alpine fan but itl do the best job for the price.

Any higher of a budget and id go with Pioneer for sure.

 

[Louisiana_CRX 5,000+ posts]

The Sony headunits are better than Pyle's headunits......if that helps any.....

 

[philnutz1]

I have been out of car audio for almost ten years so i guess alot has changed, but i wouldn't trade my old sony mobile es deck for any of the crap thats sold today.

 

[d77543020 10+ year member]

I have been out of car audio for almost ten years so i guess alot has changed, but i wouldn't trade my old sony mobile es deck for any of the crap thats sold today.

yep sony is not what they used to be