Those with an IPOD interface....pros and cons?

[MValley70 10+ year member]

Well i am looking to get an Ipod interface.....i thought Alpine was the only brand that made them but every major HU brand makes them......but i am specifically looking at Alpine and Kenwood......so based on ya'lls experiences with them is how i am going to base which HU I buy and which brand ipod interface i buy

So basically only reply if you have used or know someone that has used either the Alpine or the Kenwood IPOD interface and give the pros and cons of both.

Also state which HU was used

Thanks

Scott, SC

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[sanmarcosZfreak 10+ year member]

i have my ipod hooked up to my kenwood though an rca to 13-pin din connector, its not as sleak as the others but when i was doing this is what the only option availible, works great, clean signal, only downside is i can't control it though the HU so i need to keep the ipod out which doesn't bug me cuz i have it sitting on my arm rest and i dont need to reach for it and i can navigate it without looking

when i get a new HU i'm getting the actual interface for sure though

 

[bri487 5,000+ posts]

i bought the rca to cd changer cable so i can control everything from the ipod itself. the only alpine worth using the ipod interface where you can control the ipod from the deck is with the 9853 because you can view more lines on its display. i did the same thing in my boat even with the 9853 just because i know where everything is on my ipod and i find that easier than controling it through my deck.

 

[MValley70 10+ year member]

I am only asking about the interface here guys....i am not interested in the RCA cable or the ones that plug into the AUX input......only the ones that allow you to control the ipod from the deck

Thanks for the replies

Scott, SC

 

[bri487 5,000+ posts]

I am only asking about the interface here guys....i am not interested in the RCA cable or the ones that plug into the AUX input......only the ones that allow you to control the ipod from the deck
Thanks for the replies

Scott, SC

i told you what deck it is worth using it with and i told you the cons of that setup and shared my light on the alternative and the pros of that one.

 

[Cris 10+ year member]

I have the alpine interface hooked up to my 9807. I love it; clean signal, plays great, charges my ipod, and I can control the ipod from my head unit.

cons? none. Well worth the $99 I paid for it.

 

[sanmarcosZfreak 10+ year member]

um..techinally are responses count, considering it is a form of interface, if u only wanted the direct hook-up ones you should have said that

 

[liar2 10+ year member]

I use the alpine iPod interface with my cda 9830. I wish it were faster when scrolling through artists (I only listen to full albums anyways), but it does work. They say there is a limit to having only 255 lines display in any given menu which I don't have a problem with. I dont' have 255 artists on my iPod.

 

[bri487 5,000+ posts]

I use the alpine iPod interface with my cda 9830. I wish it were faster when scrolling through artists (I only listen to full albums anyways), but it does work. They say there is a limit to having only 255 lines display in any given menu which I don't have a problem with. I dont' have 255 artists on my iPod.

the 9853 can display more info on one screen than the 9830 we have to scroll a few lines on our 9830 where as on my 9853s i can view the same amount of info on one screen frame. that dramatically increases speed of scrolling and viewing playlists.

 

[MValley70 10+ year member]

BUMP......the thing i am hearing now is that using the Alpine HU to control your ipod is really slow and gets on peopl's nerves......like no mater how fast you turn the wheel it goes 1 at a time.....that would be real annoying and if so i would rather just control the ipod from the ipod itself......just need a way to power it / charge it....that is the main reason i like the interface.

Scott, SC

 

[Johnny Drama 5,000+ posts]

I bought an ipod2car unit by periphial

 

[sanmarcosZfreak 10+ year member]

BUMP......the thing i am hearing now is that using the Alpine HU to control your ipod is really slow and gets on peopl's nerves......like no mater how fast you turn the wheel it goes 1 at a time.....that would be real annoying and if so i would rather just control the ipod from the ipod itself......just need a way to power it / charge it....that is the main reason i like the interface.
Scott, SC

i'm guessing you haven't thought of buying a cig lighter charger and hardwiring it to a 12v source and hiding the wires?

 

[Slody4Futbol 10+ year member]

i have the pioneer cd-ib100... and using it with an avic-n1... it sux horribly... then again it didn't say the avic-n1 was "Ipod Ready" it just uses it as an external source and scrolls through everything really slow...

one of my installers has an alpine iva-d310 and the kca-420i interface and it works perfectly... shows either 5 or 6 artists at a time and you can scroll a lot quicker than the pioneer interface... i'm thinking of selling my avic-n1 and getting the iva-d310 and getting the interface for it... and when you have a song playing it shows all song info on the screen... if you have a high-end alpine or an alpine screen i'd definitely go with it

 

[Cris 10+ year member]

BUMP......the thing i am hearing now is that using the Alpine HU to control your ipod is really slow and gets on peopl's nerves......like no mater how fast you turn the wheel it goes 1 at a time.....that would be real annoying and if so i would rather just control the ipod from the ipod itself......just need a way to power it / charge it....that is the main reason i like the interface.
Scott, SC

honestly, the scrolling isn't that big a deal for me. I never artist search through the Hu either.

If I want to listen a certain artist, I pick the artist on my ipod and start playing it. Then I plug the alpine unit's cable into the ipod, and the stereo starts playing what I had chosen. If it's an entire album, it'll play it. If it's an entire artist's library, it'll play that. This is a lot faster than going through the HU's interface.

I also tend to play the ipod in random, because I like to be surprised by old songs I haven't heard in a long time with new songs that I got but never listened to. I have 6,600 songs so.. It never gets old.

 

[MValley70 10+ year member]

i'm guessing you haven't thought of buying a cig lighter charger and hardwiring it to a 12v source and hiding the wires?

Yes i have thought about that now....since i am not hearing good things about alpine interface.....plus i found this......

http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=&Section_Id=201526&pcount=&Product_Id=149006#

Looks like i could get that and run from a AUX on a HU to that ear phone jack and just control all of my music from my ipod istead of the HU

Scott, SC