unOfficial 2008 alpine iDA-X--- series HU thread

[kaigoss69]

I think I have made up my mind that I definitely want to have album art on the HU, so is this the only one that does it? I understand you need to have an IPOO for this to happen, correct?

I really want to have an SQ HU so I am really uneasy about buying this one. The CDA-9887, which is the current flagship single DIN unit, allows you to shut off the internal amp in case you are using all external amps, so I think that is a great feature to get all the possible power reserves dedicated to the pre-outs and also minimize the amount of heat the unit generates. Does the IDA-X100 allow you to turn off the internal amps???

I have also noticed that the IMPRINT tuning modules for the CDA-9887 and the IDA-X100 are totally different. Will I still get the same amount of "tunability" with the IDA as with the CDA?

Yet another question: With the additional IMPRINT module on the IDA, what kind of crossover options will I have? The Alpine literature is not very clear here.

Here is a comparison from the Alpine site for the two models:

http://tinyurl.com/2pqbwv

 

[JrVtecAccord 10+ year member]

Woo Hoo, look what I got. I will hook it up tomorrow and post first impressions.

 

[Jayz606]

Hey guys, new to the site. I've been searching all over trying to find a forum where people are discussing this head unit, looks like you guys have the most informative thread going so far!! Anyways, I purchased this deck and a brand new iPod 4G Nano. The navigation works good and I got comfortable with it fairly quick. In regards to a question noticed earlier: Yes you can shut off the Power I/C if you choose, can't remember who was asking but yes you can.

I am having a problem though. Whenever I connect the iPod via USB I can view the album cover, sounds good etc BUT after roughly 3-4 mins (varies) I get either Error 01 or Error 03 and the deck no longer recognizes the ipod. If I unplug it and plug it back in it will work but only for a short while. The flipside to this is that I used to have a CDA 9856, solid deck but there were a few things about it that bugged me - ie navigation, only being able to see one listing at a time. I still had my Full Speed cable from before, if I plug it into the deck it works perfectly but no art, etc. I've settled on the idea that it's the ipod itself and have returned it in exchange for the 8G version as that's the EXACT model I've seen pictured with it. lol. I think what happened was that I updated the software on the iPod when I first hooked it to my iTunes but I'm not sure. Anyways, I'm going to test it fairly soon, go out for a Sunday cruise. lol. Anybody else had this problem? I even went as far as to uninstall iTunes then reinstall it to a prior version that they had listed in the manual (Ver 7.4.3.1) but that still didn't fix it. I'll let you guys know what I find out and don't hesitate to ask a question to me, if there's some way can help you out I will.

Jay

 

[Jayz606]

TEST FAILED!!!!!!!!!! I don't know what to do here, my last possible course of action is exchange my deck (which will happen tomorrow). This is starting to become a fair bit of hassle. Once again, I'll keep you guys posted.

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[Jayz606]

Success!!! I took my deck back and exchanged it. Put the new one in in the parking lot and held my breath. Absolutely no problems, everything seems to be in perfect order. I listened to it for 45 mins solid without a single hiccup. So just keep your heads up guys, if you are getting this same type of problem you just might have a dud on your hands. lol

 

[USCFAN 10+ year member]

Anyone have the Alpine X001/X100 APN Converter on their computer?

It would be great if you could email it to me.

usc.fan.01@gmail.com

 

[Babs 10+ year member]

Woo Hoo, look what I got. I will hook it up tomorrow and post first impressions.

... cool!!! Finally the pxa-h100 is hitting the streets... I for one will be looking forward to reviews of the IDA-X100 or IDA-X200 running the Imprint processor either auto or manually calibrated.

It appears either the X100 or X200 should in essence have the same sound quality level given their burr-brown DAC's.. Is that a good assumption?

 

[USCFAN 10+ year member]

I found the converter!!!

http://files.filefront.com/XND+x001+11winzip/;9992466;/fileinfo.html

or

http://www.pride-rock.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=331&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

... cool!!! Finally the pxa-h100 is hitting the streets... I for one will be looking forward to reviews of the IDA-X100 or IDA-X200 running the Imprint processor either auto or manually calibrated.
It appears either the X100 or X200 should in essence have the same sound quality level given their burr-brown DAC's.. Is that a good assumption?

Yeah i can't wait to get mine! I am still waiting for crutchfield to get the $25 tuning unit.

With the pxa-h100 you should have the best sound quality receiver alpine has right now.

 

[JrVtecAccord 10+ year member]

... cool!!! Finally the pxa-h100 is hitting the streets... I for one will be looking forward to reviews of the IDA-X100 or IDA-X200 running the Imprint processor either auto or manually calibrated.
It appears either the X100 or X200 should in essence have the same sound quality level given their burr-brown DAC's.. Is that a good assumption?

I am having mixed impressions with the pxa-h100. For manually tuning it's still pretty basic. I haven't had a chance to auto tune it, the shop were I got mine wouldn't sell me their tunning kit, they only got 1 in

I haven't comment on the unit yet because I am not sure if it's my Boston Pro60 that is the cause of lack of "highs". With eq ranges above 12k maxed out and the crossovers on the pro's on "0db", it still lacks the highs. It sounds very flat. I am on the verge to try some Polk sr6500, I had know idea that they can be configured in the coax design. If I had know that, they would've been my first choice for this car, since my HT uses Polk speakers and love them.

 

[USCFAN 10+ year member]

What amp are you running the pr60 on? I have these speakers and they sound awesome. You need to feed at least 200rms per channel to these speakers.

Also the tuning kit shouldn't cost more than $30.

Hopefully i will be getting this unit sometime this month!

 

[Reggie Lives 10+ year member]

I am having mixed impressions with the pxa-h100. For manually tuning it's still pretty basic. I haven't had a chance to auto tune it, the shop were I got mine wouldn't sell me their tunning kit, they only got 1 in
I haven't comment on the unit yet because I am not sure if it's my Boston Pro60 that is the cause of lack of "highs". With eq ranges above 12k maxed out and the crossovers on the pro's on "0db", it still lacks the highs. It sounds very flat. I am on the verge to try some Polk sr6500, I had know idea that they can be configured in the coax design. If I had know that, they would've been my first choice for this car, since my HT uses Polk speakers and love them.

What exactly can you tune manually with the PXA-H100? Does it open up new menues in the HU? I have the CDA-9886, which uses the PXA (vs the 9887 which uses the other one) but was holding off buying the PXA-H100 untill the KTX-H100 was available. I assume you don't need the tunning kit to utilize the imprint processor?

 

[JrVtecAccord 10+ year member]

What amp are you running the pr60 on? I have these speakers and they sound awesome. You need to feed at least 200rms per channel to these speakers.
Also the tuning kit shouldn't cost more than $30.

Hopefully i will be getting this unit sometime this month!

I am using a pdx4.150. I have always used silk tweeters, so I guess I am just not used to these aluminum tweets, they give me a headache even with no processing and all eq set to flat Oh well, they will be for sale here in a few days once my Polk SR6500's come in

 

[palmfish 10+ year member]

Hey all, my first post here.

I'm not new to car audio, but I haven't been an enthusiast since the early 90's. In 1988 I had a Honda CRX Si with a Kenwood/Polk Audio system, and in 1991, I had a Nissan Sentra SE-R with a Soundstream/Boston Acoustics system. Well, I'm older now and my hearing isn't what it used to be, so SQ hasn't been a big priority for me.

What brings me here is, the audio system in my 1988 BMW M3 is in need of freshening and I've been working on bringing it back over the last few weeks. My system consists of an Alpine CDA-7940 HU, an a/d/s PQ20.2 powering my rear installed a/d/s 335is speakers and an RS10 subwoofer, and an a/d/s PQ5.2 powering my front installed 235is speakers.

My 4-channel PQ20.2 took a crap last month and rather than replace it, I had it serviced at a local shop that specializes in high-end audio gear. Now that it's back in shape, I've gotten the itch to replace my aging HU with something newer. After much thinking and researching (here and elsewhere), I've decided that I like the idea of getting the CD's out of my car and going with a USB/aux option instead. After visiting some local audio stores over the last few days and playing with display units, I think I've decided on the iDA-X100.

It pretty much does everything I want my next HU to do. It looks very simple and handsome without having too many buttons and lights. I love the way it effortlessly manages and accesses the file hierarchy on my thumb drive, and the fact that I can switch the buttons to red illumination to blend in with my old BMW instrument lighting is a big plus to me. Until I found this thread though, I was a little bummed that the LCD screen appears mostly blue - to the point that I was still considering a few other units (Clarion DXZ785USB, Eclipse CD3200, and a couple of Blaupunkts) because of their ability to completely display in red - in spite of their inferior displays and functionality.

Well, thanks to USCFAN's posting about the ability to change the wallpaper on the X100 display, I think my only remaining excuse to not buy the Alpine is gone. Which leads me to my question...

I've been playing with MS Paint to see what I might do with an X100 in my car, and came up with an image I'd like some feedback on.

First, the very nondescript E30 dashboard:

And the imaginary iDA-X100 with red illumination and BMW Motorsport wallpaper:

What I'd like to know is whether the wallpaper I made (currently in both ".bmp" and ".jpg" format) can be converted into the format that USCFAN described for importing into the X100.

I'd also like to know if you think my image is a reasonable representation of what the display might look like (minus the small details such as track play/elapsed time and the thin white/blue bars along the very top and bottom edge of the screen. And finally, I'd like opinions on whether you think this image will appear too bright and gaudy, or is the screen dimmable and small enough for it to look OK? I'm also thinking about having wallpaper that's simply a solid black background - if that's possible. Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance for your opinions!

 

[Kai Winters 10+ year member]

Palmfish here is a link regarding x100 wallpapers.

Alpine uses a proprietary "apn" file for their wallpapers. You can get additional wallpapers at the Alpine website and the Pride Rock Labs site.

You can get the APN file converter to convert jpegs, etc to apn files at Xoned. Hmmm Xoned seems off line at the moment. I as well as others have the apn file converter and can send it to you if you want.

http://www.pride-rock.com/forum/apnlist.php?sid=5f31b2717d88ad308569b84dfebc63d5

I wish Alpine would give us the ability to change the display settings on their x001, x100, etc. hu's. I would like to decide what is displayed of album info...including none if wanted...maybe just the name of the song. Same for the radio presets. I would like to name the preset..."sports talk" for instance rather than "pre 1...1410AM" etc. I would like to change the size of the time display. The display shown when playing music, etc. is so **** small it is barely worth having...and the "time" display is so **** huge I feel like I should be 100 years old with bad sight lol. Considering the cost of the hu's I feel it is a small thing to give the owner the ability to make changes such as these.

I also would be thrilled to have the album art displayed when using a usb storage device...I use a thumb drive and a WD Passport hd rather than an ipod at the moment any way lol...and am not thrilled that Alpine shows album art with an ipod but not a usb storage device. I wonder if Alpine could make changes such as these with a firmware update?

 

[Kai Winters 10+ year member]

Here is USCFAN's tutorial for converting apn files. It is on a previous page in this thread. It is a great tutorial...I have printed out and have used it often.

Thanks USCFAN !!

here is the walk through for custom wall paper.

 

You need to download irfanView and the converter

 

here is the converter website if link doesn't work.

http://www.xoned.net/content/xoned/p...-apn-converter

 

To obtain a working RAW image you can freely use IrfanView with this plugin pack:

http://irfanview.tuwien.ac.at/plugin..._400_setup.exe

 

step 1) Just open your preferred image in irfanview, then use Image->Resize/Resample to set the image to 320x240 72 dpi.

Finally save your image as a RAW in the location: c:\tools\x100\, choosing RGB Interleaved in the dialog box, without using Flip Image.

 

step 2)

Converter:

1) extract exe and dll in c:\tools\x100\

2) convert your image in RAW and put it in c:\tools\x100\ ----this is what the 1st step was about.

3) click Start->Run and type "cmd.exe" (without quotes)

4) in the cmd prompt type "cd c:\tools\x001\" (without quotes)

5) now type "xndconverter.exe myfile.raw" (without quotes)

 

If no error occurs your converted apn file should be ready in c:\tools\x100\.

 

The only way I could get the alpine deck to see the files is to use a usb memory stick. It would NOT work using the ipod to download the wallpaper. I would test whatever usb memory stick by downloading some alpine wallpaper and putting them on the head unit.

 

If you run into any problems please PM or if you would like I don't mind doing a couple for you if you can't get it working.