Whats point of having good hu?

[Im_SCrewed]

I'm certainly not the most knowledgeable regarding car audio, but I can think of at least two reasons not to skimp too much on your HU. One would be the voltage of the pre-outs. That symbilink is great, but it will still perform better with higher voltage. The second reason would be options. Even if you could get great SQ with a low cost HU and external processing, you might want to pay more for features like a good IPOD interface or USB input. Just a thought...

 

[trunks9_us 10+ year member]

the new jesne indash screens have all of this.

 

[MBrock4u 10+ year member]

I believe if your going to have a nice, solid quality system, it all starts with the head uit. It is your command central the feeds everything. I started with a sony deck and as I have upgraded over time , the better the deck the better my system sounded period. It makes eveything sound better. You don't build a house without a solid foundation. You head unit is just that. It is very important.

 

[Thieroff 10+ year member]

You don't have to buy an expensive head unit if you have all the external processing. Personally, if I had all that stuff I may buy a less expensive head unit. Something like middle-of-the-road Pioneer, Alpine, or Eclipse.

Usually you're paying just for options, internal EQ, flip down face, display and so on when you go into the higher end Alpine/Pioneer units.

If you have all the external processing then you don't need to look for any processing in the head unit itself.

I had a low end Alpine at one point(9847), and got a higher end Alpine(9813), they both sounded just as good, but I could tune better with the 9813.

CT

 

[konechiwa 10+ year member]

at least buy a middle of the line one. You can have all the external processing you want, but the deck is still going to decode and send the music signal to everything.. It's the starting point.

Bottom Line:

If you have a HU that sounds like ***, the end product (no matter how much external equipment) is always crap.

 

[Trey803 5,000+ posts]

Higher priced cd players usually have better DAC's like the p880

 

[jmanpc 5,000+ posts]

Your system's sound can only be as good as the output of the head unit.

/thread

 

[bonesninja 5,000+ posts]

whats the point of having a good hu if i am going to use external sound processing eq time correction dsp ect. why would i need s good hu then if i am buying all zapco processing? i mean wouldnt a hu like jensen or dual be just as good since most ppl say when using external sound processing leave your eq settings at flat and tune from the processor do i make a good point or am i just not seeing somthing? i mean whats the point of having jensen vs eclipse if i am using external sound proccessing?

its like putting a $20,000 paint job on a 81 Honda Civic.....why spend on all Zapco processing and have a Jensen deck. You want the cleanest signal you can get to that Zapco so it doesn't have a shiit ton of interference and distortion to clean up.

 

[CaliforniabOY5 10+ year member]

ask JIMJ or squeak or req. . . they know more about this kinda stuff.

 

[conecommander 10+ year member]

I would suggest staying as far away from those POS head units as you can. They will always be the problematic piece of your entire system. When I swapped the stock deck out of my 2000 Malibu with a $150 JCV hu, the stock speakers sounded like something you would have to pay $2500 for. Obviously they were still just junk speakers, but that is how much of a difference I immediately noticed when installing a decent hu. I would suggest having one of your friends with a higher quality hu let you give that a try so you can see the difference it makes first hand.

 

[Kriszilla 10+ year member]

GIGO. Garbage In, Garbage Out. If you feed your external processing a crappy signal, all you're doing is wasting resources covering it up. It's not going to fix it, it's just going to help cover it up.

Now, feed that same processing rig a clean signal, and you can devote more of your resources to getting a flatter curve, running a higher output voltage, etc...

Anyone who runs all Zapco processing does not get to use the phrase "hu are expensive".//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wow.gif.23d729408e9177caa2a0ed6a2ba6588e.gif

 

[Babs 10+ year member]

whats the point of having a good hu if i am going to use external sound processing eq time correction dsp ect. why would i need s good hu then if i am buying all zapco processing? i mean wouldnt a hu like jensen or dual be just as good since most ppl say when using external sound processing leave your eq settings at flat and tune from the processor do i make a good point or am i just not seeing somthing? i mean whats the point of having jensen vs eclipse if i am using external sound proccessing?

Digital to Analog conversion...

Crap processing between the laser reading the disc and the conversion of those 1's and 0's to an analog audio signal.

If anything, I'd rather have ALL my processing in the digital domain also, then maybe ONLY active crossovers for any analog processing. Otherwise, just go with a fantabulous HU that does ALL the processing internally DIGITALLY.. Far easier to process a digital signal than an analog signal.. Less corruption.

But to give you an example..

Given good home speakers and amps...

Running out left/right analog from a typical crap home CD player into the receiver or amp.. sounds like eh.. music. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/eyebrow.gif.fe2c18d8720fe8c7eaed347b21ea05a5.gif

Run out of the same CD player fiberoptic (still digital) into a high-dollar DAC or into a really good preamp/processor (converting D to A by better processors)... Far better muzak! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fro.gif.c695f1f814b01c4ad99fe7f8cccadd29.gif

If you can tell the difference, your ears are worthy to reap rewards for the expense of all the other stuff you're buying for the car system. If not, don't bother with any of the external stuff.. you won't hear the value.

Point being.. The laser, the D/A converter and the preamp are what MAKE a great head unit.

 

[envengineer 10+ year member]

Weren't you the one asking about running two head units before because you wanted the Jensen but also the best "SQ"?

What files are you going to be playing off the USB drive? If it is 128kbps don't ****ing bother with any expensive head unit because you would be feeding it junk. Hell, if you are using all electronic media and no cds, why not just run a cable from a music player to the inputs on your processor. It honestly would not sound any worse than the Jensen and it might actually sound better. Seriously, iPod + mini to rca cable = better than a Jensen. At worst you could just buy a line driver to up the voltage if you were worried.

So, my solution is probably less than 10 bucks at radio shack and it will likely sound better than the Jensen. Try it with lossless files and see if I'm wrong.

 

[trunks9_us 10+ year member]

well after reading some more i think i will just stick with my jensen until i can save up for my new hu. I plan on getting a kenwood kvt-819dvd but i need to fix my car first since someone recently hit the rear drivr side quarter panel and i kinda spent the money on the rest of my equipment. So anyways after i get my system done i will post some pics. I am going to get my whole car sound deadened this weekend then putting in my zapco comps and amps in i suppose thats all i can do for now unless someone knows how i can make signal stronger thru the jensen.

 

[Beat_Dominator 5,000+ posts]

Digital to Analog conversion...
Crap processing between the laser reading the disc and the conversion of those 1's and 0's to an analog audio signal.

If anything, I'd rather have ALL my processing in the digital domain also, then maybe ONLY active crossovers for any analog processing. Otherwise, just go with a fantabulous HU that does ALL the processing internally DIGITALLY.. Far easier to process a digital signal than an analog signal.. Less corruption.

But to give you an example..

Given good home speakers and amps...

Running out left/right analog from a typical crap home CD player into the receiver or amp.. sounds like eh.. music. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/eyebrow.gif.fe2c18d8720fe8c7eaed347b21ea05a5.gif

Run out of the same CD player fiberoptic (still digital) into a high-dollar DAC or into a really good preamp/processor (converting D to A by better processors)... Far better muzak! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fro.gif.c695f1f814b01c4ad99fe7f8cccadd29.gif

If you can tell the difference, your ears are worthy to reap rewards for the expense of all the other stuff you're buying for the car system. If not, don't bother with any of the external stuff.. you won't hear the value.

Point being.. The laser, the D/A converter and the preamp are what MAKE a great head unit.

That's pretty much it. Unless you can find some Pioneer ODR or Z-series Sony amps and a "cheap" deck with a digital out, you'll need an HU with good DACs to get the best signal off of a disk.