Best head unit these days?

dahamsta

Back when I were a lad, Alpine were the too-expensive kiddies, followed by Pioneer, Sony, Blaupunkt (my fave at the time), Kenwood, JVC and everything else, in roughly that order. Is that still the case? I fancy a Bluetooth unit and I'm a bit out of touch with what's hot and what's not.

Thanks,
adam

Eric Cartman

the best headunit in my opinion is the kenwood DNX9240BT - Parrot Bluetooth Car Kit, Bluethooth Audio streaming, Garmin navigation, DVD playback, 5.1 Surround Sound Dolby decoder, Full ipod integration with control (the best ipod solution ive seen from any head unit, excellent audio amp , reversing camera input, usb socket, you can add a tv tuner, 6.9" screen inbuilt (its a double DIN unit) , excellent AM/FM/MW reception on the tuner, its little brother the DNX5240 is what i have fitted in my car (5" screen and only 1 av input is the only difference) and its an excellent headunit.

Pioneers AVIC F900BT is also a great head unit, the ipod control isnt as nice as the kenwood, but it has a decent amp and has a front mounted SD card slot. its let down by a propriotry navigation system so its not compatible with standard maps or POI's like the kenwood, on the kenwood theres a usb plu in the back so you can load new standard garmin maps and speed camera databases.

sony make decent sounding cd/mp3 head units but never really moved on the whole navigation/video bandwaggon and are stuck with a grudge against the ipod destroying the walkman so their ipod integration is not great.

jvc make some alright units but there range isnt great these days. Alpine are still expensive but they do make some nice head units

Top Dog

My last 4 headunits have all been Kenwood - always been happy with them and doubt I'll ever go with anything else (unless its given to me for free)

dahamsta

Thanks for the detailed post EC, although they may be overkill for me. (I don't buy Apple products and I have a Garmin.

I'm looking for brand recommendations rather than specific models, but if people do want to recommend I guess the spec would be: CD/MP3, bluetooth for phone primarily, good audio and build quality, relatively good tuner.

(I've always had a problem buying Kenwood. I remember Sodastreams you see... )

adam

Eric Cartman

well kenwoods quality cant be faulted on their head units, and the bluetooth car kit is designed by parrot (probably one of the best car kit manufacturers) , it all works seamlessly ,

http://www.dynamicsounds.co.uk/kenwood-kdcbt6044-cdmp3wma-receiver-bluetooth-handsfree-front-auxin-p-9343.html a solid unit ive installed its predecessor in 2 cars and both owners were very happy ,

if your aversioned to kenwood id say go pioneer next, then alpine , sony and jvc i dont like so much

torrents29

The aforementioned Kenwood gets Katie Melua's approval and she gets my approval

http://dynamiccaraudio.co.uk/2009/05/dnx9240bt-channel-fives-gadget-show/

_Kaiser_

I'm in something of the same boat.. my in-dash 6CD MP3 changer (VW RCD500 unit) died just before Christmas and I would love a replacement as I'm tired of swapping CDs into the basic RCD300 single-disc non MP3 version the car came with

Any suggestions on what to get that:
- Is a double-din sized unit
- Has MP3 and ideally Bluetooth telephony support. CD changer not essential if it supports MP3
- Will look good (display/color wise) in a 06 VW Passat dash (primarilly red and blue lighting)
- Won't break the bank!

JHMEG

Pioneer had the best sound quality, fidelity, etc 10 years ago and I would say they still have. I've had them all and I'd still put Pioneer on top. The only thing I'd say against them is that they feel plasticky now.

dahamsta

They look it too, which is what put me off. Their kit used to be very like Blaupunkt: not very exciting but excellently engineered, solid. Then they changed their logo to something "cooler", and they seemed to take product design the same way, which imho made them a bit plasticky, and not cool at all. I stopped buying Blaupunkt for the same reason when they did it a few years later.

Top Dog

I've found in my expierence that the best sound from the more readily-available brands, has usually been the Alpine units. Visually though they never appealed to me, and the way they operated didn't impress me much either. Pioneer have never done much to impress me - even their higher end gear seems lacking in the sound clarity. Hence my using Kenwood, best balance of sound/asthetics/operation/affordability for my own personal tastes.

Eric Cartman

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

I'm in something of the same boat.. my in-dash 6CD MP3 changer (VW RCD500 unit) died just before Christmas and I would love a replacement as I'm tired of swapping CDs into the basic RCD300 single-disc non MP3 version the car came with

Any suggestions on what to get that:
- Is a double-din sized unit
- Has MP3 and ideally Bluetooth telephony support. CD changer not essential if it supports MP3
- Will look good (display/color wise) in a 06 VW Passat dash (primarilly red and blue lighting)
- Won't break the bank!

http://www.dynamicsounds.co.uk/kenwood-dpx503u-double-mp3wmaaac-cdusbreceiver-p-3536.html that head unit + kenwood BT200 bluetooth unit

Ardent

I recently bought a Pioneer DEH-P5100UB. The difference in sound quality from my factory headunit is simply staggering.

Ardent

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

I'm in something of the same boat.. my in-dash 6CD MP3 changer (VW RCD500 unit) died just before Christmas and I would love a replacement as I'm tired of swapping CDs into the basic RCD300 single-disc non MP3 version the car came with

Any suggestions on what to get that:
- Is a double-din sized unit
- Has MP3 and ideally Bluetooth telephony support. CD changer not essential if it supports MP3
- Will look good (display/color wise) in a 06 VW Passat dash (primarilly red and blue lighting)
- Won't break the bank!

http://www.pioneer.eu/eur/products/25/121/61/FH-P80BT/index.html

JHMEG

dahamsta wrote: »

They look it too, which is what put me off. Their kit used to be very like Blaupunkt: not very exciting but excellently engineered, solid. Then they changed their logo to something "cooler", and they seemed to take product design the same way, which imho made them a bit plasticky, and not cool at all. I stopped buying Blaupunkt for the same reason when they did it a few years later.

I think they did the Apple on it. "Designed in Somewhere Cool. Made in China"

I would never have rated Blaupunkt, even 10 years ago. They felt, looked, and sounded amateur when put next to Pioneer. (imho)

lau1247

is it fair to say that the head unit is only as good when you fit it with a competent set of speakers and sub?

Ardent

lau1247 wrote: »

is it fair to say that the head unit is only as good when you fit it with a competent set of speakers and sub?

In most cases, no. Prior to purchasing my Pioneer headunit, I thought I would also need better speakers, sound quality was awful. It turned out the speakers are actually very good and were just underpowered by the factory headunit.

quarryman

Ardent wrote: »

In most cases, no. Prior to purchasing my Pioneer headunit, I thought I would also need better speakers, sound quality was awful. It turned out the speakers are actually very good and were just underpowered by the factory headunit.

+1. I had the same thing in my 306. i decided i needed new speakers and headunit. Luckily i picked up the headunit first and tried it out and realised the speakers were actually great and could stay.

Brandwise i only ever buy Pioneer. I've owned a few headunits over the years and Pioneer always seem to offer the best sound, build quality and usability for the money. Also, Pioneer always have aux in at the back which i need. Can't understand why people prefer a messy front aux-in setup.

jozi

What I would like to know is what decent headunit has a rear usb port? Looking at pioneer, kenwood and sony they all seem to have front usb (for sub 150euro) and Alpine seem to be one of the few with rear usb.

Eric Cartman

jozi, i know all the kenwood navigation range has rear usb, also kenwoods ipod cable uses a usb port so id say theres a few non video units that have it, what kind of money you have and features you want ? ill find you a kenwood with rear usb

Eric Cartman

quarryman wrote: »

+1. I had the same thing in my 306. i decided i needed new speakers and headunit. Luckily i picked up the headunit first and tried it out and realised the speakers were actually great and could stay.

Brandwise i only ever buy Pioneer. I've owned a few headunits over the years and Pioneer always seem to offer the best sound, build quality and usability for the money. Also, Pioneer always have aux in at the back which i need. Can't understand why people prefer a messy front aux-in setup.

all the kenwood navigation units have aux in at the rear, as do many of the cd/mp3 units

quarryman

Eric Cartman wrote: »

all the kenwood navigation units have aux in at the rear, as do many of the cd/mp3 units

never said they didn't.

jozi

Prob looking at around 130, not sure would I spend much more. Something single DIN, mp3 compatible (usb pen drive or harddisk), preferably have usb and aux to the rear , little remote for skipping/volume would be nice to

I quite Fancy the Alpine IDA-X303, bit over budget and prob best paired with an ipod (which I don't have). Bit fancy and modern for a bmw e30 dash :P

Maybe you can pm me before I drag it way of topic.

Top Dog

Eric Cartman wrote: »

what kind of money you have and features you want ? ill find you a kenwood with rear usb

Do you work in the trade?

martydunf

Im also considering getting a double din unit for my car, but I'd like it to play videos as well as audio and wireless bluetooth for making calls would be handy. GPS isnt essential as I already have a GPS system.
Would the single units with the sliding out screen be any good?
Any suggestions as to what head unit to look at would be great.
Thanks.

@OP:sorry dont mean to hijack thread!

Jip

jozi wrote: »

What I would like to know is what decent headunit has a rear usb port? Looking at pioneer, kenwood and sony they all seem to have front usb (for sub 150euro) and Alpine seem to be one of the few with rear usb.

My Kenwood has 1 usb and 1 aux-in port, both at the rear.