[s-cars] AUDIophile! Stereo Options?

Thu Nov 4 12:40:20 PDT 2010

Actually Ben, yes, all of the recent head units with the exception of that
Pioneer -99RS that I mentioned have taken steps backward in quality and
sound reproduction.

It's a shame, because now you need to spend $1200 on an insane head unit or
settle for a crappy unit with a lot of gadgets built in.

Hi-fi has been in decline ever since MP3s have become the dominant music
format. Supposedly, if you convert to Apple lossless format and then use a
good outboard DAC, iPods can still sound good, if you're storing stuff that
was originally on CD.

Heck, it's impossible to get a good CD player or a record player these days-
the cheapest decent transports are around $800 and you still need a DAC for
it because most of the DVD or Bluray players' onboard DACs suck.

Taka

On Thu, Nov 4, 2010 at 2:46 PM, Ben Swann <benswann at verizon.net> wrote:

> I guess too late since I already sent the $   I did have the reservations,
> but
> specs-wise seems nice, especially for the cost.  I don't like the fiddly
> knobs and busy
> panels on most units these days, but seems to be all that is out there.  I
> was willing
> to compromise somewhere if the price was good, and so I went for it - a
> nearly new unit
> for half the new price.  It is an ALPINE after all, and although I haven't
> had one in
> awhile, I recall the ones I had to be among the best.
>
> The good thing about it is that I can swap it out easily since the connects
> are pretty
> much non-proprietary.  So not to sound too out of date, I'll do a search on
> RDS - one of
> those things I don't need now since I don't know much about it, but will
> when I find
> out.  Really basic FM is OK with me.
>
> CDs and FM - what more does one need as long as the system represents true
> high
> fidelity?  I certainly hope they have not gone backwards in sound
> reproduction circuitry
> and amplification.
>
> FWIW - I do tend to be a bit behind the times on this stuff for various
> reasons, mainly
> financial.  I have/have had a lot of cars and do a lot of stereo installs
> using what is
> available for low budget.  I'll get a car, fix it up and make things work
> including
> sound.  Most folks aren't goning to pay for a premium sound system.  I'll
> take the nice
> units I find an stick them in my car.  The systems are often dated, many
> are simply
> cannibalized from a car I'm parting out.  Often these were mid-high end for
> the day and
> generally put out a great sound for what the system costs.
>
> This time I'm going to spend a bit more, but even with mostly slightly used
> stuff, I'll
> probably have between $500 and $1k in the sound system.  I'm doing that
> only because of
> the time and money already invested in the car - one that I plan to keep
> forever.
>
> I'll get some pictures of it out on Motorgeek later.
>
> Ben
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: JC [mailto:jc at j2c3.com]
> Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2010 12:12 PM
> To: 'Ben Swann'; 'Eric Sanborn'
> Cc: s-car-list at audifans.com; quattro at audifans.com; 200q20v at audifans.com
> Subject: RE: [s-cars] AUDIophile! Stereo Options?
>
> Ben -
>
> I have a 988x (forget the exact model at this moment) in the Battlewagen...
> To be honest its made me ditch my long time loyalty to Alpine.
>
> Works OK. But audio quality is not remarkable and other usability issues
> have been a big
> disappointment.
>
> Various criticisms, some of which are issues that Alpine has been declining
> on for some
> time:
>
> - Features are low for the money you're paying, ex: no RDS on mine without
> buying the HD
> Radio add-in. Ridiculous not to have RDS, and I'm 99% sure the feature
> exists on the FM
> tuner chips inside but they've just not turned it on.  They seem to be
> living 10 years
> behind the curve "ooohhh RDS? well that's a fancy extra feature! high
> technology!" No,
> Alpine, no it's not. A base Kia sh!tbox has RDS on the crappy OEM radio.
> - Leading right off that the add-on units are ridiculously expensive IMO
> (ie BT or
> SatRadio or HD or Imprint EQ).  If those were reasonable it might be OK
> answer to the
> previous issue but they are not. but even then those boxes are big and more
> stuff to jam
> behind your console, which is a PITA when things like BT and RDS and even
> HD Radio
> should just be build into the damn thing for $400 or more.
> - iPod integration is OK but not brilliant. still old firewire-style
> charging on the
> cables for instance, and not iPhone compatible so you always get that
> stupid error to
> "dismiss". I would have thought they'd have sorted that by now but the
> website still
> amazingly doesn't say "iPhone compatible"
> for those units so I guess not. looks like the iDA unit is iPhone
> compatible finally but
> that thing has no radio presets or other analog buttons that are still nice
> to have so
> you're in BMW iDrive mode aka always dicking around with menus to do the
> most simple
> stuff.
> - Alpine interfaces have gotten more and more arcane IMO. Its often very
> obtuse and
> non-intuitive how to do things.  This is even true of the last couple
> Alpines I bought
> (ex: always some unlabeled weird method to re-set the time vs. being easy
> and obvious
> and menu driven) More specifically: one thing you'll find in almost all
> on-line reviews
> of these 988x units is the complaint that the volume knob acts as a scroll
> for menus
> (Good!) but stupidly, despite the fact that it is also a push-button, you
> don't push it
> to select things (STUPID!), you have to hunt to one of the little buttons
> on the side to
> select. completely anti-intuitive.
> - Lastly the device is able to be firmware upgraded by USB but despite the
> fact that
> they list that as a "feature", if you press the question Alpine will
> basically admit
> they will never be releasing firmware updates to owners and basically the
> day the new
> model goes live they stop development.
>
> Bottom line I'd never buy this unit again, and I'm wishing I went with the
> Eclipse I
> looked at at the same time...
>
> HTH...
>
> JC
>
> >
> > I have to admit, there is a lot of bang for the buck in that unit.
> >
> > I'm just about to get this one slightly used for half the new price:
> > http://www.alpine-usa.com/product/view/cda-9887/
> >
> > Wondering if that is a mistake since I can get this new for less.
> >
> > Ben
> >
> >   _____
>
>
> __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus
> signature database
> 5591 (20101104) __________
>
> The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.
>
> http://www.eset.com
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> S-CAR-List mailing list
> http://audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/s-car-list
> http://www.audifans.com/kb/List_information
>