So, i've wondered this for a while, but how much influence does the head unit have on the actual sound of the system. Ive heard people say 'such and such deck has amazing sound, great clarity, etc etc' but im curious how much it actually affects the sound of a whole system
Oh and also, i should add, with that being said, what is your guys opinion on the deck with the best overall sound
ya ive seen those... *barf* but so the head unit is kinda the ultimate control of the overall sound quality then eh?
No complete and total. I mean if you have an amazing deck and awful components then itll sound awful. But yes having a good signal at the beginning of the line is a must.
If you are going to be spending some money in building a good well rounded, clean sounding system, start with a high end head unit. Like Jason said, you might say "barf" to the looks, but Nakamichi has managed to really stay in the game as far as sound processing goes.
The big 2 of the "common" brands would be Pioneer and Alpine. Anything in their higher end lines should suit you just fine as far as sound processing and adjustments go.
Are there any specific features you are looking for? What kind of budget? And over all, what else are you planning to do for sound upgrades?
On the other hand....you have other fingers.
Some say he invented November.
Well I am a big Alpine guy for head units,Nakamichi had great sounding decks but yes ugly as the day is long..
I am with Alpine due to the fact I am all Ipod,As you know Dan...And before you all get at me for my Ipod use age,,Ever thing is from a CD and then down loaded into Apple loss less,so sound quality is as clean as CD..
But keep in mind that A system is only as good as the Install that is done,right from wire runs to the sound deeding and speaker install,And the guy tuning the car..
remember you can have all the best name brand gear and Sound like crap if done wrong..Seen it happen years ago in 2 different car,,,Back in the day when Pioneer had a system called ODR,If any of you remember that one...But both cars had to be redone to make it work...And also seen lots of issues back in the day with Rockford Frigate Symmetry system..A product is only as good as the guy doing the job..
Keep an eye out for 24bit burr brown encoding. Standard decks have 1 bit encoding and the decks that have 24 bit are capable of sounding amazingly accurate by comparison (given they're paired with good speakers in a good setup).
Other things to check for are pre-out voltage. Higher generally equates to less noise interference in the RCAs. Make sure it's not too high for your amp though or you won't get the full volume sweep out of the deck.
Past that are the tweak features:
Time alignment
EQ - more bands = more precision = better tune if done right.
Active Crossover Capability
kenwood has excellent quality..
Shaggy wrote:kenwood has excellent quality..
Arguable. Especially on anything affordable...
And this Jason Burten guy is new to giving advice in here. But I like him. Seems to at least know enough to be helpful and not destructive. Welcome bud.
On the other hand....you have other fingers.
Some say he invented November.
Well thank you Dustin,I have been around but always just lurking around...Its good to see some people with good car audio advice as yourself,And glad I can chime in and try to add some info..
And Kenwood is a great entry level head unit but I would not call them excellent sound quality..
Yes the 9886 is a great head unit..
I am using the Alpine 9887 in my GF car..
And Alpine IDA-X305 in my winter car..
And Alpine IXA-W404 in my Sunfire..
So yes I am a bit on the Alpine Side..lol.
My friends had the IXA-W404 in his truck. I liked it minus the lack of CD playing. But I guess its media player so it doesnt matter. Hahahha
Well as stated I do not use any cds anymore..So I don't miss it...And kinda nice to watch a movie in the car once in awhile,And then go right back to my music...
I believe Cd had a place at one time but i am a Big Ipod user,And I see the head unit world going this way..As long as you are down loading Your Cds in loss-less and not compressing files or using Itunes for your music..
I like the iPod interface but all of my stuff is in standard 128kbps mp3. I wish I had lossless stuff though. Ive just been popping in my Pink Floyd CDs when I want some quality since my 9886 has a habit of making the highs really hard on mp3s unless its just the mp3s themselves.
yes MP3 seems to always add some color in the overall sound...But I remember back in the Day when Alpine used tapes,and had different mechanism's in them,the high end decks had Haltec1,and then Haltec 2,And lets go back as far as DAT digital audio tapes...
Wow how the times have changed..
Jason Burten wrote:Yes the 9886 is a great head unit..
I am using the Alpine 9887 in my GF car..
And Alpine IDA-X305 in my winter car..
And Alpine IXA-W404 in my Sunfire..
So yes I am a bit on the Alpine Side..lol.
Can't blame ya man. From back when the 983X series first came out, I haven't touched anything but Alpine. There is just nothing in the price range that can beat their quality, features, and just over all well roundedness IMO.
On the other hand....you have other fingers.
Some say he invented November.
JLAudioCavalier wrote:Jason Burten wrote:Yes the 9886 is a great head unit..
I am using the Alpine 9887 in my GF car..
And Alpine IDA-X305 in my winter car..
And Alpine IXA-W404 in my Sunfire..
So yes I am a bit on the Alpine Side..lol.
Can't blame ya man. From back when the 983X series first came out, I haven't touched anything but Alpine. There is just nothing in the price range that can beat their quality, features, and just over all well roundedness IMO.
Truth.
Pioneer would be a contender if it weren't for their obsession with wobbly knobs.
The wobbly knob is reason #1 why I didnt get another Pioneer when my old Pioneer died. I had enough issue with that button being used as a selector for the source.
im not a fan of ipod. last i had checked it would still only record around 200 at its highest setting. where as a cd was around 300 there still is abit of compression. im anal though. and this was a few years ago the last time i checked them. heck maybe they can record without compressing now. but it seems most people gave up sound quality to have the ability to cram all thouands of there cd's in which i never understood.
i used to never be big on pioneer but i got a great deal on one of there higher end head units several years back and the sound quality on it was quite good. so good that i almost regret selling it to get my clarion touchscreen put in. only reason i don't fully regret the sale is beause now that the sunfire doesnt get driven as much its not as big a deal. but id have no problems putting down money on one of there high end units again in my personal car. alpine has always been pretty good at putting out high quality units as well. is macintosh still making head units? they were putting out great decks a few years ago, but not sure if they are still around. i don't keep up on all the companies anymore like i used to.
odr and symentry. both great units if used properly. same as alpines f1. but biggest downfall was having to use everything together. that seemed its biggest downfall. well except for rockfords unit. still would have like to pick one of those up but never did pull the trigger at the time. i really like rockfords 360 unit they have out. have thought about picking that up to keep the stock headunit in the hhr.
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I always felt that if you wanted a good kenwood deck you had to spend the extra cash to get their excelion series. Everything else was pretty much junk. I haven't had a kenwood since my P907 and its two hideaway units tho. I was thinking about going back to them and their flagship double din nav deck, its still a toss up between them, clarion, and pioneer...
sndsgood wrote:im not a fan of ipod. last i had checked it would still only record around 200 at its highest setting. where as a cd was around 300 there still is abit of compression. im anal though. and this was a few years ago the last time i checked them. heck maybe they can record without compressing now. but it seems most people gave up sound quality to have the ability to cram all thouands of there cd's in which i never understood.
upgrade firmware on ipod to rockbox, then load up with all your favorite artists in .flac.(flac > apple loseless). then the only limit of bitrate is the actual bitrate of the song. and flac is over 1000kb/s and 100% loseless. no compression.
or get an media player that supports flac right out of the box.
...i rock a zune.
