trying to find the best dvd/cd head unit

[Bacon]

That's a lot more money than i expected. I figured you guys were talking about those 60 dollar ones I've seen lol.

The price you pay.....get quality first and not have to deal with the hassle later.

[Krowned King]

yea i'm definatly getting the usb for my ipod but not mp3 only i like having the option for cd/dvd's and i'm looking for a touch screen don't know if i want a flip up or the solid one but thanks for all the suggestions and the links keep them coming if you have any other suggestions and thanks again

[Sarthos]

Buy an eclipse.

The guy with the highest post count is correct.

if you want good sound, stay away from iPods. Playing music with an iPod is sorta like... well, have you ever shot heard the sound of a semi truck full of instruments crashing off a bridge?
Besides, I have a CD changer and a book of CDs, I've also memorized the order of every CD in the book, and every song on the CDs. I can eject a CD, put it away, find the next CD, insert it, and skip the to right song while driving and without looking faster than most people can find the right song on their iPod while looking. So CDs are just plain better in that sense

Anyway, give us a price range you're willing to spend

A. Alpine is decent stuff, never had a problem with them, I just don't like how much their accessories cost.
B. Pioneer makes really awesome units. They can be expensive but I'd generally rate Pioneer>Alpine, so long as you either don't have issues with the pico fuse, or fix them right away
C. Blaupunkt, don't have much experience with, not the greatest though
D. Kenwood is fine, I'd probably put them right below Alpine and Pioneer
E. Panasonic... Not much experience with them, they have some really good units and some not so good units. But they're pretty much in the same area as Pioneer, Kenwood, Alpine.
F. Jensen...you get what you pay for
G. Sony... you get what you pay for
H. JVC. Not bad, kinda cheap, I'd rate them around the same as Kenwood, you'd probably get a better setup with Alpine or Pioneer
I. Eclipse. If you want DVD capabilities and still have a quality unit, it is definitely the way to go. Better sound and everything like that then you'll get from the others.

Of course, if you want good sound and DVD capabilities, I've often found it works best to have two separate stereos, 1 unit for CDs that is really good sound quality (like an Eclipse), then a flip-out screen for DVDs, have the DVD player plugged into the Aux port on the CD player.

Or just do things right, get the Pioneer Stage 4 with the 6-disc in dash DVD changer and an external screen

[crunkopotamus]

poineer touch screens are a awesome value, my friend has one in his civic, you can get th avh p4200 for like 350$ on ebay. awesome deal because they work great plus they have usb drive and sd card inputs,make sure you get the one with 4 volt preouts

[HardInThePaint]

if you want good sound, stay away from iPods. Playing music with an iPod is sorta like... well, have you ever shot heard the sound of a semi truck full of instruments crashing off a bridge?

You're smokin. My iPod clarity is fine, u might be referring to cats that use the plug the goes into the earphone jack. Mine has a dedicated plug specifically designed for the iPod that plugs up to the bottom of it. Recharges it and all that.

Besides, I have a CD changer and a book of CDs, I've also memorized the order of every CD in the book, and every song on the CDs. I can eject a CD, put it away, find the next CD, insert it, and skip the to right song while driving and without looking faster than most people can find the right song on their iPod while looking. So CDs are just plain better in that sense

And as far as CD's go while you got extra CD changers and books memorized, I have yours, your mom's and next door neighbor's entire library in the palm of my hand. I believe that by itself is reason enough to use an iPod. But its all a matter of opinion, some keep it old school with the CD's, some use an MP3 player. To each his own.

[Sarthos]

You're smokin. My iPod clarity is fine, u might be referring to cats that use the plug the goes into the earphone jack. Mine has a dedicated plug specifically designed for the iPod that plugs up to the bottom of it. Recharges it and all that.

Yah, but does it bypass the internal D/A converter and any/all equalization features on the iPod? On top of which, is all of your music lossless? If not, you're taking a hit from using the iPod. And if you wanna use an iPod, why not just ditch the stereo entirely, run a headphone jack -> RCA wire converter and plug it directly into the amp.

And as far as CD's go while you got extra CD changers and books memorized, I have yours, your mom's and next door neighbor's entire library in the palm of my hand. I believe that by itself is reason enough to use an iPod. But its all a matter of opinion, some keep it old school with the CD's, some use an MP3 player. To each his own.

You must have the 160 GB iPod? Otherwise your music has to be about as compressed as it can possibly be..

Then of course there's the matter of the fact that an iPod is easy to lose, easy to break, and it forces you to pay full price for a CD just to compress it and downgrade the quality, while buying CDs saves you the money you'd spend on the iPod, which you can in turn use to buy a much nicer stereo. For example, Pioneer
AVH-P2300DVD + iPod is about the same price as a Pioneer
AVH-P4300DVD. No contest which is better.

[HardInThePaint]

Yah, but does it bypass the internal D/A converter and any/all equalization features on the iPod? On top of which, is all of your music lossless?

Yes of course it does. It basically uses the iPod as a harddrive, u can't do anything on the iPod when its plugged in (unless I select the feature that allows the user to control from the iPod instead of the HU). Everything else (EQ, bass, whatever) is controlled thru the deck.

You must have the 160 GB iPod? Otherwise your music has to be about as compressed as it can possibly be..

Anything less would be uncivilized... 160gb all day.

Then of course there's the matter of the fact that an iPod is easy to lose, easy to break, and it forces you to pay full price for a CD just to compress it and downgrade the quality, while buying CDs saves you the money you'd spend on the iPod, which you can in turn use to buy a much nicer stereo. For example, Pioneer
AVH-P2300DVD + iPod is about the same price as a Pioneer
AVH-P4300DVD. No contest which is better.

Thats going out a little on a limb there. You're assuming someone would lose or break their iPod (which I have done neither). Furthermore, an iPod has many other functions that make it worth the money. We can go back and forth with the pros and cons between CD's and MP3 players but we can't argue with the advances in technology. The iPod is simply a better and more convienent way to listen to music, point blank. And lets keep it real. The loss of music quality when compressing is unnoticable. That may play a factor if you're a music producer and you're sampling music, then it matters. But other than that nobody can tell the difference unless you download a bullshit quality MP3 or something.

[SPLCB7]

Im just going to throw this out there.....when you use anything other then a cd you lose about 30% sound and 30% sound quality.....unless you have an sound prossesser some decks have them built in some dont but with out an sound prossesser your sound get quieter and worse with a i pod.....it has it pros but it also has its cons....its how you run your gear that makes the diff....

[HardInThePaint]

Im just going to throw this out there.....when you use anything other then a cd you lose about 30% sound and 30% sound quality.....

You're all the way out your mind. U and the other dude ain't understanding where I'm coming from. I'm not talking about plugging your earphone jack into the deck, thats wack. U might be used to people doing that shit but thats not how I roll. That shit if for cats that got an MP3 player and just want to listen to it in the car so it plugs right up and they ain't trippin on anything else. I'm talking about my shit got a USB plug DEDICATED to the iPod. The deck is built for that shit. It controls everything and anything from the HU. Ain't no sound quality lost, trust me. U play a CD and then play my shit u ain't hearing no difference. Alpine (or Pioneer or Kenwood or whatever) ain't gonna make no deck that is made specifically for an iPod but u lose 30% sound quality. That ain't happening.

[sonikaccord]

HardInThePaint is right. He is going from digital(ipod) to digital(HU processing) to analog(amp).

Now depending on where he got his music from will determine how much data(sq) he lost. When you rip from a cd to a high bitrate file, the loss in sq is "negligible" in a moving car. I would take that small hit in sq to have my entire collection on a hard drive.

edit: unless I wanted a demo disk type playlist

[SPLCB7]

My q would be what head unit do you have becuse my guess is it has an internal sound prossesser which is why you dont notice the diffrence....as stated before if you have an internal sound prossesser in your deck you wont notice the diff becuse the deck corrects it....and i have an usb jack in the rear and front of my deck two ear jacks =bad noises....im not out of my mind i explained why you cant hear the diff....you just didnt read everything i said or something....i said "with an sound prossesser you wont notice an diffrence some decks have them built in" so....i was saying you both were right you lose sound when you use an i pod tape deck ect ect but if you use an cd or have an prossesser then you wont notice an diff its all how you set up your gear....i pods are great i never said i didnt like them if i wanted to bypass the loss of sound i would use an deck with an prossesser or an external prossesser or an carputer......so please dont go dragging me into your arguement your both right and both wrong....im done here

[Sarthos]

Im just going to throw this out there.....when you use anything other then a cd you lose about 30% sound and 30% sound quality.....unless you have an sound prossesser some decks have them built in some dont but with out an sound prossesser your sound get quieter and worse with a i pod.....it has it pros but it also has its cons....its how you run your gear that makes the diff....

Umm... No. It's not a 30% loss in sound quality, and it should be a 0% loss in sound level. But unless it's a complete D/A converter bypass (to my knowledge, very few headunits actually do bypass the D/A converter. Only one home receiver is confirmed to do that, and it's expensive). More specifically
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-5Cb2DAF...converter.aspx
So there's actually a small chance your USB does bypass the d/a converter. Unless you have an expensive headunit

As far as difference in quality
I just find it often noticeable on any song with very strong stereo sound that the left and right channels blend a lot more using an iPod than using a CD.

[SPLCB7]

Umm... No. It's not a 30% loss in sound quality, and it should be a 0% loss in sound level. But unless it's a complete D/A converter bypass (to my knowledge, very few headunits actually do bypass the D/A converter. Only one home receiver is confirmed to do that, and it's expensive). More specifically
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-5Cb2DAF...converter.aspx
So there's actually a small chance your USB does bypass the d/a converter. Unless you have an expensive headunit

As far as difference in quality
I just find it often noticeable on any song with very strong stereo sound that the left and right channels blend a lot more using an iPod than using a CD.

Put it on an meter and youll see the diff thats all im gunna say....

[Sarthos]

Well if you grabbed the iPod and turned the volume down... Or if you don't know how to work a stereo. You might tell with an RTA but not an SPL meter...

[SPLCB7]

Well if you grabbed the iPod and turned the volume down... Or if you don't know how to work a stereo. You might tell with an RTA but not an SPL meter...

Spl meter would tell you if its not as loud you would loose dbs rta would tell ya if it looses sq not shure if it can tell of it looses sound with an rta ill have to experament you got me cerious now......ive never had an reason to really play with an rta.....now i might have one lol