[frankmehta]

Hey guys, its that time of the year again. The Alpine CDA-9887 is a great head unit, but I need something that does:
1. USB
2. Direct iPod control via USB and not through some crappy adapter
3. WAV's off the flash disc
4. Time Alignment
5. FLAC support (i know its a lost battle, but whats the harm in asking)
6. Bluetooth
7. 24 Bit burr brown D/A Converter
8. Dolphins and bright lights


ok. 8 is a joke, but the first 7 are a must. barring FLAC, i think I dont want to miss out on any of the rest, since my Alpine 9887 does everything well except for bluetooth!
I've zeroed in on the Kenwood KDC-X991 (with the bluetooth adapter)
The Pioneer P980BT Premier Head Unit is also a contender. But not much about it online
My budget does not accomodate the bluetooth adapter as of now, but I shall get it in due course of time.
The Kenwood K-CD01 is a good head unit but its not longer available.
If anyone has any out of the box options, please let me know.
The Eclipse 7200MKII is being considered, but it doesnt do WAV off a USB.



PS: Abhinav, please try putting some WAVs on a USB drive. If it works on your 7200, im ordering one.

[abhibh]

Oh boy another frankmehta needs thread

Why have ya included kenny K-CD01 ? It simple unit with K Grade Burr Brown DA converters. Doesn't have much tone control except for Bass, Mid & Treble. NO USB, IPOD etc..

My vote goes to 7200 MKII and KDC-X991 / X9006U.

[frankmehta]

it has dual differential offset DA converters. some high tech stuff in it. old school kenwood. sk456 has it in his car. but anyways, its not available anymore. the x991 somehow fits the bill better than the 7200MKII. i dunno why.
Anyone had an extended listening session on both the HU's?

[Spark]

" Dr. Frank Mehta Needs antidote" - for curing that severely bitten ICE bug.
Just kidding buddy "All of us are bitten by some bug or the other." Thats a pre-requisite for T-BHP.

[sk456]

Originally Posted by frankmehta

it has dual differential offset DA converters. some high tech stuff in it. old school kenwood. sk456 has it in his car. but anyways, its not available anymore.

Well it IS available if you look hard in the correct parts of the world ..but since you want all the USB/Ipod gizmos it would be useless to you as it does nothing except play regular cd's. It has no processing/TA whatsoever except tone controls and a sub output control.

[frankmehta]

so which head would you reckon it should be? :-)

[sk456]

So what dont you like with the 9887?

[anujmishra]

Did that hermit punched your HU so hard, as it need replacement? By the way nice wish list of HU.

Post your findings here.

[nishantgandhi]

Frank, what excatly is your gripe with 9887? Its a perfectly fine, neat and well working HU. Why on earth would you want to upgrade? Even if you get a new car especially for ICE, I would strongly suggest that you spend the money elsewhere (read-more wisely) than 'upgrading' the HU.

Now stop searching those forums for better deals online and get back to dentistry.

[abhibh]

Well hes changing 9887 because he wants the following:

1. Direct iPod
2. USB
3. Bluetooth

Last but not the least Dolphins and bright lights

[phamilyman]

I think we need to start a "Dr mehta in gearlust (yet again)" series

[nishantgandhi]

Originally Posted by abhibh

Well hes changing 9887 because he wants the following:

1. Direct iPod
2. USB
3. Bluetooth

Last but not the least Dolphins and bright lights

AFAIK, Frank uses 422i full speed cable with his 9887 to run the iPod, so Point 1 is nullified.

Frank does not like music playing off USB (or so he told me), hence Point 2 can be negated.

As for Point 3, I am sure a BT adapter for 9887 can be easily sourced.

My guess is that Frank just WANTS to upgrade as it has been a long time since he did any new thing to his ICE setup

On a more serious note, I can just see FLACs and WAVs to be the major factors.

[iraghava]

Since "Frankmehta" needs a new Headunit, I would suggest he look at a good asylum rather than electronic stores.





If his car needs a new HU then it's a different matter altogether.

[abhinav.gupta88]

Frank, the WAVs do not play off the USB. Tried it.
They work with the ipod or with the CDs. The quality from the CD is nothing but amazing.
I have powered the ipod through the AUX and is giving good quality .
However if the Ipod adapter is plugged and the Ipod is played off that, i'm sure the quality will be same as the CD.

If you are ok with CDs playing wav, its amazing.

The FLAC part is not needed as you can covert them to WAV without any losses.

[navin]

Originally Posted by frankmehta

I've zeroed in on the Kenwood KDC-X991 (with the bluetooth adapter)
The Pioneer P980BT Premier
The Kenwood K-CD01

That's it I'm going into dentistry.

Originally Posted by abhinav.gupta88

The FLAC part is not needed as you can covert them to WAV without any losses.

without any losses and with ID3 tags? if so cool!

Frank, I'll take the 9887 for my mom. Her present unit is my old 9833 or 9830 (from Skoda vRS). I'll get Bhagwan to tune it.