[mclaren1885]

Originally Posted by zzzehar

Yes Sir, Let me bow my head in your Honor.

hey and you dont have to be( i mean pretend to be) so naive (juss kidding)..by the way i should refer to you as sir,u know im just 21 so dont embaress me sir(zehar) by calling me sir ...ok buddy will catch u tomorrow similar time as usual..better go to bed if i have to reach PVR in time to watch the 1st show of salaam namaste..so chao..and do keep me informed of ur developments..btw its fun to keep pulling each others leg like mostly me and aseem do(all in good spirits though)..no offense intended..

[tsk1979]

Moser Baer is a problem because its a good quality CD w.r.t shelf life and scratch resistance. To make a CD have good scratch resistant properties and long shelf live you need to put special coating on data surface. When the lens becomes weak the laser is not strong enough to read such CDs. When my system was brand new, i could read any CD. Now i have the 4750 from pioneer and it has more features but the egronomics are not very good. I prefer the sound of the pioneer over sony esp for rock where bright sound is what you need.

[navin]

saw an ad for pio in the paper this morning. still no authorised sales center. one of us should call up Paras which seems to be their pargest service cetner and ask them where we can buy a Pio with bill and Pio warranty.

[Sam Kapasi]

Paras is next to my office. They make tons of money repairing all the Pioneers that we fools buy without warranty. They arent even interested in an official sales agent lol

[navin]

becuase then they'd have to repair for free. :-) actulally Pio HUs are not that bad are they. they should outlast that standard 1 year warranty. so by being an officual sales agent they can charge more for bill and warranty and then charge again for repairs as most units will only come in after warranty expires.

[jkdas]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Moser Baer is a problem because its a good quality CD w.r.t shelf life and scratch resistance. To make a CD have good scratch resistant properties and long shelf live you need to put special coating on data surface. When the lens becomes weak the laser is not strong enough to read such CDs. When my system was brand new, i could read any CD. Now i have the 4750 from pioneer and it has more features but the egronomics are not very good. I prefer the sound of the pioneer over sony esp for rock where bright sound is what you need.

laser's power weakens? and which cds would u recommend

[gunbir]

Originally Posted by zzzehar

I would rather not buy this unit if you have to take soo many precautions with this unit. I always write CDs at 320 kbps as It offers awesome quality at that bit rate and more over If you write in WMA Lossless - I guess the bit rate for that is around 420 kbps. Then whats the use of this player, and is Sony trying to fool around with Microsoft here who put in a lotttt to offer exceptional sound quality with their Windows Media Audio Lossless format. (I hv worked with MS for 2 years)

Believe me, if all these problems actually occur, I think sony makes all crap and nothing else.

Wow, McLaren... your posts are getting longer and lately it sounds like you're going to teach us (so called) experts a thing or too.

zzzehar, I have used a lot of Pioneer products (usually one of the top two models) and I find you can throw literally any kind of WMA encoding. I do WMA lossless as well and anyone who says a LAME 320 rip sounds better hasnt heard both.

I have not had any issues with Pioneer HUs as far as open discs go. I find the Pioneer HUs are very good, maybe underrated by a few. Till recently, I had the 8650 and it is a very nice HU. Better than Alpines costing twice as much. There... I said it.

I have a $1400 Clarion HX-D2 now that only plays audio CDs. Yes, no MP3/WMA (gasp). But It sounds amazing. Still if I ever have to buy a non-reference product again, I would prefer the Pioneer HUs over the Alpines any day. And lets not even talk about Sony.

[pranil]

I fully agree wuth GUNBIR. IMHO Pioneer are way ahead in consumer electronocs them many other companies. And if u really want to compare do not compare their normal lineup they also have professional HU and speakers with equal performance levels as Alpine and clarions.

[gunbir]

Originally Posted by pranil

I fully agree wuth GUNBIR. IMHO Pioneer are way ahead in consumer electronocs them many other companies. And if u really want to compare do not compare their normal lineup they also have professional HU and speakers with equal performance levels as Alpine and clarions.

In fact, Im not alone in thinking the recent Alpines sucked. Here's a quote from another forum where an Alpine dealer had this to say... its called 'Letter to Alpine'

"To Whom it May Concern,

As a dealer and customer of Alpine products, I felt the need to give
some constructive criticism and vent my frustration with Alpine's
current offerings. I have owned 3 alpine head units within the last 8 years...and I have sold hundreds more through my employment at one of the biggest companies in car audio.

I recently sent my CVA-1005 in for repairs for the 3rd time, and
instead of holding a grudge against Alpine for all the headache it's
caused me...I decided to continue to support Alpine by purchasing the CVA-9855 as a temporary replacement until the 1005 gets repaired. I must say that I never believed anything I read in the many car audio forums I'm a member of when they said that 2005 marked the death of Alpine and that it was the beginning of a downward spiral in quality and design.

The reason I always recommended and purchased Alpine products
is for Alpine's sound quality. But the CDA-9855 is extremely lacking in this department. I was so shocked at the terrible sound quality coming from the 9855 I decided to conduct some tests. I bench tested a Pioneer DEH-P8600MP, Clarion DXZ755MC, and the CDA-9855 all using pre-outs connected to a JL 300/2 amplifier. I also made sure all gain and volume levels were equal. All these units are around the same price point, and the Clarion can be found about $100 lower than the rest.

I conducted all my tests with Defeats set to ON and all sound processors and EQ's set to off. First off, why is it the Clarion and Pioneer offer 24-bit DAC's at the same price price point as the Alpine CDA-9855 and the Alpine does not (1-bit)? Interesting. I conducted several tests on all 3 units using the same CD. Sure enough, the Alpine was the worst of the bunch, which distinguished itself with a hollow, bright, undetailed sound. The Clarion was ironically the cheapest of the bunch, but had the best sounds quality. Smooth, detailed, and great midrange with amazing authority. On the Alpine, it was as if the musical instruments in the room had taken 4 steps back and were covered with a thin blanket. Frankly, I expect better from Alpine.

Furthermore, the Glidetouch represents the decline in Alpine
functionality that defies the common rule in this application...that
form follows function. I would expect such a wretched purely cosmetic interface on a Kenwood, but never on an Alpine. The Glidetouch is the most cumbersome menu I have ever used...and quite frankly it is a road hazard as I find myself losing control and almost getting into car accidents while attempting to navigate with it. It has no business being on an audio product, much less a car audio product!

Secondly, why is it one cannot lower the volume while engaged in a
menu?? If the volume is accidentally raised to an unbearable level,
and the menu is engaged, the user cannot simply turn it down! The user is FORCED to first press (AND HOLD) the menu button for 3 whole seconds, which feels like a lifetime when your ears drum are about to burst. Returning to the front end menu should ALWAYS be as simple as the push of a button. 3 seconds to engage the menu system is one thing..but it should never take that long to exit the menu, much less lower the volume.

Third, this simple fact that Alpine wasn't kind enough to have a simple Bass and Treble adjustments that are easily accessed without the cumbersome Glidetouch speaks volumes about the nature of the product. I've found it a grueling task to have to access the EQ (when I can find it buried in the menu system) while trying to adjust individual bands and THEN attempting to save it. Try doing this while driving. I'm surprised insurance companies haven't raised the rates of all CDA-9855 owners.

Having said all that, I am very disappointed in the direction Alpine
has taken. I paid $500 for an Alpine deck 10 years ago that sounds 10 times better than the $500 CDA-9855 which I bought as a temporary solution to getting my CVA-1005 fixed. Needless to say, I can no longer recommend Alpine to my customers since I feel competing products, most notably Clarion, offer the most value and performance. It's not an easy thing to do considering I remember Alpine products with such a sense of fondness and nostalgia. But it is the right thing to do for my customers. Please forward this to your engineering dept or whoever may be responsible for the design of future offerings. There is still hope for Alpine. 2005 will either be remembered as the death of Alpine, or possibly just an "off year." I hope 2006 will mark Alpine's return to form. Until then, we will be waiting.

Sincerely,

Alex Guevara
San Diego, CA"

[Hackett]

Just a note for all
Sony India is now offereing free 2 year extended warranty on HUs ( one yr additional warranty). check it out at www.sonyindia.co.in

May be the HU lens are better now, hence the offer.

[karthik247]

my friend also has a Sony VCD player in his Ikon. It doesn't even read a CD with a small scratch on it. You hav to wait so long to read the CD, and thats if ur lucky

is this the prob with all sony hu's?

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by navin

saw an ad for pio in the paper this morning. still no authorised sales center. one of us should call up Paras which seems to be their pargest service cetner and ask them where we can buy a Pio with bill and Pio warranty.

AutoCop recently opened a large showroom in Cochin that also contains the entire range of Pioneer music systems with warranty. Being AutoCop, I would imagine the tie-up is across the nation?

[navin]

Originally Posted by gunbir

I have not had any issues with Pioneer HUs as far as open discs go. I find the Pioneer HUs are very good, maybe underrated by a few. Till recently, I had the 8650 and it is a very nice HU. Better than Alpines costing twice as much. There... I said it.

I have a $1400 Clarion HX-D2 now that only plays audio CDs. Yes, no MP3/WMA (gasp). But It sounds amazing. Still if I ever have to buy a non-reference product again, I would prefer the Pioneer HUs over the Alpines any day. And lets not even talk about Sony.

I think the issue here is not of Pio's quality but of it's marketing strategy. You cannot (morallY) have no sales agent but only service centers. If I could buy a Pio with a bill and Pio warranty I would consider them (their tuners are excellent).

By not having a sales agent they are effectively saying that we would like your repair business but will not warranty any prodcuts sold in your country. If they do have a official sales agent I have not seen it advertised in their adverts.

As far as Clarion and Eclipse go they both do make excellent products but not all of Clarion's stuff if good and they ood stuff is of recent vintage so my expereince with them is limited. I wish to gain more. Any Clarion HUs that you would recommend in the Rs. 12-20K range. A $1400 HU is expensive by even US standards.

Ecslipse as of my limited knowledge has not service or sales agents in India.

That really leaves Alpine, Kenwood, JVC, Sony on most short lists.

[navin]

Originally Posted by gunbir

zzzehar, I have used a lot of Pioneer products (usually one of the top two models) and I find you can throw literally any kind of WMA encoding. I do WMA lossless as well and anyone who says a LAME 320 rip sounds better hasnt heard both.

Please compare apples with apples.

WMA Losless should be compared with other MATHEMATICALLY lossless formats such sa FLAC and WAVPACK etc... LAME 320 etc.. are lossy formats.

[pranil]

Guys has anybody tried MP3Pro. I found very littlle diffrence in MP3 and Pr0. Andmind U they are charging for pro. no wonder it has not taken off.