SwampNut
07-13-2007, 02:21 AM
I'm new here, and thought I'd post this review I did for a PDA board. I used the info on this site to come up with my shopping list for receivers to check out, thought it only fair.
I've had a Clarion VRX755 in my car for a couple years, which integrates very nicely with the iPod. It had the best iPod integration at the time, while most other radios really sucked with the iPod. However it works quite poorly with the iPhone. I mean, the sound works and you can control it just fine, but it has a few annoying glitches. The most annoying is that it forgets the media I was listening to each time I leave or enter the car. So when I come back I have to find it and then fast-forward to where I left off. I listen to a lot of podcast so this is really annoying. There were a couple of other little issues.
I tried out a few other options and finally ended up with what is probably the top of the line for iPod integration now, the Alpine iDA-X001. This has a USB port and the option for a dedicated iPod cable. The USB port can read any disk-type media like a USB flash memory stick, and it also includes a USB to iPod cable. Using this interface, the iPod is very strongly integrated. You get album art and other extras through this connection, which is displayed on the radio display. It also sends the audio as raw data, which is converted by Burr-Brown 1-bit DACs in the Alpine. These are certainly the cleanest and best DACs available on the consumer market.
Unfortunately the iPhone does not work with this interface, so I picked up the dedicated iPod cable which plugs into the AI-Net interface that you find on all Alpine radios. This still works very well, but with the drawback that you get no graphics and the audio decoding is done in the iPhone. The iPhone's decoder quality is crap, even compared to other iPods (particularly the Mini, which had an amazingly good DAC). Still it works very well, the display is fast (many integrated units are S-L-O-W to scroll), and the features work well. It leaves your media where you left off as you unplug and resumes when you plug in. Since iTunes now syncs that also, I can leave the car, switch to headphones, then later switch to listening on the computer, all without losing my place in the podcast.
The only annoyance with it is just the way this radio works when you want to return to a menu. It puts you back at the top menu, instead of in the playlist, function, or item that you're listening to. This means if I want to change songs in an album by sight and not by using the "next track" button, I have to navigate down to the album all over again.
Control on the radio is done with a large knob and a pair of buttons placed conveniently-reachable beside it (Enter and Back). The knob doesn't spin, but is spring-loaded. You twist to the direction you want, with a light twist being for slow scrolling or one item at a time, while twisting farther will move faster or page down/page up. It's intuitive and efficient. It beats the Clarion's touch screen where you had to hold an on-screen item to scroll. The touch screen is a great thing--except in the car. Hard buttons are necessary to avoid too much distraction or having to look at the radio.
Audio quality is typical Alpine, very good, with strong line outputs, free of noise or aberrations. The onboard DACs are perfectly clean, easily distinguished from the DAC in the iPhone. It has front/rear/sub line outs (but no sub crossover, just level control). Of course it has four speaker-level outputs. There are no inputs unless you add an AI-Net to line adapter, BUT...you can't use both the line adapter and the iPod connector. You can use USB plus line. Oh, and you can have both an iPod or other media device on USB plus the iPhone on the dedicated connector, and switch between them. This is handy, and I plan to just leave a 4GB memory stick with my favorite music in there, so it will be played with those great onboard DACs.
On Saturday we're putting one in the wife's car and we'll add the Bluetooth module to it, which integrates speakerphone into the unit (I already have a Parrot car kit). I'll post on how well that works.
I've had a Clarion VRX755 in my car for a couple years, which integrates very nicely with the iPod. It had the best iPod integration at the time, while most other radios really sucked with the iPod. However it works quite poorly with the iPhone. I mean, the sound works and you can control it just fine, but it has a few annoying glitches. The most annoying is that it forgets the media I was listening to each time I leave or enter the car. So when I come back I have to find it and then fast-forward to where I left off. I listen to a lot of podcast so this is really annoying. There were a couple of other little issues.
I tried out a few other options and finally ended up with what is probably the top of the line for iPod integration now, the Alpine iDA-X001. This has a USB port and the option for a dedicated iPod cable. The USB port can read any disk-type media like a USB flash memory stick, and it also includes a USB to iPod cable. Using this interface, the iPod is very strongly integrated. You get album art and other extras through this connection, which is displayed on the radio display. It also sends the audio as raw data, which is converted by Burr-Brown 1-bit DACs in the Alpine. These are certainly the cleanest and best DACs available on the consumer market.
Unfortunately the iPhone does not work with this interface, so I picked up the dedicated iPod cable which plugs into the AI-Net interface that you find on all Alpine radios. This still works very well, but with the drawback that you get no graphics and the audio decoding is done in the iPhone. The iPhone's decoder quality is crap, even compared to other iPods (particularly the Mini, which had an amazingly good DAC). Still it works very well, the display is fast (many integrated units are S-L-O-W to scroll), and the features work well. It leaves your media where you left off as you unplug and resumes when you plug in. Since iTunes now syncs that also, I can leave the car, switch to headphones, then later switch to listening on the computer, all without losing my place in the podcast.
The only annoyance with it is just the way this radio works when you want to return to a menu. It puts you back at the top menu, instead of in the playlist, function, or item that you're listening to. This means if I want to change songs in an album by sight and not by using the "next track" button, I have to navigate down to the album all over again.
Control on the radio is done with a large knob and a pair of buttons placed conveniently-reachable beside it (Enter and Back). The knob doesn't spin, but is spring-loaded. You twist to the direction you want, with a light twist being for slow scrolling or one item at a time, while twisting farther will move faster or page down/page up. It's intuitive and efficient. It beats the Clarion's touch screen where you had to hold an on-screen item to scroll. The touch screen is a great thing--except in the car. Hard buttons are necessary to avoid too much distraction or having to look at the radio.
Audio quality is typical Alpine, very good, with strong line outputs, free of noise or aberrations. The onboard DACs are perfectly clean, easily distinguished from the DAC in the iPhone. It has front/rear/sub line outs (but no sub crossover, just level control). Of course it has four speaker-level outputs. There are no inputs unless you add an AI-Net to line adapter, BUT...you can't use both the line adapter and the iPod connector. You can use USB plus line. Oh, and you can have both an iPod or other media device on USB plus the iPhone on the dedicated connector, and switch between them. This is handy, and I plan to just leave a 4GB memory stick with my favorite music in there, so it will be played with those great onboard DACs.
On Saturday we're putting one in the wife's car and we'll add the Bluetooth module to it, which integrates speakerphone into the unit (I already have a Parrot car kit). I'll post on how well that works.