HU that bypasses iPhone DAC's

EndersShadow

Looking for a headunit that has good EQ, Time Alignment, Pandora capable, USB input for a iPhone and bypasses the internal DAC's to use the better ones in the HU. CD capability prefered but NOT required....

Hoping to keep it ~250 and used is totally an option.

EndersShadow

Three that stick out are: Kenwood Excelon KDC-X995 , Pioneer MVH-P7300, Kenwood KIV-701

All three have decent DAC's. The KIV wont do CD's but seems to have all the same features of the X995 minus bluetooth......

The Pio seems to have a auto calibration feature using a MIC that sounds interesting.... anyone have any familiarity with them?

eloplayspolo

the KIV model is an AMAZING unit.

The unit was actually first intended to be an excelon model and has all the components, but the first time kenwood presented the unit to vendors, bestbuy thru a fit and wanted it to be less expensive.
You are now left with a ton of processing and great sound quality from the unit.

I had the KIV-700 and its my favorite head unit i have ever had, BY FAR!
My girlfriend actually asked me to get her one a few months later. She LOVES hers too.

I recently sold my car and i now i have a stock radio. The one thing i miss is that head unit.

You wont be able to comprehend the quality of the unit until its in ur vehicle and you use the tuning ability and hear it.


Oh - Also, Ipod control with it seems very natural. Button layout is similar to the classic ipod.
Im going off of memory here, but if you hit the top RIGHT most button it brings up the search feature. you can choose alphabetic and sort artist by Letter, which when you have 120gb of music like i do, its an amazing feature.

I actually also non-powered USB hub and left 3 8gb flash drives in it all the time, took 1 out while i put new songs on it and i still had the other sources + my ipod to keep myself entertained.

EndersShadow

^The X995 honestly looks like the best unit of those right now with the 701 a very close second. Its got all the EQ stuff as the KIV, but adds bluetooth included, plays CD's and is about the same cost right now (open box unit).

pentoncm

Kenwood x995 is last years model, the x996 looks like a great unit with a 13band EQ and crossovers. I'd consider that for tuning.

eloplayspolo

http://www.amazon.com/Kenwood-KIV-701-iPhone-Digital-Receiver/dp/B0051FNXUS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334880301&sr=8-1

I always thought the display on the 700/701 was insane. It is beautiful. 996 doesn't offer that.

EndersShadow

While the 996 is very good I am hoping to keep costs under 250 which the 996 is above.

Skip I agree but my I have limited funds on the car. Any eq is better than just my setting xovers for the front and sub only lol

EndersShadow

Plus I am looking at getting better speakers too as all the eq in the world can't fix low quality speakers issues

pentoncm

I would argue (feel free to think differently) that the priority should be (1) placement, (2) proper EQ, crossovers, TA, and (3) speaker quality.

Theoretical scenario: Take a Focal Utopia (one of the most expensive drivers out there) and place it in a door with 0 EQ vs. a polk MM in a kick panel with an awesome EQ? My expection is that the MM would have far superior SQ. I'm not biased to polk, I would expect similar results from any mid level component whether it be JL C3/C5, Alpine Type R, Boston, Hertz Hi Energy, etc. If we wanted to go listen to these drivers in a living room then yes the high end would probably win out, but not in a car, tuning is much more important.

EndersShadow

pentoncm wrote: »

I would argue (feel free to think differently) that the priority should be (1) placement, (2) proper EQ, crossovers, TA, and (3) speaker quality.

Theoretical scenario: Take a Focal Utopia (one of the most expensive drivers out there) and place it in a door with 0 EQ vs. a polk MM in a kick panel with an awesome EQ? My expection is that the MM would have far superior SQ. I'm not biased to polk, I would expect similar results from any mid level component whether it be JL C3/C5, Alpine Type R, Boston, Hertz Hi Energy, etc. If we wanted to go listen to these drivers in a living room then yes the high end would probably win out, but not in a car, tuning is much more important.

But you can only compensate SO much for a speakers failings. Eventually it would be much easier and cost effective to just replace them. Reason for this is that many of the HU models with REALLY REALLY good EQ are more than the cost of a lower end model HU + better speakers.

DSkip wrote: »

Agree to disagree penton. Get your ears one some SR's and you'll understand.

The active crossover comment was more personal. I just can't get into any HU's that don't have that feature. Its really the only tuning option they haven't made a mass feature and I don't understand why they don't at least offer it on mid-level HU's.

Agreed Skip. PS you still have those MOMO's or are you using them now? I dont think the SR's are gonna fit into the budget this time around unless through some miracle my Treo sub sells.....

EndersShadow

DSkip wrote: »

Jim bought them off me when he got the LS90's.

Cool. I still really want the SR's looks like I just gotta find a way to make that happen...... I think I know how too..... Just have to wait a couple weeks before I post this particular item for sale........

pentoncm

EndersShadow

I think the comparison between hi end and low end really depends on placement.

(1) If both the SR and MM are in kicks, then yes the EQ might not be able to get the MM up to the same SQ level.

(2) If you have a door install for both SR and MM, I really don't think that you can say that SRs with no EQ is going to beat the MM with EQ.

The key however here is, (1) if you can use good placement do it where PLD's are reduced, (2) if not and you have to use the doors, I myself would go with the MM's and a processor instead of just the SRs. Best case however would be to go SR + processor but that is big money.

Here is an example: There are TONS of people out there in the online community complaining how their speakers lack midbass. I've heard it about the MM's, the Hertz Hi Energies, Hertze Mille's, HAT L6's. These are all awesome midbass drivers so what is the problem? Lack of tuning is the issue, its not that the drivers don't have midbass, its that there are too many response peaks and so you just can't hear the midbass that is already there. Whether you use an SR or an MM in doors, you are almost guaranteed to have a null in the 400 to 600Hz area. If you don't fix this then the midbass will always sound empty regardless of what driver you use.

EndersShadow

I will agree to disagree, but thats me. The woofers will be in my Jetta's doors that have a layer of dynamat extreme on them, and the tweeter will go in the housing thats where the mirrors attach to the door.

I am trying to do a full speaker upgrade (fronts + sub) + HU upgrade as well but the speakers come first in the equasion as the longer I wait to buy a HU the cheaper last years models get that have good EQ. Hence my budget of 250

So back to the question at hand, anything else about the X995, KIV-701 I should know or comments on their use?

EndersShadow

DSkip wrote: »

There is more to a speaker than just tonality, which is what EQ targets. An EQ helps bring out the best in a speaker, but, for instance, if a speaker is sloppy in its presentation, you're not going to be able to EQ that out.

Thats kinda what I was trying to point out. As I have discovered just because one speakers spec's and measurements are better than anothers dont always equal good sound. We are all sound biased in some way shape or form or we would all listen to the same exact stuff

DSkip wrote: »

I have an issue buying a HU that doesn't play CD's. There's something nice about buying the CD and throwing it in the player the second you get to the car.

Thats my ONLY big hangup on the KIV. I like the bluetooth of the 995 AND that it plays CD's but I REALLY like the screen on the KIV. I might just have to see it in person and connect my iPhone to get an idea of how viewable the screen is as well as what it displays. I have just about all my music on my iPhone currently, but its nice if I was going on a roadtrip to be able to buy a CD somewhere and not have to wait till I got home, ripped it to my HDD and put on my iPhone.

I say this because I have decided to straight boycott downloading music from Amazon or iTunes. I will buy the CD so I can get a AIFF copy for flawless playback at home, and at 256kbps on my iPhone.

The 995 is priced as open box so once those go I will be looking at the 996 which is more expensive... I might just have to forgo the sub upgrade which I think I would be OK with. I need to get better fronts & HU and my sub's EQ on WinISD is decent compared to the TC Sounds in a ported box so I could get by with dealing with that for a bit....

pentoncm

I agree strongly with going with CD's. I try not to listen to mp3s at all. The only issue that I have with the x995 is when you go to set your TA there is a delay in the response so it is harder to set it because you press the button, then have to wait a second or two for the effect to kick in. Other than that it is a nice unit.

EndersShadow

pentoncm wrote: »

I agree strongly with going with CD's. I try not to listen to mp3s at all. The only issue that I have with the x995 is when you go to set your TA there is a delay in the response so it is harder to set it because you press the button, then have to wait a second or two for the effect to kick in. Other than that it is a nice unit.

Yeah, I might keep a couple of my favorites in the car, but honestly I listen to sooo much stuff off my iPhone its ridiculous.

I just loaded it with music this week thats compressed to whatever the highest setting is in iTunes (total Apple newb). The goal is to tailor that stuff down to where I can turn off the compression so I have AIFF files ONLY on it, but I doubt that is going to happen....