Alpine CDA-9857 iPod Interface

jderdock

I was looking for a good review of this thing but have found most of the information on this unit to be overly vague.

here's the link:

http://www.alpine-usa.com/en/products/product.php?model=CDA-9857

I'm on my third iPod...I've had them since they were first released as I'm a little bit of an Apple ****. I've been disappointed with all the head unit interfaces I've seen, so I've just been running a line-out from the iPod into the auxillary input of an Alpine for the past few years.

I just picked up this new CDA-9857 with the iPod Full Speed interface, installed it and have been playing around with it for the last few hours. I couldn't be happier. It works just like the iPod: it's fast, you can see a menu item ahead and behind of what is selected....you can browse by playlist, artist, album, etc. just like the iPod. It syncs up super quick, too.

I don't have a whole lot to say about it other than if you have been waiting for an interface that is almost as good as the iPod itself, it's here now. Get that ****, throw the iPod in the glove and forget about it. I won't miss those wires hanging all over my dash.

Thom

What's an i- pod?

jderdock

it's a slimy egg-shaped thing that gremlins hatch out of.

[Deleted User]

I just put one in our National Sales Mgr. car. It works great.

jderdock

Josh, you didn't, by chance try out the Bluetooth module, did you? It's one of those things I don't NEED, but after playing with this unit, I bet it's slick.

jderdock

Nevermind...not shipping until the end of May.

howie777

The issue with bluetooth is you can charge your ipod while its in the car unless you plug it in to an outlet which defeats the whole purpose of bluetooth. This is the only time I charge my ipod, to and from work. while I have an older Alpine iPod interface (which sucks monkey balls) It is better than no ipod in the car. And I still can't figure out why the first interface was so slow? Its not very difficult to integrate ipod with a radio, I've actaully done this for work (had a prototype up and running in a couple days). And $100-$120 for ipod on Elcipse and old Alpine is WAY overpriced. I think $30 for the new ipod is very reasonable, makes me want to upgrade myself. But everyone keeps saying the new Alpines aren't as nice as the old (2004 model is what I have) and Eclipse is a better by for sound quality and features.

Its good to know it works well though, and I think crutchfield throws in the cable for free on the $349 Alpine model(or they did for a little while.

Howie

1996blackmax

If you are mainly listening to the i-Pod, SQ-wise going with Alpine may not be a bad thing. This is unless you want the time alignment feature.

jderdock

howie777 wrote:

The issue with bluetooth is you can charge your ipod while its in the car unless you plug it in to an outlet which defeats the whole purpose of bluetooth. This is the only time I charge my ipod, to and from work.

Alpine's Bluetooth module I'm talking about is used for hands-free calling....has nothing to do with the iPod.

howie777 wrote:

But everyone keeps saying the new Alpines aren't as nice as the old (2004 model is what I have) and Eclipse is a better by for sound quality and features.

Lots of people say a lot of crap. How could the Eclipse have better sound quality if you're running external amps? The D/A conversion is still done inside the iPod, isn't it?

Lots of brand whores out there...try it for yourself.

howie777

Got you on the BT for hands free. There are BT modules for iPod as well, which is what I was thinking about.

As for iPod doing the D/A, I can't say, I'm under an NDA :mad: I want to use the interface for my masters project and mostly likely Apple will say no. Sucks when you know exactly how to do something and just can't do it.

As for SQ, that depends on how well the boards are layed out, how good the switching chips in the HU are and other various factors. We had a system where you could hear an AUX input during DVD playback if you paused the DVD and cranked the volume up a bit, due to a poor layout. Also your power supplies can couple noise onto the audio paths as well. So it can make a big difference reguardless of where the D/A is done. I think most think Alpine ditched some useful features (high voltage preouts, time correction) for a better iPod interface instead of just adding the iPod interface. They probably did the right thing on there sub $300 HUs from a cost stand point, but the rest should not have taken the hit I think. Or at least they should have one HU with it all.

Howie

MacLeod

Thom wrote:

What's an i- pod?

Thats the thing that is responsible for the extinction of SQ head units.

1996blackmax

Actually some companies had started that trend already ............

jderdock

howie777 wrote:

As for SQ, that depends on how well the boards are layed out, how good the switching chips in the HU are and other various factors. We had a system where you could hear an AUX input during DVD playback if you paused the DVD and cranked the volume up a bit, due to a poor layout. Also your power supplies can couple noise onto the audio paths as well. So it can make a big difference reguardless of where the D/A is done. I think most think Alpine ditched some useful features (high voltage preouts, time correction) for a better iPod interface instead of just adding the iPod interface. They probably did the right thing on there sub $300 HUs from a cost stand point, but the rest should not have taken the hit I think. Or at least they should have one HU with it all.

I hear you, but I'd be surprised if you could tell the difference between an Eclipse and Alpine of equal price running external amplifiers and an iPod in a double blind test.

98thumpin

i hate i-pods they suck monkey ball if im in my car i want tunes form radio or a cd maybe an old tape.

1996blackmax

I think from a convenience thing they are cool. I play MP3's and WMA's that are on CDs in my car sometimes. Not cool to switch out CDs at highway speeds, or bumper to bumper traffic. I have thought about going with an 8 disc changer for more CD variety, the Eclipse one has an optical output that my HU can acccept .

98thumpin

that would be good

jderdock

98thumpin wrote:

i hate i-pods they suck monkey ball if im in my car i want tunes form radio or a cd maybe an old tape.

Care to elaborate?

Tim Staudinger

jderdock wrote:

Care to elaborate?

James come on now you need to get motivated on getting that coustic unit out of the wall so Thom can put it in Carl Phelps Jr.'s Saab

jderdock

Didn't realize Carl wanted it. There was an old guy in here last week (first customer in 4 weeks) with a broken antenna and I sold him the Coustic shaft-unit, a 500 watt Zapco and a super-tweeter.

Thom

Was everything on back- order still?

Tim Staudinger

nothing is ever on back order when you can pull it right out of the wall!!! Man i cant be going on vacation anymore....all you guys do is tell people we are booked up so you can sit around and play grand tourismo and take my too damn big to fit in anything dual 15 box and see how far change will shoot off of it when its hooked up......you guys need to get motivated!!! Thom i know its the middle of july but you need to go in the shop and close the door because we need to save on our heat bill and try to do the install in the dark because our electric is a little high .....im gonna be up front working on the boat i just bought but i swear ill pay you guys next week!!! Hey where did my explorer go? They better not mess with my 8 inch sub ....its custom for that up front bass!!

Thom

Ah, the good ol' days...

jderdock

don't knock the up front bass....my civic will be tight...just gotta finish the 10" tall 'motorized' floor in the trunk

Tim Staudinger

i could really teach you boys a lot about false floors and custom installs like i did back in the day with my daytona....or did i have a charger? but anyway i had a seperate 30 band eq......now thats hot like the fire man!!

cam5860

I was playing with the 9857 at Bestbuy lastnight. It's pretty cool but not worth the money for the lack of features.

In my opinion it was built strictly for the ipod. So if ipod's your thing it's the best unit on the market right now for getting the best sound quality out of the ipod.

They are still selling the 9855 at Bestbuy also, and it's going for 319.00 bucks.

jderdock

cam5860 wrote:

In my opinion it was built strictly for the ipod. So if ipod's your thing it's the best unit on the market right now for getting the best sound quality out of the ipod.

That's why I got it...and it has more features than I'll ever use. I just want a volume control.

1996blackmax

cam5860 wrote:

They are still selling the 9855 at Bestbuy also, and it's going for 319.00 bucks.

Even at that price I would pass on it.......

disilluzion

Hey, I have the CDA-9856 and the features for the iPod are horrible. It takes forever and a day to scroll though all the artists or whatever to find what I want...the only thing I found that works well is if I am start playing an artist before I hook it up...then it will pick up where I left off, or if I use the shuffle feature. The display sucks as well, but that is obviously better on the 9857.

What I am wondering is if the 9857 is a bad as the 9856 in these areas. I was trying to choose between the two and decided on the 9856 b/c I thought the extra $130 was just for a better display. I have to return the 9856 anyway...I keep getting the ERROR-1 on it...just need to know if it's worth upgrading while I'm there. Somebody please help me out on this one.

Thanks!

jderdock

There was no iPod interface that I thought was worth the money until trying Alpine's Full Speed. It works fast and flawlessly. Go for it.

disilluzion

Yeah, but the 9856 has the "full speed" iPod support as well. I believe they refer to the cable when they mention that. With the 9856 when I am trying to scroll though artists it takes forever....and it actually goes slower the faster I scroll the knob. I am wondering if the 9857 is as slow scrolling through artists, etc. as the 9856 is. If it is just as bad, then it's basically an extra $130 for a nicer display.

lsutigers

jderdock wrote:

I hear you, but I'd be surprised if you could tell the difference between an Eclipse and Alpine of equal price running external amplifiers and an iPod in a double blind test.

Actually you can, I have an Alpine CDA-9855, a $550 deck, tried the original Alpine iPod adapter and it sucked, so I'm running on the aux input and I get this annoying humming noise. My buddy has his iPod hooked up the same way (aux) to his Eclipse CD4000 $350 deck, and it sounds amazing, very impressed with the quality. I haven't tried Alpine's new iPod adapter but I can tell you its sad their decks are not what they used to be, I have owned a few Alpines and the build and sound quality of this latest one is dissapointing, my next deck will be an Eclipse.