Single din head unit recommendations

[Bungleaio]

I'm looking for a single din head unit to go in my MINI, it's primarily for use with my iPhone so I'm mostly concerned with that side of the functions. I'd not played a cd in my last car for a while. I'm not adding external amps or anything so it needs to have its own internal amp. I don't want bluetooth either, I'm happy to ignore the phone and call people back later.

I've been looking at the Pioneer MVH-7300 at car audio direct which seems to tick the right boxes http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/pioneer-mvh7300.ht... but does anyone have any other recommendations?

[Baryonyx]

I recently bought An Alpine IDA X313 for my MR2 Turbo and it is superb. It doesn't take CD's, which suits me fine as I can just plug my iPhone into it and access as my music from there. At the time I also considered Pioneer stereos (as the place I bought the Stereo from, Sounds Alarming in Newcastle, only stock Alpine and Pioneer stuff). I've been impressed with Alpine products in the past so I went with the IDA X313 and I'm very pleased with it.

[Bungleaio]

Cheers mate I'll have a look into the alpine.

Forgot to say whatever I get needs to match the orange lights of the rest of the dash.

[rapidamundo]

I was considering doing this in my old car and really fancied one of these

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Oxygen-Audio-Car-iPhone-Au...

But the app has pretty bad reviews so decided on this in the end

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Parrot-Asteroid/dp/B0055CH...

Turned out I didn't get either as circumstances changed but I think that Asteroid thing looks pretty cool for the price, it's reviewed well too!

[Baryonyx]

Bungleaio said:

Cheers mate I'll have a look into the alpine.

Forgot to say whatever I get needs to match the orange lights of the rest of the dash.

If you look through Alpine's catalogue they do a model that does album cover images like the Pioneer there. If colour is really that important to you, some Alpine's also allow you to choose a colour for the face lights too, though I can't remember if the top spec one has this function.

[Baryonyx]

rapidamundo said:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Parrot-Asteroid/dp/B0055CH...

Turned out I didn't get either as circumstances changed but I think that Asteroid thing looks pretty cool for the price, it's reviewed well too!

I've heard that Parrot's car telephone stuff is fantastic but I've not read or heard much about their stereos. They make great stuff though, so I expect they'd be fairly good too! The first thing you posted looks awful though!

[8vFTW]

Baryonyx said:

Bungleaio said:

Cheers mate I'll have a look into the alpine.

Forgot to say whatever I get needs to match the orange lights of the rest of the dash.

If you look through Alpine's catalogue they do a model that does album cover images like the Pioneer there. If colour is really that important to you, some Alpine's also allow you to choose a colour for the face lights too, though I can't remember if the top spec one has this function.

I used to have one of those Alpines. you could change the display/buttons to any of 256 colours. Impressive. But it didn't last 12 months before it started burning its own screen, and after sending it back to Alpine and having no stereo for six weeks I got it back and it was exactly the same.Had same experience with JVC and Panasonic. Only HU I've ever had that never broke was a Pioneer.

I think a lot of stereo brands have pretty poor quality considering the money you pay compared to how much these things get banged out for. My only advice would be to buy from a physical specialist and not online, then if you do have problems at least you have a better chance of getting something done about it.

[NiceCupOfTea]

Another vote for Alpine.

[Panayiotis]

NiceCupOfTea said:

Another vote for Alpine.

+1

[Baryonyx]

8vFTW said:

I think a lot of stereo brands have pretty poor quality considering the money you pay compared to how much these things get banged out for. My only advice would be to buy from a physical specialist and not online, then if you do have problems at least you have a better chance of getting something done about it.

I would agree with this. You won't pay much more if you go to a specialist (not Halfords or the like, where they won't understand the product, how to fit it or how to fix it if it goes wrong). Like I mentioned, I went to Sounds Alarming who have a reputation for being the best fitters/suppliers in the area, and though I was able to fit the stereo at home I know I can go back to them if I have any problems. Not that I anticipate any, I've never known any Alpine gear to fail before and my dad has the model below the XD313 in his Impreza and that has been in that car for nearly three years now.

On the other hand, the Panasonic stereo my MR2 Turbo came with is one of the sttiest stereos ever supplied with a car. It was crap when it worked, and when it gave up after a week it was almost a relief.

[wushuangpu]

is good

[carreauchompeur]

Excellent, will keep an eye on this thread as I have the same conundrum.

It's a shame because Hellfrauds have a few which would fit the bill but stick the USB port on the front of the stereo which looks, well, gash.

[Baryonyx]

carreauchompeur said:

Excellent, will keep an eye on this thread as I have the same conundrum.

It's a shame because Hellfrauds have a few which would fit the bill but stick the USB port on the front of the stereo which looks, well, gash.

On the Alpine the cable runs from the back of it. I cut a small hole in the coin tray on the centre console and fed the wire through there. Now I can place my phone in the dash, plugged into the stereo in an unobstrusive way. In the past I've seen friends with cables trailing all over their cars from head units with USB ports on the front.

[carreauchompeur]

Sounds good, I've seen it in a few M3s. How much is it, roughly?

[kambites]

carreauchompeur said:

Sounds good, I've seen it in a few M3s. How much is it, roughly?

Just over 100 quid for the one with the old-fashioned display. Rather over 200 for one which can display album art (although that's not the only difference between them).

In this situation, I ended up buying a Sony DSX-S100. Similar proposition except it has a little tray inside which you can put your storage device in to keep it hidden out of the way and avoid the need for wires. The Sony was a little cheaper too (I paid just under £100).

Edited by kambites on Monday 16th January 10:24

[mk1matt]

I've got an older Alpine IDA-X100 and I love it. The central control wheel works just like an iPod, so it's really easy to use.

My key requirement was it being easy to find the specific song/album from my 30Gb iPod, and I find this is something it does very well. It displays something like 5 or 6 lines on the screen, which helps when browsing, and it's got a mode where you can jump through eiher alphabetically or by a fixed percentage (i.e. jump to albums beginning with a D or skip 10% down the list).

I'm not sure what the current version of it is like, but if you don't mind buying 2nd hand like I did, the X100 isn't too expensive thse days.

[MrBrightSi]

Baryonyx said:

I recently bought An Alpine IDA X313 for my MR2 Turbo and it is superb. It doesn't take CD's, which suits me fine as I can just plug my iPhone into it and access as my music from there. At the time I also considered Pioneer stereos (as the place I bought the Stereo from, Sounds Alarming in Newcastle, only stock Alpine and Pioneer stuff). I've been impressed with Alpine products in the past so I went with the IDA X313 and I'm very pleased with it.

This one.

Or this one

http://www.caraudiocentre.co.uk/product_m-in-phase...

I think the way forward now is the USB stick or SD card only player. Cheap as chips and no faffing carrying a million cds.

Strangely my mechless headunit is in my MR2 haha.

[Bungleaio]

Cheers guys it looks like alpine are the popular choice. I'm going to have a look at some at lunch time.

[Bungleaio]

I visited a couple of shops today, the 1st one had no one in there and despite pressing the bell a couple of times and waiting around for someone to come out and talk to me. I had a look around then left the other was a lot more helpful.

I didn't see any alpines that were suitable as I want something that will match the lights in my car. I did see one of these though

£150 Kenwood KDC-BT61U http://www.kenwood-electronics.co.uk/products/car/...



Or

£200 Kenwood KIV-700 http://www.kenwood-electronics.co.uk/products/car/...




I like the simplicity of the cheaper one but as the more expensive one is a purely solid state player I think that will be the better one.

Any thoughts?

[bazking69]

Alpine. For SQ and build.

I've owned a few down the years and they have all been brilliant.