Sound Quality

[sumwereinsilence]

I have been wanting a double-din in dash navigation for quite some time after reading around tonight I decided to go for the x920bt later this week. My only concern is sound quality. I listen to a lot of music (loud) and have all my speakers amped. I have Infinity Kappas for my front and rear speaker and 2 12" RF p3's for subs. The stereo I have now is a Alpine Cda-9886. I realize this isnt alpines top of the line, but i do think it sounds very nice. I have Google searched this, but havent really found an answer. Does anyone know if my speakers should sound around the same quality or if they will be losing alot of SQ by making the switch. Also if there is audio loss is this unit capable of having an external sound processor hooked up to it like the RF 3sixty.2?

 

Thanks for the help -

[james2266]

I am unfamiliar with Alpine HUs unfortunately. I have the X920BT's big brother the Z110BT and I have an external processor on mine and it sounds amazing. My processor is the Audison Bit One.1 which fro what I hear is comparable to the 360.2 you mention if not better (interface is definitely better). The answer to your 2nd question is yes these nav units can be easily hooked up to an external processor. The only area where the Z is better than the new X is with preout voltage and eq. The external processor does that so much better and will bump or lower the preout voltage to match the processor output (at least that's the way the Audi works). ie. you get 3 v output regardless of what is coming into the processor. I hope this helps.

[sumwereinsilence]

Thanks so much for the feedback. Im going to go ahead and go for it and then get a audio processor soon after.

[1loudls]

i had a alpine(cda 9886 with Imprint) before i switched to the avic (900bt), and let me tell you was i depressed between the sound quality, i dont know if they addressed and of the issues i have with the newer model.

 

first off, there is a tiny amount of noise in the back ground that the alpine didn't have (no this is not install related, ground loop, alt whine, ect.) its just a very quiet amount of steady static (that get pretty noticeable when turned up, especially in between songs, amping the system makes this more noticeable)

 

the unit itself is loud due to a cooling fan that is constantly running.

 

and digital music (SD, USB,) sounds very compressed and poor, the Ipod sounds fine because it uses the Ipod's internal sound processor (which still doesn't sound as good as the Alpine did) and when it up real loud and i change a song, i can hear a faint whine as the ipod's hard drive spins(fifth gen video Ipod) up to speed that i dont here when i use my friends nano (flash memory based)

 

all in all, the system is a great value for the price i paid, it cant be beat, however coming from a sound quality based brand, the difference is pretty big, but i'm not going to go out and spend twice the price on a alpine or eclipse unit that doesn't do as much.

 

most people that are coming from pioneer or similar brands that i have talked to don't really notice the noises for the most part, however everybody that comes from a alpine or eclipse seems to notice the same things as me.