Well I finally got my D3 all installed last week. So far I am happy with it. The navigation is great.

However I have to say that I am a little underwhelmed as far as the sound quality goes. My previous head unit was a Premier DEH-P980BT. The sound quality on that unit was amazing. I was used to the auto time alignment and auto EQ functions to tune my system.

I also noticed a big jump in background noise / alternator whine with the AVIC. Anyone have the same experience? Could be do to the increase in ground wires I had to install.

The 980 has higher volt preouts, a better EQ, a better D/A converter, and time alignment. You're never gonna get a D3 to sound that good. The noise issue is fixable though. Do you have external amps? And if so, did you re-adjust the gains when you put in the D3?

Must be a coincidence, but I was just about to post about the same thing. I had previously owned a Pioneer Premier DEH-P860MP, and after a little bit of tweaking was completely satisfied with the sound quality. After owning the AVIC-D3 for a couple of days, and after about an hour straight of fiddling around with it, I just can't get it to sound like I want it to. Granted, the Pioneer Premier unit had some features on it that the AVIC-D3 doesn't, such as BBE Sound (which I had at -4) and also BMX compression.

Can anybody explain how the EQ works on this unit? I'm used to a graphic equalizer where I can adjust each band myself. When I try to adjust the bands on the D3, I get frustrated because each band that I adjust seems to adjust a different band. I know there is know way to turn off the Q (the curve), so what's the best way to work around this?

Also, should the staging be used at all? Is it similar to BBE sound or any kind of compression found on other units?

Don't get me wrong, I knew the unit would not be competition quality. I just realized how those features that are incorporated into Pioneers high end single CD units can be missed.

I am surprised that they could not incorporated some the auto tuning features into ANY of their nav systems previous or current.

Personally I am still satisfied but it just takes some getting used to. Maybe one day I can save up for a external unit like the Rockford Fosgate 3 sixty.2