We need more votes I cant believe there are only 32 NEX owner on this forum

These units are expensive.

These units are expensive.

Which model? I think compared to other brands their competitively priced.

i just saw a youtube vid of the new Kenwood dnn991HD not bad. 

Unless it reads FLAC, will deal with a SSD on the USB input and handles sort order reasonably well I don't want it.

aptX on Bluetooth is nice, but the "movement" in these devices is AWAY from the feature set for actual media on/attached-to the device and TOWARD dependence on something else, like your cellphone.  That's may be ok for some people but the entire reason I have a stereo system (and not just a Bluetooth receiving device + amplifier) in my car is because I want it to function independently from my phone.

Among other things I often take trips where there is no cell reception or the performance for data transfer sucks badly enough as to be effectively unusable for anything more complicated than text messages or a voice call, so anything that relies on that functionality in the connected device is worthless.  I understand people like Spotify and Pandora, but reliance on those sorts of things for your music is IMHO nuts, never mind the fact that I really, really don't like the premise of being "connected" everywhere I go all the time, with these companies pinging my exact location and collecting it (and yes, they do -- look at the permissions the apps request when you load them.)

Pioneer has gotten quite close to excellence in this regard and nobody else is anywhere in the game, IMHO.  FLAC is a big part of it, although I'd like more bits in the DAC.  The 4000 (and I presume the rest in the line) has exceeded the threshold where I am bothered by the flaws in the source material -- that is, just as in my home I now hear them in my car.  That's good -- it tells me that I'm now into the area of diminishing returns and it's time to stop spending money trying to chase better sound quality, as the incremental benefits will be very small for the relatively large investments made.  While I'm not QUITE where I am with the near-field monitors at my desk (which I use to mix video soundtracks among other things) I'm in the same general ballpark and that's damn good for a car stereo.

Pioneer ought to add aptX to the Bluetooth codec list, and they also need to fix the sort order issue with the file browser.  Both of these are software changes and can be made as an update.  It would be nice to address the somewhat-jumpy scrolling behavior in the media browser, and support of playlists would be good too.  The latter is again a software issue; the former might be a matter of CPU exhaustion and if so there's nothing that can be done in the current iteration of devices, but I'd like to see a crack taken at that too.

One thing that's promising here -- these units run a hacked-up Android version which means it is possible to dump and hack on it, even if you have to do it with decompiled code.  I bet I can fix the media sort order issues, for example, in a few hours.  Right now I'm unwilling to JTAG my unit, but someone else has and as soon as there's a way to dump it to either SD or attached USB I'll be all over it since I ought to be able to test changes on my tablet. The sort order issue might be as simple as inserting one library function call, for example.

I'm happy with the 4000.  I'd like the nicer screen but not at double the price, and I have no real desire or need for nav in the head unit.  I don't need it often and when I do I have it in my phone; tying it to the car is IMHO silly.

GOOD points but I dont see FLAC as worth it  I grew up w records and can tell some sound better than their cd counter parts  i have converted some records to mp3 and can't tell a difference with the same equipment both sound the same to me converted to 256VBR mainly

I can hear artifacts in even 320vbr MP3s (ripped with LAME) occasionally.  What's more to the point is that I can differentiate quite-reliably (with my nearfield monitors on my desk) between FLAC and those MP3s while blindfolded, and I get it right nearly all the time -- provided the music is of high complexity.  If not, then it's random.  I prefer to listen to high-complexity music, so....

In the car I haven't done the A:B thing with the NEX yet, and it's tougher to do reliably (nearly impossible under actual driving conditions while moving), so I don't know if the difference would be worth it.  But if I already have the music in FLAC why convert it to MP3 and make another copy just for the car?

Vinyl, despite what some purists say, is actually of lower reproduction accuracy (by quite a bit) than CD, and that's even with the best MC pickups for the LP side -- which most people don't have.  MC pickups have two serious issues for most people -- first their raw cost, and second the stylus is non-field-replaceable, so the cost becomes ongoing and nearly as bad as the original investment when the stylus wears out (and it does) instead of being roughly half as much or less to replace it.  Digital reproduction provides absolute channel separation, which no analog vinyl system can (typical is ~30db for the best of moving-coil pickups.)  Never mind the fact that mechanical disturbance is a big problem with vinyl (read: skips!) and the medium has an inherent noise floor that is much higher than digital's, never mind that digital's noise floor is white where vinyl has a very significant coloration to it.

The problem with CDs in terms of sound quality isn't the medium, it's the mix.  It's very tempting for the guy doing the mixing to lay in heavy compression and boosting of certain ranges, especially if the target audience values "punch" in the mid-bass.  Bleh.

A CD laid down where the intent is maximum sonic accuracy is a real joy.  Unfortunately what happens as you go up the curve with audio gear is that you reach the threshold where you start to hear the compromises the guy behind the recording board or mixing board made in producing the work rather than the work itself.  I've had that in my "main" home audio system for 30ish years and in my "computer" system for the last 10 or so; it's been more-elusive in my vehicles.

The NEX is quite capable of getting there with proper attention paid to the rest of the system -- and that's impressive.

Going to do some listening tests in my car comparing Lossless and 256bit mp3 file size is about 1/3 for 256 mp3 will be using Almond Bros.1994 basically live recording "Where it all begins" in my truck. And a few other songs