Which headunit out of there two?

LeperousDust · 23 Mar 2010 at 14:22

I've whittled my choice down to two, sony mex3700bt or the alpine cde 103bt, they seen pretty much identical and i can't work out what would be better, for names sake i feel alpine and it looks nicer to me but the sony does seem nice and seems to be ipod ready out the any as opposed to via a rear cable on the alpine... Also will both be able to control the ipod or just act like another aux source?

kidloco · 23 Mar 2010 at 14:27

Have you looked at

http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/pioneer-deh-6100bt.html

Bought one a while ago, nice little unit. You could even get the model up for not much more at the moment.

http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/pioneer-deh-p7100bt.html

Janesy B · 23 Mar 2010 at 14:27

Alpine out of the two, just for the better sound quality.

paradigm · 23 Mar 2010 at 15:10

Janesy B said:
Alpine out of the two, just for the fact that it isn't a useless Sony.

Fixed.

I'd personally be looking for the equivalent Pioneer.

LeperousDust · 23 Mar 2010 at 15:15

haha the sony really is that bad then?

also the alpine has parrot bluetooth, i'd look at others but both of those are discounted to 170 in halfrauds and seem to have what i'd want without waiting for delivery even though their idea of discount hp basically a regular price...

LeperousDust · 23 Mar 2010 at 15:18

oh and sound quality wise you don't really get much worse than my current setup anyway so i'm sure either would blow me away! I was thinking alpine though, i'll go see if i can possibly get them to throw the cable in free, highly unlikely i feel

Shimmyhill · 23 Mar 2010 at 15:19

paradigm said:
Fixed.

I'd personally be looking for the equivalent Pioneer.

Sorry to jump into the thread but could you expand, i thought that alpine were seen as better than pioneer ?

Im after a stereo for my iphone (did i mention i own an iphone, i do hope so

) so music and phone control - the 2nd pioneer you linked to looks very interesting but is the alpine version better/worse.

To the OP - i would just avoid Sony HU's from all that i have read !

Janesy B · 23 Mar 2010 at 15:21

The Alpine head units by all admission look a bit tacky.

monkeyspank · 23 Mar 2010 at 15:21

I prefer Pioneers generally. Personal choice really. I find Alpine to be a bit harsh on the ears. Having said that I put one in my mrs car with stock speakers and the brightness works well in there.

paradigm · 23 Mar 2010 at 15:22

Shimmyhill said:
Sorry to jump into the thread but could you expand, i thought that alpine were seen as better than pioneer ?

Im after a stereo for my iphone (did i mention i own an iphone, i do hope so ) so music and phone control - the 2nd pioneer you linked to looks very interesting but is the alpine version better/worse.

To the OP - i would just avoid Sony HU's from all that i have read !

I've always found that the menu structure/interface, and styling of the pioneer products is just nicer than that of any alpine product I've ever used.

Personal preference and all that, but I've never noted a difference in sound quality between the big P and the big A.

LeperousDust · 23 Mar 2010 at 15:23

couldn't care less about tacky needs to just do sound ipod bluetooth well, can't say no for 170 so i'm sold, i'll tell you how decent it when i get a chance to use it :-)

Shimmyhill · 23 Mar 2010 at 15:25

paradigm said:
I've always found that the menu structure/interface, and styling of the pioneer products is just nicer than that of any alpine product I've ever used.

Personal preference and all that, but I've never noted a difference in sound quality between the big P and the big A.

Ok thanks, my sis has an ipod alpine unit and i find the interface baffling - i had always read alpine sound better so was going to put up with the interface, maybe i need to look into the Pioneer options.

LeperousDust · 28 Mar 2010 at 21:59

Well meant to get back to this thread. I've installed it and it's a nice unit. Lacking in some area's though. I was under the impression it would stream over bluetooth, but the parrot chip it uses is just for calls, which is a bit disappointing. Although it doesn't matter too much i guess. The automatic pairing with my phone after setup is a little unreliable and manually pairing it hasn't worked is a little bit of a hassle. All in all the headunit is fine, but i wouldn't call anything very special...

Although everyone bad mouths the Sony headunit, i'd be interested in testing it and seeing how it does otherwise, because i know for a fact that unit has avrcp and everything else the alpine has. But what i've got will very much do me, so i'm not worried so much nice to have a decent working unit again