Looking for the best car stereo head units available this year? Look no further. The Car Stereo Chick will show you her top 3 picks for single din head units in 2012. At my store, I carry Alpine, Kenwood and Pioneer. I feel these are extremely strong brands in car audio and provide consumers with a great mix of features, sound quality and reliability.
Best Single Din Head Unit from Alpine for 2012
By far, the CDE-HD138BT will be my number one selling single din head unit from Alpine this year.
It’s packed with features every consumer will benefit from:
- 3 preouts, 4 Volt rating
- 5 or 7 Band Parametric EQ adjustable per source (Media Xpander Pro)
- Built in crossovers
- SiriusXM ready
- Built in Bluetooth
- Bluetooth Audio Streaming
- Bluetooth Plus for easier phone pairing, text message alert for select devices, call waiting functionality and Android & Blackberry Pandora control through Bluetooth Audio connection
- iPhone Pandora control through USB connection
- Built in HD Radio with iTunes tagging
- Steering wheel control ready
- Front USB/Aux
- Optional passenger iPod control mode
For customers that demand great features, excellent sound quality and ease of use, I always recommend Alpine. So what is this head unit missing?
- Multicolor illumination. Your choice is either blue or blue.
- Front only USB. Not everyone has a nice little storage pocket above or below their stereo for their iPod or iPhone.
- Lacks digital time alignment.
So your only color option is blue and your USB connection is only through the front of the stereo. What features are more important to you? Ease of use, price and pretty colors are often determining factors for my customers. I’ll tell you the same thing I tell my customers: don’t feel bad about being picky on color choice. Seriously, you’re the one that has to look it every time you drive your car.
Thinking about buying the CDE-HD138BT online? Buy from an authorized reseller! Don’t get duped by rock bottom prices. Alpine has a strict dealer agreement that every authorized reseller has to sign, including dealers like me. Part of this agreement is we agree not to advertise their products below the minimum advertised price. Did you find this head unit priced way below that mark? Guess what. It’s not legit, which means as far as Alpine is concerned they’ve never heard of you, the retailer or the warranty that you claim you have. Only authorized resellers can guarantee you’re receiving A-stock product backed by the manufacturer’s warranty.
So what if you want all that and pretty colors?
Check out Kenwood’s Excelon KDC-X996. Not only does the KDC-X996 add variable color illumination, it also adds some pretty advanced audio control features.
- 3 preouts, 4 Volt rating
- 13 Band Parametric EQ adjustable per source
- Built in crossovers adjustable slope settings 0, 6, 12, 18 or 24 DB per octave adjustable individually for Front, Rear, Sub and Tweeter
- Digital time alignment for Front, Rear and Sub
- Cabin selection and speaker size selection for additional audio customization
- SiriusXM ready
- Built in Bluetooth
- Bluetooth Audio Streaming
- Android & Blackberry Pandora control through Bluetooth connection
- iPhone Pandora control through USB connection
- Android Music Control via USB with Kenwood’s Music Control app
- Built in HD Radio with iTunes tagging
- Steering wheel control ready
- Rear USB/Aux
- Variable Illumination
- Optional passenger iPod control mode
So what’s the catch? Well, for some people, Kenwood stereos can be difficult to use. I feel that if you have an iPod and if you’re comfortable using an iPod, then you will be able to figure out the controls on this deck. They’re set up very similar to an iPod Classic.
You have a center select button. Your volume knob circles around the selection button and then you have your track up and down buttons to the sides, and your menu button on top and play button below. Look familiar?
I’ve always been a huge fan of the advanced audio control features that Kenwood Excelon head units have. Many of these features are not well explained either by the person/website trying to sell you it or by the manufacturer themselves. Take for example, the wonderful feature of time alignment. You may be wondering, what the hell is time alignment and why do I need it?
Time alignment is freaking awesome. Basically, when you’re sitting in your car, typically the left speaker is going to hit your ears first. Then the next closest speaker, like the rear driver’s side. Next is usually the front passenger speaker and last is probably the passenger side rear speaker. You might not have realized it up until this point, but the slight delay in when the sound waves actually reach your ears greatly effects your sound stage and your overall listening experience.
Digital time alignment allows you to digitally delay the closest speakers so that every speaker reaches your ears at the same time. It’s awesome. When set up properly, you can sit in the driver’s seat, close your eyes (not while driving) and you will NOT be able to pinpoint where the music is coming from. It will envelop and surround you creating a truly sublime listening experience.
Other awesome audio tuning features include advanced crossover settings. Sometimes when doing a full audio system with aftermarket amplifiers, I prefer to use the crossover adjustments within the Kenwood over the crossovers on the amp. They’re that good quality and fully adjustable with 6/12/18/24 DB per octave adjustments separate for Front, Rear, Sub and Tweeter. And don’t forget the 13 band EQ. The KDC-X996 has massive amounts of audio tuning capability. On the flip side, if you have no clue what you are doing you can make it sound really, really, really bad. So choose wisely.
What about Pioneer?
Pioneer is generally well known for their successful line of AVIC GPS head units, maybe not so much for their single din options, but this year, they’ve stepped up their game.
Meet the DEH-80PRS. Pioneer calls it Audiophile Grade. They’re comparing it to their Stage 4 head unit which features a 31 band EQ and copper chassis. The Stage 4 head unit also sells for around $1200. At just $349.95, the DEH-P80RS is presumably a bargain.
Check out some of the great features:
- 24 Bit Burr Brown DAC
- A-hem, correction, THREE 24 Bit Burr Brown DAC’s. One for high, mid and low frequencies.
- 3 preouts, 5 Volt
- Built in crossovers adjustable slope settings 0, 6, 12, 18 or 24 DB per octave adjustable individually for Front, Rear, Sub and Tweeter
- Auto time alignment and Auto EQ
- Manual time alignment mode
- 16 band EQ adjustable for left and right channels
- Front Aux
- Dual Rear USB
- Built in Bluetooth
- Bluetooth audio streaming
- iPhone Pandora Control
- Variable color illumination
- Steering wheel remote ready
When compared to the competition, this head unit leaves me wanting a little bit more for my money. It’s not satellite radio ready and it does not come with HD Radio. However, it does have a nice display and a nice heavy volume knob. At least the prototype I saw at CES had one. As far as ease of use goes? Personally I think Pioneer single din head units are often the more difficult of the bunch. But it does have 3 DAC’s.
Let’s forget features, who has the best sounding single din head unit for 2012?
Based on the specs, I assume the Pioneer will have superior detail and clarity over the Kenwood and Alpine, but the true test will have to wait until all three have shipped and are on display at our store. Should you believe the Pioneer hype? I don’t know, we’ll see (or should I say hear) soon!
Update. The verdict is in! Check it out here.