New head unit

[leebottrill]

Well after nearly three years of skipping I have decided i want to change out this crappy bose head unit. I want to keep the speakers and the steering wheel controls.

 

Has anyone done this? If so, is it fairly easy?

 

Also I haven't got a clue on what double din unit to get? I'm not to worried about price.

 

Any links or advise would be much appreciated

[leebottrill]

Okay, Ive actually got a car audio specialist near to where i live. So ill just go along there and have it done

[Aashenfox]

The best double din headunits (value-wise) are actually the Chinese unbranded Android ones that you can pick up on ebay, there was a thread recently, I'll dig it up for you in a minute, where a couple of suggestions were put forward from ebay and other members said they had good experiences with these as well and that not only were they just as good quality as Alpine/Clarion double Dins, they actually had MORE features, since they were just plain android so you could load up any app from the store you want. Play Angry Birds while driving anyone? lol. Anyway, beyond that, one real bonus of them is that you can install the Anroid App Torque (which connects via a dongle purchased separately) which allows you to see a variety of stuff in real time via bluetooth connection. 0-60, true speed, fault codes and resetting them, etc. A pure android unit is quite a boon, it's like having a tablet in your center console.

[Aashenfox]

Here ya go... http://www.350z-uk.com/topic/111623-android-head-unit/

[leebottrill]

To be honest I don't mind what i spend. Id rather have a quality stereo and pay more. the audio people only supply alpine and pioneer. There the two brands i am looking for.

[leebottrill]

Sorry what i meant is i'd rather pay a bit more and get a good branded stereo

[Aashenfox]

I don't know what to say to that. I think you were right initially; your local dealer will definitely be able to help you pay more for less. lol

 

Alpine and Pioneer are both good brands, you can't go wrong with their stuff, it's the speakers that will make the difference between a good or bad stereo anyway. If you want to buy Alpine over brand X because you think their hardware is potentially 10% better quality than the Chinese ones (which it won't be, I'm just saying), then you want to make sure you have speakers that can translate that 10% hardware quality into sound quality. A head unit is a very simple item, at the end of the day it just outputs an audio stream to an amp and then to the speakers. All head units will do that to an acceptable quality (which is why you should get the Android ones for the features, sound quality will not be compromised). What your setup sounds like, depends far more on what amp and speakers you have, and in that area I would not recommend cheap Chinese stuff.

 

Let me put it another way, the sound quality of your car stereo will have more to do with the cable that you use to feed the amp from the head unit than the brand of head unit you choose OR the price you pay for the head unit. Basically, the head unit is one of the very last items that plays a role in your overall sound quality (assuming a certain level, I don't mean the 20 quid argos jobbies obviously). Lastly, don't forget that Pioneer and Apline head units have their own software which is sometimes rather shite (the user interface, the way it handles playlists, whatever), at least with an Android system, you can use whatever app you want as a music player, it really is a no-brainer.

 

Bottom line: Don't waste money on an expensive head unit, unless you are able to spend more on the speakers, cabling and amps AS WELL to match that investment, otherwise it is literally money that you will never 'hear'.