SSInnovations

iTrader: (8)

I am in the market for a new HU and am primarily looking for superior best sound quality. Any suggestions?

slaterbj

You cannot go wrong with Eclipse. I have one and love it. High end Alpine/ Clarion is pretty good too. My 2 cents.

SSInnovations

iTrader: (8)

Do you think there are noticable sound quality differences between brands? I have no idea what makes one's sound quality better than another, is there anything I should look for?

cjacks7

iTrader: (1)

Alpine. I have worked at two shops over the last 3 and 1/2 years, and everybody that works there puts alpine in there car. Hell the best installer here in town, that does all of shaq's cars, that left our shop and went to another still has an alpine in his car even though he works at another shop, that doesn't sell alpine. They just simply sound better.

FILE

iTrader: (5)

I suggest just go with a higher end alpine/eclipse. You will probably hear more of a difference by better speaker placement.

apathy

All head units produce the exact same sound quality. 24 Bit DAC.

Upgrade speakers/amps for better sound.

SSInnovations

iTrader: (8)

Everything I have read say's there are major differences as far as sound quality from product to product. From what I can tell, there are major differences in the type/quality of components companys use to make their product. Since I am new at this, I am just going to assume you get what you pay for and I already spent plenty of money on amps/speakers so I might as well get a high end HU.


Going to go with an Eclipse unit, looking for a CD8454 or CD5444, anybody know where I can get a good deal on one? Thanks for all the good info!

apathy

You can think what you want. It doesn't really matter.

People will always tell you that an alpine or eclipse or whatever produces better sound quality than your stock stereo, but there are no facts to back it up. If you talk to a real car audio guy (that knows the internals of head units, NOT A BEST BUY INSTALLER), he will tell you the same thing. Alpine, Eclipse, Rockford, etc., will tell you theirs produces better quality sound, but will never tell you why. Ask anybody who says one produces better sound quality WHY it does, and they won't be able to tell you anything except "that's how it sounds to me." Everything you read that says they produce better sound will not tell you why. Because the truth is they don't.

Yeah, you get better internal parts (which is completely unrelated to sound quality). And the CD might not skip as much over time. And you get cool features. And it might look really nifty. But the sound quality is the same. It's how they are designed, bottom line. They are all using the same converter. It's like saying which CDROM drive will read the best quality data. It's all the same data, no matter which one you get. From stock, to alpine, to jensen, to radio shack.

A guy on a messageboard I used to be on got in this argument regularly, and he knew exactly what he was talking about. He offered a $5000 bet to anyone who could tell him in a blindfolded test which headunit was stock and which was aftermarket (he offered to let them bring their own HUs in) hooked to the same system. As much as these people talk about alpine/eclipse/whatever having far superior sound quality, nobody EVER took that bet.

People who are interested in sound quality for the best price use a stock HU with an aftermarket equalizer, speakers, etc. This also is less likely to get stolen out of your car. You can get whatever makes you happy. I was just telling you the truth. The fact that nobody else has responded saying "Alpine has better sound quality because of..." should show you that.

SSInnovations

iTrader: (8)

Huh,
That does make sense, and everything I have been reading is from sombody selling the product, so of course they want me to spend more money on it. I had wanted to use my factory HU because I like things to look 100% stock, but was unsure if I would be able to hook both my amps and everything up too it without any problems. Like I said, I dont know anything about any of this, I just want to do this right the first time around.
Would I be better off getting a more basic headunit and spending money on an aftermarket EQ then? Also, I noticed the more expensive HU's seem to have higher output voltage to the amp, what is the purpose of that? I dont need to be throwing money around that dosent need to be spent.

apathy

If you buy a good aftermarket EQ that is tuned well, your sound quality will be great, assuming you have enough power running all around. My old car had aftermarket speakers, a $90 CD player, and a $200 subwoofer (bottom line at the time) ran pretty softly. I got compliments on the sound a lot. My celica has the stock deck, and premium sound (which has a little amp after the deck), and sounds fantastic. If you are really interested in just SQ, focus on speakers, amps, and EQs. Of course, some people love the toys, and like to say that "I have an eclipse deck." Which isn't necessarily bad, just different. Just don't let them tell you that their eclipse produces better EQ.

Regarding output voltage:

"A piece of equipment that has a higher maximum output voltage is not necessarily going to sound better than one which is only capable of 2 volts output. The higher output will allow you to reduce the gains on your amp (or any down line signal processor) which will lower the noise floor of your system. If you are not having trouble with noise (alternator, hiss...), you may not benefit from the extra output voltage. You also need to realize that the voltage may be more than your amplifiers can handle. The extra voltage will not damage the amplifier but if the lowest sensitivity (gain setting) on your amp is 2 volts, and you drive it with anything more than 2 volts, it will cause your amp to clip."

Simplified: If the rest of your system is already nice, it doesn't matter.

apathy

As far as hooking everything up, you can hook it up fine as long as the connections are there. Get a good L.O.C. if you are running to an amp and keeping the stock head. If you are getting a cheaper aftermarket, you'll be set no matter what.

Using the EQ method + stock HU*will* require more effort in getting it hooked up and sounding right. Again, it all depends on what you want and how you want to get there.

SSInnovations

iTrader: (8)

Thanks for the advice, I think I am going to try to install everything I have using my factory HU and see how it goes from there. Thats what I really wanted in the first place. Hopefully I have no problems.

apathy

Good deal. You might want to look up some info on the net about how to do what you are doing, or talk to some shops about it. Knowledge is power. Just ignore them when they are trying to sell you an 800 dollar head unit.

I'm not knocking the aftermarket HUs. Some people really like to see dolphins swimming around while they are driving I guess. Really though, some of them have some neat features on them, but it's gonna sound exactly the same (except to the guy that dropped almost $1000 on his HU, he'll always tell you his sounds better, for obvious reasons.)

iB2slow

i dont mean to be sticking my nose in the wrong place just because im trying to hook SSinovations up with an eclipse for a hell of a price in my opinion. but all this aside apathy you are straight up trippin the head unit makes a HUGE diffrence if you dont know any better than this you need to quit giving advice. ive had all kinds of head unit and i switched a pioneer 6400 for the eclipse 5423 im trying to sell SSinovations and it was a unreal diffrence clairty was no competion between the 2

apathy

1. You are selling him something.

2. Provide me any factual evidence that any HU provides better sound quality than the other. Any at all.

Don't mistake a HU's EQ for an aftermarket EQ. Saying that I am "straight up trippin" doesn't mean anything to me.

If he hears them both and prefers one to another, that's fine. I'm just providing him facts, rather than opinion. There's a million guys out there that will tell you alpine sounds better than eclipse, and eclipse sounds better than alpine, and they all sound better than stock. But where's the evidence?

iB2slow

your right you cant say which one sounds better because everyone has there opinion. the reason i said your straight up trippin is because your trying to argue a stock head unit is better than a high quality aftermarket thats wrong. diffrent heads have diffrent sounds for SQ as this post was created for then yes i will say the eclipse has the best SQ ive ever heard ecept for the $1500 clarion that thing kicks *** and im not trying to hype up what im trying to sell him by anymeans ask him if you dont believe he said he didnt know what he wanted to do yet so he was going to hold off and i said thats cool i understand if you want a diffrent head than mine ill suggest some nice ones for your needs.

bill99hawk

I went from a Kenwood Excelon HU in my Hawk to an Alpine 9833 and was really surprised that a HU can make that much difference in SQ.

Sorry but you are getting **** for aftermarket hookups from a stock stereo. You can splice and dice in connections, but going that that route the signal is getting degraded by increasing connections (usually weak) that are put between the HU and the speakers. As for HU SQ, going from a stock HU to an aftermarket stereo while using stock speakers won't tell you much. And if you have average speakers, then you won't hear much difference between HUs. Most people don't know what SQ really is until they've been listening to properly setup SQ systems for years, and even then things are subjective. BTW, EQs make a bad signal ok, and a good signal better.

If you want louder then go with aftermarket speakers and amplifiers that can handle more power. SQ is expensive.

apathy

Still waiting for you to tell me HOW an aftermarket HU will provide better quality than a stock HU. Other than "duuuuuude, this one sounds sooooo much better than that one!!1!!1!1"

The poster wanted to know if he'll get better sound quality from an aftermarket HU. The answer is ABSOLUTELY NOT.

The aftermarket HU usually has a built in EQ that can shape the sound better than a stock HU. This is the only reason it would sound better than a stock HU. If you get an aftermarket EQ, it will shape the sound just the same. Those are facts. Ask anybody who knows how a HU works and they will tell you the same thing. Ask anybody who is a salesman, installer, uninformed, or an idiot, and they will tell you the more expensive ones sound better. The reality is with an EQ and an amp, they can all sound exactly the same. Get a good LOC and you are set.

If you want to shape the sound, get an EQ. If you want a stronger signal, get an amp. Please tell me WHAT the HU is doing differently that will give you better sound quality.

bill99hawk

Ok so from what you are saying is that all electronics inside HUs are built alike, have components that sound the same, produce the same signal quality, and are no different than any other brand in SQ. Where are your facts? Well other than some guy asking everyone to bring their own HUs for a soundoff. I guess you know everything based on one guys post and a bunch of imaginary references. I do not doubt a system can be built with a stock HU and sound good, but it will sound better with the right HU. I am sorry, but the signal is what makes the different and not all HUs are built to produce the best quality signal. And splicing in RCAs will reduce the signal quality.

derekdpt

I have been an installer for 10 years, have competion experiance, and hold an an associates degree in EET. I can offer this bit of advice:

1.All of the head units read digital from the CD but they all have an analog output.

2. I am pretty sure that most all head units are built to the same specifications.

3. The biggest difference maker in anything electronics, is how, where, and the conditions of its creation.

4. There are things that you will get from an aftermarket hu that you do not get from a stock one, 4V output, crossovers, and such.

5. If you use a high end low level convertor on the stock unit, adjust it properly and tune it with a scope, you will likely not be able to tell the difference.

6. The number one thing that is wrong with almost every stereo that I have installed is improperly balanced gains, and screwed up settings on the EQ.

7. The gain control is not a volume control, it is a level matcher. When improperly adjusted it will cause an increase in distortion.

8. The purpose of high voltage outputs is so that there is a higher voltage traveling through your cables so that they do not become an antenna for noise. You are supposed to turn the gain down farther that with a 1.5 to 2 V setup, not make it louder.

9. The gain basically sets the amount of gain for the op amp inside. You are supposed to set it so that the chip operates within the required frequecy range, every chip has there own, that is why most components on the inside are proprietary. When you saturate the chip with too much current, i.e. too high of a setting, the chip does not operate within its frequency range and you now have actually increased its distortion level.

10. The secret is in the amplifiers, that is where you need to spend the most money. I have seen countless setups with underpowered systems that were loud but sounded like ****. A speaker is a motor. Would you put in a supercharged 427 and run a stock fuel pump, I think not.

Feel free to pick my brain for I can go on all day about this subject.

OH yea. The main reason why people think that the stock hu sucks is because they probably purched a cheap Best Buy high low converter.

Delco Electronics is probably one of the best manufacturers of automotive electronics out there.

BTW most aftermarket stuff is made by Sanyo and then sent to the different companies for their faces and cases.