This thing has JUST hit the market... Mine came in today and though the mount for my car isn't finished (some silicone is drying, pics tomorrow), I hooked it up and tried it out anyway. It's replacing a CDA-9857 with the KCE-422i ipod adapter.

Most of my music is ripped to the ipod with AAC @ 256kbps, so the quality is near CD, and all my test music is encoded lossless.

The interface is nice.. REALLY nice. MUCH, MUCH, MUCH better than the IDA-X001 it replaced, which I didn't buy because of a few functional issues. I think the only thing that's irritating is there's no one-touch way to go through the radio presets. I have my steering wheel controls hooked up, so that's not an issue with my particular install.

I replaced a defective amplifier (suspect bad solder joint on the board) at the same time I installed the HU, so I can't say if the 24 bit burr-brown DAC makes a difference using the ipod through the USB connection vs. the KC-422 cable, but I can tell you for sure, the sound is great. I did have to use more of the volume control than with the old HU (both rated 2v outputs) but the once or twice I dared to go way up, the sound appeared (to me) to stay crystal clear, so maybe the full range is more usable?

I can say it's MUCH faster (near instantaneous) to load the song information when you start the song, and the album art is a nice touch.

Without the upcoming PXA-H100 Imprint processor, all you get to shape the sound is the typical Alpine bass center freq (60, 80, 100, 200) & "Q", and treble freq (10k, 12.5k, 15k, 17.5k), but the imprint box will give a lot more options if you don't want the imprint auto-eq..

The display is fantastic, it's a mini computer monitor...fantastic resolution.. album art that's only a little over 1" square is easily recognized. Having it on the left side of the head would be even better, but I'll live.

For those who have converted their collection over to digital, I can't think of a better head unit to run.. It's light-years ahead in it's ability to work with the ipod over the 9857 (Which I believe is the same interface still used in up to (and including?) the CDA-9887).

And, it weighs about a third of what the CD player weighs, for those on a diet.

I'll snap some photos tomorrow.

My setup:
Alpine IDA-X100 / PXA-H100 (When it's available)
Pioneer 720PRS mids (~70hz-2khz) / Seas 27TAFNC/G tweets (2.5khz), Fi Q10 (~70hz)(active crossover for all)
ED nine.5 amp
~80 lbs of sound deadening

 

Thats awsome. I believe this is the head unit im going to run this summer. I didnt really know about this model tho...I was gonna get the x001. But ill get this one since its better

 

I just got the Alpine 9886 unit yesterday and I put in it in last night

 

Why do you say the 100 is better than the 001? They seem to be identical except the button layout on the left side and the 001 has a built in MediaXpander...

 

the big button on the 100 is actually an enter button. May not seam like a big deal but it is...

 

also, the **** fully rotates 360°, and can be depressed for the back and forth like the 001 only offered, it's just got alot of little features making it a lot better..

And, the PXA-h100 is a really sweet add-on.. time alignment, crossover control to 24db/oct, and 5 band parametric EQ..

 

I just purchased this headunit it is great very pleased the interface makes using the ipod very easy or any other usb storage device.

 

for those of you using the ida x100 what steering wheel control adapter did you use and did it work? are their multiple filler that can be used with this head unit? anyone get the HD radio and how much did the extra piece for it cost?

 

i am using the swi-jack.
very easy to install and it is a wired connection and not an infrared.

 

Can I see a pic? I can get Alpine @ cost. :-)