New HU - Thoughts, Ramblings & Advice...

Shiny · Post by **Shiny** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 9:44 am

I currently have a JVC KD-SH9104, cracking little HU back in its day, won lots of awards and still pumps out some quality sound.

I normally convert my CDs to MP3s and then burn them back onto CD, so i can have a dozen albums on one disc. Then, when the discs get damage from being chucked around in the car, i just bin them and burn another.

My current batch of CDs are now all scratched and jumping so time to burn some fresh ones, but this got me thinking. I've got 20gb of music on my iphone, so why not use that.

I've tried using a headphone jack into the aux in on the back of the JVC, but to be honest, this sounds absolutely pants.

So the Alpine iDA-X305S caught my eye. But having read reviews and the fact you have to buy an additional Bluetooth unit, i was put off.

So then i thought about a nice single din motorised screen version, considered the Alpine IVA-D106R and the Pioneer AVH-6300BT, but then thought most of my journeys are short ones and want to get in the car, listen to music, stop and get out without too much flaffing around. Plus the prices are a bit over budget.

Then this caught my eye http://www.pioneer.eu/uk/products/22/12 ... index.html

Downsides are that it has the USB slot at the front, so this would mean a cable running from there to my iphone for the music (although the actual phone can be connected via Bluetooth for calls etc).

BUT it has a 32GB SD card slot, so i can put all my music on my phone onto an SD card, bung it in the HU and not have to flaff around connecting up my phone each time i get in the car.

Would appreciate thoughts on the Pioneer MVH-8300BT or any worthy contenders, budget £200/£300.

Cheers

Post by **indigolemon** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 9:50 am

Recently fitted a Parrot Asteroid in my mates car. It is, without doubt, one of the coolest solutions out there for music/phone calls etc.

Have a look, Halfrauds have it on sale atm: http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165474

[edit]I should add you'll want the latest software on it, easy to upgrade though. Solves all the wee niggles you'll see in reviews, and also adds nice new features!

Shiny · Post by **Shiny** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 10:16 am

Cheers Mr Lemon

I will use it 99% for music, 1% for phone calls.

I'm not convinced the Parrot will deliver the audio experience compared to likes of JVC, Pioneer etc, i could be wrong though.

Post by **indigolemon** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 10:21 am

It all comes down to the digital to analogue converters I suppose. I was really impressed with the audio quality coming out of it. From the specs:

... the Asteroid is equipped with a 4x55W built-in MOSFET amplifier, a subwoofer output and 6 RCA preamp-outputs. Fine tune your music using the fully customizable equalizer ...

Biggest advantage is that it all happens over bluetooth. You start the car, the parrot connects to your phone, your music starts playing (with all controls on the Parrot). If a phone call comes in, the music pauses and you can deal with the call, after you hang up - back to music. Tis pretty awesome!

Full bumf here: http://www.parrot.com/usa/products/blue ... t-asteroid

Shiny · Post by **Shiny** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 10:24 am

Does it tether via personal hotspot on the iphone? Don't fancy paying for another network connection! lol!

Post by **indigolemon** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 10:37 am

Yeah, can tether to your phone via bluetooth since it's already likely connected via bluetooth.

Happy to ask my mate any questions you like btw

Shiny · Post by **Shiny** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 10:48 am

Is he using his with an iphone? Most of what i have just read point to an android HU?

Yeah, ask him how he is getting on with it. I will only need the flash stuff every now and then, long journeys etc. Most of my trips are short journeys to work or seeing customers locally, so in and out the car and don't want to be flaffing around too much. Just turn on the HU, play music and on off i go.

Post by **indigolemon** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 10:57 am

He is using it with his 4S - the parrot runs Android, but isn't racist

Will ask him about it now, and chuck his response in here.

Shiny · Post by **Shiny** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 11:28 am

Good man.

judderod · Post by **judderod** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 12:10 pm

Looks interesting. I really like the clean design that looks more OEM than most aftermarket flashy gimicky how many led's can we fit on it kind of thing.