That pioneer sound a bit fussy imo I think its due to a little 3rd order distortion , but I couldn't get the mids to stop being muddy and it seemed like the highs slurred a little also . I have never owned a clairion so I can't compare fairly . I do have a premier 880 which only cost me a few dollars more than the pioneer you looked at and the sound quality is a WHOLE lot better with a great eq section . I only paid 420 $ US But if you have to choose from those units I would stick with what you have , the pioneer I felt was very dissapointing .

thankx but the thing that bugs me with the clarion is the absence of EQ...why didn't they put an EQ at 440$ canadian dollars... can somebody answer me?

Usually the more crap you cram into a HU the worse it sounds . the more processing it does the more noise is introduced . Have you considered a sep. eq ?

do u know the difference between at the different D/A converters?
1 bit? 24 bit? 24 bit brow burr?

I just looked up your hu and it has a 2 band parametric eq . it also has 24 bit dacs which the pioneer does not .

what 's the differences between the d/a converter technologies? and how about the panasonic?