USB thumb drives & Alpine/Kenwood decks
07-03-2010, 06:56 PM
#1
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Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 6
USB thumb drives & Alpine/Kenwood decks
Hello all:
I've just upgraded the feeble sound system in my Subaru to the following:
Alpine CDA117 head unit with bluetooth but no imprint.
Focal polyglass speakers all 4 doors
Ultimate T2 4 channel amp.
No subwoofer (yet).
While the sound quality of the above is a vast improvement over the stock setup I am disappointed in the Alpine's interface particularly with a USB drive. It's slooooooow, buggy and generally difficult to use while driving. My last vehicle was a bottom of the line Sante Fe which had a much nicer and far faster USB setup, so nice in fact that I became used to using only the USB and rarely used either the radio or CD.
I've tried various configurations on USB Drives of 4, 8 and 16 GB and while it improves with fewer files and only first-level directories it still is not a user-friendly setup.
My questions are: Is the Kenwood KDC-BT945U (or KDC-X994) better for USB drives? Does the "kenwood music editor lite" help with searching speed? Is the sound quality of the Kenwood decks far behind the Alpine?
I originally was supposed to have the KDC-X994 installed but it is on backorder. I think I can have the shop swap the alpine for the KDC-BT945U which is due in soon. I realize that I will be giving up the graphic/parametric equalizer but don't see much else that differs by the specs between the BT945 and the CDA117.
Since I can't test the Kenwood yet myself I was wondering if anyone had any comments -- should I just put up with the CDA117 or consider swapping it for the Kenwood? I think I got a very good deal on the alpine so the difference in price is relatively small.
Sorry for the long post, thanks in advance.....
Doug
I've just upgraded the feeble sound system in my Subaru to the following:
Alpine CDA117 head unit with bluetooth but no imprint.
Focal polyglass speakers all 4 doors
Ultimate T2 4 channel amp.
No subwoofer (yet).
While the sound quality of the above is a vast improvement over the stock setup I am disappointed in the Alpine's interface particularly with a USB drive. It's slooooooow, buggy and generally difficult to use while driving. My last vehicle was a bottom of the line Sante Fe which had a much nicer and far faster USB setup, so nice in fact that I became used to using only the USB and rarely used either the radio or CD.
I've tried various configurations on USB Drives of 4, 8 and 16 GB and while it improves with fewer files and only first-level directories it still is not a user-friendly setup.
My questions are: Is the Kenwood KDC-BT945U (or KDC-X994) better for USB drives? Does the "kenwood music editor lite" help with searching speed? Is the sound quality of the Kenwood decks far behind the Alpine?
I originally was supposed to have the KDC-X994 installed but it is on backorder. I think I can have the shop swap the alpine for the KDC-BT945U which is due in soon. I realize that I will be giving up the graphic/parametric equalizer but don't see much else that differs by the specs between the BT945 and the CDA117.
Since I can't test the Kenwood yet myself I was wondering if anyone had any comments -- should I just put up with the CDA117 or consider swapping it for the Kenwood? I think I got a very good deal on the alpine so the difference in price is relatively small.
Sorry for the long post, thanks in advance.....
Doug
07-03-2010, 07:23 PM
#2
50 Watt CAFz'r
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 300
I have been thru this before and unfortunately the only "good" solution is always a ipod.
I am using a 64gig on my pioneer unit, and it's not to bad. Take about 20 seconds for the music to start when I first turn it on. with 32gigs and less it's almost instant. Only downside is there's a 500 folder limit, then it just stops reading whatever's left on the drive. You have to get creative with artist album separation to make it all work.
I just picked up a alpine unit today. I hope I won't regret my decision.
I am using a 64gig on my pioneer unit, and it's not to bad. Take about 20 seconds for the music to start when I first turn it on. with 32gigs and less it's almost instant. Only downside is there's a 500 folder limit, then it just stops reading whatever's left on the drive. You have to get creative with artist album separation to make it all work.
I just picked up a alpine unit today. I hope I won't regret my decision.
07-03-2010, 07:35 PM
#3
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Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 6
I'd rather not bother with an Ipod if at all possible as it seems a waste to buy one just to make up for the deficiencies of the deck. It would only be used in the car. Pioneer isn't carried by the shop that sold & installed the alpine.
On the plus side the sound quality from the alpine seems very high I just wish they had put more effort in to the layout/operation of the display and controls. If there was a higher Alpine model that worked better it might be an option as well but even the units at 2x the price seem to suffer the same problems from what I've read so far.
I don't know the brand of the OEM stereo in the Hyundai but it was about 30 seconds to start up and then pretty much instant to switch between folders/songs, even with a full 16GB drive. It also had dedicated buttons and a larger display so it was simple to operate.
Please let me know what you think of the alpine when you get it hooked up. Maybe it's just me.....
On the plus side the sound quality from the alpine seems very high I just wish they had put more effort in to the layout/operation of the display and controls. If there was a higher Alpine model that worked better it might be an option as well but even the units at 2x the price seem to suffer the same problems from what I've read so far.
I don't know the brand of the OEM stereo in the Hyundai but it was about 30 seconds to start up and then pretty much instant to switch between folders/songs, even with a full 16GB drive. It also had dedicated buttons and a larger display so it was simple to operate.
Please let me know what you think of the alpine when you get it hooked up. Maybe it's just me.....
Last edited by DougMorgan; 07-03-2010 at 07:41 PM.
07-03-2010, 10:30 PM
#4
If you can wait for the 994 or even find a leftover 993 from Kenwood you won't be disappointed. I have been using Excelon series decks for years and my only problems have been wearing out the CD drives....
Not a problem now since the USB input on the 993 I got last spring has worked flawlessly since I put it in the dash. I drive a lot and the traffic reports are about all I listen to now other than the stick....a 16GB stick with 12G of music on it will start playing the first track it finds very quickly......if I try and bring up the directory tree right away it can take a second or so to come up with the first entry, but you scroll thru the tree right away after that.
I have never owned an Alpine deck but I have heard a few and to my ears there was not enough of a difference in the SQ to justify the difference in price from the KW. The KW has plenty of tuning options although nothing that compares to the imprint directly. Personally I'd rather fiddle with all the settings myself anyways......
They also have built-in BT, you get a mic for your visor and you can pick which speakers you want to hear the phone thru.
HTH
Not a problem now since the USB input on the 993 I got last spring has worked flawlessly since I put it in the dash. I drive a lot and the traffic reports are about all I listen to now other than the stick....a 16GB stick with 12G of music on it will start playing the first track it finds very quickly......if I try and bring up the directory tree right away it can take a second or so to come up with the first entry, but you scroll thru the tree right away after that.
I have never owned an Alpine deck but I have heard a few and to my ears there was not enough of a difference in the SQ to justify the difference in price from the KW. The KW has plenty of tuning options although nothing that compares to the imprint directly. Personally I'd rather fiddle with all the settings myself anyways......
They also have built-in BT, you get a mic for your visor and you can pick which speakers you want to hear the phone thru.
HTH
07-03-2010, 10:42 PM
#5
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Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 6
Thanks BigRedGuy:
I was originally supposed to get the 994 but they ran completely out of the excelon and the order went from a few days to six weeks and it was the Alpine or wait.
Now they expect to get the KDC-BT945U in soon enough to swap it for the alpine if it's a better fit. My understanding is that the difference between KDCX994 and the KDC-BT945U is the graphic equalizer being 5 bands on the former and 3 on the latter? Are their other differences?
Thanks
Doug
I was originally supposed to get the 994 but they ran completely out of the excelon and the order went from a few days to six weeks and it was the Alpine or wait.
Now they expect to get the KDC-BT945U in soon enough to swap it for the alpine if it's a better fit. My understanding is that the difference between KDCX994 and the KDC-BT945U is the graphic equalizer being 5 bands on the former and 3 on the latter? Are their other differences?
Thanks
Doug
07-03-2010, 10:49 PM
#6
Thanks BigRedGuy:
I was originally supposed to get the 994 but they ran completely out of the excelon and the order went from a few days to six weeks and it was the Alpine or wait.
Now they expect to get the KDC-BT945U in soon enough to swap it for the alpine if it's a better fit. My understanding is that the difference between KDCX994 and the KDC-BT945U is the graphic equalizer being 5 bands on the former and 3 on the latter? Are their other differences?
Thanks
Doug
I was originally supposed to get the 994 but they ran completely out of the excelon and the order went from a few days to six weeks and it was the Alpine or wait.
Now they expect to get the KDC-BT945U in soon enough to swap it for the alpine if it's a better fit. My understanding is that the difference between KDCX994 and the KDC-BT945U is the graphic equalizer being 5 bands on the former and 3 on the latter? Are their other differences?
Thanks
Doug
The Kenwood site here has all the info you need.....I would expect most of the differences are cosmetic, the Ex probably have more things built-in but whether you need some or all of them is up to you.
HTH
07-05-2010, 08:31 PM
#10
HTH
