bigunner1

i must agree with being able to hear a difference. i have used/tried umpteen amounts of decks and there is a noticeable difference in all of them. eclpise is awesome, but everyone knows its pricey, i like clarion, had 3 different ones and loved of all for the price, and am using one now. also i found kenwood to sound better than pioneer and panasonic. i've had 2 decks side by side and just by swapping rca's back and forth from each other, the sound quality was very apparrent

Keith

All parts of the audio chain are important. But is there a hierarchy to the importance??? I would say yes there is. In home audio especially, the source unit is considered to be the most important part of the chain as this is where the signal originates. This applies in car audio as well but maybe not as much.
Everything is important; from the head unit to the amps, the wiring, speakers, sound dampening, eq's, crossovers, even the jacks, and finally the set-up.
Even the best of speakers will not hide the distortion or poor sound created from a poor quality head unit. In fact, good quality speakers will emphasize the weaknesses of a poor quality head unit and all else upstream from it.
We can go one step before the head unit and talk about the quality of the cd being played. Was it well recorded ??? Does the sound engineer have alot of experience or not ??? What kind of equipment is being used in the recording studio ??? These factors will also make a difference to your ears.
We can go even one step further back and talk about the musicians on the cd. How much experience do they have ??? Do they play well together ??? Is there synergy between the musicians ??? These factors will also make a big difference in the final verdict of the quality of sound.
And finally, sound quality can be very subjective. For example, I listen to a crappy little Radio Shack cd player at work. But, when I slip in my Mahler's symphony no. 1 cd, it sounds absolutely wonderful to me even though I am listening to a totally crap cd player. The soundstage is not wide or high or deep, but I don't care because I simply love listening to this recording. It still sounds good to me.

So in conclusion, yes, the quality of the head unit will make a difference, as will the quality of everything else in the signal chain and the other things not in the signal chain.

fozzz

iTrader: (1)

Well I can say that I have heard a differance in similar priced HU. I picked up a panasonic HU for the beater (thats all they are good for,in my humble opinion) the 801U was the model number I think. Then one day I found one of my old kenwoods in the basement (PS 9000) and decided to stick it in. The sound differance was so noticable I gave away the panasonic. I knew that it didnt sound great but when I put the old kenwood in I simply could not believe how much better it sounded. Less fatigueing, imaging was improved, tonality was much better.

I dont think that this case means that every HU will sound completly different, but there are cases where they will.

mike bisson

iTrader: (1)

Source is the "first link in the chain" so to speak -- in many cases, to equate car audio to high end home audio, your head unit is your CD player (DAC), pre-amp and source switching. Many people put a lot of effort into their speakers and amps and subs and then drop the ball over cosmetics and auxillory functions (ie video) when choosing their Deck. Finally, a good pre-amp section (high voltage, low impedance) is highly beneficial in good sounding system.

TomK

Good head unit is nice.

Awesome install is even better......... but everyone knows that already as it's been beaten to death buy most of us in the know.

Hey George, why no comment !?!??!?!?

[ March 29, 2004, 07:52 AM: Message edited by: dawgsbreakfast ]

crazy_canuck999

I also have a question relating to this topic. If your speakers are connected to a 4-channel amp, will a more expensive deck still provide better sound quality, or should you just pick one that you like the looks of?

lemonlime

A high end deck with quality DACs and internal components will almost certainly improve the sound. Just how much of a difference it will make is debatable. Just remember, that the quality of the sound is only as good as the worst component in the chain. Everything from the deck, to the processors, to the amplifiers, to the cables all makes a difference.

Reider

[img]graemlins/jack.gif[/img]

[img]graemlins/beer.gif[/img]

Muckaluck

^^^^ I have to agree with you. Although differences do exist in different decks, an $800 deck MUST sound good because such a great investment has been made.

Reider

I would like to go beyond this.
I have noticed a change in sound in not only my car when I change my HU, but also in my friends and my brothers car as well.... wether it be an ever so slight improvement or a large improvement.

That's a good point you brought up.. When we spend money, we want to see improvement.. But at the same time, most of us have been listening to our stereo's for 5 + years and have ears that are trained... ears that can tell differences, even if they aren't very large differences.

As one person pointed out.. the higher end the stereo the easier it is going to notice a difference.. (which is what most of the Car Audio Fanatics have)... where as the people with mediocre systems may not have had it for a long time so they might not know the difference. This is just from a general view.. I realize there are always grey area's and exceptions.

I"m with the other 90% of the people on this board when I say that in a lot of cases (but not all) a change in head unit does improve SQ and can be distinguished with our human ears. Especially those that listen to their system's on a daily basis.