Infotainment replacement
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2022
Posts: 1,186
Likes: 660
From: Iowa
The difference between a $350 unit and a $1k unit is mostly going to be a smidge size difference and EQ options.
You are not going to notice the power difference between 15wpc and 18wpc
The EQ though will certainly bring it all to life because you can fine tune the bands.
Thats where spending the money really counts…. IMHO of course.
You are not going to notice the power difference between 15wpc and 18wpc
The EQ though will certainly bring it all to life because you can fine tune the bands.
Thats where spending the money really counts…. IMHO of course.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Oct 2022
Posts: 3,341
Likes: 1,934
From: Ulta Vista, AZ
my findings over the years have shown different. With bass boost features along with better crossovers it's a drastic difference. My max-din is good enough, but my kenwood sounded fantastic. The top end units by all name brand manufacturers is going to be significantly better than their mid priced units. I'm not an audiophile by any means, but I can absolutely tell a difference.
You can get lower priced units with multiband eq’s or dsp’s.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2022
Posts: 1,186
Likes: 660
From: Iowa
the crossovers you speak of and the bass boost are exactly what I said with EQ. DSP’s make the world of difference because they let you hone in on specific frequency bands and let you tune to how your ears like to hear music.
You can get lower priced units with multiband eq’s or dsp’s.
You can get lower priced units with multiband eq’s or dsp’s.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Oct 2022
Posts: 3,341
Likes: 1,934
From: Ulta Vista, AZ
my finding are different. Ive been extremely unsatisfied with lower priced units. Sound is always subjective. Doesn't make either of us right or wrong. I don't like the sound produced from cheaper units. If you do I'm honestly a little jealous because of the money I had to spend to be satisfied
Drifting
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 1,396
Likes: 379
From: Cincinnati Ohio
Last edited by seijack; Feb 24, 2024 at 12:39 PM.
Race Director
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 17,407
Likes: 6,537
From: Melbourne, FL
my finding are different. Ive been extremely unsatisfied with lower priced units. Sound is always subjective. Doesn't make either of us right or wrong. I don't like the sound produced from cheaper units. If you do I'm honestly a little jealous because of the money I had to spend to be satisfied
Race Director
Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 12,759
Likes: 10,657
From: Prosper TX/Austin TX
2020 C6 of the Year Winner - Modified
One doesn't need a $1k head unit to do that. Here's the spec's on the head unit I have in my Z,
Pioneer avh-2440-nex
The audio experts can chime in on whether or not it's trash. It's got more features and adjustability than I know or care to learn about. I've got the oem Bose system, a Rockford Fosgate amp & JL Audio sub in the rear cubby. I listen to a wide variety of music genres, and they all sound significantly better than they did on the stock Bose system. I'm sure someone with more audio knowledge could come in and adjust the settings in this unit and make it sound even better.
I can use Carplay either wired or wirelessly (through bluetooth), can listen to CDs (yes, I still like CDs), can watch DVDs, and have front & rear cameras. At the time I purchased it, it was a 1 or 2-year old model, so I got it at a discount. All Pioneer, Kenwood, Alpine, etc. do is update 1 or 2 features every year, give it a new model number and up the price. No sense in paying for the latest/greatest if you're not going to use all the features.
Regardless, I definitely wouldn't spend $1,700 or even $1k on some unit sold by a guy on Corvette Forum.
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2020
Posts: 2,136
Likes: 1,309
From: North Little Rock, AR
I see so many of these threads about replacing the head unit and based on most of them it is to get technology of today in a dated system. I don’t disagree that a more expensive unit will have overall better performance but it is not the know all be all for improved sound. You have to have all the right components to get great sound out of a system and the head unit is just a small piece of that puzzle. Without the proper amps and speakers you may get a little better sounding system but it’s not gonna be that much better between an inexpensive unit and a high dollar one just based on the stereo feature of the unit.
I rarely divulge financials of what I paid for something but here goes to make my point. I have a Malibu Wakesetter boat and the total cost of my sound system was around 5K. I am using a $220 Kenwood media only head unit. All the money is invested in amps and speakers. Once I got it all in I had a stereo shop tune the system.
I think it goes without saying that all these units that have multi functionality don’t perform as well as a single unit designed for one purpose. The same holds true for home theater systems. An AV receiver even in stereo mode does not produce as good a sound as equipment designed to just play music.
I rarely divulge financials of what I paid for something but here goes to make my point. I have a Malibu Wakesetter boat and the total cost of my sound system was around 5K. I am using a $220 Kenwood media only head unit. All the money is invested in amps and speakers. Once I got it all in I had a stereo shop tune the system.
I think it goes without saying that all these units that have multi functionality don’t perform as well as a single unit designed for one purpose. The same holds true for home theater systems. An AV receiver even in stereo mode does not produce as good a sound as equipment designed to just play music.
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Melting Slicks
Joined: Oct 2022
Posts: 3,341
Likes: 1,934
From: Ulta Vista, AZ
Ditto on what is said above. The head unit is really just your processor with a small built in amp. True sound performance is external amping.
DSP is the next best thing to trick your ears and better utilize the frequency ranges of the speakers , but better speakers and amps with more power are always the answer to pure bliss.
DSP is the next best thing to trick your ears and better utilize the frequency ranges of the speakers , but better speakers and amps with more power are always the answer to pure bliss.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2022
Posts: 1,186
Likes: 660
From: Iowa
Last edited by Iowa; Feb 18, 2024 at 08:04 PM.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2001
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From: Maryville TN
St. Jude Donor '06-13,'16-'17, '19
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2022
Posts: 1,186
Likes: 660
From: Iowa
if you change from an oem radio you will lose the radio station display on the HUD and any navigation that would display there. The other hud features are unaffected
Thread Starter
Cruising
Joined: Feb 2024
Posts: 10
Likes: 1
What an interesting thread. Didn’t know it was going to cause such an in-depth discussion. But hey I appreciate everyone’s comments and advice. After all of this I PULLED THE PLUG. I hope it’s everything I expect it to be. I know I’m not going to get a high quality sound but it has a lot of features and a different look than the double min which is what I’m going after. IOWA I might be looking for some programming help for main screen appearance and such in the future. Thanks everyone
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2022
Posts: 1,186
Likes: 660
From: Iowa
What an interesting thread. Didn’t know it was going to cause such an in-depth discussion. But hey I appreciate everyone’s comments and advice. After all of this I PULLED THE PLUG. I hope it’s everything I expect it to be. I know I’m not going to get a high quality sound but it has a lot of features and a different look than the double min which is what I’m going after. IOWA I might be looking for some programming help for main screen appearance and such in the future. Thanks everyone
Race Director
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 17,407
Likes: 6,537
From: Melbourne, FL
guess you just skipped right over the comment where i said the max-din was good enough for me but that the kenwood was absolutely phenomenal? The max-din is in no way an audiophile unit just like any other android unit. I've simply answered questions regarding the max-din while giving a lot of credit to the kenwood that was previously installed. You're selective reading is entertaining though. I also gave my opinion while mentioning that sound quality is subject to the end user. I could certainly get better sound quality by going with external amps and better speakers. I don't find it necessary, but would have 20 years ago. Car audio can be an endless pit of cash. The only statement I presented as advice was to stay with name brand units such as pioneer alpine or kenwood. Not sure how any of that could be taken as me promoting the sound quality of the max-din.
You're right though, sound is VERY subjective. Most people are happy with just turning on a loud ess setting, which just jacks the EQ at the top and bottom of the audio ranges. Others will come in here saying they pulled the stock 10s out of the doors and put in 6.5s and think it sounds great, ignoring that those 6.5s would be crossed out basically, as the 10s are just midbass woofers. Years ago in a past life I did a car with way too much high frequency speakers, we put like 4x 3.5 coax speakers per side in a mustang convertible, it was honestly one of the worst sounding setups.ive ever built.... But the customer loved it, and said he could finally hear the vocals with the roof down. Turned out he has like tinnitus or something because he'd blown out his hearing via military service, so he needed that much vume to even hear it, but man, it was so incredibly bright and hard and loud to everyone else, lol.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2022
Posts: 1,186
Likes: 660
From: Iowa
You said that max din is what you liked at $1k us, and then said "lower price units don't sound good to you". This was right after someone said they bought a pioneer for $350 and made their stock system sound great. It's easy to understand that people would think you were saying that inexpensive pioneer couldn't sound good.
You're right though, sound is VERY subjective. Most people are happy with just turning on a loud ess setting, which just jacks the EQ at the top and bottom of the audio ranges. Others will come in here saying they pulled the stock 10s out of the doors and put in 6.5s and think it sounds great, ignoring that those 6.5s would be crossed out basically, as the 10s are just midbass woofers. Years ago in a past life I did a car with way too much high frequency speakers, we put like 4x 3.5 coax speakers per side in a mustang convertible, it was honestly one of the worst sounding setups.ive ever built.... But the customer loved it, and said he could finally hear the vocals with the roof down. Turned out he has like tinnitus or something because he'd blown out his hearing via military service, so he needed that much vume to even hear it, but man, it was so incredibly bright and hard and loud to everyone else, lol.
You're right though, sound is VERY subjective. Most people are happy with just turning on a loud ess setting, which just jacks the EQ at the top and bottom of the audio ranges. Others will come in here saying they pulled the stock 10s out of the doors and put in 6.5s and think it sounds great, ignoring that those 6.5s would be crossed out basically, as the 10s are just midbass woofers. Years ago in a past life I did a car with way too much high frequency speakers, we put like 4x 3.5 coax speakers per side in a mustang convertible, it was honestly one of the worst sounding setups.ive ever built.... But the customer loved it, and said he could finally hear the vocals with the roof down. Turned out he has like tinnitus or something because he'd blown out his hearing via military service, so he needed that much vume to even hear it, but man, it was so incredibly bright and hard and loud to everyone else, lol.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Oct 2022
Posts: 3,341
Likes: 1,934
From: Ulta Vista, AZ
my comment was meant as comparing traditional units. The higher end units have more features that allow better adjustability. They sound better in my opinion. If your plan is to add external amps then that's not going to be an issue. The external amp setup is going to sound better, but you're adding the cost of amps, wiring and speakers into the equation. I can only give my opinion. I don't care one way or the other what someone puts in their car. I don't profit from any of it. Plenty of people think the stock system is great. More power to them.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2022
Posts: 1,186
Likes: 660
From: Iowa
I figured it out. I struggled big time getting the max-din to sound good. Definitely took some time for me to figure out. I'll have more tweaking to do once I get it out of the garage, but I'm perfectly happy with it. It has been a learning experience for sure. I just try to give honest thoughts on my experiences. The sound quality (particularly the mid bass) was much better on the kenwood in my opinion.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Oct 2022
Posts: 3,341
Likes: 1,934
From: Ulta Vista, AZ
