What head unit do ya reccomend??

[gfisch]

OK, who out there has an mp3 head unit that they'd reccomend getting. It doesnt need to have a good amp built in, but needs 3 pre-amp outs and an equalizer.

Thanks,
Greg

[mbmbmb23]

Kenwood MP919

or

Kenwood X859

Detatchable motorized flip face (with black panel security), mp3 decoder (WITH ID3 tag display) ....(ID3 is important because its the encoded text of the file...it displays the artist, title, etc) , and this unit has Sirius Satellite radio capabilities.

Best buy and Crutchfield sell it for $479, get it on Ebay...buy it now for like $340.

-M

[West]

I had the Kenwood Z919 or whatever it was and it was badass but it had one major flaw that all MP3 head units may have. It would take like 3-5 seconds to start playing a mp3 song. It was real anoying when looking for a song when there were like 200 songs on a disc. Id test out a unit with a MP3 disc before you buy one.

I dont know whats out there now but Id get something cheap because I had my car broken into and the head unit was stolen.

[whateverjames]

jvc digifine, kenwood, pioneer are good ones. ya the delay in between songs is annoying. especially with live recordings.
song ends, loud applause for 10 seconds.....3-5 seconds of silence....4 seconds of applause, then music. having it continuous is something you take for granted, especially when you listen to a normal cd.

[Grant]

thenew alpines are quite nice, and I've heard good stuff about the JVC digifines as well.

[Yosho]

How about just getting a nice portable mp3 player and hooking that up to a headunit instead.  Then you can use the mp3 player wherever you go (including the car).

I just got a Rio Riot and really like it... 20 gigs, good battery life, great ergonomics/functionality and it even has a built in FM tuner.

[AceInHole]

I've got a cheap Jensen unit (MP3310 or something), and besides the occasional crash (it just freezes on occasion... fixable by pressing eject twice and thus resetting the CD) it's decent.  You can get them cheaper than $150, and there isn't a bad pause between tracks that I know of... guess I haven't paid attention to that.

Anyways, it's cheap and it works.

[sykikchimp]

I've read really good reviews on the New Panasonic Head units that play MP3's. They also come with like 6.5 volt pre-outs. fairly impressive. I personally like Pioneers but I've heard all the Pioneers except the deh9xx series head units have a long pause b/w songs.

I agree that if you a looking specifically for a MP3 head unit that you should make an MP3 CD and take with you and try out the CD players before you buy.

Just a note - If buying a headunit off ebay, make sure if the manufacturer requires you to buy it through an authorized dealer or not to have a warranty.  Some do, some don't.  I bought a Nakamichi MB-75 off ebay for 450 (retail 800) and it broke.. had to pay $110 to the local Nak dealer to get it fixed..  SUCKED ASS.,

[nismo270r]

I've got an Alpine CDA-7894, and I've loved it ever since I put it in.  It has the 60Wx4 VDrive amp, but I don't even use it...LOL.  It's got a lot of nice features...MP3, XM ready, Media Xpander, CD Text and MP3 ID3 tag info display...The best feature I can think of though is the digital time correction...It made my system sound completely different after phasing all the speakers in correctly.  

And just to let you know how far an MP3 CD can take you, I recently made a 4 1/2 hour - 5 hour long trip, and I had an MP3 CD I made.  The CD wasn't even close to being full, and I didn't hear the same song more than once the entire trip, and I still hadn't heard some when I got there...

[Roly]

Pioneer Premier DEH-P740MP, by far has been the best MP3 unit out there. The Kenwood units have had some problems with the internal amplifiers, so unless you have an amp, I wouldn't recommend. The Sony CDX-MP30, bang for the buck, it's just a very plain looking unit. JVC, Alpine, AIWA, Rockford Fosgate, and Panasonic to me are very ugly looking radios but with the exception of the Panasonic they all sound pretty good. I got one of the first Sony MP3 players and it's a nice looking unit and it matched the colors of my previous car perfectly, but clashes with my 240. Next up will be the Pioneer in a couple of weeks.

[whateverjames]

i don't think my JVC mp3 player is ugly <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':D'> actually, this is the only JVC unit i like. i disliked the brand before, but i like the digifine series. i encode at 160 and i get an average of 125 songs on one 700mb disc.
http://240sx.whateverjames.com/jvccdplayer.jpg
http://240sx.whateverjames.com/scapegoat.jpg

[Krunko]

I've been looking into buying one too, and I probably will within the next month. &nbsp;I REALLY like the Alpines, but the ones I like are like $500+. &nbsp;The $350-$400 has a crappy display on it, so its hard to read ID3 tags. &nbsp;I think I'm going to end up getting the $320 Pioneer. &nbsp;My friend at bestbuy says pioneer is a great brand, and they break the least. &nbsp;(he works in car audio)

[PabloHoney]

I have had experience with the Pioneer Premier 740 model (same as the 7400 IIRC). &nbsp;Anyway, the long pause between songs when playing MP3's is the only bad thing (and the reason I don't have one). &nbsp;The screen resolution isn't as good as my 8300 now, but it's still pretty decent. &nbsp;Follow everyone elses advice and bring and MP3 cd with you when you buy one at the store. &nbsp;If you are buying one on Ebay, go to a stereo store first and find one you like.

[gfisch]

Anyone have or know anything about the Kenwood KDC-MP919.
I've been looking around and that one caught my eye.
If anyone has heard anything good/ad about it, please lemme know.

[rancid240]

I bought the aiwa flip face mp3 player...for $200 bucks i couldnt go wrong. &nbsp;but if you want something high end, i would stay away. &nbsp;it skips when it hits medium bumps, but it was a good value. &nbsp;except the unmotorized part of the flip face that covers the top doesnt work anymore, so i have to flip it myself.