Focal Car Audio

Great features, not the last word in sound quality.., June 9, 2012

My first impression after having this installed was that the dynamic range was noticeably lower than the Pioneer DEH-P6900UB it replaced. I listened with the same flash drive loaded with the same audio files I was using before having it replaced. It is connected to the same amps and is playing back through the same speakers.

Right out of the box, the Alpine’s highs are comparatively muted and rolled off. I don’t hear the natural sound of cymbal decay for example as I did with the Pioneer. The mids and low end are excellent but with a muted high end, the overall presentation is a little disappointing. I spent some time in the advanced eq section but so far haven’t been able to find a natural sounding high end. I’ll have to spend more time with the advanced eq options. Maybe I’ll find the sweet spot. If I do, I’ll update this review.

On the upside, the controls are excellent and intuitive. I couldn’t be happier with how well thought out and easily accessed they are. There’s also a bookmarking feature which makes this an ideal system for listening to audio books, podcasts and other spoken word files. But that’s not enough. Audio quality is my top priority and on that count, this unit is somewhat of a disappointment – so far. I did not buy this from Amazon (wish I had for the return policy but wanted an experienced installer to take care of it). If you’re looking for the last word in d/a conversion, this may not be it.

Update: traded for a Pioneer DEH-80PRS after ~3 weeks of ownership. As good as this unit is in most areas, the sound quality was just shy of great.

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Great head unit!, August 21, 2012

By 

Taylor Hively (San Jose, CA USA) –

  

I got this along with Alpine SPR-60 speakers to replace the stock system in a recently acquired used Toyota Corolla. This is easily the best sounding system I’ve installed in any car and I’ve had a few over the years. I wish I could go back in time and just go with Alpine every time. I’m sure most of the credit goes to the speakers (which aren’t cheap) but the head unit certainly gets a share of the credit.

This system has a very flexible 7 band Graphic Equalizer OR 5 band Parametric Equalizer. You choose which one you want to use. The G.EQ for ease of use or the P.EQ to finely shape your output.
I addition to that they don’t include a standard “loudness” setting like most systems. Instead they have “Media Xpander Pro” which they say helps restore the quality lost in digital compression. While that may be true, the census is that it’s really a fancy “Loudness” setting. But you get not 1, but 3 different levels to choose from or a “custom” level that allows you to set the output boost of each of the 5 bands manually.

If you want you can simply use the easily accessible “bass” and “treble” settings which just raise the lowest and highest bands of the eq if you don’t want to drill down in to the actual EQ settings.

I personally found that with the stock head unit (no amp) and 4 speakers (no sub) that keeping the eq flat and just setting Media Xpander (MX) to level 1 gets me a pretty ideal listening experience.

If you prefer a simple loudness control and pre-set EQ settings, the CDE-HD137BT give you that, but it is not satellite radio read.

The CDE-138BT has every option.
Satellite Radio (ready, you must install the SiriusXM tuner and antenna separately), HD radio built in, Bluetooth Audio, Bluetooth Hands Free, CD, USB to a phone, as well as an aux input on the front.
I load up a USB thumb drive with MP3s and AAC files and plug it directly in to the front of the unit and play my music that way.

I am very very satisfied with this unit. It has turned my no-frills old sedan in to something fun to drive.

There are only 2 cons:
1) When my iPhone 4S is connected via bluetooth, no alert tones are audible. The phone routes those alert tones via bluetooth audio and if the head unit is on a different source (SiriusXM) then those tones aren’t played. You only hear them if you’re on BT audio. This is really an issue with the way the iPhone does audio, but I wish there was a way the Alpine unit would “disconnect” Bluetooth Audio (a2dp) with the phone and just keep the Hands Free profile going when on other sources.
2) The display has “dimmer” when the headlights are on. With this unit I can barely tell the difference between full bright and dimmer (even when manually setting the dimmer.) They might as well not bother. Better display dimming for darkness or even different color options would be welcome.

Otherwise this unit does it all and I couldn’t be more satisfied.

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