Alpine iDAX001

[dhurring 0]

Hi Guys, i'm looking at upgrading the standard stereo in my 323i to one of these - http://www.paulsaudio.co.nz/products?prodid=18 and front & rear speakers to go with it.

Anyone got any experience with these, or other recommendations? ipod integration is the main goal.

Also does changing the stereo from standard have any impact on the value of the car? i.e the interior not being original.

Thanks.

[danjah 0]

Hi Guys, i'm looking at upgrading the standard stereo in my 323i to one of these - http://www.paulsaudio.co.nz/products?prodid=18 and front & rear speakers to go with it.

Anyone got any experience with these, or other recommendations? ipod integration is the main goal.

Also does changing the stereo from standard have any impact on the value of the car? i.e the interior not being original.

Thanks.

i've got one installed in mine mate, its a pretty sweet device but does have a few limitations i guess. nothing too appalling though, probably the most annoying thing is that they seem to pixelate the artwork on the display no matter how it looks on your ipod which is a bit of a gyp considering its one of the features they advertise. other than that the connectivity is A OK with my ipod touch, its fast, good quality sound, menus can be a bit tricky to get the hang of but its not too much of a hassle to learn...just don't use the search button because its just annoying. i just set playlists up on itunes and use those

oh yeah the display clock thing looks pretty cool, always get people mentioning that!

edit: heres a link which has 10 pages of ipod nerds discussing the headunit. found it pretty helpful

http://forums.ilounge.com/showthread.php?t=194637

Edited January 5, 2009 by danjah

[dhurring 0]

Thanks man, some good info in there.

Think i'm going to go for it.

[bimmer boy 21]

I was looking, well still am looking at getting the same, but the cheaper version purely because its black and has red backlighting for my car. Was hesitant as I think it would stick out like dogs balls on my dash.

By the way mate Itake it you are going to install it into a E36? If you are which speakers are you getting to go with it?

[dhurring 0]

Yeah i know what you mean re: standing out on the dash, to be honest i still have concerns about changing it from orginal, will give it some more thought.

They do seem to be a very good unit though, and being able to use the ipod would be great.

And these are the speakers i'm looking at http://www.paulsaudio.co.nz/products?prodid=37 and my car is a e46 323i

[antony 0]

Sorry, off topic, but does anyone make a head unit that doesn't stick out from the dash?

[danjah 0]

but the cheaper version purely because its black and has red backlighting for my car.

hey dude, the idx headunit has the ability to change the backlight to either blue or red

apparently this is a serious limitation according to some people because other headunits allow you to change the background colour to any colour under the sun? seems a bit much to me but i guess some people need that perfect blend of shitty diarrhea green

[misgvous_1 0]

I was going to get the iDAX001 unit but after speaking to an alpine salesperson he said its ok but the 9887 unit has much more features for sound quality and just as good ipod intergation... you jus dont get the flashy screen.

however i think the iDX100 is out now. I dont think it has as many features as the 9887 but has more than the idx001

I have the 9887 and it is a fantastic unit

Edited January 7, 2009 by misgvous_1

[Guest Simon*]

Sorry, off topic, but does anyone make a head unit that doesn't stick out from the dash?

I recently had a look at Greg's new one in his M3 - this Fusion one I think

It didn't stick out or look rude at all and goes for about $300 apparently

[Five Star 0]

Fusion head unit? I haven't heard anything good about them at all...

You don't need all the flashy features of the 9887. You'll get better sound with proper speaker placement and some sound deadening. A lot of the top guys in Australia don't use time alignment. It all comes down to your install.

[jimbo01 0]

Hi Guys, i'm looking at upgrading the standard stereo in my 323i to one of these - http://www.paulsaudio.co.nz/products?prodid=18 and front & rear speakers to go with it.

Anyone got any experience with these, or other recommendations? ipod integration is the main goal.

Also does changing the stereo from standard have any impact on the value of the car? i.e the interior not being original.

Thanks.

I had one of these installed in my wifes SLK for her last birthday. The SLK has pretty good speakers which we didn't change however the end result isn't as great as we like. Plenty of base, lots of highs, and goes loud BUT.... And the BUT is this; the music on an iPOD is horribly comnressed, and if as such when you play it back through good gear you may want to compensate for this (for example Yamaha hometheater amps with the iPOD docks have special filters to componsate for the compression). This unit doesn't do this, and I suspect this may be why the sound leaves us unmoved. I want music. I think the later repalkcement does include some form of filter to deal with this.

Other thing is you might expect the 'enter' button to be on the dial - it isn't, it's on a button to the left of the main dial which I never find 'intuitive'.

The graphics on the cover art is very low resolution.

I paid $750 installed.

I'm looking for a stereo for my Odyssey and will be installing one with a CD player AND with iPOD control - I still want to be able to play high qulaity music. Getting an installed price for an Alpine 9884 next week.

[elmarco 56]

Have you thought about a DICE if ipod integration is your main goal? There are a couple of different brands around. I picked one up for my E46 on Trademe for $75 and it works brilliantly with the factory BMW stereo (all the functions work great, and I can control it from the multifunction wheel).

[JasonL 0]

Its a great haedunit. Alpine has the best sound quality headunits for 2007 & 2008.

Its has all the features needed for an ipod.

If wanting front and back speakers get alpine also they work best with there own headunits. Or if your going to amp them get what ever you like. watts/rms peaks ratings doesnt means very little if your just wanting something to listen to its all about what you like the sound of everybody is different.

[3 SERIES 93]

Alpine FTW. Have this one in my E36 - http://www.alpine-asia.com/index.php?optio...&Itemid=674

Fits flush with the dash.

[jochen 4]

And the BUT is this; the music on an iPOD is horribly comnressed, and if as such when you play it back through good gear you may want to compensate for this

If you want better iPod music, rip the CDs with less, or no compression. Then it sounds better.

[jimbo01 0]

If you want better iPod music, rip the CDs with less, or no compression. Then it sounds better.

Good tip - but how many peope have already ripped a large CD collection at a low bit rate. Also you are stuck with the quality for purchased music from iTunes. Net effect is that this impacts the sound quality from this unit. So if people are up for re-ripping their CD's at a higher bit rate to get quality sound then this units great, or if they can't be botthered but they they don't really care about music as long as there is a sub out for BASE, it works well too. Other units can compensate for compression effects so you get a more musically sound from an iPOD which may be worth investigating.

My solution is to get an iPOD get a unit that will also play CD's, and any new music I rip is at a higher bit rate.

[hybrid 1043]

Im running one of these.

http://www.intravention.co.uk/

bought the KCA-420i Alpine ipod interface, connected it to the intravee and plugged the whole lot into my OEM nav. This solution was best for the nav setup (on screen controls). While it works fine with standard Business radios is probably over kill.

The DICE unit is the other CD to ipod interface for your OEM stereo and would be cheaper.

[Andre3000 55]

Hi Guys, i'm looking at upgrading the standard stereo in my 323i to one of these - http://www.paulsaudio.co.nz/products?prodid=18 and front & rear speakers to go with it.

Anyone got any experience with these, or other recommendations? ipod integration is the main goal.

Also does changing the stereo from standard have any impact on the value of the car? i.e the interior not being original.

Thanks.

I used to own one of these head units. Great in all aspects except navigation. If u have more than 500 songs on your ipod it will make it very annoying and tiresome scrolling through them. I sold mine because of this an i now believe that the CDA-9887 is now the way to go in terms of ipod integration and all round satisfaction.