Alpine Decks, Model Comparison Options

[mr_dude]

Anyone have an Alpine mp3 cd deck?
I'm looking into them, looking for the best value. Don't mind buying the 300 dollar one or 550 dollar one.
They just released a new set of head units... I think these will be second gen mp3 players for Alpine, any problems with the first gens that I should look out for (now that they're all discounted)?
Any good places to buy them online?

[Hym3n]

Pretty much, Clarion, Eclipse, and Alpine are the big three in my eyes. Others are known for pretty colors or sleek layouts.. but that's really not important when it comes to stereos, and would likely just keep your attention off the road. Around here (my big three retailers), Car Toys pushes Eclipse and Alpine; Tweeter pushes Clarion; and Ultimate Electronics pushes Sony and Alpine. They all sound good when you get into higher models, just be selective in what you get, compare the models online over and over until one stands out.

I actually got my 9813 in-store (Tweeter), because they were starting to lower their prices on the head units in anticipation of the new line. A $500 unit down to $340 was pretty damn good, considering I could get it online for around $310.. I just didn't want to wait, and run the risk [of not getting it, being broken, etc]. I truly love the sound of my setup right now, but I'm still working on the EQ to get it all setup right, haven't messed around with it too much, but there's just some joy that you get when you turn it up so loud that the cars next to you are shaking.

Reasons for you to get Alpine:
-The ease of MP3-searching. On just about every other head unit, you have to hit 'next track' a bazillion times to get to what you're looking for. Some have similar search capabilities, but NONE are as easy as Alpine's. You can even store them in different folders, and everything is accessible with the green button to the right of the volume knob, and the up and down arrows next to it. It's an extremely fast search to find what you want, and there are numerous ways to have the text read out to you.
-'Media Xpander'. You won't find this on any other head unit. Basically, when you encode (write/rip/steal/grab) an MP3, you're taking it from a bitrate (quality) of 1411kbps (.wav/.cda format), to 128kbps. This is a pretty big drop, but some people can't notice it. When you copy a cd to another cd, it's quality stays very close to the same, so you simply cannot notice it. But it you were to rip a cd, encode the songs to mp3, then fill a blank cd with the encoded songs, there would be a noticable difference. This is, simply put, the only way you can fit 14 hours of music onto a cd; the filesize is compressed drastically. In a car stereo, the MP3's WILL SOUND GOOD, however, it doesn't compare to an actual cd. With the 'Media Xpander' tool, you simply press a button, and the true sound to your MP3 is re-accessed by a sort-of decompressor within the unit. This makes mp3's sound KICKASS.

Alright, I'm starting to sound like a sales guy, but for what you're looking for, an Alpine deck will likely be the best bet. It has enough features to make it a great buy, but is so very simple to use once you get it and configure it that there's just no reason not to get it.

-Brian