Car stereo with built-in ipod control

[runethechamp]

Which manufacturer rules the market these days with the best interface for control of your ipod, hopefully with the possibility of using the steering wheel controls already in the car? I know Alpine ruled a couple of years ago, but has that changed at all?

[54-46]

Are you just looking for basic Ipod operation from steering wheel + not sucky sound, or are you looking for a good head unit with spatial separation to include with component speakers/amps/mid-higher end car audio?

Lots of mfrs do the former, including Alpine; you'll get a lot of different opinions as to whether they work well with the latter, including whether Alpine still does with their current units.

FWIW, if you're into car audio check out the Alpine 9855, which is several years old, is totally tweakable, has great spatial separation, but has a wonky slide bar and an Ipod interface that's a generation or two behind what Alpine currently offers. Some people say it's the last good sounding Alpine unit.

The Alpine 9835 is a year or two older with similar/same guts a knob instead of slide bar. You can find these head units for decent prices on ebay and add an Ipod controller/steering wheel control unit as wel.

[runethechamp]

The stereo is meant to replace the factory unit in my wife's car, and I don't think she cares that much about the sound. She just wants something she can plug her ipod into and still be able to use the steering wheel controls.

In my car I don't care about integration at all, so I maximize sound quality with a Nakamichi unit. But they are lagging hopelessly behind in the ipod/steering wheel control market, so I can't put one of those into my wife's car.

[Hutch]

don't know about steering wheel integration, but we've been happy with the Alpine IDA-x200 in our passat. I installed the bluetooth adapter too, so we can stream pandora or saved music through the stereo wirelessly from our iphones.

[Snow Dog]

I have the original Alpine IDA-X001. Works great with iPods and USB sticks. My only two issues: I can't turn off the cover art which takes up a lot of space on the screen, and there's no indicator for new podcasts. I keep a few USB sticks with music in the glove box and dont' miss the CD slot at all. I have no idea about steering wheel integration. These Alpine decks read the music file via USB and use the internal D to A processor instead of the one in the iPod. Better sound in theory.

[Sinfield]

I dig my pioneer DEH something. It's got a usb on the front of the deck so I can plug in my ipod, or just a thumb drive of some sort. The menus are pretty intuitive to navigate too.

[stuckathuntermtn]

Pioneer.

[Crass3000]

My Sony is OK at best. It does the job but has Ipod communication errors quite a bit. I wouldn't recommend against it but if Alpine or Nachamichi has anything they will obviously be better. Nachamichi has been and probably is still pricey as hell.

[runethechamp]

My Sony is OK at best. It does the job but has Ipod communication errors quite a bit. I wouldn't recommend against it but if Alpine or Nachamichi has anything they will obviously be better. Nachamichi has been and probably is still pricey as hell.

So Alpine and Pioneer seems like pretty good bets for my wife then. I remember 15 or 20 years ago I had a nice Sony unit in my car, but they might have declined since then. The Nakamichis are pricey compared to the features you get (not even close to talking about ipod control or bluetooth or integration with steering wheel controls), but you get fantastic performance from them. And you can score a good unit new for $300 or so these days with an aux input for your ipod.

[runethechamp]

Any experiences with Blaupunkt btw? They always seemed solid before and used to be standard in a lot of German cars.

[phUnk]

Really love my Pioneer AVIC. It's got everything you mentioned.

Edit: I'm sure you already know this, but you'll need a legit ipod connector to get the head unit to control the ipod, and to get the ipod charging while it's plugged into the car.

Aux-in won't give you any of that.

[runethechamp]

Really love my Pioneer AVIC. It's got everything you mentioned.

Edit: I'm sure you already know this, but you'll need a legit ipod connector to get the head unit to control the ipod, and to get the ipod charging while it's plugged into the car.

Aux-in won't give you any of that.

Thanks for the AVIC tip, that's something I'll definitely look into. And yes, I know about the ipod connector. I don't care in my car, but I know my wife want to be able to integrate the ipod more.

[enginerd]

Some of the new units are coming with USB instead of the actual ipod connector. They still charge and control your ipod and they still display all the info on the head unit. However, they'll work with anything USB including a memory stick loaded with songs. Seems like a better way to go imo.

[ratboy]

Put a Blaupunkt Hamburg MP68 in my last car, returned it after two days because the interface was clunky and the bluetooth performance was terrible. Installed an Alpine iDA-x200 which was an excellent unit (both iPod and USB interfaces). With the right adaptor you can also use your steering wheel control buttons. My current vehicle has an iPod interface but if I was going the aftermarket route again I'd get the x300 for the cover art and better navigation.