Single DIN head unit recommendation

[philgarner]

I swapped out the Becker as one of the first things I did when I bought my car in 2015. I put in a Blaupunkt unit, having had them before but never liked it, the controls were annoying, and bluetooth flaky. Earlier this year I removed the rubbish auditorium amp which improved things, and a couple of years ago I put new Pioneer door speakers in. On a recent motorway run I decided I had to do something about the **** head unit and went searching. I specifically didn't want anything Ripseed looking, didn't want one of the pop-up screens as they block the controls. I found a Sony unit that looked like it would do the trick, and the high power output (4x100W) without an amp sounded appealing.

This unit has full customisation - you can set the colour (even with RGB) to match the interior colour of the other car gauges etc. It works with the sony hi-fi app and you can do all sort of clever stuff with it. The sound is way improved, proper bass and volume if you want it also. I don't think you can compare this to a proper setup that an ICE shop might do for you but it makes music listenable now and the bluetooth works great. Also comes with a mic for calls which I installed just above the driver's head area.



Ignore the colour in the pic - I've now changed it to white! The only place I could find it was on eBay here.

 

[Lozzer]

I swapped out the Becker as one of the first things I did when I bought my car in 2015. I put in a Blaupunkt unit, having had them before but never liked it, the controls were annoying, and bluetooth flaky. Earlier this year I removed the rubbish auditorium amp which improved things, and a couple of years ago I put new Pioneer door speakers in. On a recent motorway run I decided I had to do something about the **** head unit and went searching. I specifically didn't want anything Ripseed looking, didn't want one of the pop-up screens as they block the controls. I found a Sony unit that looked like it would do the trick, and the high power output (4x100W) without an amp sounded appealing.

This unit has full customisation - you can set the colour (even with RGB) to match the interior colour of the other car gauges etc. It works with the sony hi-fi app and you can do all sort of clever stuff with it. The sound is way improved, proper bass and volume if you want it also. I don't think you can compare this to a proper setup that an ICE shop might do for you but it makes music listenable now and the bluetooth works great. Also comes with a mic for calls which I installed just above the driver's head area.

View attachment 75391

Ignore the colour in the pic - I've now changed it to white! The only place I could find it was on eBay here.

Very good, it's not easy finding a head unit you like, some look great on the shelf but after living with them for a bit they're not all that, like the one I have recommendations are appreciated.

 

[2b1ask1]

Well I successfully changed mine last week to a JVC unit (tread on here) to give me CarPlay but irrelevant to you if you don’t like pop up screen.

 

[Oneball]

I went with a Pioneer one

 

[Oneball]

Well I successfully changed mine last week to a JVC unit (tread on here) to give me CarPlay but irrelevant to you if you don’t like pop up screen.

Does yours keep playing with the screen folded away?

 

[Twinspark]

Some decent (imo) single DIN choices that look relatively clean, a bit hard to find a nice looking headunit these days:

Spoiler

Pioneer 80PRS / DEH 9600BT:


Kenwood BT92


Blaupunkt Toronto

Kienzle MCR 1116 BT

Some of these don't have adjustable colours, which is a shame. The GS interior generally uses an orange backlight for switches and green for the screens, its a different shade for the clock and the gear indicator. I've got some temporary JVC unit now which is alright but the buttons cant be changed from their original red colour.

Normally flip up screens will keep playing even with the screen folded away, I don't like them on these cars as it covers the ac controls and don't fully retract.

If I had a choice, I'd have kept the original unit and added a bluetooth adapter, but the unit was replaced by the previous owner and they are extremely expensive second hand.

 

[CatmanV2]

I had a Kenwood in my old Alfa GT. Ticked all the boxes but it was rubbish to use. One of the knobs was a joystick which is **** when you're driving along anything other than a glass flat road.

C

 

[Twinspark]

I had a Kenwood in my old Alfa GT. Ticked all the boxes but it was rubbish to use. One of the knobs was a joystick which is **** when you're driving along anything other than a glass flat road.

C

I never replaced the unit in my 156 because the bezel was silver and it was nearly impossible to find something that looked clean on that dash, knowing the GT interior you could easily put a screen fi you gave up the flimsy cup holder as I've seen a few with navigation.

 

[jasst]

I have an Alpine cde-196 DAB in my Gransport, and I hate it, far too many features the vast majority of which I will never use, buttons too small, and far too complicated for doing even simple jobs like seeking radio stations, all not helped that I need glasses for close up work, but not for driving, oh, and the bluetooth connects when it feels like it.

 

[CatmanV2]

I never replaced the unit in my 156 because the bezel was silver and it was nearly impossible to find something that looked clean on that dash, knowing the GT interior you could easily put a screen fi you gave up the flimsy cup holder as I've seen a few with navigation.

Yep, but I was young and naive in the ways of adding audio. Having done Parrots to 4200 and GTs I wouldn't have thought twice about something else

C

 

[2b1ask1]

Does yours keep playing with the screen folded away?

yes, one button it slips away still working and the same button pops it out again. Back light can be colour matched too (still need to do this!).

 

[GeoffCapes]

I swapped out the Becker as one of the first things I did when I bought my car in 2015. I put in a Blaupunkt unit, having had them before but never liked it, the controls were annoying, and bluetooth flaky. Earlier this year I removed the rubbish auditorium amp which improved things, and a couple of years ago I put new Pioneer door speakers in. On a recent motorway run I decided I had to do something about the **** head unit and went searching. I specifically didn't want anything Ripseed looking, didn't want one of the pop-up screens as they block the controls. I found a Sony unit that looked like it would do the trick, and the high power output (4x100W) without an amp sounded appealing.

This unit has full customisation - you can set the colour (even with RGB) to match the interior colour of the other car gauges etc. It works with the sony hi-fi app and you can do all sort of clever stuff with it. The sound is way improved, proper bass and volume if you want it also. I don't think you can compare this to a proper setup that an ICE shop might do for you but it makes music listenable now and the bluetooth works great. Also comes with a mic for calls which I installed just above the driver's head area.

View attachment 75391

Ignore the colour in the pic - I've now changed it to white! The only place I could find it was on eBay here.

I've installed that Sony unit in my Alfa 156 and GT and in a BMW I had. Great bits of kit and the hands free is excellent. You don't really need to put the microphone in either, works pretty well from the unit.