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Which head unit meets these requirements?

2K views 24 replies 10 participants last post by  bennylava 
#1 ·
Hi all, car audio newb here. I am looking for an inexpensive single din head unit. I would like to get your recommendations on a good one. The requirements I have are:

1. Must be inexpensive. Somewhere in the $120 range is what my budget allows. But I can pay a little more if I have to.

2. Has to be good at doing Bluetooth. I play a lot of audiobooks using my phone. I have to have something that plays bluetooth reliably.

3. Must have a rear USB connection. I don't like the USB flash drive sticking out the front. I've noticed a lot of these radios only have a USB port on the face. Nothing out back where you could attach a long cable.

Is there something you're aware of that fits the bill? I've heard that Alpine and Pioneer are the ones to have.

Thank you!
 
#2 · (Edited)
Sorry, I don't have advise on the radio, but you can always get smaller thumb drives so they are not so obtrusive sticking out of the radio, if the UBS port location is the determining factor. I'm assuming the port is for a USB drive since you bluetooth your phone for audio books.

I have 3 of these in my car, one for MP3's, one for FLAC files and one for test/setup tracks.
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#3 ·
I agree that rear USB is the preferable route, but from what I've seen the cheapest units are pretty much exclusively front USB. Sounds_Insane makes a good point - if your budget leaves you no option but front connector, there are very low profile USB sticks to make it more livable. Maybe you can find a used HU that meets your requirements and is within your budget?
 
#4 ·
Hi all, car audio newb here. I am looking for an inexpensive single din head unit. I would like to get your recommendations on a good one. The requirements I have are:

1. Must be inexpensive. Somewhere in the $120 range is what my budget allows. But I can pay a little more if I have to.

2. Has to be good at doing Bluetooth. I play a lot of audiobooks using my phone. I have to have something that plays bluetooth reliably.

3. Must have a rear USB connection. I don't like the USB flash drive sticking out the front. I've noticed a lot of these radios only have a USB port on the face. Nothing out back where you could attach a long cable.

Is there something you're aware of that fits the bill? I've heard that Alpine and Pioneer are the ones to have.

Thank you!
If you use your requirements to filter common commercially available options (Re: Crutchfield) they are all over $150: All Car Stereos at Crutchfield

so you would be stuck with WalMart brands and I cannot recommend any of them except this one (and it's a front USB like all the rest): Wal-Mart Dual HU

My son and his friends have gone through numerous "affordable" HU iterations in their trucks and boats and this is the only one that has been reliable, from auto-connect BT with good range and simply working even in a wet and pounding environment like a Jon Boat.
 
#7 ·
My son and his friends have gone through numerous "affordable" HU iterations in their trucks and boats and this is the only one that has been reliable, from auto-connect BT with good range and simply working even in a wet and pounding environment like a Jon Boat.
So to clarify, the walmart one you'd recommend has a very short back, right? It's much shorter than most other HUs.
 
#6 ·
I'd look at Kenwood, followed by Alpine, JVC, and Pioneer. I'd stay away from the really cheap units from companies like Dual and Jensen.

BestBuy has the Kenwood BT728HD for $159. Clean 6-ch @ 4v outs, front and rear USB, HD Radio, FLAC (24bit/96kHz), 13-band EQ, DTA & XO capabilities, etc. They like to run sales around the holidays, so maybe keep an eye out towards the end of the month. Might luck out and find an open-box near you as well. I picked up my BT525HD (basically the older version of this) as an open-box a few years back while on a trip out of town. Only caveat there...only grab open-box items if they're listed as 'Open Box -Excellen't or 'Open-Box - Good'. Anything below that is missing important things or probably damaged.
 
#11 ·
Hi all, car audio newb here. I am looking for an inexpensive single din head unit. I would like to get your recommendations on a good one. The requirements I have are:

1. Must be inexpensive. Somewhere in the $120 range is what my budget allows. But I can pay a little more if I have to.

2. Has to be good at doing Bluetooth. I play a lot of audiobooks using my phone. I have to have something that plays bluetooth reliably.

3. Must have a rear USB connection. I don't like the USB flash drive sticking out the front. I've noticed a lot of these radios only have a USB port on the face. Nothing out back where you could attach a long cable.

Is there something you're aware of that fits the bill? I've heard that Alpine and Pioneer are the ones to have.

Thank you!
Do you have any audio related requirements? Multi band eq? three sets of preamps? Those sorts of things?
 
#16 ·
Does it need to be anything other than a digital media player? Like are you old enough that you might actually play a CD?
To answer both, it's just a temporary unit for an old 85 Chevy silverado. At some point (probably 3 years from now) I'm going to redo the whole interior. At that time I'll also be installing a bunch of sound deadening/dampening stuff. So I'll want a decent mid-range sound system. I'm sure that doesn't include a $120 HU. So for now, I was hoping for reliable and cheap.

So no CD's and no EQ for a few years. Just bluetooth and USB, and $200 worth of walmart speakers.
 
#13 ·
Does it need to be anything other than a digital media player? Like are you old enough that you might actually play a CD?
 
#15 ·
I don't think the 910 has rear usb. I was just looking at those for this thread. The 925 has front and rear, but the 910 seems to only have front. I wonder if you could just order a 925 harness and use it on the 910. Even if that worked, though, you might not be saving much money that way.

I would just look at the cheapest units Crutchfield has that are confirmed to have rear USB, then search for it cheaper/used. Might be able to find something Open Box or refurb, too.
 
#21 ·
Don't waste you money on that. There's no branding of any kind, which means its a knockoff of a Chinese knockoff. I'd be worried about the truck burning down. If you really want a cheap slim packaged sub, look at something a little nicer, just don't expect a lot from them.

A friend has this NVX one in his beater truck (90s Nissan reg cab) and it does alright as long as you don't try to push it beyond its capabilities. Rest of the system is an old Kappa greencone 5" component set hooked to a 35w x 4 amp. Basically built from leftovers, but sounds better than most newer systems.
 
#22 ·
A friend installed a similar tiny powered box. It barely qualified as a midbass, let alone a subwoofer. A complete, utter waste of time & money. It did nothing well.
 
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