so ive been looking for headunits lately since i sold my audiovox flip out. ive been looking for something with a nice high voltage preout and the best i can find around here is the clarion DXZ785USB with a 6 volt pre out. overall i like the look of the unit jsut wondering what peopel thought of this unit as far as features, sound quality, durability ect go?

thanks

High voltage outputs don't really buy you anything, it would be one of the last reasons why I'd choose a headunit.

arent they better?

They allow you to have your gain knob lower on your amplifier, but of course that is exactly why you have a gain knob on your amplifier. More importantly than voltage is to have a good SNR on whatever signal comes out. My head, even though capable, won't kick out more than 0.2v at my normal listening level.

can you explain what SNR is?

x2 and btw that is a niiiice sig lol

Signal to noise ratio. The noisefloor of the signal should be sufficiently low so that you can't hear it.

noise floor? never heard of it

One of the indicators of quality in electronics equipment used in communication or sound reproduction be it analog or digital is signal-to-noise ratio. Being a bit of the computer geek I run into this alot when downloading information but the theory is sound in just about any situation where a signal is received by something. It is even used in the measurement of biological signal sending like human brain waves or synaptic response.

Generally the higher the SNR the cleaner the signal.

SNR is a measurement of the strength of signal relative to background noise and for our needs is measured in dB's. As noise levels increase they compete with your signal to the point your signal will become unreadable. This can cause all kinds of problems in digital equipment, reduction in data rate speeds and packet loss all the way up to point your noise overwealms the signal.

So this is foundational stuff with regards to putting together a system that has the best sound quality possible. The better/cleaner your signal the better your headunit can reproduce the music you want to hear. If your headunit can't make use of a high quality signal or because of poor quality actually degrades the signal then you have purchased

Edited September 29, 200816 yr by ozziefudd

so what would be a good number to look for when looking for a new head unit?

just got the above deck and im loving it so far jsut gotta tune my stuff and ill be ready to go

so what would be a good number to look for when looking for a new head unit?

Keep in mind that every source on your head unit has a different SNR so AM, FM, CD will all be different. Additionally say your head unit has built in amps your going to have a different SNR for that as well. The spec's your going to see most often is the SNR output for the CD player. The Clarion unit mentioned in the thread has a SNR measured at 87dB for its CD output, not bad for a middle of the road budget minded unit but you can do better for similar dollars in Pioneer or Eclipse 95db for similar priced units and high end Pioneer decks SNR will hit 105db

so waht about SNR for usb output?

just buy an alpine it will crush that clarion, besides the clarion decks are ugly as sin!

I happen to think the DRZ9255 is a lot better looking than the current model Alpines, but that's just me

just buy an alpine it will crush that clarion, besides the clarion decks are ugly as sin!

Its true that Alpine does have excellent SNR on their line of head units. Infact for similar dollars to the Clarion in questions 87dB you can buy and Alpine head unit with 105dB. I don't like the looks on the Alpine and I would have to bet ///M5 would also say that looks would be one of the last reasons he would buy a head unit.

The question on what SNR for your usb input would be interesting to know. I can't find that information, you might try looking in the owners manual. The number is probably bad enough that manufacturers dont want you to know what it is. MANY things will contribute to USB SNR like what was SNR from orginal cd to Ipod, what is ipod SNR out to head unit. This is the reason why I would never buy the Alpine head units that have no CD player like the IDA-x100. Yea mp3 are nice and very very convienent but why put thousands of dollars into a SQ system and then listen to .

We are at the point that DVD quality audio is going to replace the cd so where is my blueray headunit!