Stinger HEIGH10 Review Part 1 - Preamp Voltage & Distortion Test with Scopemeter by
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- Опубликовано: 30 сен 2024
- Stinger HEIGH10 review PART 1 - Preamp voltage and distortion test. Car Stereo Chick reviews the Stinger HEIGH10. Using an oscilloscope, AKA scopemeter, she puts the Stinger HEIGH10 to the test to find out if it really and truly has a 4 volt pre-amp or if it's all just a bunch of HYPE. In addition to testing the pre-amp voltage, she looks at the signal to see at what point the pre-amp actually distorts. Does it distort? Or does it stay clean? What about the internal amp? Curious to know at what point that distorts? Watch and find out.
Special cameo appearance by Kenwood KMM-X704. How does the $180 single din Kenwood eXcelon KMM-X704 pre-amp performance stack up against to the big and bad-ass looking Stinger HEIGH10? Be forewarned. And though she be but little, she is fierce. Watch to learn more!
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May be getting this head unit for my Highlander. I will be using the optical out to a DSP to manage everything. I hope this will be good for that setup.
I've had this unit for about a year now and my biggest gripe is the lack of 80hz for the subwoofer crossover. It goes from 63hz to 100hz...wth?. Also I installed a high powered system with an Orion DSPLX 3000.1 amplifier and four 15 inch subwoofers...The Stinger keeps restarting every time the bass hits low. Damn i might as well had bought a Boss head unit....My Alpine Halo11 did NOT do that.
Hey Roderick. I'm confused, I have 80 Hz option for the sub crossover. You can select 25, 40, 63, 80, 100, 160 or 250 Hz. Maybe you need a software update on yours?? As far as it shutting down, if that's only happening when the bass hits low and hard I suspect that may be more of a power issue. What's the year, make and model of your car? How old is your battery? Are your dash lights and headlights dimming too when that happens? I'd want to put a multimeter on the ignition power line to the radio and see what the voltage is when that happens.
I'd love to know what Stinger has to say about this. With that said, I installed a HEIGH10 in my '17 Sierra 2500HD and love it, although the screen resolution needs improvement for my back up camera.
No official comment from Stinger, I'm sure it's related to difficulties sourcing components. Have you contacted Stinger about the video quality? We did do an install in a GM truck a couple months back, but I don't recall there being a picture quality issue. However, that truck might have been a 2016 and I think some of the newer GM's are using an LVDS camera like the Wrangler does. You might be able to improve quality using an RPA-VA1.
catalog.pac-audio.com/index.php?controller=attachment&id_attachment=1808
@@carstereochick component sourcing certainly should be an excuse though, mine works great so no complaints on that front. as far as the video quality, I'm sure that's subjective, I just expect a better resolution out of such an expensive unit. With all that said I love it. Thanks for the great video/info.
Based on the review section on their website, they say it’s 4v at full volume…
OMG, you may have saved me. Installed the Stinger in my Gladiator and replaced all the speakers. I have a simple Rockford Fosgate P300-8P powered sub hooked up to the sub output and it sounds great...when its working. Sometimes the sub plays and sometimes it doesn't even though power is on etc.. I hooked up the sub to a different head unit and it was totally fine. Contacted Stinger and they sent me a new harness which I have yet to install. I am going to boost my Carplay signal tomorrow to test. Would you mind sharing the link to the Line Driver you successfully used? Were you able to make a vid of how you added the line driver? Any help you could give would be great to save this expensive purchase...
Thanks so much for the comment David! That video is next on our to-do list, but it's been such a busy summer we haven't gotten to it yet. We used the Audio Control Matrix - amzn.to/3Py9TSS
You have to turn on the loudness👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽
Have you tried adjusting the EQ for example increase the level on the 1k band and see if the voltage increases?
Did not try that nor do I think it should be turned up to get that stamped rating. I did try boosting the internal source level adjustment thinking maybe that was it. For reference when I did these tests on Alpine, Kenwood, Grundig, Sony etc. I did not boost anything in the EQ. I leave everything at flat in the EQ, crossovers off. I do test with the sub level all the way up and also at zero because I have found on some decks, that voltage rating doesn't kick in until you're all the way up (and it stays clean) and on others that voltage rating is already there at 0 or +1 and if you go above that you get distortion. And consumers are naturally going to want to turn it all the way up unless I can tell them, hey don't turn it past this point, here's why.
I'll be making another video soon with my husband John in our Jeep and we'll show it in the car and how we added a line driver to deal with it. The other thing a LOT of people are not aware of is in October 2020, the main chip supplier in our industry, AKM, burned down. That factory burned for 3 days. Thankfully and amazingly no one was injured. It's still not rebuilt and last I checked they still haven't stated the cause of fire. My hunch is Stinger was using AKM for chips and after the fire, supply chain constraints only increased and the chip supply issue really snowballed so they compromised on their components in order to ship product. I believe the 1st run of these was definitely the higher voltage pre-amp, I heard it with my own ears on a job we did in January 2021.
Aside from learning at what point these various stereos start to distort, this is the other reason I started testing this stuff. I knew manufacturers were having extreme difficulties obtaining components to make aftermarket stereos and I wanted to see if companies were keeping up with stated quality.
This vid just saved me some cash. No 4v output no cash input from me. Guess I’ll just use a proper dsp and factory HU in my Silverado
Does your Silverado have Bose? If so get a pre-amp adapter. Depending on the year it might be a PAC AP4-GM61 and that will give you a clean, flat 4 or 5 volt pre-amp signal from the stock system. I will say, even though the Stinger is not true 4 volt on the pre-amp, the one redeeming feature is it DOES have a digital output. If you use that and go into a high end DSP amp with digital toslink like a Helix P Six DSP or V Eight MKII the Stinger will sound better than any 4 volt or 5 volt head unit.
@@carstereochickthanks for your response. My Silverado did not come with the Bose system but the 8” screen instead. You are the third person to suggest the PAC unit though and I was told it would work with my unit regardless of being non Bose? I already bought the Helix DSP3s but considered taking it back and getting something like the Alpine F509 instead. You think the Stinger Unit would be a good combo with my Helix using toslink over just using the Alpine F509? I know the Helix has infinitely more adjustment but I’m going to have to have it installed and tuned by a professional for sure. Thing about the Alpine that scares me is it’s going to be around $1500 with extra adapters and installed but only a 1 year warranty 😢
Curious if using the optional TOSLINK instead of the pre-amps will make a difference in output. I was considering this unit over the alpine. Going to Tie it in to a AudioControl 1200.6 via TOSLINK, would be good to see a vid if there is a noticeable gain.
This is something we wanted to test and we just haven't had the time. Usually you have less output with Toslink, but because the voltage was so low on this deck, I was thinking it might actually have more or might just be the same.
@@carstereochick It should just be a matter of the head unit assigning the correct values to tell whatever receives the digital transmission what the gain should be and should go up to but not over 0. It should have nothing whatsoever to do with the weak output of the analog preamp and the two should not care each other are in town and I really do mean should, I have no way to know. I would certainly hope that the spdif is not just converted from the preamp output stage as this would make no sense and would digitize any distortion the preamp has. I would hope that analog FM is digitized before the D to A converter that feeds the preamp. I would also hope that built in DSP is done while still in the digital domain. I have no idea how many D to A, D to D and A to D converters there really are in a premium head unit.
The fact that Stinger actually offers and variable volume spdif is way out front in itself. The others are so damned stingy.
I'm so glad I seen your detailed review on this Stinger Heigh10 reciever... I have been looking for a big screen receiver that Is modular with wireless CarPlay, HDMI input, birds eye view camera system that i can add on to my 2013 Yukon denali... I really liked the alpine GM005 (hopefully thats the correct model number lol) but its no longer available... Any suggestions for a great receiver with features close to the heigh 10 that won't break the bank... Im half tempted to make my own receiver using Android Automotive ( not android auto)...
I wish you could have did this video before I went and dropped $1,600 on this thing . Any updates you find after speaking with stinger would be greatly appreciated thank you for the video.
Ditto. In our own vehicle, we haven't had a chance to try the toslink and see if it's any different. I think this has to do with the chip shortage. I'm hoping we get more output with the toslink, but in previous installs, we usually see less output with toslink compared to RCA. But then again that's in situations where we're comparing it to a 4 or 5 volt pre-amp connection, not a 1.7 or 2.5 volt connection.
Stinger seriously needs to update the Height 10 with more features mainly wireless Android Auto and Apple car play and stop charging extra just to get navigation
Man looks like I am not the only one that spend money for nothing this unit is garbage poor picture on the back up camera everything about. This unit is sucks not happy with this unit also technical support are so rude
Great video, there is also a gain level control on the crossover setting that controls the preamp output voltage .
Is the low voltage reading, as compared to what it is advertised, is only an issue if using aftermarket amplifiers, correct?
What is the level of the 1khz test file? It should be just about 0db to get a meaningful output voltage. I've seen too many test files -20db or so which would make the voltage output meaningless.
I'm a bit curious about this head unit for in my 1986 F-150. Currently running with a Pioneer NEX4400 which I love, but I'm thinking about putting that in my "17 Ultima and getting this since it's a single din, for my old truck (I'll be doing a resto-mod on the truck, with an updated interior, and a classic old truck look outside).
Stinger is using a Chy-Na bulker manufacturer, they have no set test measurement and do not adhere to design wants of the manupackager (Stinger) ... Stick with Apl, Pio and ken.
Great video, we did these tests back in the 80s... Clarion 5632 and 5671s had some clean ass pre out. Cheers
Thank you my friend!!! :)
Suspected this. Having a hell of a time getting this to sound decent. Replaced my stock HU That was going into an LC1 Running a jl 500/1 and a 300/4. Rockford p3 and infinity kappa. Stock HU SOUNDED WAY BETTER. plus I can't get the stinger to update so my carplay doesn't work.
Hey Scott, did you leave the update file zipped? I made that mistake the 1st time I tried to update it. I will say, we have since switched to using the toslink out and I'm back in love with this stereo again. If you don't plan on doing a DSP that accepts toslink (like a Helix DSP for example) you could throw in a line driver. We had an Audio Control Matrix in ours which improved output, but the toslink is so much cleaner that I actually love the way this stereo sounds now.
Car Chick I also own this Heigh 10 and I was having all kinds of trouble with this unit....They installed a new unit and after about two weeks I started to have the same problems....Then one day I shut off my Dash Cam WiFi and GPS and just like that my Heigh 19 started to work like it should....No problems everything works....NO Problems....so my GPS and WiFi from my Dash Cam was causing problems with this Stinger Heigh 10
Weird!! What brand dash camera?
You have to turn on the loudness👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽
Im trying to decide which Stereo to get for my 2019 JL. I was wondering about the Alpine you discussed they were coming out with.
I have a video on that one: ruclips.net/video/k3zrtSOmI6g/видео.htmlfeature=shared
They both have their pro's and con's and neither is perfect. The HEIGH10 back up camera input gets confused after we use the HDMI. The overall screen quality is not as nice as Alpine's. Alpine's is definitely more vibrant/saturated. HEIGH10 is wired CarPlay/Android Auto, Alpine is wireless. With the HEIGH10 you can easily add navigation and keep using Apple CarPlay/Android Auto. With Alpine, their optional on-road off-road GPS accessory disables CarPlay/Android Auto. The fit and finish of the Alpine is more premium, OEM in feel/look. If you're using the pre-amp for aftermarket amps, the Alpine is true 4 volt, Stinger is not. HOWEVER, the Stinger HEIGH10 does have digital output and if you use a compatible amp/DSP, that is pretty awesome. We are currently using it with a Helix V Eight DSP and very happy with the sound quality now that we're using that digital out. I hope that helps!
This is the reason I havr a Tech crush on you👍🏻
I'm wondering how this isn't considered at the very least
IDK fraudulent, sheisty, unethical???
Exactly!!! I was and am still pretty peeved about this. Sounds great with my audio control line driver, but it's the principle of it that gets me.
So is this deck not recommended?? I have an appointment next wk to have this installed, obvisouly the price isn't cheap and for that much I expect top notch, they didn't have any test screens inside for me to check out. I really wanted the android auto but figured I'd go to a bigger screen. Is their another 10 inch screen that you'd recommend for around the same price?
We kept it in our car and I don't know if the chip issue has been resolved yet. The last time I checked was a couple months ago and it was still the same issue. We ended up putting an Audio Control line driver in our Jeep JL to correct the issue (which is not ideal, but it's a work around that gave us the missing voltage). You could check out the i509-WRA-JL from Alpine. It's a bit more $$, but there is a lot more audio control and it's really 4 volt. We're putting the i509-WRA-JK in my 2014 JK in a couple weeks.
Is there a head unit you would recommend for the jl? I'm looking to change mine out.
I mean we have the HEIGH10 in our Jeep. It has its pro's and con's. We are currently using the digital output which is amazing for sound quality to our Helix V Eight DSP MKII amp. If you're using a regular analog amp, you will get better sound quality with the Alpine i509-WRA-JL and it's a much nicer display, but it's also a lot more money. Neither are perfect, but right now, we have limited options. You can technically install any shallow mount iDatalink Maestro compatible model too, but the Maestro does not retain the OEM camera. We also have tons of Jeep JL/JLU and Gladiator clients that do a full audio system upgrade using the stock head unit with the PAC AP4-CH41R2. But if you have the 5" display and want a bigger one, that doesn't really help you.
Went from a 2019 JLUR, to a Tesla, and now I'm going back to the JL. I miss the endless ways to mod.
So true. We have owned/leased countless vehicles and our 2019 JLU has been the best vehicle we've ever owned. About the only thing we ever put in Tesla's at the shop are radar detectors, the built in kind. Very cool car, but would much rather drive the Jeep every day :)
Hmm, I just had a Stinger installed in my 2015 Charger, I love it, I do have 2 12" sw in my trunk giving me the kick I want but anything is better than that little 5" factory pos that came with the vehicle, keep up the good work learning a lot from your channel 👍
Thank you Louis! I will be re-testing this model soon. I'm curious if Stinger ever resolved their supply chain issues and got back to a 4 volt pre-amp. We ended up putting an Audio Control Matrix line driver in ours to overcome the low voltage pre-amp, but then later we switched to using the optical output with our Helix V Eight DSP.
Holy moly we are in love with this unit now. Not sure if you ever plan to expand and upgrade the interiors/amp those, if you do, we highly recommend using the digital out to an amp that is compatible like a Helix with built in DSP. Sounds SO flipping clean.
@@carstereochick WoW, you just gave me a crash course in a min's read lol, I'll look into it in the near future, I'll be in touch ...
I have a KDCX599, and I absolutely love it.
Kenwood is hard to beat.
You never turned the preamp on (loudness)....Turn the loudness on
You're yanking my chain, right?
After having the heigh10 installed in my 17jku sahara I have noticed that it Does Not pick up the radio stations anywhere near the same as the factory deck . Why is this so . Maybe something when the stereo shop installed it . Maybe ?
It has only been in the jk since May.
Hi Kevin. In my experience these vehicles get horrible reception as it is even with the stock stereo so I couldn't really say what's going on. My 2014 JK is horrendous and that's with a Kenwood deck that is pretty solid at pulling in stations.
There is an FM/AM antenna adapter that is used to connect any aftermarket radio to the factory antenna, so it's possible you have a faulty adapter. But is it like you're ONLY getting local channels and absolute static everywhere else? Or like you're picking up the same stations as earlier, but with a lot more interference on all of them?
FM, and especially AM, are incredibly fickle and susceptible to all kinds of interference. Things like body corrosion, corroded main body grounds, a bad ground on the radio, what type of spark plugs you have etc. can all effect FM/AM reception. So it could be a number of things.
Did you by chance also have the shop install any aftermarket LED lights on your vehicle at the same time? LED and HID lights will obliterate reception. You can try things like a ferrite bead either on the antenna cable or on the power line for the LED or HID lights if that's the case. Doesn't always help.
We have installed these in both Wrangler JK's and JL's and I have not had any clients bring up reception loss as a complaint, but it could also be that they use CarPlay/Android Auto or SiriusXM and don't listen to FM/AM. For example I really couldn't tell you how it was before/after in our 2019 because I don't think we ever once turned on the FM/AM with either radio. I will have to pay attention to the next one we install. It may simply not be as strong of a tuner.
@@carstereochick I have not changed any accessories since having a professional stereo shop installed the heigh10. The location of the fm station that is located 40-45 miles away that would listen to for news and weather worked great with the original deck, and that’s even with the rubber shortie antenna… once the new head unit was installed I noticed no fm range and station interference depending on what direction the jeep is facing in relation to where the station is located. Plus my apple CarPlay has quit working. I used to be able to just plug my phone in and CarPlay would be there. Now when I plug in it does nothing . Not even highlights the CarPlay app. This head unit has hardly any miles on it . Disappointed buyer.
Open the sound file with an analyzer such as Audacity and see that the level is up to 0db for a constant level that will not jump over 0 to clip, or a tad under such as -0.2db to prevent clipping of music files, I have a feeling your file is at a very negative DB level. Obviously the loudest sounds of a proper digital music or test tone would not go over 0db as it would clip as I mentioned but if the test file is at -20db or lower, it's not going to be able to drive the preamp to it's limit.
Audacity is still one of my favorite programs. If the file is well negative, I can normalize them with no degradation since one is only changing at what bit the loudest in the file is. Since it is a constant amplitude test file, it can be 0 without ever going over into clipping.
I use Apple Lossless for testing. Original file was imported from a CD into my library at CD quality so no compression/degradation of the file used for testing. The file is specifically taken from D'Amore Engineering album For The Love of Audio, 1 kHz - 0 db. Use the same test tone and equipment for Alpine, Kenwood, Sony etc.
Since I made this video I have confirmed with an unnamed industry insider, that many of these units like mine are not 5 volt. To my knowledge, this issue has not been resolved. You may have heard of this thing called a chip shortage? Last year when Kenwood, Sony, Alpine, Pioneer etc had barely any radios to ship, some companies did what they had to to get chips to push radios out assuming nobody like me would test and figure it out. Now that supply chain issues are getting better, I would hope that this gets addressed.
As I've said to others, I know the 1st one of these we sold and installed was 5 volt, you could hear it. That was what sold us on wanting to put one in our own vehicle. Supply chain issues were a nightmare for manufacturers 2020 - 2021 and I was really bummed to find out how that affected this model. We have since added an Audio Control line driver. Eventually we will get Toslink connected, but our shop is always so busy working on client vehicles that we rarely get time to upgrade our own lately.
@@carstereochick Ok, you convinced me, they advertise something that isn't so.
I have never used the line driver but I am using the matrix in balanced mode(strange to use rca jacks for balanced though)in a 1998 Lincoln Mark VIII LSC with an Alpine X208U feeding the factory JBL amp with the Matrix. It works well but that is an awful lot of device just to boost to a higher gain with balanced out since so many features are left unused. The line driver may have worked. There was a company over 20 years ago that made an adapter that was designed specifically to take RCA outputs which most were 2 volts at the time and convert them to the higher voltage balanced inputs the JBL amp used. I had a 1988 Lincoln Mark VII LSC with the jbl system that I used to put a Denon head unit into which was my first RDS experi0'0ence and it actually did what RDS is supposed to do, if you are listening to a program such as on NPR, when it starts to get weak it will look for a stronger station playing the same thing and tuning to it.
I became familiar with Audio Control in 1980. They were always dedicated and their UPS driver even ate lunch with them back then when they were small and not far from Carver. Pretty good bunch of folks. I have some of their amps in my truck behind the rear seat.
Great video. Thank you. What head unit is the one you like the best for a 2019 wrangler jlu 4 door?
Thanks Al! Now that we're finally utilizing the optical output of this head unit, we're absolutely in love with the sound quality. We have it connected to a Helix V Eight DSP MKII amplifier. It depends on what your overall goal is for your upgrade is and what features are most important to you. For us, sound quality is definitely the most important and in this case if you have the option/ability to use toslink, that is going to sound better than RCA level on the i509-WRA-JL. But if you're only going to be using RCA's, the Alpine i509-WRA would be a better sounding unit.
@@carstereochick this is the exact info I needed. Thank you for this feedback. Having a SQ setup myself with dsp, the optical out and the fact that this head unit is currently on sale for $599 from stinger on Amazon….. absolutely sold, and just ordered it
Go to subwoofer level and try that setting for higher rca output. . My kenwood will only get 2.4 at 0 level and when I cut level to 10, I get 5.8
I did, sub level was maxed out as was the source level for CarPlay. We put an Audio Control line driver in and now we have the missing voltage.
@@carstereochick Before finding this video I suspected the sub volume seemed off. I upgraded to a more powerful amp... but watching this now makes sense as to why I needed to. Thanks. On a side note for people that have the Alpine amps OEM, this unit with installer code did allow to turn the OEM installed amps louder by a lot.
Called Stinger to inquire about your finding on their Flagship system, the support technician attempted to answer my questions in GEEK language, it would be interesting to hear your response about this finding after calling the tech support and listening to their explanation? Additionally, I was also wondering is it just a bad head unit that you were testing? Based on this review? :ruclips.net/video/09bk1EicUyc/видео.html
The person who took your call in tech support may not even be aware. I don't believe any of this stuff is tested in house before shipping. It's made overseas, arrives at their various warehouses and gets shipped out to shops across the country. Even if they were aware, I don't think they are going to ever acknowledge this officially so I am not at all surprised that they basically denied it or danced around it. They probably said something like maybe my oscilloscope hasn't been calibrated recently, but I always test with two other tools when I see anything odd (the DD1+ and our Fluke MD88 multimeter which is always spot on for voltage).
Usually with defects we see issues with a product functioning. This product functions, it's just not exactly as advertised so doubtful it would be considered a defect. My plan is to keep testing these as they come in/go out of the shop. I am 100% sure this is related to the chip shortage and that when these 1st came out, they WERE 4 volt because we have sold and installed these prior to putting one in our own vehicle and they sounded like they were 4 volt. It wasn't until we put one in our vehicle and noticed the difference in output that we started digging into it. Before this we had the Alpine X409 which was truly 4 volt (we tested that too to be sure).
It's interesting, I noticed the publish date on that video link was December 2020. That's actually when I received our 1st HEIGH10 and we installed it in a client's 2-door Wrangler JL in January 2021 with a small aftermarket amp (50x4) and Alpine powered under seat sub and that's when we were like, "This thing is really cool, we should put one in our Jeep!". My guess is this became an issue later on in the year and it's just due to parts shortage. It will probably be resolved soon. They were probably just hoping there weren't any geeks like me that would ever actually notice and check/measure it.
EDIT: I WISH we were getting 6 volts out of this thing. I'm jealous. But that explains why the little 2-door we did last January sounded as good as it did. That's a cool test tool too, the DM-RTA by Audio Control, but it's really performing the same test I do with the oscilloscope. It's more flexible in that it can test a whole bunch of things as well.
@@carstereochick Thank you, I have been debating on a purchase of this unit for my TACOMA, and came across your awesome video Thanks
@@carstereochick another question, could you or did you identify if the unit is compatible with auto-dimming, my Tacoma will adjust the display brightness based on the exterior lighting?
I know this video has some age, but that voltage does not surprise me. When I saw the voltage specs on Amazon, I was surprised and was lucky enough to see you made a video on this. Look at all the other Chinese brands like Joying, Atoto, and Dasaita; they all have the same specs, 2V. This unit like all the rest, it is just rebranded with a custom launcher. I saw in a couple of comments you seem let down that you ended up using an Audiocontrol line driver. I have been using a AudioControl EQS for 10 years and my sound has always been top notch across several vehicles and changes in other equipment. What issues are you having with the line drivers?
Even so, unless the test file is at 0db, the test is meaningless. I don't know why so many test files are set at -db
@@Davesworld7 0dB is full signal, negative dBs are a reduction in signal (down to -infinity which is fully off) and +dB are when a signal has a gain applied. 0dB is also sometimes called Unity. This is consistent across digital mixing and analog mixing where anything below 0dB is reductive (the source signal is reduced) and anything above 0dB (when the board or software supports it) applies a gain to the signal via a pre-amp (in analog processing) or increasing the amplitude by the selected amount(in digital).
When metering, 0dB is often the either the maximum or ideal capability of the hardware or digital signal space you are working with. In the case of setting it to the optimum strength, there will be some headroom above the ideal signal level before hitting clipping. You should check documentation for the particular board or system you are using for the specific implementation.
No issues with the line driver, it sounds great now. I just feel cheated because at one point they definitely were making these units with the better quality 5 volt pre-amp so I'm more disappointed in the brand that they would cut corners like that and still try and pass it off as 5 volt. But that move did help them sell more of these radios last year when other brands like Alpine, Sony, Kenwood, JVC and Pioneer were out of stock.
Great Video my Friend !!!!
Thanks so much Chris!!! :)
Awesome video, once again. Thanks.
Please review some of the full Android HUs too, in your own unique style of doing it.
Thank you Zak! Dually noted. Can I ask if you had a particular model in mind? Most of the time I try to deal with brands that have US based representation/customer service. Viper used to say (before they got bought out by a huge global conglomerate known as Voxx in which the brand promptly went to hell in a hand basket) that their product was only as good as the customer service/support behind it. A lot of the Android based models I have seen appear to be sold and shipped directly from China. Maybe I'll try a Linkswell, like a TA-UNDD13-3RR-4C: 13.3" tablet running Android 10.1 and can be mounted horizontally or vertically with a double din chassis.
@@carstereochick I had come across a few good models from Teyes, Joying and Atoto. But yeah, sales and customer care is directly from China and they have no physical presence in other countries yet. Still, the features and convenience they bring with makes them a worthy contender in the arena of HUs. I'm very much confused of their audio quality because some appears to have rave reviews and when I tried out a few, it just sounded meh! 😂
I have had quite a few clients bring in those brands for us to install and my feelings have been the same! Usually they give you a lot of features for the money, but not exactly high quality audio components. Definitely worth investigating though.
@@carstereochick Phoenix is a US based distributor of these Android Tesla style ones I believe.
@@carstereochick Linkswell
8:40 *4V
LOL that was the little Kenwood Excelon deck I used for a quick comparison. At least Kenwood has true ratings ;) You had me going there for a minute!
Did you try boosting the eq?
I’m guessing that they are making it unclippable for the average user. If not, I’m super bummed as well, as this was at the top of my list. Love the testing videos. Thanks for taking the time.
Thanks Sarah! I didn't try boosting the EQ, but I do want to reach out to Stinger and find out under what circumstances they achieved 4 volt. The manual says: Audio output level (max): 4.0V preout. Maybe as you suggested that is with bass boost on, loudness on and bass jacked to the max. I will have to try it. Do you drive a Jeep JL too? There are such limited options right now for name brand/quality big screens in these vehicles. On paper, this unit really does have a TON of great features and nice GUI. FYI Alpine is coming out with some newer Jeep JL models for 2022 which I'm super psyched about the i509-WRA-JL. 9" high res anti-glare display, wireless connection for Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, 24 bit DAC, 13 band parametric EQ (per channel!) and a bunch of other goodies. Expected retail will be $2199.
Thanks for the reply. Sarah is actually my wife’s name. Sorry to misrepresent. Neither of us drive a Jeep but this hu really ticked all the boxes for me. I’m sure that Alpine is killer but a little out of my current budget which is 0 after my speaker upgrade. I’ve been doing some similar tests you’re doing and have noticed a strange waveform at 40hz on both of my Kenwood Excelons. The wave is perfect on top but, there is a slight angle on the bottom peak. On the older model (2012), it’s always there regardless of volume. On the newer (2016) it is only noticeable at clipping, but again, only the bottom peak. It does not appear to be an artifact from the scope itself as it is a nicer B&K analog. Have you seen anything similar with Kenwood’s?
Hey there Sarah's spouse ;) I have not seen that, that's weird. I do have an older eXcelon deck poking around here somewhere I can try that with. What I have seen in most of the newer decks is to keep the signal clean at high volumes you really should keep the sub level at 0. If you want to go past that, don't put the head unit volume past 3/4. Some of the older eXcelon decks have a bass extension option which basically takes whatever you have set for 62.5 Hz on the EQ and extends that to lower bass frequencies. I'm assuming you're doing these tests with the EQ flat, but have you checked the other advanced settings and turned off bass boost, bass extension, loudness and supreme?
@@carstereochick Yup. Everything off and 0’d.