Is Clarion still a good car stereo?

I'm so out of the loop with car audio. If I recall correctly, Clarion was a pretty good brand in the past, but these things change... I usually stick with Pioneer, but I couldn't pass this unit up (DXZ585USB) when I saw it for $99 on newegg ($120 off & free shipping). Should I be looking elsewhere for similar features, mainly the ability to play MP3s off of thumb drives and such?

With the Holiday and all, I think I still have a day or so to cancel the order in case it turns out Clarion is the new Audiovox or something. lol


newegg: Clarion CD/USB Receiver With CeNET Control Model DXZ585USB



(dunno where to post this, so general it is, heh)

 

Go Alpine!

 

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_020D585USB/Clarion-DXZ585USB.html?search=DXZ585USB&tp=5684

yep they're still good... i have a double din one in my car right now and it works great but i mostly got it for the aux/usb/ipod ports

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_020DUZ385/Clarion-DUZ385SAT.html?showAll=N&tp=5684&avf=N lol this is the one i have... the price on newegg is good, only bad thing is it doesnt included the necessary components so you might have to buy that seperately

 

Alpine ftmfw, although it can get a bit expensive

 

I went Alpine in my car! Brilliant sound, head unit plays every music file type! Great being able to fit 12 albums on 1 disc!:rock:

 

don't look at the brand look at the functionality

 

clarion are great, Mid to high end Decks are excellent.

Dont believe people that say there bad, only the low end are bad

 

Thanks for the replies all.

This isn't going into anything special, just for my Suburban which will soon be relegated to back-up duty again anyways. Still, just want to ensure whatever goes in is a reliable and quality brand. If I like the USB feature (if, lol), I'll probably look at some nicer decks with that as well for whatever car I end up buying in the coming months.

Speakers are currently just decent replacements for the stock ones, 2-way Kenwood (I think) 3.5" speakers in the dash and 3-way Pioneer 4x10's in the rear panels. Right now the head unit is an 11 yr old, 80w Kenwood CD player. The rear panels are too small/shallow for the 4x10s to deliver much bass, so I might add a cheap 8" bass tube. It sounds decent enough for an old truck though.

btw - I have a ~5 yr old Sony 10 disc cd changer lying around that I wouldn't mind using. The specs for this deck say it can handle a 6 disc changer so perhaps it could do the first 6 of the 10...? Doubtful I suspect. That changer will forever sit in storage with it's worthless cassette only head unit. lol

 

I just got this unit and installed it yesterday. I absolutely love it! I doubt I'll use CD's much after this, the thumb drive is great, dunno how I've lived without it. The sound quality of this unit is outstanding. It has a feature similar to the X-Fi's Crytalizer that really seems to help. I totally want/need a sub-woofer now.

Definitely won't be the last Clarion I buy. Thanks for appeasing my brand anxiety all.

 

Hi, I just put in this unit too but I can't get ipods to work with it. Did you have any luck? I'm getting an "error 2" which means that the usb/wma/aac are improperly encoded. But i get this with 4 different ipods

-Thanks

 

Hmmm, I've only used thumb drives and CDs with MP3s thus far (with no problems). I can grab my daughter's Nano and see how it does. I'll try that here in a moment...

 

Cool thanks, I've been searching all over for someone else who has this exact unit. Also ordered it from Newegg!

 

didnt know clarion was ever a better option?
when i was in highschool/college, in my area,we considered them in the lower end, like along with Jensen products. they were overrated wattages, not typically long lasting or could take alot of abuse and sound quality was a notch above power equalizers lol

 

^Time will tell I suppose. I hear their lower end stuff is/was mediocre at best. Mid to high end is where it's at.

As to the iPod Q, I just used my daughter's Nano successfully with songs, playlists, menu navigation, etc. Everything played fine, no errors. I think I recall seeing in the specs in the manual that it is only compatible with newer generation iPods, her Nano is 1 yr old. My old 20GB iPod for instance wasn't in the compatible list.

 

Thanks. I must have a defective unit or something.

I've tried it with an ipod nano (not the newest one but the one that is shaped like a small square), ipod video 5th generation, and two different ipod touch 2g with no avail.

Are you using the regular ipod wire? Did you install it yourself?

Sorry for all the questions but I really have no idea (nor does Clarion) about what the problem could be.

Thanks for checking though!

 

I was using the standard cable that came with the iPod. I installed the head unit myself, yes.

It does sound like it could be a defective unit then unfortunately. It is a great stereo though. Now that I've played with the iPod controls, I like it even more.

Hope you get it sorted out quickly!

 

Thanks for all your help. I have one more question but wont crap the thread. Please check your PM.

 

I'm looking to get a new head unit for my Mazda 6 2010. Anybody know if Kenwood head units are any good?
I've been thinking of buying the Kenwood DDX9703S as it's the best rated on amazon?
Does anyone have this model?
Thanks

 

Make a new thread over here...>https://forums.guru3d.com/forums/soundcards-speakers-hifi-file-formats.23/
you will get a lot more answers there!

PS: welcome, I to need a new head unit for my truck....a dedicated car audio thread would be cool here.