Best Car Stereo for iPhone ?

[fab5freddy]

I am looking for a new Car Stereo that will work well
with my iPhone.
Does anyone have good suggestions to which one to get ?

Should i get one that has Bluetooth built in or just get a Bluetooth Headset ?

thanks!

 

[fid]

Alpine iDA-X305 has reportedly worked well with the GS (Bluetooth possibly worked). Alpine also makes a larger unit, the iXA-W404 with touchscreen interface.

I have an older Alpine that works, suprisingly, through the hi-speed interface. Most disable the phone interface and allow control through the head.

 

[fab5freddy]

Has anyone tried the Kenwood KDC-MP342U ?
It has USB charging and plays the iphone through the Stereo.

 

[ericvmazzone]

Alpine iDA-X305 has reportedly worked well with the GS (Bluetooth possibly worked). Alpine also makes a larger unit, the iXA-W404 with touchscreen interface.

I have an older Alpine that works, suprisingly, through the hi-speed interface. Most disable the phone interface and allow control through the head.

I have the X305 and the GS works very well with it. I had the X100 for about 3 months while waiting for other equipment come in, I also had a few problems with the X100 not recognizing iPods via the USB link. The high-speed line worked, but it is not as effective and functional as the USB. The vendor upgraded me to the X305.

Before the switch to the X305 I had the Bluetooth system in the car, and playing music via bluetooth and an adapter for the iPod / iPhone worked okay excepting for the large draw on power. For phone calls it left a lot to be desired, at least with the 2G iPhone. I could not use the bluetooth with the X305 because Alpine decided to change the cables used to connect the devices.

I'm currently waiting for the new version to be delivered to my vendor and they'll install that plus the Imprint system.

 

[fab5freddy]

Still No one with the Kenwood KDC-MP342U ?

 

[Fizzoid]

Still No one with the Kenwood KDC-MP342U ?

Well, you did say "best" and IMO Kenwood don't come close to Alpine when it comes to quality.
If you can mount a double DIN unit, I'd suggest the Alpine iXA-W404R if not the Alpine iDA-X305 as already suggested.
I have the old Alpine iDA-X001 and think it's fantastic

 

[zacheryjensen]

I am looking for a new Car Stereo that will work well
with my iPhone.
Does anyone have good suggestions to which one to get ?

Should i get one that has Bluetooth built in or just get a Bluetooth Headset ?

thanks!

I find the iPhone itself provides the very best interface to the music so I prefer using it with a lineout adapter and any head unit that will take aux in. I'm using a clarion now, it does nothing but pass on my iPhone output to the rest of the system at this point. I'm using a griffin aux car dock with charging, it was meant for iPod nano 2nd gen, so it warns me it's not made for iPhone when I plug it in but it has no issues.

Not the prettiest setup but sounds fantastic.

 

[MadDog31]

I'm going to somewhat follow this thread. I'm absolutely disgusted in my stereo because it doesn't even have a line-in interface or a CD-changer port. I can only go over FM transmission. Ridiculous.

But after dropping a bunch of cheddar on the 3GS, finding a really solid car stereo for a Lincoln LS is not fun. I'd love to find something really affordable but will look good in the oversized stereo area on the dash.

 

[fab5freddy]

Great. Thanks. I went to BestBuy and all they had was
Kenwood, Sony and Pioneer.
and Kenwood seemed to be the best out of those brands....