Alpine CDA-7969R Car CD Player

When I was doing some research before I purchased the Alpine, I found no other reviews for this product. So i'll try and make this review as comprehensive as possible for anyone else wanting information for this deck. First, it's important to understand that this cd player is now a few years old, as it was Alpine's flagship CD player in 2001. As such it does not support MP3 playback, so if this is important to you and you are not willing to purchase a MP3 CD changer, look elsewhere.

This was not important to me, it would have been nice, but I am used to using normal burnt CD's anyway. Although I don't think this unit supports CD-R playback, I have had no problems with any CD-R's i've thrown at this thing (even one's which had problems playing back on my CD-R supported 2003 Pioneer DEH-P4550). My decision was between this deck and Alpine's current 2005 CDA-9847, which has mp3 playback but not a sound quality unit like this one. (NOTE: I was lucky enough to buy this unit BRAND NEW from a car audio retailer who had this in the store since 2001, and still have a one year manufacturer warranty!)

Sound quality is what this deck is based on. Features include:
-External DC/DC converter
-Digital Harmonics Enhancer (DHE)
-6-position 24db/Oct Digital Crossover
-7 band graphic EQ (sure it's not parametric, but still comprehensive enough for most people)
-Digital Time Correction
-Ampless design with 3 x 4V preouts (front, rear and sub)
-Blackout feature (turns off display to reduce power consumption which enhances sound quality)
-Optical in/out
As you can see, the sound quality specs of this deck should be good enough for most people.

The most striking feature of this unit is the Phantom Face. It is the predecessor to the current CDA-7998R, which has an updated Phantom Face XL. This is a completely motorised, non-removable face which retracts back into the unit when turned off. A very cool feature which makes the unit look like a standard cd player with the face removed. An excellent security feature with the added benefit of not having to carry a removable face with you when you're not in the car. It's also good to show off to your mates! I prefer this model to the 7998R. Not only because I can't afford the current model, but also because this unit has a jet black face, which looks dead sexy amongst the full black interior of my 1997 Hyundai FX Coupe (Tiburon).

I'm running this unit with a pretty simple amp, speaker and sub setup. I'm only running front splits (Focal Polyglass 165 V2), no rear fill and one 12 inch sub (Eclipse SW6123.4) in a ported box; with the splits and sub running off a single Alpine MRV-F345 (75 x 2 RMS to splits, 300 RMS to sub). A pretty reasonable, relatively inexpensive setup which sounds awesome.

All up, I would recommend this deck to anyone who is looking for a great sound quality unit on a budget. As mentioned earlier this unit is a few years old, so if you find one of these decks either second-hand (or if you're lucky like me, brand new), it should be a fraction of the original price and a lot cheaper than any current model sound quality units. No MP3 playback is the only concern here, which also can be overcome buy purchasing an MP3 CD changer.

**Update 4th September 2005**
I thought I would update this review to cover my detailed opinions of this cd player as requested in the comments received.

What's your opinion of this unit's controls?
-All up, the units controls are very similar to the current model alpine units. Basic controls like volume control, searching through songs on cd or radio stations are so simple most people who haven't seen the unit before can operate it. The more detailed controls like adjusting EQ bands and digital time correction levels are complex and do require you to read the manual to go through the steps. I do see this as a good thing however, as other people should not be able to muck around with these important settings easily and are not options you need to be accessing on a regular basis.

Is the volume easy to adjust while you're driving?
-The volume control is a rotary knob similar to the current model alpine units, however it is a slimline version to help with the phantom face mechanisim. This barely affects it's useability. This only downside is that it can't be used as a push button to access sub, balance and fader controls. These controls are accessed through a DHE/Mode button directly beside the volume control. It's a little less user friendly than the current model Alpine's, but you shouldn't complain too much about something as trival as that.

Can you get at the EQ controls easily?
-Getting to the both the factory and user presets is pretty simple as there is a EQ button located just above the left hand side of the display, with the presets selected using the F buttons (F1, F2 etc.). As mentioned earlier, making adjustments to the EQ bands is a bit more involved, but rightfully so.

Have you noticed any skipping of CDs over bumps?
-Not only does this Alpine read CD's (burnt or not) faster than my previous 2003 model Pioneer, it just doesn't skip! and i'm not the most careful person over speed bumps. I think it always helps if you secure the unit properly (It happens more often than I thought, I've worked on friends cars which have had the cd player 'professionally' installed at car audio retailers, and have been terribly done).

What's your opinion of the unit's FM radio reception?
-There is a warning in the manual that tells you to install the DC/DC convertor as far away as possible to the aerial lead as it can cause interference. This is true, and while the interference was small, it was noticable. Putting distance between the two eliminated this interference and now the radio quality is as clear as I have heard in any car install.

Other than "awesome," do you have any thoughts on the sound quality?
-I had a feeling I should elaborate more for this, but I wrote the review late one night and I was tired! Let's start by saying that I am not a pure sound quality enthusiast, but i'm definately not a bass head either. For example, sound quality enthusiasts try to create an environment so the playback is as close to the original recording as possible. I like to emphasise the bass and treble a bit more than normal (hence the reason I have Focal splits and an Eclispe sub), while retaining a clean sound.

I listen to a wide variety of music, mainly r&b and rap but also like listening to blues (Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Stevie Ray Vaughan) and other artists like Michael Buble. For the most part, I tend to have all EQ settings on flat as this seems to have a nice balance between music impact and quality. I do have a user EQ preset created, which is based on the ROCK preset, which I use on more easy listening music such as Michael Buble. Using the flat and user preset EQ's, I got all types of music that I listen to covered. In comparision to my old Pioneer DEH-P4550, which had a 3 band parametric EQ, I just couldn't get the right balance with the Pioneer. Consequently I was constantly changing the EQ settings on it, whereas the Alpine I have the two settings which I haven't touched since I first tuned the system.