Alpine CDA-9883 Car CD / MP3 Player

The description of the Alpine CDA-9883 says that it is very customizable. This is true, and one of the best ways to describe it.

In the CDA-9883, you can purchase separate modules so that you can fully control your iPod through the head unit, talk on your Bluetooth phone through it, control HD and satellite radio through it, use your steering wheel controls, and they have made it easy to pipe in your DVD sound through your entire car. You can put as many of these modules into the head unit as you want, but be warned, the average cost of them is high. Here is a list of the ones I am familiar with:

-Bluetooth - $120-250 depending on the model you get
-Steering Wheel Controls - $100-120
-iPod - $30

The more expensive modules are expensive as you get a separate unit which is plugged into the Alpine Head Unit, the cheaper ones (such as the iPod), only require the purchase of a cable to attach your iPod (more on this later).

The quality of the unit is high, just as we have learned to expect from Alpine. The unit fits very solidly in the dash, and you definitely do not feel that you are going to break it every time you press a button. The detachable face plate is nice if you live in ghetto, or are going to leave your car in a public place for a long period of time.

While on the topic of the face plate, it does not have a slit in it for the CD to pass through. Therefore, this head unit is the style which you need to press the "open" button to fold the face plate down, then press an eject button to remove a CD and insert a new one. Before I bought a this head unit, I thought head units of this style would be rather cumbersome to change CD's. After owning one, this is nothing short of true. This is my least favorite part of the head unit.

Speaking of dislikes, there is only one other thing I do not like about it. This may seem stupid to some, but I really like pressing buttons and the unit beeping to tell you that you pressed the button. I find this nice while driving so you can spend more time with your eyes on the road, instead of on the head unit. Many head units have this as a changeable feature, but it is not an option.

The head unit will also play MP3 CDs. I am personally not a big fan, but it is probably because of the iPod adapter (more on this later, I promise). Searching through the folders of the MP3 CD is rather difficult as it is with any single line display head unit.

I almost exclusively use the iPod connection when driving. This Alpine head unit uses, what they call, the "Full Speed iPod" connection. This is no cheap mini-jack to head unit MP3 player connector. This is a cord which goes from the head unit to the data port on the bottom of the iPod. This is convenient as all control of the iPod is through the head unit. While plugged in, the screen of the iPod displays the Alpine logo and all controls on the iPod are locked. Also while plugged in, the head unit charges the iPod. This is very convenient.

While the head unit is receiving its source from the iPod, some of the buttons change function. The three buttons to the left of the rotary encoder are in charge of searching, selecting, and going back in the menu. The rotary encoder itself, while in the menu, scrolls through the options.

The display on the head unit displays all of the information which would normally be displayed on the screen of your iPod, excluding the rating of the song.

Sound quality on all sources is amazing. Unfortunately, sound quality is rather subjective because it is heavily dependent on the quality of the source, what you are comparing the sound to, your components, and personal preference. With that said, on factory components, comparing it to the stock head unit, the sound quality is pretty good. It is a huge step up from the factory unit. Comparing my CDA-9883 to my friends $1500 touch screen Kenwood with stock components, I find mine to be better. As I said, this could be heavily dependent on my personal preference.

While sort of on the topic of sound quality and speakers, I should also mention that it is very easy to build a system on Alpine decks. One the back there are several RCA pre-outs to plug in amplifiers. In the head unit, there is a separate sub woofer volume, as well as several other options to fine tune your system.

To conclude, this head unit does it all, and if necessary, I would buy another in a heart beat.

I gave the following ratings:
Sound Quality - 4 Stars - I gave it four stars because the bass is lacking some. This _could_ be due to my components. I feel that getting a sub would help fill the void, but I have yet to do it. I am satisfied with the sound quality, but it could use a little more kick.
Quality - 5 stars - I think this thing will really last forever.
Ease of use - 4 stars - Some menus are hard to navigate, but they are easy once you get used to them.