DO's & DON'Ts - Picking a Car Audio Radio Head Unit

When choosing a car audio head unit (aka stereo or radio) in 2020 what are some "Do's" and some "Don'ts" to make sure we make the best choice and get the best unit for our application? Let's talk my opinions on what I feel you should and shouldn't do when it comes to picking a car audio head unit in 2020.

🔨 Choosing a head unit for a car audio project, be sure to visit show sponsor Crutchfield to use their vehicle selector tool! (and get a sweet deal for CAF fans!)

🔊 Want more? Check out these links:

🔊🔊🔊 FULL VIDEO SERIES PLAYLISTS:🔊🔊🔊

Here at Car Audio Fabrication I teach you how to Master Car Audio in an effort to Design, Build, and Install your ideal car audio system. Whether you are a hardcore basshead or a HiFi focused audiophile I would love to have you subscribe and join our community!

--SUBSCRIBE--

--LET'S CONNECT!—
Instagram: @caraudiofab
Snapchat: @caraudiofab

Music:
No Music
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Copyright Disclaimer. Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

Car Audio Fabrication – Master Car Audio – Design, Build, Install

[FSXgta]

Stay away from touch based volume control. Buttons or knobs are the best!

[HPSFRoadrunner]

Big props for mentioning the interface! Nobody EVER mentions this and it's becoming increasingly important. I would like to see a side-by-side comparison of all the major brands. In a vehicle, I believe it's critical to have a simple and intuitive UI.

[wiscolife]

Man, remember waiting for that fresh Crutchfield catalog to come in the mail? Those were the days...

[ericMT]

The biggest issue most new head units have is not including a hard skip forward and back button.Mute is also often on the touch screen only so if you don't have steering wheel controls, it can be difficult to quickly mute audio or skip songs. When you have a very loud system, it's important to be able to turn it down quickly in certain situations as most of us here can relate to.

[joeymerrell]

Anyone else here old enough to remember when pullout head units and CD changers were new to the game? Just me? F@#! I'm getting old. Lol

[CarlsonLipke]

I tried many head units and always faced some problems with Bluetooth, Android Auto or installation itself. I decided to build my own head unit so I gave a try for Raspberry PI 4 (single board computer) with OpenAuto Pro software on-board. First advantage is that is the cheapest head unit I ever installed in my car. Second advantage is that everything works pretty well so far.

[MaverickGrabber]

When I bought my head unit for my truck this year, I looked at a bunch of them. When I settled on one or two, the price difference to add the DVD player was $20 or $30. For me that's a no brainier, and if the disc player ever dies, the rest of it will still work.

[Kevinb]

For years I’ve used pioneer head units and just never have been happy with the bass coming from my after market speakers. I have jl audio 5x7s in the back and focals in the front that I just got last year. I even put a 4 channel 50 watt per channel amp in and still was not happy how tinny all the speakers sounded. My pioneer head unit gave out and replaced it with an alpine 650. Immediately the bass from the all the speakers were kicking. The speakers sound so rich now with good clean highs and good mid bass then my sub doing the low lows. I can’t believe a head unit made that much of a difference even with amps powering the speakers. I’m still just amazed how good the speakers sound now. I’ll never get a pioneer anything again.
Edit. The amp I have is the alpine power pack which also connects Nicely to the back of the alpine head unit.
I have actually been using my infinity kappa 12 vq sub for 15 years now. I freaking love that sub.

[MadDragon]

As a teenager, I didn't have the internet but I did look forward to the latest Crutchfield magazine.
😎👍

[munkee]

I bought from Crutchfield before the internet was mainstream. My first purchase from them was 1993 I believe. I bought some Cerwin Vega home speakers.

[mallorycainjr.]

Sucks because I'm only 22 but was born off CDs hearing the crisp clear sound when my dad used to blast his system just hits different for me lol. Also this video was definitely needed these new vehicles are getting more difficult with how their head units are built connected to the car's computer system

[geoffcon]

The ability to make the screen blank is a must have. Especially for night driving.

[BoogieManSince]

The timing of this, could not be more perfect ;)

[mattb]

I got a chuckle out of how my new 4Runner has a recommendation of "We do not recommend upgrading the head unit."

[VRNAVYVW]

Alpines ilx-w650 was $300. It works great and the tunability is amazing. Also using a DD1+ I get clean output all the way through max volume. I've never had issues with Alpine decks. The one pioneer I bought when I was cheaping out broke in a month(the toggle switch to next/back. The spring in it to return switch back to center failed and was annoying there after).

[leoluciferr]

My 10.1 android HU works absolutely perfect fast never froze and sounds perfect

[SilkySmooth]

Maaan, Crutchfield has been my go to since before the internet!!! Damn im old

[seanmichael]

I bought my radio this past weekend, darn it 😂 but I’m glad that I followed the same basic principles you highlighted in the video 😁🙏🏼

[extrememod_ahu]

I watched this video to check whether you'd be mentioning digital audio outputs, or rather lack of them in the current head unit market - and you did. So thank you for that! Truth to be told, if we talk about audiophiles, then analog connections are just not good enough, looking at the mainstream Android Head Unit / Android Auto options out there. We've seen some 1DIN bluetooth stereos in the range of $1, 000+ with decent hardware for analog outputs, but as you said - it is still uncomparable with digital signal.

There is a new Android Head Unit from Joying, the first one that offers digital audio output (but there might be others too). Seeing the market turning gradually towards the end-to-end Android in-car experience - if you ever plan to make a video on how to run Android Head Unit + Adv. DSP + Ex. AMP - we'd be happy to offer some content to share with your audience (we're not affiliated with any brands; truly independent) .

[jordan]

I've owned an atoto a6 android head unit for over 1 year with no issues. Great sound and wifi for youtube browsing when I'm on my lunch break at work