Alpine IDA-X001
Last week I picked up an Alpine IDA-X001 "built for iPod" head unit for the car. Previously I'd been using a mixed variation of FM transmitters, tape adapters, or simply driving with headphones - the later sounds the best, but I find it seriously impaired my spacial awareness (no - I didn't crash into any thing or any one, but I could see how it could easily happen).
I knew it was time to hunt out a head unit that supported iPod's and since the car already had a great sounding Alpine unit I thought I'd start there - and I didn't need to look long before I found the IDA-X001:
After a week of using the head unit I can safely say I'm in love with it. Finally I have killer sounds once more in the car, I'd forgotten how well the stock speakers sounded when blasted loudly. So what are the key things that make me love this unit so much, beyond the sound?
- No cables - the lack of cables dangling around the gears and/or hand break would have to be the best non-music feature hands down. Safety is of course somewhat important and having a plethora of cables dangling is a major safety risk.
- Song title display - It's surprising how many songs I've either forgotten the names of, or just never actually knew in the first place. When the modern music workflow tends to be "buy cd, rip cd, store cd case, listen with iPod in pocket" it's easy to never actually know the name (or full name) of a song.
- Radio aerial only extends when using the radio - as shockingly obvious as this might seem, one thing that really annoyed me with the original head unit was that even when using CDs, or tapes the radio's aerial would be deployed. Finally I can sit in an automated car wash and listen to my music!
- Protected/unprotected AAC music files play! As someone whose purchased a fair amount of music from the iTunes music store being able to play said music was a key requirement of the head unit. I'm glad to say the play flawlessly.
It's a fairly small list really, but the effect of those small things makes the purchase worth it. However, with every positives there's a few negatives:
- The stock Alpine CD changer doesn't work with the IDA-X001. I knew this going in, and I rarely use the changer so it's no major problem. You can get adapters/converters which can connect older Alpine gear to the new AI-NET interface, however it seems this didn't work with my changer ;(
- Song title display doesn't always change properly - I've noticed a few times that the song information gets "stuck" and doesn't update properly when a song changes. So far this has only happened 3-4 times and only when transitioning between iTMS purchased AAC songs (maybe a bug in the AAC support?), simply cycling the units inputs to FM/USB/iPod seems to clear the confusion.
- Changing the head unit to play in shuffled mode sets the iPod to also be in shuffle mode - I'm not entirely sure how content is played via the head unit, but I suspect it simply operates as a remote control/speaker dock and relies on the iPod to actually play its music. Only - I want the car on shuffle, but the iPod itself :(
All in all nothing to shake a stick at, it's a wonderful head unit and I couldn't be more pleased.