- Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 19 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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3 out of 3 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"Fantastic search features! Load up your 80 gig iPod!"
Pros: Excellent search; fast USB connection speed
Cons: Connection is more prone to errors than slower Full Speed
Summary: I've been drooling over this head unit since February. I had the Alpine 9856 and found its search features extremely lacking for my 80 gig iPod. The 9856's search wheel was free spinning and only turned through one item at a time. To find an artist starting with "M" took far too many turns of that tiny little wheel, and an album or song search literally required a parking spot.
My solution: load up no more than 15 to 20 gigs. Quite a waste of an 80 gig iPod.
The iDA-X001 solved all those problems with the jog wheel. All the reviewers saying that its search functionality is too slow have no clue what they're talking about. To go from "A" to "M" (or "Z" to "N") takes no more than about six seconds on my iPod that's now fully loaded with 74 gigs of music. The digital sound coming through the USB connection is definitely improved over my previous Alpine's Full Speed connection, and the album art view is gorgeous (provided your saved art is of sufficient quality. The best art I've found is at rateyourmusic.com.)
That said, I have experienced two connection issues. Once, I could search but not play any music. A reconnect of the iPod remedied the problem immediately. More disturbing on another occasion, however, my ipod actually froze up when I started my car. It had to be completely reset (menu+center button). So far, these have proven to be isolated incidents and the unit almost always performs without issue.
I'm still extremely impressed with this product. It absolutely fixed every issue I've had with previous Alpine/iPod incarnations, and the album art view is perfect for those as anal as me about maintaining their digital music library.
