Alpine iDA-X305 – Radio / digital player – Full-DIN – in-dash – 50 Watts x 4
Product Description
For the ultimate in-vehicle experience with your iPod or iPhone, the third generation of 1-DIN iPod digital media receivers are the answer. The iDA series of head units are dedicated receivers that provide seamless control of your iPod, iPhone and many other popular digital devices right from your dash. The iDA-X305 receiver offers enhanced features for a more robust iPod-listening experience that meets the specifications for “Made for iPod” and “Works with iPhone” compatibility.The iDA-X305 is designed to work with iPhone, so you get the same great functionality right from the head unit in your dash as you get directly from your iPhone. Large music libraries are no problem with a faster connection speed and QuickSearch featuring alphabet search, you can easily to scroll through long lists of music by skipping through the letters of the alphabet. Once you have the letter you want, just scroll to the exact song!The iDA-X305 uses a USB connection for newer iPods that provides ultra-fast digital data transfer so songs are loaded instantly through the receiver. Sound quality is maximized by using USB along with the 24-bit Burrbrown D/A converter, allowing for an incredible signal to noise ratio of 105dB. Plus, the iDA-X305 quickly loads up full album art on screen.
Features:
- 2.2 In. High Resolution TFT Color Display
- Power Output: Max 50 W X 4 High Power Amplifier
- IPOD Connector And Radio
- IPhone Ready
Price: Too low to display
Alpine iDA-X305 – Radio / digital player – Full-DIN – in-dash – 50 Watts x 4
Related posts:
- Alpine CDA-9856 – Radio / CD / MP3 player – Full-DIN – in-dash – 50 Watts x 4
- Alpine CDA-9847 – Radio / CD / MP3 player – Full-DIN – in-dash – 50 Watts x 4
- Kenwood eXcelon KDC-X792 – Radio / CD / MP3 player / digital player – Full-DIN – in-dash – 50 Watts x 4
Tagged with: Alpine • digital • FullDIN • iDAX305 • InDash • PLAYER • Radio • Watts
Filed under: Alpine
The Bad:
1. What’s with the rotary knob? It’s kind of hard to turn fast for quick volume adjustments and fast scrolling through iPod lists. And when you push in and turn, it serves a different function, but I can’t quite figure out what it is… Switching playlists I guess? Anyway, the knob in general just does not feel too solid and sure of itself, and that’s unfortunate…
2. Where’s my album art? I’m pretty sure I have album art for at least half of the music on my 30G iPod, and I’ve only ever seen one album artwork come up since I installed this thing? Does it only display certain artwork or something? If I would have known it didn’t display artwork reliably, I might have considered a different head unit, what’s the use of a full color LCD if all you use it for is text?
3. Wheres my EQ? Bass and treble adjustments, with adjustable frequencies, high pass filter, ect… not bad, but for a head unit like this, why not add a graphic parametric EQ… Come-on!
4. The text on the screen… It takes forever for all the text to come up on the screen, and even then, it doesn’t all fit. So it takes a while to load up all the text, then it take a while more for it to scroll across the screen, I wish there was an option to make it all pop up at once, and then reduce the text size just a bit so more would fit on the screen.
5. No cd player. I know, I know, I agreed to this when I bought the unit, but still… they really couldn’t fit one in there? It’s nice to have.
6. Radio presets? I still don’t know everything about this thing, and still haven’t touched the manual… but I don’t see how there could be any convenient way to use radio presets on this… I’ll look into it though.
7. Build quality…I hate to say this about an Alpine unit but… This thing really doesn’t feel that high quality, the volume knob is plastic, with fake chrome, as is everything else. The removable part of the faceplate is very light, and reminds me of cheaper stereos. I just remember with my CDA-9985 the knob felt solid and sure of itself, and all of the buttons were very high quality and had a good feel to them. I also remember that that faceplate weighed a ton compared to this one.
8. Add ons… Are you serious with this? I could spend three times the cost of the stereo on add-ons that should be build in… HD radio, Bluetooth, Satellite, Imprint Sound Processing, CD changer, ect.
The good:
1. Sound. The unit sounds pretty good, i haven’t upgraded the rest of the system too much yet, but it definitely sounds better than the stock Chrysler/infinity stereo that it replaced.
2. IPod Controls… I think the iPod controls are decent, the menu structure and concepts behind the menus are very similar to the iPod, so you’ll get the hang of it quickly. It just makes sense for the most part, which is very important, I’ve tried some other stereos with the iPod and they were not very intuitive at all, and slower.
Over all, I think it’s a decent unit, and it will serve its purpose, but it could be serving it purpose a lot better. I think if I had to give it a star rating, I’d give it a solid three out of five.
This receiver is very easy to install, you still have to read the instruction manual. Operation is very easy. Functions are well defined. Interface with Ipod or Iphone is without any problems. Overall I can recommend this unit.
1) I purchased this with the imprint module so this addresses the combo.
2) My intention was to use this with a WD 120GB hardrive which worked but in fits and spurts. The deal killer with using HD ultimately was the fact that the deck would not return to the last played song when turned off…it would with an 8Gb thumb drive but not with a HD.
3) I then purchased a new 120Gb iPod Classic which interfaced like a dream and I am able to quickly and (so far) reliably peruse 80Gbs of music with pure ease. I LOVE IT.
4) I play this through a 4 channel amplifier. Previously I had a Sony ES deck with a 4V pre-out which enhanced sound output/quality significantly over a 2V pre-out which was one of my key reasons for purchasing this Alpine impint module which claims to upgrade output from 2V to 4V…which I doubt after hearing the results, no where near the sound output I got from the 4V sony deck.
5) The imprint module…get it, but pass on the microphone/software conveniently not included. This PC software based automatic sound field “tuning” saves two preset “listening curves” which supposedly overcome the aucustical shortcomings of my Honda CRX. I was totallyy dissapointed with its results particularly in light of the fact that utilizing either of these two listening curves disables your ability to use the parametric or graphic equilizer options or the dynamic crossover tuning the imprint brings to this deck so its “it’s way” or the highway when using the software mediated tuning. After several meticulous software “measurements” all the “curves” created an akward sound where the front L speaker dominated the field. What I did then was to disable the curves. Then I manually adjusted the sound field tuning with a tape measure, measuring from all speakers to a single point between the front seats at the level of my ear when seated. Then I adjusted the crossovers to cut out the bass response below what my drivers are rated. Then I selected the graphic equalizer option, adjusted to my taste and then, I was astounded at the sound. This manual method produced a result which blew away the software based method. Simply the best sound I have ever had inside a car.
6) I like the clean faceplate void of many buttons I never use though the knob IS slow.
Hope this helps!
d.
After way too many hours reading reviews and ‘looking’ at available car stereos from Alpine, Kenwood, Pioneer & JVC at the local stores, I finally decided to give up on everything I read and actually bring my thumb drive and iPod and actually try before buying. I am very glad I did!
The user interface on the ida-x305 is way beyond the best offerings of competing units. With this stereo I can actually search for radio stations, select and update station presets, scroll through folders on USB drives and browse the iPod touch/iPhone by artist, album, etc. – easily! There are no multi-key sequences needed, no multi-mode joystick like buttons. I’m kind of an old guy, so I’m not really in to technology just for the glitz. I have no patience for a fussy interface just to browse folders and select an mp3 or radio station – no matter how shiny the lights are. Changing songs, playlists or folders should not be a life-threatening exercise in staring and poking at the stereo while driving. It should also be usable by anyone else who borrows my car – without a 30 minute period of practice with some multi-mode, multi-key, miniature joystick that is darn near impossible to press dead center while driving.
The display does seem narrow, but when you see how the center control intuitively scrolls up and down menu lists and folders, it just works. Yes, the screen is too narrow to display typical album/artist/title info on a single line. These lines do scroll slowly during play to display all info available. This may bother some people, it doesn’t bother me. If I browse a folder or playlist, the data scrolls more quickly and makes selections easy.
I opted to add the Alpine KCE-400BT for bluetooth functionality. The external microphone works well, my phonebook is browseable directly on the stereo after the bluetooth phone connects (takes about 3 seconds to automatically sync), and caller ID is displayed on the radio for incoming calls. My first bluetooth call was to dear old Dad – that guy with the hearing aids. Instead of a quick “hello, can you hear me now?” test, we talked for 20 minutes without a single ‘what?’ or complaint about the way I sounded, no complaint about background noise – this while driving a Dodge diesel truck, air conditioner going at 3/4 fan speed, windows rolled up.
The sound quality is excellent, better than the factory installed Infinity sound system. I did replace the Infinity speakers with Rockford Fosgates as one of the original speakers had blown.
The best part is, I have no idea how good or bad the Alpine manuals are, as I haven’t had to read one!
I recently purchased this deck from my local car stereo store. I needed something that would play my ipod touch and would integrate the ipod controllers into the deck since the ipod touch is difficult to use while driving. This unit is super easy to use, it functions very similar to the way the menus on ipod function. It features a decent sized color LCD screen and has the option to expand into HD radio, blue tooth headset, etc. The only thing that might be an issue for some users is the fact it does NOT include a CD player.
The previous reviewer commented on the cheap feel of the unit. Personally I think it feels just as nice as any other stereo you can buy, but looks higher quality than most.
I haven’t had any problems with album art showing. If a song has album art it comes up.
Aside from Ipods this unit also plays mp3′s off of thumbdrives as well as many other portable media devices. It has a USB cable that runs into your glove box for easy out of sight storage of your iPod or other mp3 player.
Overall, if you have moved on from CD’s and want a top of the line unit designed to work especially with iPod’s this is where its at!