Has anyone installed the Alpine CDA-105 in their GE8 Fit? If so, I’m interested in whether or not it improves the stock sound, which many of us find muddy.

Also, I’m interested in whether or not the USB interface is better than the one on the stock unit. Does it list folders in alphabetical order as opposed to the order that they were written to the drive? Can you scroll through a large list of folders from the top down and the bottom up, as opposed to just the top down as on the stock unit? Is there a way to jump ahead to, say, the middle of the alphabet to save from having to scroll all the way down?

Thanks in advance.

 

I took the plunge and ordered the Alpine CDA-105 from Crutchfield for $200 including shipping and all the parts needed for installation. On the weekend I soldered the harnesses together, and this afternoon after work I took a couple of hours to install it in my ‘09 Fit Sport w/o Navi.

Bad news first. You can’t use the factory USB cable with the Alpine, as the connector that mates with the stock stereo is Honda proprietary, and so you have to use the USB cable that Crutchfield ships and thread it as best you can, in my case to the lower glovebox. Also, I can’t say that I like the appearance of the Alpine unit nearly as much as the factory unit. I liked the clean layout, large knobs, large display, and the easy access to the CD slot on the stock unit, and you lose all of these when you switch to the Alpine. Finally, you lose the security of the stock unit, which no one is going to steal, as all the cars have them and they’re bolted in quite securely.

But now for the good news. First, installation isn’t that hard. It took me about two hours to assemble the harness, including the two calls I needed to make to Crutchfield Tech Support. Getting the stock unit out of the dash wasn’t as hard as I'd feared; in fact, it went quite smoothly. Just take the time to read the instructions that various good folks have posted in this forum, and be certain to study carefully the photos they’ve provided. Get the right tools—you definitely need the socket extender to get the bolt out that holds the stock unit in, and you need the mini pry bar to gently pry the unit from the dash. Second, the Metra kit looks good, and its fit and finish are just fine. Third, the USB interface on the Alpine displays files and folders in alphabetical order and not in the order in which they were written to the drive! What was Honda thinking when they did otherwise? And, finally, the big payoff is that the sound is much, much better. It’s not louder, and there’s no more bass, but the sound is just so much clearer. With the stock unit, even if I turned it up so loud that my ears hurt, I was still always struggling to hear the music. But with the Alpine the timbre is much more natural and so it’s much easier to focus on the music and not notice the tire-road-wind noise. Also, the quiet passages in the music are easier to hear, and so you’re not always reaching over to adjust the volume. In short, I really think that it was worth the effort.

That said, I still detect a bit of muddiness at certain frequencies—the piano was indistinct in the mid-low notes—and I suspect that this has to do with the stock speakers. So my next project will be to install the Polk speakers that others have mentioned as sounding quite good. But for now my commute has become much less onerous, and I’m very happy.

 

nice to know the oem usb cable wont work, i always wondered about that
with the metra kit, how did you mount your alpine? was is 2 screws on each side of the chassis to the metra bracket? or was it a metal sleeve that you slide the headunit into and locks into place?

 

I used the 2-screw ISO method, but apparently you can use the DIN metal sleeve, which ships with the Alpine, as well. This question was what led to one of my two calls to Crutchfield, and they claimed that I'd get a "cleaner install" using the ISO method. The result looks pretty good, and seems solid, with no rattles as of yet, although, again, I much preferred the look of the factory layout.

By the way, when I talked with Crutchfield about the USB connection the guy seemed to hint that there might at some point be an adapter that would allow the use of the factory USB. He said something like "as of now there's no adapter," which to me suggests that he thinks that the manufacture of one is in the works.

 

Okay, I don't want to mislead anyone, so here goes. I might be wrong in what I said above about the Alpine CDA-105 in USB mode playing flies/folders in alphabetic order rather than the order in which they were written to the memory stick. I'm double-checking this now.

 

As I mentioned in my previous post, the Alpine CDA-105 disappointed me by having the same flaw as the Honda stock unit—it displays and plays files in the order that they were written to the USB device (this contrary to what I was assured by the Crutchfield rep who sold me the unit). Worse, I learned, the unit is limited to recognizing 100 folders. And, on top of this, the ergonomics of the unit were poor--the detachable faceplate seemed very flimsy and had to be (with difficulty) flipped down simply to insert a CD. Good as it sounded, I had to send it back.

So after that mini-disaster I decided to not rely on Crutchfield reps and instead do my own homework. After much scouring of instruction manuals on various websites I learned that most single-DIN units out there have severe limits in terms of the number of USB folders they can recognize, and that almost all display/play files in the order they were written to the disk.

The quasi-exception I found was the JVC KD-A815. It can recognize a total of 20, 000 files and 2,000 folders, and so seems designed for those of us who want all of our music in our cars all of the time. Also, if you prefix your folder/file names with numbers, it will display/play them in numeric order. This will save you from having to use DriveSort to organize your files in non-maddening fashion. It has USB ports on both the front and back, which I expect will be very handy.

So I ordered the JVC and installed it two days ago. I’m delighted to find that it has the same excellent sound as the Alpine, but feels much sturdier, and you can load a CD without flipping down the faceplate. It’s still not as good ergonomically as the Honda stock unit, but imo this is more than offset by the dramatic sound improvement: stereo imaging is far superior, timbre is much more natural, and you can keep the volume low and still hear the music above the road noise.

That said, I still hear some muddiness in the middle lows, but I suspect that this is due to the speakers. So my next project is to install Polk db651s. I’ll post again then.

 

Just a quick follow-up on the USB cable. The JVC unit that I eventually installed had its USB cable permanently attached to its back. I tried threading this to the lower glovebox, but it was always getting pinched as the glovebox was opened and closed. So I looked more carefully at how the stock USB cable enters the upper glovebox and saw that it does so via a removable panel. To pull this panel out, open the lower glovebox as you would to change the cabin air filter and reach up to the right outside of the upper glovebox. It's tight, but you can feel two of the clips that hold the USB panel in--press on these with some force until you can pry the whole panel loose. Once it's out you'll see that the cable itself threads through via a small block of rubber, which itself can be removed from the panel. Do so, and then tuck the stock USB cable back into the dash in case you need it at some point in the future. This leaves a 1/2" square hole in the panel, through which you can thread the new USB cable. Once you've done this, snap the panel back into place and you've got an installation that's almost as clean as the stock.

 

damn, you are a headunit whore hahaha
good info you got there,
i am going to get the alpine iva-w505, hopefully it has all the features the stock unit has + video, and i will thread the usb to the same spot of the upper glove box too,
one more question about the metra dash kit, are the iso/duoble din brackets metal or plastic? just want to make sure its strong enough to hold double din units
would you happen to have any pictures of the metra kit before and after install? i want to see how well it matches the stock interior

 

As the HU I was installing was single-DIN, the Metra kit Crutchfield sent me didn't include any double-DIN components, and so I can't comment on how strong the bracket might be.

As far as color match is concerned, it's very good; I doubt that the very slight difference (which I can only see if I have my sunglasses on) would even show up in a cellphone picture. Unless you're extremely fussy, I wouldn't worry about this.

If you're going to be using the USB a lot, and especially if you're going to be working with a large number of folders/files, take the time to download a PDF of the complete instruction manual and read the fine print to make certain that it can deal with the number of files and folders you plan to be using, and that it will display them in an order that makes finding them relatively easy. From what I can tell, only 2010 units are adequate in this regard; all older units have severe limitations.

I wish I could install a double-DIN as you plan to (the displays are *much* better) but I park in the street here in the city, and I expect that I would be relieved of it within a month at the outside.

 

I was just sorting through all the parts left over from my HU installation and noticed that the Metra kit did ship with double-DIN parts, contra to what I said above. They are two plastic plates that would be screwed to the side of the new HU. As plastic parts go they are beefy, but I have no idea whether they would support the unit to your satisfaction.