jackstar said:

Yes I have read comments about poor sound quality and I do care quite a bit about how my audio sounds but I still decided to buy the unit because the comments have been in regard to older Chinese HU's. I'm hoping that they have improved the audio quality since then but I know it's still a gamble, I'll compare the stock radio with this one for sure and let you know if I notice any difference sound quality wise.

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For what you lose in sound quality you make up with other features. Plus let's be honest a screen in the dashboard always looks cool

Matthewr1990 said:

For what you lose in sound quality you make up with other features.

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Really….?

Each to their own, but I have a head unit in a car for decent sound quality, I'm driving the car 99% of the time, have a touch screen isn't really all that important when we think about it.

I'd like to see a video of this up and running though, would be good to see how navigable the menu etc on it is

Most Easterly Pandas said:

Really….?

Each to their own, but I have a head unit in a car for decent sound quality, I'm driving the car 99% of the time, have a touch screen isn't really all that important when we think about it.

I'd like to see a video of this up and running though, would be good to see how navigable the menu etc on it is

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I'm a gadget nerd, need I say more? And audio quality means different things to different people. As long as I can listen comfortably at a decent volume. (Not overly loud but enough to cover the fan noise is my preference) then I find that quality isn't an issue. Others may want perfect crisp sound at high levels, other like big base and hard tunes. As you said each to their own. And I stand by what I said about having a screen in the car. It always looks cool.

It does look good ,im interested to see it working

Hi take a look here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251059408680?ssPageName=STRK:MESINDXX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649

Installed it myself so if I can do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!basically plug n play...for TV, reverse camera you'll need after market accessories........

Hope this helps...........Think the reverse camera is included in the purchase which is a good camera and clear image..fiddly to install though but worth it....

cheers....

Matthewr1990 said:

For what you lose in sound quality you make up with other features. Plus let's be honest a screen in the dashboard always looks cool

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Not when the music sounds like someone smashing trashcans while burping.

I'm also a gadget nerd but the features on those HU is really not something to write home about. The touchscreen is lousy, the screen scratches easily, the nav is straight from the 90's and the media player is like the one in $20 vcd players (also from the 90's).

That is what you get on older versions I checked, but what are the odds they fixed all those issues at once?

For the price you can get a high end android tablet and plug it to you aux input.

anipsl said:

Hi take a look here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251059408680?ssPageName=STRK:MESINDXX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649

.

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That's the older version which I was talking about.

Jackstar, does your version have capacitive touchscreen and android OS ?

So does it work ok mate

Tad-bravo said:

That's the older version which I was talking about.

Jackstar, does your version have capacitive touchscreen and android OS ?

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Nope, I didn't see much point in the android version which would have been ~150 dollars more. Capacitive screen would have been a bonus but on the other hand I don't really think I'll be using it much for applications that would benefit greatly from multitouch and the added sensitivity but we'll see.

And no, I have not installed it yet but my plan is to install it this weekend as long as I receive the radio removal keys before friday (friday is a bank holiday in Finland). I originally purchased the keys from a seller on eBay.co.uk but what they sent were the keys for the *old* Bravo. They promised to send the correct keys several weeks ago but I've yet to receive them so I ordered the keys from another seller on eBay last thursday.

By the way, does anyone have any suggestions regarding where to install the GPS antenna and how to sort the cabling? I was thinking of placing the receiver next to the A-pillar on the passenger side but I'm not sure if you can pull the wire through without having to disassemble the entire dash or drilling holes?

there's a tutorial on the web on how to make your own radio removal keys.

You can easily make some using an old credit card or something similar.

Tad-bravo said:

there's a tutorial on the web on how to make your own radio removal keys.

You can easily make some using an old credit card or something similar.

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Thanks for the tip however I finally received the radio removal keys. Now all I need to do is figure out where to place the GPS receiver along with its cabling and then install the HU itself. Here is a picture of what I got in the mail just now:

GPS antenna must be stuck on an A pillar or near the lower part of the windshield on the dashboard.

Can't wait to get your test results. I am also considering to buy this Chinese aftermarket radio.

A quick update; this must have been the most difficult radio upgrade ever. Of course the radio clip on the left side was broken when some previous owner had tried removing the unit and it was broken so that the radio removal key hit no metal whatsoever, only plastic. And it was broken so that it would not budge at all, I've read that for some people the unit comes out an inch or so but in this case there was zero movement. We finally managed to remove the unit without damaging anything in the car by using a screwdriver from below. But the problems did not stop there. There were no new clips supplied with the chinese head unit so you have to take them from the old one, assuming they aren't broken. Also, the official radio removal keys that I had bought wouldn't fit properly into the chinese HU's slots due to the plastic not being molded in a proper shape so I had to heat the removal key up using a torch and then I forced it inside, melting the plastic so that the key started fitting. This wasn't a huge problem because you can easily remove the plastic housing which has the clip (it's held on by two small screws) from the unit so that you don't damage the front panel of the HU.

But then, when I finally had managed to place the GPS receiver in a good spot and installed all the cabling and switched on the unit it seemed to work except for one little detail; there was no audio at all. Everything else seemed to work just fine but there was no sound coming to the speakers. At first we suspected the shoddy looking and poorly fitting connector that I have mentioned in an earlier post but upon further inspection it turned out that the actual "mainboard" wasn't screwed in at all into the casing. And as a result the PCB was completely loose and it had pretty much been moving freely inside the unit! :bang:

We also found the actual cause of no audio; the amplifier which is screwed to the backplate of the unit had been moving around so much with the PCB that 20 of its 25 pins had been broken and that was the reason why we got no audio. The problem is obviously caused by the pins being broken because when we moved the connectors (and therefore the PCB) we got some audio to a channel or two when the broken pins made brief contact.

I could try returning the unit to DX.com because there is an obvious and major manufacturing fault in the unit but I know that I can repair it myself, all I need is a new amplifier (TDA7388) and you can buy them from ebay for only a couple of pounds. If I'd try to RMA it I would still have to pay for the postage fees and wait for a few more months before I'd get another unit. And I now know that the unit I have does work, all it needs is a new amp and the PCB needs a couple screws. I don't want to go through the hassle of RMA'ing this and seeing if DX.com sends me a new one for free or not because in the end the next unit would probably have the same issues or some even worse new ones.

At this point I obviously can't comment on the functionality of the GPS and radio or the sound quality but the screen looked really good and the menus worked fine and the touch screen had good sensitivity. The DVD playback seemed ok as well. I'll post some pictures later on of the installation and problems with the HU.

Tl;dr: don't buy this unit if you aren't interested in a soldering/modification/repair project.

PS. I would like to buy the metal fastening clips for the HU, both left and right. Please contact me if you have clips for sale!

Well I said this HU sounds aweful, I guess I was wrong...

It doesn't sound at all.

I agree with Tad-bravo, the HU sounds like a let down. I guess this really goes to show that the Chinese HUs aren't worth it, unless you're able to do those modifications you were talking about, which most of us probably won't be able to do. However I really hope you manage to get it work cause it would be a sad waste of money if it didn't

The can bus decoder is used for cars with can (controller area network) bus systems. these replace old dedicated wires with digital information bus's
for example instead of having a dedicated wire for the accessory output from your ignition and another for your reverse signal and another for your lights, all of these are digitized and sent out on a two wire bus to all the units in your car.
So if your car has a canbus system then you need the box to decode these signals and convert them into discrete inputs into your head unit.

jackstar said:

Thanks for the tip however I finally received the radio removal keys. Now all I need to do is figure out where to place the GPS receiver along with its cabling and then install the HU itself. Here is a picture of what I got in the mail just now:

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Mines at the top where there is a cut out in the plastic for some scensor that i dont have anyway..your HU sounds like a let down.. i went with the S100 For the Bravo and so did swift no problems from us its a solid unit

I put mine in to the left of the radio behind the glove box works fine and full strength signal only wires I ran anywhere during install of radio was for rear camera