[carlman]

I'd like to hear from anyone who has replaced their stock head unit with this:
Kia Sorento DVD Player, Kia Sorento DVD GPS player, Kia Sorento navigation car radio

Did you notice an improvement to the sound quality of radio, cd, and/or ipod?

Did you notice the stock head unit sounded harsh and digital at any point?

Do you listen to CD's and think, wow, this sounds so much nicer than the old head unit?

I can't seem to find any comments about the sound quality of any head unit.. just features, whether it worked or not, very black and white stuff.. nothing qualitative.

I cannot find photos of non-Kia aftermarket stereos in an '11+ dash. Well, I found 1 but I can't find it again...

So, I plead to the group here, please post links to topics, photos, or describe what you've done and what you heard with a new head unit.

I am also considering other head units... the DAC (digital to analog converter) in a Pioneer is far superior to what I have now in my stock Kia head unit.

Many thanks,
Carl

 

[carlman]

Are there no audiophiles on this site?

 

[Sauron]

What does a cheap Chinese imported radio have to do with being an audiophile?

If you want features, I have no idea how well that unit works. It says it only supports 2009-2011 models.

If you just want to improve your audio quality, the low hanging fruit would be to invest in upgrading your speakers. The OEM ones are marginal (but adequate for my car use). Until you get something like TaCT room correction for the car (which still won't do squat to counter road noise), you'll never get anything approaching "audiophile" sound inside a car.

I believe a few owners have posted how-to's for upgrading the front and rear speakers here in the forums. You might want to start there. Even pairs of speakers in the $50-100 range ought to be a HUGE improvement.

You can also hit up crutchfield.com and do a search there and check out the feedback. I have zero interest in navigation since any new smartphone or tablet trounces a car system in terms of accuracy and free updates so I filtered those with navigation out. There's plenty out there at many price points that "fit" the Sorento and seem to have decent reviews.

Best,

 

[SpicyRed]

I agree! Stock HU is marginal.

So far I haven't heard an aftermarket HU that is 100% PnP and fully functional with its steering wheel controls.

 

[carlman]

I've already replaced all speakers and added a nice amp.
I'm looking to solve the awful digital edginess of the DAC in the head unit.
So if the cheap Chinese unit has a properly implemented Burr Brown or Wolfson, that'd solve my issue.
Not looking for a Tact.... Nor am I looking to hooking up a vinyl rig.

 

[Sauron]

I've already replaced all speakers and added a nice amp.
I'm looking to solve the awful digital edginess of the DAC in the head unit.
So if the cheap Chinese unit has a properly implemented Burr Brown or Wolfson, that'd solve my issue.
Not looking for a Tact.... Nor am I looking to hooking up a vinyl rig.

The odds of finding a generic Chinese or Korean unit with anything but the most basic bottom feeder lowest bidder DAC is zero. The same goes for quality clock sources so you can expect a fair amount of jitter. You definitely won't be finding any Burr-Brown parts.

I'm sure if you throw enough money at the problem, you'll eventually stumble on something that physically fits that also has reasonable components inside, but then it's anyone's guess how well it will integrate with the car. I'm going out on a limb here and thinking that someone purchasing an inexpensive Kia auto is probably not going to be spending 4 figures on an audio head unit. Just sayin...

Personally, one day I might get around to dealing with the speakers, but it just isn't worth the time/money/effort to go much farther (at least for me). If I want to go whole hog with car audio, I'll do that with my A8L...not. I'll be spending that discretionary audio $$$ on improving my home system.

 

[carlman]

My Kia wasn't all that cheap. Sticker was about 27,k. I don't think of Kia as a cheap car company either.

I have a hard time listening to my radio when it sounds like everything has a slight 'auto tune' sound to it. It's pretty annoying. I've found a JVC with a Burr Brown DAC for $250 so I'll probably do that... I can't seem to find any photos of head units installed. I guess not many people have done it... or if they have, they don't care to share. This community isn't as lively as others I've been on which is too bad. Lots of complainers as usual.. 'my Kia is junk' or whatever.. I see that on every forum... BMW, Mazda, etc. but they also have lots of 'hey check out this cool thing I did'... whereas here the complaining seems disproportionate because people aren't doing stuff with their Sorento's. I'd even be happy to hear how much crap people crammed into them...
I love my car, it's super versatile and has been a great car for me...

 

[Sauron]

My Kia wasn't all that cheap. Sticker was about 27,k. I don't think of Kia as a cheap car company either.

I have a hard time listening to my radio when it sounds like everything has a slight 'auto tune' sound to it. It's pretty annoying. I've found a JVC with a Burr Brown DAC for $250 so I'll probably do that... I can't seem to find any photos of head units installed. I guess not many people have done it... or if they have, they don't care to share. This community isn't as lively as others I've been on which is too bad. Lots of complainers as usual.. 'my Kia is junk' or whatever.. I see that on every forum... BMW, Mazda, etc. but they also have lots of 'hey check out this cool thing I did'... whereas here the complaining seems disproportionate because people aren't doing stuff with their Sorento's. I'd even be happy to hear how much crap people crammed into them...
I love my car, it's super versatile and has been a great car for me...

Let us know how it works out. A better head unit would be a Godsend.

Best,

 

[meebers]

Was looking at this unit, seems "fully featured". This particular one is for 2013-2014. A8 Headunit audio GPS system F KIA SORENTO 13-14 Wifi 3G 1 CPU : Mazda GPS| BMW DVD| VW| In Car PC| In Car| Flip Down | Honda| Chevrolet| Ford DVD| Nissan| Headrest| DVD Player| GPS| Car Navigation System (The QTY discount table is quite funny) I asked the Mfg for installation instructions, waiting for reply.