Aside from the biolite/2 line display & the free ipod cable, are there any difference worth justifying the $150ish premium of getting the 9857 over the 9856? I've been doing my reading for the past few months and need some more justification getting the newer Alpine over the older. Are there any audio or adjustability benefits to choose the 9857?

It appears that my time for decision is running out too, since in order to get the free cable, I have to buy before 6/30.

Thoughts? Those who have upgraded from 9856->9857, if you could please provide your input, that'd be great.

Quick background w/ my upgrade is that this is my first ever stereo upgrade with any car, and that I'm primarily going to use my 60gb ipod for music.

Thanks in advance!

 

I have the 9856 only. You have already pointed out the advantages of the 9857 over the 9856--but you missed one; the 9857 has a wired remote control input while the 9856 does not.

There is no difference in sound or adjustability; the core components are the same.

I use the 9856 with my Ipod Nano. The speed is truely awesome, but using the search function is pretty cumbersome and frustrating sometimes. The nicer display of the 9857 will make searching through your playlists/artists/songs much, much easier. I would have a tough time shelling out an extra $150 for it, though.

 

I have had 3 alpine units - 9835, 9855, and 9857 (current), all of which have the biolite display. When I bought the 9835, I had a hard time shelling out the extra cash just for the display (basically), but I went ahead and did it and after having it I dont think I could ever not have it. Especially with the ipod. I just think it makes the unit look SO much cleaner than the ones that dont have it, and also makes it easier to tune/use....IMO

 

I actually have both. 9857 in my S2000, and 9856 in my daily driver. I bought the 9857 first and it is definitely much easier to use, though the 9856 isn't that much harder. If you have a lot of music on your iPod, then the 9857 makes it much easier to navigate through a large library because it lets you easily skip through large chunks of your library with a single button push.

I'm going to try and explain how. Let's say you're looking at all of your artists and you have 300 artists. With the 9856 if you want to get to one of the artists in the middle, you have to turn your knob to skip through the first or last 150 artists. The 9857 would let you skip right to the middle by pushing the 4 preset button. 1 takes you to the beginning, 2 takes you about 17%, 3 - 34%, 4 - 50%, 5 - 67%, and 6 - 84%. You can see how that would make navigating around much easier. You can also see three items at a time when you're looking through a list.

Setting up the 9857 is easier too because of the much better display that shows you a lot more info.

As for whether it's worth it, I'm not so sure. As you read earlier, I bought the 9857 first and then bought a 9856 for my daily driver so it appears that even I don't know whether it's worth it. The 9857 is definitely much better, but I just couldn't justify spending the extra money when I bought the 9856 a few weeks ago, especially when I mostly listen to sirius when I'm driving and don't mess with the ipod as often. I do have a very large library on my ipod and while the 9856 is a little harder, it's not really that much worse than the 9857.

 

thanks for the honest feedback...and yah, i forgot about the wired remote vs. non-wired, which'll affect the modifry's dci that i do plan to get....looks like more thinking for me.

 

I have the 9857 (sold my 9856 w/ir dci). I prefer the wired dci over the ir. I plan on keeping my S for the long run so I got the system I wanted. For me it was worth the extra cash. The display is nice and easy to see even in the sun.

 

Is anybody using the 9857 with the stock speakers? I just bought the head unit and am contemplating new speakers. I just don't drive the car too often and am trying to decide if new speakers are a necessity or luxury.

 

am i not reading this correctly or do you not need to buy the modrify dci in order to use the s2000 buttons near the steering wheel? im confused. sorry if it was a dumb question.

 

Modifry makes two "types" of dci for the alpine decks, one is wired and plugs into the 3.5 mm in the back of the unit and the other uses ir. This unit (9857) works with the wired version.

 

btw, where are you buying your deck from jeff?