I'm sitting here with my finger on the trigger, trying to decide between the following Alpine decks:

CDA-105 (nice bang for the buck)

CDA-117 (similar to above but w/ "better" display? also has 4v pre-amp outs, maybe slightly better EQ options)

CDA-9887 (no idea why this is any better than the above two, maybe better DA converter and EQs?)

But it occurs to me that none of them will be useful to me if I can't play Pandora radio through the USB connection. I think it'd be silly to go with a USB *and* and aux audio in connection.

Curious to hear people's thoughts.

D

 

Alpine IDA-X305S plays pandora radio might wanna give it a try.

 

Not sure if the CDA-xxx models play Pandora? The Pandora feature is new enough that only the IDA-x305S has it, the regular IDA-x305 doesn't.

 

I just drove up to Crutchfield and tested out the CDA-117 and IDA-X305S. The CDA-117 plays Pandora fine through the cable, but it of course doesn't have dedicated controls for it like the IDA-X305S. Pretty slick integration on that unit btw. I didn't get to check the CDA-105 because they didn't have a spare iPod cable for it. I suspect it works much like the 117 w/o the multi-line display.

 

cda-117 has RDA too which displays radio station info.
the ergonomics of the 305 just suck to me,.....its really hard to push the buttons.

 

9887 doesn't have USB and is more expensive because it has a proper parametric EQ, as well as better DACs and the Imprint on-board.