Alpine has recently released a new model CDE-133BT that has built-in Bluetooth and you can stream music without cables. I don't know why it took them so long to make a model have that has that feature without paying extra money for add-ons. http://www.crutchfield.com/p_500CDE133B/Alpine-CDE-133BT.html?tp=5684&nvpair=FFBrand|Alpine

Also I think around March-April is when they release newer models.

 

Good info but the 133 only has one RCA out... The 126 is a possibility though.

 

Has anyone tried out the fit and functionality of the 133? Thinking about getting it and wiring it to the modifry DCI

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=CDE-...hrome&ie=UTF-8

 

I don't recommend the 133BT for the S if you plan on hooking up an ipod/iphone. It only has a front usb input and bluetooth is not very reliable. BT takes ten seconds to kick in everytime you turn on the car. If it fails to connect, which happens often, the only fast way to get it to reset is to release the faceplate and push it back into place to get the HU to reboot. Very kludgy. On top of that, the BT audio quality is not that great. It's fine with low bitrate mp3s, but with lossless CD audio, it's noticeably worse over bluetooth. The reliability has steadily improved over the past year (mostly from iOS updates I think), but it still flakes out pretty often. I also never found a place to put the microphone where I could hear or be heard when I was on a call. I went back to my jawbone for calls almost right away, and finally gave up on the bluetooth audio a couple months ago.

If you want to use usb or aux instead, the front-only connections make it nearly impossible to close the radio door without a special usb cable. I found a low profile right angle usb cable that works, but it's a tight fit and not super pretty.

Sound quality through usb/aux is great, and it works well with the Modifry DCI, but I'd wait for the 147/HD148/HD149 line that's coming out in march. MSRP starts at $200 and have rear usb and quad illumination including amber to match the S dash illumination.
http://www.alpine-usa.com/company/pr...-cd-receivers/
Very tempted to sell my 133 and pick up the HD148 when it comes out.

 

The best advice is not to use an Iphone for bluetooth connection as it is crippled by apple.

 

It's crippled but how does that affect BT audio?

 

The bluetooth standard cannot handle the bitrate required for CD quality audio. Different bluetooth codecs have different levels of loss, and Apple may make this problem worse by only supporting lower bandwidth bluetooth codecs, but no bluetooth codec can transfer lossless CD quality audio.

Bluetooth still sounds fine under most circumstances, but with good gear and good source material, you can definitely tell the difference.

 

My question wasn't about BT audio in general. It's well documented that BT codecs aren't loss-free which is why I go wired. My question was specifically about Apple's BT implementation since the assertion above was that Apple's "crippling" affected BT audio. However, no one has provided any citations to support that statement or offered alternative solutions that provide higher audio quality.

I know that even the 5 doesn't support apt-X but it isn't limited to SBC either. See page 14:
https://developer.apple.com/hardware...Guidelines.pdf

If apt-X is desired there are adapters, IIRC.

 

Since we are making assertions without any supporting data, I will also make one: Apple, like all other companies who include Bluetooth in their products, is implementing the standard according to the specification. So if you claim that Apple is using "lower bandwidth bluetooth codecs" than everyone else is guilty of the same thing.

Also, the S2000 is a terrible listening environment so getting "good gear" so that you can "tell the difference" with "good source material" is a waste of time and money.

P.S. I have a CDE-133BT and it works well. My goal was to never have to open the radio door and I've achieved that. Sometimes, my iPhone and head unit don't pair automatically, but I just have to tap on the head unit's name in the Settings app.