VDC Head Unit - Pricing (MP3 capability for those who care)

[inthedeck]

Just curious...but why does our current system (non-vdc) have a 'SAT' placeholder within it? When the sun hits the display panel, where the radio/disc information is, I see the 'SAT' label there. Is there a way to make the current system work with Satellite? No idea, but thought someone might know what it's about.

[gfxdave99]

Just curious...but why does our current system (non-vdc) have a 'SAT' placeholder within it? When the sun hits the display panel, where the radio/disc information is, I see the 'SAT' label there. Is there a way to make the current system work with Satellite? No idea, but thought someone might know what it's about.

 

Probably a planned upgrade. Its the old addage of where you have a car that doesnt have fog lights but you can still see the lil fog light indicator.. of course thats not a good example cuz you can add them but you get my point they probably sourced the board planning on someday adding satelite but i doubt there is any upgrade path for the current unit.

[inthedeck]

Yeah, I hear that...too bad...otherwise, it might have been nice to be able to add it through the current deck somehow. Oh well...one can always hope.

[Ken S]

Probably a planned upgrade. Its the old addage of where you have a car that doesnt have fog lights but you can still see the lil fog light indicator.. of course thats not a good example cuz you can add them but you get my point they probably sourced the board planning on someday adding satelite but i doubt there is any upgrade path for the current unit.

 

Subaru probably is just saving on parts costs by reusing the same display across worldwide models (ie. JDM models have navi). Unfortunately, our headunits have absolutely no input or electronics that would mate up to a satellite signal.

 

Ken

[Brady]

Ok, I'll try to address some questions. I've been so busy I haven't been able to write up my full review, and am hoping to get to that later tonight, but might be sunday before it happens.

 

1st) It does NOT disply ID3 tags ... it has 3 disply modes: CD# / Folder # / Track # , CD# / Folder Name , & CD# / Track Name. You can scroll (manually with the push of the "TEXT" button) through the rest of the names. If your tracks are named well, it's as good as ID3 tags (and my collection is extremely well organized - though ID3 would be nice).

 

2nd) It does not have any extra plugs on the rear, but there were wires that I couldn't figure out what they were for, and assume that they were for things like steering wheel controls and such. Interestingly, I had to unplug every wire from my old unit that plugged into the new unit ... so not only does Subaru prewire the stuff, but they even plug most of the stuff in. Thought it was interesting - I was able to take advantage of some of Subaru's pre-wing in my old Impreza also. It is possible that the numerous plugs on the back are not actually using all of their capabilities also and it may be possible to tap into some of them (like a 14 pin connector only using functionality of 11 pins). Just the same, I'm sure the unit isn't programmed to use those extra features (like SAT). This unit DOES have steering wheel controls being that the VDC has them, and when the Spec B comes out, you should be able to do a steering wheel swap and add the controls (especially since I think it's Pre-wired). I might try to fab up some controls/switches on the back side of the wheel somehow where they won't be visible and would be at my fingertips rather than under my thumbs, but still not sure. If I ever do it, I'll post up.

 

3rd) Yes, it DOES look like it's the same unit as the nav in the Spec B - but there are 2 other things that I'm considering ... That unit may look almost identical just as my stock unit does except for a little "MP3" logo above the CD slot and a "FOLDER" and "RDM" labels above buttons. I bet the Spec B will have a spot on the bottom of the FM/AM/CD selector that reads "Nav" .... OR ... The Spec B is the same unit and plays MP3 (which we already knew) and they tap into the sound through the harness (similar to the OEM sub setup tapping off the harness or some Bluetooth kits that do the same).

 

4th) The interface is fairly intuitive ... again, good file/folder naming can be helpful. It took me about 2 minutes to become pretty much fully familiar with the interface. I thought that was nice. Scrolling through songs and folders is pretty easy. I don't use the random feature at all, so I can't much comment on that. A "Disc Repeat" will actually just repeat a folder. So you can get "Single File Repeat" or "Folder Repeat" but not full disc repeat. If you're listening to the last folder on a CD, it will roll over the the next CD at the end, but will not repeat to the beginning of the CD ... It was odd at first, but an incredibly minor inconvenience, and not one that would be worth hitting a button 4-5 times each time I wanted to change repeat mode. Yes, repeat goes away when you turn the car off like random ... I think that's weird.

 

5th) Automatic Climate Control WORKS! - I bent 2 pins during install, so it didn't work at first and it scared the hell out of me, but it was a dumb mistake and after straightening the pins and re-plugging back in, it worked EXACTLY the same as before.

 

6th) Sound quality is pretty much identical. It might have a touch more power than the base unit, but I doubt it. Sounds a little louder to me, but I added the OEM sub at the same time, so I have no fair reference point between the deck swap only.

 

I'll try to use this post later for a more comprehensive review that might also cover some of the details of install.

[Deer Killer]

So when displaying folder name it doesn't display file name? Just number?

[Brady]

It will either display:

001 005 003 for CD 1, Folder 5, Track 1

 

or

 

001 Crash for CD1 and folder name of Crash (or for longer names, like Ruby Vroom, it might read "001 Ruby Vro" and then when you scroll to the next screen it will read "om"

 

or

 

001 Ants March for CD1, "Ants Marching" as the file name (You can scroll this name too like the example above)

[Leonardo]

Ok, can we have someone look up the steering whell harness in the service manual to identify if the GT has indeed the same harness as the VDC and thus being able to facilitate the swap for those of us that have the VDC headunit?

 

Who will be the brave soul?

 

[Brady]

Leo -- one problem right now is that until the Spec B comes out, there isn't a wheel to use unless you want the VDC wood grain steering wheel. UNLESS you get the wheel for the 5EAT and then swap out the switches. Anyone know of a wrecked Automatic GT that didn't blow the Airbags?

[Jerboa113]

argh! this thread makes my head hurt.. someone needs to simplify this information into a sticky! I've been researching FM mods and other methods of getting mp3 and/or ipod and/or XM radio or SOMETHING into my car all day. Very informative thread.. but information overload!

 

It seems most people I have discussed this information with think that swapping the headunit for the price of an aftermarket deck (a nice one at that.. ) is not worth the cost. I found the radio on subaruparts.com as linked to below for conveniance if anyone is interested in paying more for less hassle of playing the dealer games trying to find the best price.

 

http://www.subaruparts.com/cart/?pn=86201AG63A&submit.x=0&submit.y=0

 

As far as navigation, from what I've been reading, spending time on subaru.co.jp with the google translator, reading things on here and talking "theories" with friends, it would be my best assumption to say that the nav headunit HAS to have some sort of input for audio.. unless the nav. system will be contained in a special headunit for the nav. cars.. which I doubt will be the case. Also from studying the japanese website, the nav. unit will replace the trip meter clock airbags etc. information system in the cubby with a very nice looking onscreen display (IF its the same system) which would mean that the nav. unit will most likley have a control brain itself, as well as an interface into the deck for audio, this means, IMO, that the nav. deck will NOT have DVD, but will most likley have a DVD disc loader in the pocket in the glovebox.

 

Hope some of that helps, its all theory no facts but I think the reasoning is logical.

[gfxdave99]

You could start with the faq i wrote

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12608

[Jerboa113]

yes I've read that it doesn't cover a lot of the VDC and navigation specifics, although its VERY VERY helpful, thanks for that, its been quite informative..

 

The last forum I was on my nick was nearly canceled cos I never posted anything..just read so I'm trying to keep that from happening.. but I guess I'm talking too much heh, plus I'm trying to be more than just a waste of bandwidth to the community as a whole.

[Brady]

You'll have a difficult time finding any solid Nav information for the North American market since we don't actually have it just yet. So folks haven't been able to play with it and learn yet. From what I gather, however, the Nav unit WILL have a separate head unit still (different from the VDC unit). This is of course just a guess, but there's a good chance nonetheless.

 

Do you have any specific questions regarding the VDC unit I might be able to answer for you?

[Jerboa113]

hrmm, well its my understanding the unit is just like the UH only with the "UE" on the end.. I'd assume its a 100% plug n play style system where the harnesses are the same correct? this has been said in this post but it was things like "the install was easy" no details lol

 

also.. 6 discs times what is it 700 megs a CD? roughly 125 or so tracks per CD, 4.2GB of music, rivals a small Ipod.. so theres no question if it would solve the problem the question remains if its worth upwards of $700 for this functionality.

 

I guess another question I have for those of you using the VDC unit is if there is a delay in skipping tracks or if it can be done swiftly, I know earlier model mp3 headunits (like aiwa, one of the first mp3 capable aftermarket decks) had up to 1-2 seconds of delay between tracks.. something that got very annoying, I assume it was due to slow read times and is most likley taken care of at this point. Is this true?

[Brady]

Ok, yes ... I'm finding that I get 55-65 hours of music total in the changer.

 

Yes, everything was plug and play ... exact same connectors/harnesses. This has been covered in one or two old threads, but you're correct that it really isn't mentioned here at all.

 

I am VERY impressed with the lack of delay. It is seemingly as smooth as Winamp5 on my computer, and I think that's about the best I can hope for from a head unit. Definitely much better than my old Sony CDX-MP450X unit that WOULD have gone in if I could put it in the dash. I have yet to test it on a continuous play folder though (like trance or something), but it's been smooth enough that I've been quite impressed. Also, start up time is almost non-existant - again, much better than the old Sony.

 

Any other questions? Feel free to PM too.

[pdxtomct]

The VDC unit is easy to install and plays MP3 CDs flawlessly. The discs I use in the car have around 190 songs each with an average playing time of 11 hours. So I'm getting nearly 70 hours of playing time without changing a disc. Of course, the number of songs you get per disc will depend on the settings you use to import music. Most of my MP3s were encoded at 128 or 160 kbps, though I'm now using VBR at a setting [high quality] where I expect file size to increase and the number of songs per disc to decrease slightly.

 

As far as a delay between songs, the VDC deck behaves like my departed Alpine, meaning there is a brief pause between songs. This is what I want and it is perfectly fine for most playlists. The exception is an album where the songs run together [Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon comes to mind]. When played on this deck or any MP3 player, there will be a short pause between songs. CD audio wouldn't behave this way, but I've never found an MP3 player of any kind that doesn't do this.

 

I agree with Brady that the overall functionality of this unit is great. Very quick start up and good sound quality for a factory deck. I think it was worth the money, given options available today.

[Erickson00]

Does this unit experience the same frequency rolloff in the output signal as the stock HU?

[Brady]

Yes.

[Langosta39]

Hello All,

 

This is my first post, I've been trolling around for a week reading up on all the good info. I'm visiting from NASIOC and the Ultimate Sub Forum so I'm not completly new to the scene.

 

After tracking down the all the threads on the VDC MP3 player swap I have one more question: Is it possible to swap the MP3 player into the wife's 2.5i with manual HVAC controls? I'm assuming I can't but I just wanted to check. I thought it would be a cheap way to gain MP3 and ACC, but I suppose there is more support hardware behind the scenes for the ACC and the MP3 is probably not seperable.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Andy

[Brady]

Well, no one has tried it, to my knowledge. I would guess that the radio would work, however the ACC would not. Almost guarantee that the ACC wouldn't. It's ECU related.

[LegacyMUN2k6]

I have a 2.5i SE 06', is there any way possible to get the ac to work, i have the manual ac controls also.

[Jerboa113]

my understanding is the manual a/c controls actually use cables, whereas the climate control system uses solenoids, so if you did the swap you'd have to buy the solenoids and stuff too I imagine. Although theres no reason that wouldn't work, I have seen pics somewhere of a double din kit for the cars with the manual a/c cos iut doen't have that annoying circuit board that the climate contrl guys have, with that you could go aftermarket deck and have a much better deal IMO.

[gfxdave99]

my understanding is the manual a/c controls actually use cables, whereas the climate control system uses solenoids, so if you did the swap you'd have to buy the solenoids and stuff too I imagine. Although theres no reason that wouldn't work, I have seen pics somewhere of a double din kit for the cars with the manual a/c cos iut doen't have that annoying circuit board that the climate contrl guys have, with that you could go aftermarket deck and have a much better deal IMO.

 

That is correct, i looked over the diagrams when preparing to take the plunge on the avo din panel thing and the faceplate is nothing but dummy buttons and a display, all the work is done in a seperate control module, so you would be looking at retrofitting an entire auto a/c system. Your money / sanity would be much better spent on a custom facia made by a good local stereo shop that does fabricating.

[LegacyMUN2k6]

which is more expensive

[Jerboa113]

well, the VDC deck from subuaru as I've found it on places like subaruparts.com is about $700.. for tha tprice you can get a VERY VERY nice aftermarket deck, the rule of thumb is that even the best factory is put to shame nextr to even low end aftermarket. You could match the cost of the VDC deck with a nice pioneer or clarion or alpine deck and mp3CD changer and have the same kind of thing, with the ability to expand with AInet into still more CD changers, standard RCA outputs for amps and future car audio expansion, as well as satellite radio and aux in for ipod or other aux. sources you may want.

 

 

I do not know however.. how much the dash kit for the knob based manual a/c controls costs, so I can't speak on it, if its really expensiver it may offset your price a little, I guestimate you can get the above setup for probablly $600-700 if you get a really nice unit, for the lower end alpine decks you're looking at probablly $300 or so (this is a guess I've been out of active participation in car audio for more than 3 years now, so prices may have changed)