Looks like the original spirit of Nakamichi isn't so dead after all.

[Bayboy]

There was a bit of trickery in the box labeling vs what was in the manual. For that reason I believe that's why the manual isn't linked anywhere. It's a shame for sure, but still going to continue on the hunt for a nice & plain double din with the features I want. Nak headunits for now are a mere memory.

[Hi-FiDelity]

what features are you looking for in a DD?

[Bayboy]

Call me picky, but one of the main things is rear usb, volume knob (don't like buttons for that), variable color (or something that matches the interior lighting), separate antenna remote vs power remote (have power antenna), genre search function, matte black face. Thins the herd quite a bit, but it's going in a LS400 so losing the changer needs to be worth it, plus it needs to look as much as stock as possible. I do realize that I'm very likely dreaming and will have to settle with a dvd unit. The Blaupunkt New Jersey 220 coming out looks very classy, but it seems to be missing a few key features. Starting to hate DD.

[Hi-FiDelity]

I hear ya, non touch screen double din head units really are the redheaded step children in the source unit market. They are either feature packed and ugly or bare bones and classy (or in most cases ugly as well) for the most part and in some cases have features removed for the US market that are available on the global market versions. Like Alpine removing variable illumination and only variable illumination on the US version of the CDE-W235BT but leaving it in on the European and Asian spec models, why we are stuck with blue and they get red, orange, blue, purple, and green I will never understand.

And don't even get me started on the trend of making everything shinny and glossy despite the fact that car interiors have started use more and more matte colors. Though I do agree that new Blau New Jersey looks very understated and classy, hopefully the final build will make up for the lack of certain features or they may be deliberately leaving some out of the lit before launch (who knows).

Not knowing what you have looked at have you checked out Kenwoods new non touch DD offerings, JVC 2013 offering, or even the previously mentioned Alpine.

[Bayboy]

Trust me... I've checked just about every DD on the market that is worth looking at. The Kenwoods are horrendous looking until you get to their DD touch screen that still has the volume knob, but then it becomes a stretched out race to get features worth having if you go that route. The JVC units seem to be in a battle with Pioneer and the shiny face with Tron lights for some reason. Ironically, the best of the bunch is the JVC KW-R900BT simply because it steps up to 5 useful bands of EQ (50, 200, 800...) & time alignment (can you believe it?!) whereas the other 3 bands sacrifice heavily even though they're parametric. Why must they include midbass & midrange on the same parametric band as bass??? Yes, I looked at that horrible looking & super stripped down Alpine. They should be ashamed for putting out such a unit. I see nothing alluring about it except for the name if someone falls for that. That cluster of blue buttons is a big eyesore!

At this point I can remain patient. Not much other choice.

[Hi-FiDelity]

Yeah the JVC KW-R900BT is a pretty impressive considering the fact that it's a DD and actually has features that you would want and doesn't look like a 90's coke fueled wet dream came all over your dash board, and the flashy ass ones are the new 2014 modes which I why said the 2013 models. I was really sad the day I head pioneer was pulling the plug on the FT-P8000BT to replace it with the usual flashy shit. I really liked that HU aside from it's limited feature set and glossy face plate and silver volume knob. Though I will disagree a bit on the Alpine, I think it looks alright (not pretty but not ugly) though I do agree that it's very basic in it's features considering the price they want for it.

[Bayboy]

The Alpine is just not an impressive deck to even consider combining with a DSP. For what it offers I'd look elsewhere and save the extra coin. Being the only non dvd DD Alpine the least they could have done was add some extra features to set it apart from the competition being the supposed leader that they are.

[Hi-FiDelity]

my thoughts exactly.