Sony MEX-N5300BT + ALPHA Bluetooth Hands-Free Calling and Audio Streaming Car Receiver

^^^^^^ Packed with care by some dude named JP, he did a fantastic job, not a single dent scratch or crease in package.(This was an Edit because I noticed this comment would fit under the photo of the card that came inside my box with this radio, with the initials of the guy who packed it.) yes, I’m a very bored nerd.This is a seriously amazing radio. It woke up the stock 6x8 speakers in my 2004 Ford Explorer. I had no idea the potential they had. Ok, now for my review.This was my first ever radio install, and I’m very proud of myself for getting it right, and with the help and a lot of YouTube videos, and forum research before I even got it in the mail, I knew exactly what to expect, and the tip everyone gives about using 12 gauge wire, is right on, I got a 100 foot spool of it for $12 locally, and a box of the screw type butt connectors at Home Depot, because my soldering gun died a year ago and I never got around to buying a new one, but anyways, those conectors wrapped in electric tape will do the trick till I stop procrastinating on getting a new soldering gun.Anyways, I wired the supplied power line with the fuse box through the firewall in my truck, which was easy, you can pass the wire through a rubber grommet just to the right of the “go fast” peddle, I think it’s spedo cable? I dunno, I was too excited to see what it was, I just used it instead of drilling a hole in my firewall or lazyly and stupidly going through the door and up the fender. (Bad idea, don’t be lazy)OH, I also cut the fuse box off that power wire, so I could mount it under my hood about 5” from my battery, see, you want your fuse to be near the power source, otherwise you risk melting the entire line, all the down and under your dash. So my tip to anyone buying this radio, and planning my on wiring direct to the battery(which is the proper way) is CUT that wire, and mount it as near to the battery as you can get, i actually mounted mine right on top the battery, held in place with 3M Velcro tabs.Now I’m rambling.. anyways, the sound ROCKS, i devirginized my new MEX-XB100BT with a good pounding of PANTERA - COWBOYS FROM HELL. And after I set the EQ to the Rock setting, I was completely blown away, and so impressed I was giggling like a 10 year old girl on Christmas morning.Then I played METALLICA-FOR WHOM THE BELLS TOLL, my brain melted...I can not wait, I mean can not wait, till I get me a new set of 6x8’s in my truck, I’m thinking about dropping in some Rockford Fosgate’s, I just haven’t made up my mind, either those or save up for these Infinity Kapa speakers I keep reading about, I dunno, I’m not a car audio guy at all, I’m more a “make it go fast” guy, but I can see how guys get sucked into this big sound system stuff now.Oh, I also wanna try my hand st putting in another amp as maybe a little 10” sub.All in all, I am super pleased with this radio, and by the people who sold it, shipping was fast, like 2 day I think it was, and the radio was very safely packaged, by hand, by a dude named JP. Thank you JP. 😉😘😁

MEX-XB100BT First impression WOW there still is a decent head unit made! Coming from the days when we had good quality eclipse head unit with 8v preouts such as the old cd5000 this sony does good but does take a little more knowledge then most units today. I tried a comparable kenwood and a pioneer and sent them both back! First the kenwood would not read flac files and nether did pioneer. Kenwood search function gave you random numbers and letters and the pioneer was painfully laggy. Non of them issues with this Sony! Now going from Eclipse 8v preouts down to kenwoods 4v i had to adjust amp gains up a lot! More then expected. Seemed to distort before i ever hit the level the eclipse could get to. The pioneer was even worse! Almost as bad as not even having a amp it would distort so easily. Hooking up this Sony with a 5v rating i expected to turn my amp gains up from the 8v of the eclipse and actually i ended up going down! This Sony is very close to the old eclipse in the sound quality and getting to the same volume without distortion as the good old eclipse. After many years of playing with car audio and more then 50 different head units i have never found any other brand close to eclipse before till now! In my day eclipse was the bench mark alpine mite of got 2nd and the rest was trash. Not any more! If alpine would of had all the option i wanted i probably would have one but now I don't think i will be pulling out this sony for a alpine if alpine started offering the options i wanted.More on this sony. I did try the internal amp and it does very good. Much better then any other deck witch is to be expected with a 40watt RMS rating. Now don't expect a giant gain because it is only double the wattage as the others witch mathematically is only a gain of 3db. Defiantly a gain with a bit more bass but nothing massive unless you came from a pioneer HA or maybe one of them very cheapy ones such as boss. Good quality aftermarket speakers is a must to really hear the difference tho. Comparing with OEMs is a waist. It does seem the volume on this Sony is layed back and maybe for a reason. It will play pretty clear right to max volume with good speakers while most others distort before this point. Maybe a way of keeping the ignorant from burning stuff up by running the volume past clean signal? Ether way that is not a bad thing just a difference. If you think that is bad you don't know much about audio. If you are going to use the internal amp make sure to run larger power and ground wires!!!! It is best to go at least one size larger then recommended. Never skimp on giving amps there power and ground! With all that said very happy and if something changes with my thinking here i will come back and add to my review!One more thing. This head unit can be set to show the clock all the time! Unlike the kenwoods and pioneers i have tried or even alpine unless you get into there fancier displays.