Headunit upgrade? Read here first!

[Nino]

Hi Nino,
             I have read with great interest your very thorough explanation of an audio upgrade.
             My Daughter has in her golf a Kenwood DNX520VBT and she's changing her car
             and is not removing the head unit, So my question is would it be a worthwhile
             upgrade for my mk6 GTI. The unit I have at the moment is OEM touch screen but
             without the maps. many thanks.


     

Hey Doberman,
Yes, That unit would be an upgrade on any and all OEM units in my honest opinion. The Standard unit will only be pushing our around 4x20w per channel whereas the Kenwood unit will be pushing 4x50w. TLDR: Your speakers will sound better.

Looking on Kenwoods website, it also states that it will work with your Steering wheel controls which is a bonus and also has built in Bluetooth so hands free for your mobile phone.

Checking eBay, looks like they also go between £170-200 2nd hand.

If it was me, I would 100% put that in your GTi.

[doberman19]

Hi Nino,
            many thanks, for confirming the DNX520VBT would be a respectable upgrade for my
            GTI. technical data about audio upgrades I'm afraid go strait over my head. once you
            start reading into it, I feel like I'm falling into an ever deepening hole so I turn off.  I'm not
            looking for an expensive upgrade but this freebie will do me just fine. hopefully it will be
            just plug and play. regards,
                                                    Doberman.

[Nino]

It should be, there may be a Loom that you will need to take out of your daughters car but honestly, its a 10min job to fit a headunit in a MK6 Golf.

[steveGTD]

On the MFD, When I put on the Audio setting, it will tell me what Station I have on, it will even display Carplay the Volume adjustments also pop up.

All steering wheel controls work too.

Hi Nino,
Some more comments questions (I've got an ILX-507A+X303):
When I am on the Audio screen in the MFD, I can see the radio station information and the volume adjustment. But, if I am playing Spotify then the Audio screen is blank - do you have the same issue?
Sometimes it gets stuck and displays a radio station even when I am on Spotify.

My steering wheel phone button does nothing - have to use the head unit menus to make a call.

I read somewhere that the Alpine unit should also be able to display navigation turn information in the MFD - any idea how that would be activated?

I do see the climate control screen pop-up of its own accord, which it never did with the factory head unit. Can be annoying if you are about to look at the map to get turn information! It would be nice if it could be made to display for less than 5s but that option is not available. Can be turned off altogether, but I prefer it on!

I have a USB plugged into the MDI in the armrest but that no longer works.

[Nino]

On the MFD, When I put on the Audio setting, it will tell me what Station I have on, it will even display Carplay the Volume adjustments also pop up.

All steering wheel controls work too.

Hi Nino,
Some more comments questions (I've got an ILX-507A+X303):
When I am on the Audio screen in the MFD, I can see the radio station information and the volume adjustment. But, if I am playing Spotify then the Audio screen is blank - do you have the same issue?
Sometimes it gets stuck and displays a radio station even when I am on Spotify.

My steering wheel phone button does nothing - have to use the head unit menus to make a call.

I read somewhere that the Alpine unit should also be able to display navigation turn information in the MFD - any idea how that would be activated?

I do see the climate control screen pop-up of its own accord, which it never did with the factory head unit. Can be annoying if you are about to look at the map to get turn information! It would be nice if it could be made to display for less than 5s but that option is not available. Can be turned off altogether, but I prefer it on!

I have a USB plugged into the MDI in the armrest but that no longer works.

My experience is the same as you except, my buttons work for calls etc.
I looked more into it regarding the NAV, and I have tired it with WAZE and Google maps and I don't get the directions ether - I have a feeling that feature is acutally only with the following units as it needs the Nav built into the device where as our units use it from our phones:

- Alpine X901D-G6
- Alpine X902D-G6
- Alpine X903D-G6

I did wonder about if getting this Navi stick would make it work but im not willing to sink nearly £500 just for a feature.
https://shop.alpine.co.uk/products/copy-of-truck-g500c-trucking-software-for-ine-w92xr-series-ine-w977bt

One thing I haven't tired is updating the firmware on the iLX-705D
More info here: https://www.alpine.co.uk/support/software-and-map-updates/headunits/ilx-f905d-firmware-update.html

[Nino]

Just wanted to post this video about this Alpine range, gives some good info on the cameras and also how the Hires Audio works on them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOs9zB4kjlY&t=928s