Quick, I need opinions on these Pioneers

[Pantocrator]

I can get, until Monday, either the Pioneer 980BT HU or the Pioneer 880PRS HU at $400 each, which is a savings of about 200 bucks per. I've heard that the 880PRS is awesome SQ, and I really need and love that, but the 980 BT seems to have the same audio specs plus a color screen and bluetooth. They're the same price- both massively discounted. What do I do?

In before barrel roll, etc.

[audiobliss]

Without having looked up ANYTHING on either of them (and just assuming that they are, indeed, identical as far as SQ and adjustments), I'd take the one with bluetooth. I'd personally love to have that in my car, and a color screen is always neat.

But....why don't you just get both?

:D:D

[Pantocrator]

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking, but nobody ever talks about the 980BT, just the 880PRS when it comes to SQ- but under the specs, I cannot find a difference between them....

[exalted512]

The 880 has dual left and right 16-band eq's, the 980 has a single 16 band eq
-Cody

[Pantocrator]

Does that really matter? Is it that big of a difference, in your opinion?

[MacLeod]

Its a HUGE difference if youre wanting the best SQ. The more tuning features the more youll be able to dial in great sound. But if youre interested in pointless things like color screens and bluetooth, then get the 980. ;)

[neomagus00]

i have the 800-series pioneer premier of last year (don't remember the exact number), and it's amazing... if you're in to tweaking, that 16-band-per-side eq will give you equal parts joy and evilness... i'm a tweaker, so i love it

[DemonAstroth]

so where can you get these? :) I would certainly like to have the 880prs for 200 dollars!

[Pantocrator]

400 bucks, anywhere they are sold. Pioneer is giving a sale on all their parts to dealers (not internet) for the next shipment, which is coming in Monday. My place is getting 24 units each, so I have a while I guess to buy them... I don't really care about the "pointless things," buy you have to admit that they might come in handy. I've heard that the 880PRS has easy to break nobs, and I have heard nothing about the 980BT. I honestly cannot see why I would want to have the left and right sides unequally balanced, such as heavier bass on my left and more treble on my right...

[exalted512]

Because in cars, unlike home audio, not all things are created equal.

I have the 880 and havent had any problems with the knobs...
-Cody

[MacLeod]

Damn, 16 band L/R EQ. That is a pretty damn cool feature. Its the only head unit I know of with independant left and right EQ's. Thats a HUGE bonus! Id say thats even more important than time alignment.

[Pantocrator]

Is there a guide online on how to use ind. left right eq? I'm still torn, but you all seem to like the 880PRS a lot more.

[audiobliss]

If you're majorly into SQ, as in competing, I'm sure the independent L/R EQ's would be AWESOME!

However, if you just like a really nice sound audio system for you car during your commute, I personally think it'd be overkill.

[Pantocrator]

I'm a really good musician, and I love music and sound. I want the absolute highest quality sound I can afford, but I will never enter a competition. I just don't know what the purpose is... Maybe someone at a store can explain it to me better.

[neomagus00]

in my car, for example, the tweeters are at the level of my calves. on the left side, that means the thing is half-firing into my leg, and i need more treble of certain frequencies on that side ( and less midbass, because its resonant cavity is closer to my ears). the separate bands allow me to eq these problems away without screwing up the sound from the right side of the car, which has a direct line of sight to my ears.

i also have had no problems with my dials...

far as a guide, i have none for an eq yet (it's on the to-do list), but one for setting gains is here (http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/dhuston/gains.html), if you like...

[Pantocrator]

I just heard that the 880PRS allows you to turn off the internal amp, increasing SQ from the HU- can the 980BT do that, and what other (non Pioneer or whatever) models have that feature. That seems like the best feature a SQ HU can really have... maybe (?)

[audiobliss]

That's really getting into the nitty-gritty. In my feeble mind, I imagine that's even more for the hardcore audiophile than the dual channel EQ.

I know a few HU's have that feature, but I'm really not sure how common it is.

Cody said the EQ was the ONLY difference between those two, so I'd assume you could also turn off the internal amp in the 980BT, but I'm not sure.

[killerb]

that is a very important feature. my kenwood x990 has that ability.

[exalted512]

I'm not sure if you can with the 980, but i didnt hear a difference when i turned the amp off in my g/fs 880...im sure it runs cooler and might last longer, but i didnt hear an audible difference.
-Cody

[neomagus00]

I'm not sure if you can with the 980, but i didnt hear a difference when i turned the amp off in my g/fs 880...im sure it runs cooler and might last longer, but i didnt hear an audible difference.
-Cody

i second that... i like the fact that it won't accidentally spark off the back of the unit, but i can't tell the difference... granted, i don't have the most amazing setup ever, and i didn't test thoroughly or at full volume, but i don't listen that hard or that loud most of the time...

[Pantocrator]

Do you know what the feature is called? I was told by the manager of the store that only the 880PRS has it (among Pioneer) but under the website's features and specs lists, I cannot find it. Is it DSP perchance?

[neomagus00]

their specs don't seem to list this capability, but i'd be mildly confused if a higher-end product doesn't have a feature that a lower-end one does. it's definitely not DSP, that's things like compression that you can use but probably won't.

on the unit, it says something like 'internal amp power off'