Alpine's CDA-9856
Display and controls: Alpine sticks true to its roots when styling their CD receivers, and it's hard to blame them — the Alpine "look" — with the control knob and buttons clustered on the left side of the face — is distinctive and easily recognized. Having said that, the CDA-9856 suffers a little bit of a style deficit, particularly when the display is compared to the highly active OEL of the Pioneer or the bright dot-matrix of the Kenwood. Still, that's a minor criticism. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and there's definitely a market for the classic lines of the CDA-9856.
Control was something of a disappointment with the CDA-9856. There's no argument to be made about function, since it is a very capable stereo, with many user-adjustable parameters. Learning how to use all of those parameters, and making quick adjustments on the fly is another matter. If you want to "set it and forget it," that's not an issue. But if you're always changing settings you may get a bit frustrated.
Sound: Alpine's CDA-9856 has ample 18 watts RMS per channel of power flowing from the internal amp, and it shows in CD playback. Once installed, I rarely had to turn it up very high to get more than satisfactory response. The sound was clear, with a nice sense of space and detail, particularly in the softer sections of the Beethoven "Scherzo". It didn't have quite the same low end as the Pioneer when running a flat EQ curve, but I was able to punch the sound up quite well by making bass adjustments.
Music file playback: This is a real strong point. The CDA-9856 accessed files quickly, navigation was logical, and, most importantly, compressed files like MP3s really sounded good, especially with the Alpine's BBE signal processor kicked on. If you like MP3s you'll like the performance. I particularly liked the Quick Search function. It allowed me to scroll through tracks or files by title, simply by spinning the rotary knob and pressing the knob in when I found the track I wanted. This is a very nice feature if you want to quickly access a favorite tune.
Sound enhancement: This was a two-edged sword. As noted before, it's not the easiest thing to make adjustments on the fly with the CDA-9856, but the capabilities for tuning and shaping your sound are quite extensive and well-realized. Alpine's Bass Engine provided excellent control, with functions for bass and treble center frequency, band width, and level. As I noted before, the BBE processing was effective in adding fullness to the sound.
Radio performance: Not much to report here — the Alpine was on a par with the Pioneer and Kenwood.
Expandability and other features: The Alpine is ready to go in the expansion game. To add on an iPod, simply purchase the optional Full Speed Connection cable and you'll be accessing your iPod through the CD player in no time. It allows full iPod control with the receiver's controls, and is a lot less bulky than adapters used with most other receiver brands. SIRIUS and XM satellite radio service can also be added with the addition of a tuner, and you can also add an auxiliary input or a CD changer. Alpine also offers an optional HD Radio tuner, something that the Pioneer doesn't offer, though the Kenwood does as well. And, it's worth knowing, you can add a remote as an option — unlike the Kenwood and Pioneer, there's none included (not a big deal to me).
