Budget head unit with decent sound quality

[crofty1984]

Hi all,
All I'm after is streaming youtube music from my phone and my speakers are 4" (just replaced with new). So I'm not expecting audiophile levels of quality. Right now I've just bunged in one of those 20 quid no-brand ebay efforts. Obviously I'm not getting great sound quality for it, bordering on poor, but is it worth the jump to a named-brand unit about £100-£150 or is nothing going to be better until I hit "premium" kit. As the car's 1985 I'm thinking of something like the Blaupunkt retro-style series like the Milano/Valencia.
Thanks,
Dan

[defblade]

crofty1984 said:

Hi all,
All I'm after is streaming youtube music from my phone and my speakers are 4" (just replaced with new). So I'm not expecting audiophile levels of quality. Right now I've just bunged in one of those 20 quid no-brand ebay efforts. Obviously I'm not getting great sound quality for it, bordering on poor, but is it worth the jump to a named-brand unit about £100-£150 or is nothing going to be better until I hit "premium" kit. As the car's 1985 I'm thinking of something like the Blaupunkt retro-style series like the Milano/Valencia.
Thanks,
Dan

I would suspect that a named-brand HU in that range would be a significant step up. From there, you'd be looking at external amps etc.
However, 4" speakers are always going to be a serious weak point.
Any friends with an old half-decent HU sitting the garage you could borrow to plug-in and try for 2 minutes?

[TEKNOPUG]

You're streaming Youtube music videos on your phone and then sending it to your HU via Bluetooth, yes? Or from the phone headphone socket to an AUX input?

That's gonna sound pretty poor no matter what HU you have. Can you not download a load of music and stick in on a USB/MicroSD, hell even a CD?

[OldGermanHeaps]

Trying to get good sound from 4 inch will be a challenge, how about a small cheap under seat sub and a head unit where you can run an hpf on the speakers set to 100 or 120hz, it will sound a lot clearer without the 4 inchers trying to create bass.

[crofty1984]

TEKNOPUG said:

You're streaming Youtube music videos on your phone and then sending it to your HU via Bluetooth, yes? Or from the phone headphone socket to an AUX input?

That's gonna sound pretty poor no matter what HU you have. Can you not download a load of music and stick in on a USB/MicroSD, hell even a CD?

The first one, and yes, appreciate that I'm asking if the difference is between actively poor and adequate I'm sure I have some USB drives I can dust off

[MattsCar]

I don't think the format/Bluetooth is the issue here.

To most non audiophile ears, it will sound ok if the rest of the system stacks up.

Issue here is tiny speakers, which will sound tinny and a lack of amplification from a £20 headunit.

[TEKNOPUG]

True. But may as well start off with the cheapest option and deal with the source first. Ignoring Bluetooth for a moment, if you are streaming via your phone, whilst driving around, you are liable to be receiving a highly compressed file, depending upon signal reception. Play some tracks from physical media @320kbps first and see if that has any impact.

The next step is to spend a few £100 on equipment.