Sony XAV-AX100 Sony 6.4" Touchscreen Double Din Bluetooth Car Audio Media Receiver

-great EQ features and considerations for getting the most out of the sound -love the volume knob - THANK YOU -NEEDS AN SD card SLOT AND/OR FRONT-FACING USB -lawyer disclaimer screen on EVERY startup is ridiculous. Thanks america. -the screen has a different feel/look than what you're used to on a premium smart phone. that said, the price point and function are both great so no complaints.

I bought and installed the XAV-AX100 in my car two months ago, and I love it. I wanted a simple Apple CarPlay head unit. I compared many radios before settling on this one. This is what it came down to: 1) Simple, un-cluttered buttons on the face of the radio; a home button, volume/option control, and seek forward/back buttons. 2) Easy to navigate user interface. I hate digging through menu upon menu to try and find settings for different options. Sony took a minimalist approach and took all of the guesswork out of changing settings. There’s no extra bloatware in the menus, and it’s great. 3) Double-DIN screen with a single-DIN radio attached to the back. It looks weird, but you really don’t know the difference once it’s installed in your dash. The advantage for me here is that I was able to use the extra space of the single DIN chassis to tuck all the wiring in underneath it. Very helpful when installing the radio. 4) Response time of the radio. This is a big one for me. I cannot stand slow, laggy response time. After watching several videos on this radio specifically before I ordered it, I concluded that response time was not an issue. That still holds true. There is a startup time of about 15-20 seconds when the car is first started, but when I start my car, I’m doing other things before I focus on the radio anyway. Besides, most infotainment systems have some sort of startup cycle they go through at key on. That’s just how it is. I discovered after the radio was installed and running that there is an option to adjust the bluetooth audio level on the radio itself. I don’t use the bluetooth much, but that is a very cool feature. I did try out the bluetooth phone connection, and it works great. Again, the display puts all the information in front of me with simple, non-bloated ease of use. Easy to navigate and make calls. I only have two complaints. While the volume knob is one of the selling points for me, it’s also tiny and a bit hard to get my fingers around sometimes. If it was knurled more, closer to the top edge and a little bit taller, it would be perfect. My second complaint is the audio amplifier. It’s rated at 20 watts RMS X 4. I replaced all four speakers at the same time I replaced the radio. I was disappointed when I cranked up the volume, and wound up having to purchase an amplifier, connecting it to the pre-amp outputs, and then wired the amp to all four speakers. That brought the sound quality up to expectations. But I guess with that single DIN chassis, there’s only so much amp they can pack in there. All in all, this radio is exactly what I wanted. If I had it to do all over again, I would definitely buy this radio again.