[MTCD Android Head Units General] skezza:
I've never owned one, so I can't say. I am happy to be proven wrong, that's my point.

What I will say is that I understand the core principals of a DSP, having worked for a large audio chipset manufacturer for a number of years. Some people think a 'DSP' is the silver bullet to all of your problems with vehicle audio, especially with these head units. It's not. It's just not. There are so many variables that contribute to audio quality. Amplifier quality, speaker quality, cabin acoustics etc, yet for some reason, the idea of having a dedicated DSP means you'll go from borderline noise to the kind of audio you'd get from a Bose stereo. It's just not true. It's a complete myth and it's the kind of bull**** I like to tackle. It's like Solar Freakin' Thorium Roadways all over again.

Pretty much 100% of the current gen PX5's, PX3's have an in-built DSP, and usually have the tda7851 as the amp chip. The DSP is built into the chipset. This provides you some of the functionality that you would expect from a dedicated DSP, with some cuts and trims around the edges. You then have these units with a dedicated DSP. They cost more, potentially won't be as popular and therefore will be harder to modify, customise, find ROM's for, tweak ROM's for etc. The cons outweigh the pros so much, and we've not even established whether they sound significantly better or not. The additional tweaking means you can probably get it to sound slightly better than a normal unit, but you're talking minimal gains for some fairly big compromises. It's just dumb.

The dedicated DSP units all use this chip: http://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/data-sheets/ADAU1701.pdf

Feel free to read about the benefits there.

The biggest reason the PX5 units sound so much better than the older units though, is because of the amp chip. The TDA7851 is so much better than the chips found in the old Joying units for example. If you soldered in a Pioneer chip into the Joying unit, the audio quality was massively improved, hence my point about a DSP not being a silver bullet. There's many variables here, so just buying a unit with DSP for the sake of it, won't necessarily give you the results you desire.

Like I said, there's nothing I want more than to be proven wrong. If these units are kitted with a very good DSP, very good amplifier etc, then you should be noticing significant improvements. If they're simply loaded with a dedicated DSP and a TDA7851, then I don't expect them to sound remarkably better than the current gen PX5 units..... you'll just be able to **** around with the signal more.

---------- Post added at 12:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:40 PM ----------

Dear god, this thing just won't die, will it? I've not said they don't have DSP's.

Can you please identify the amp chip please? I will reserve judgement until you know what the amp chip is specifically. If the amp chip is the TDA7851, then I call bull****. Superior? Yes (once you've tweaked it, a flat signal is a flat signal). Far superior? No.

At no point did I say the product or price were bad. I said the price is a lot if the gains are minimal, and so far all I've had is 'feels' and you say "it's loads better". Have you actually tried a PX5 'non-DSP unit', and PX5 'DSP unit' side-by-side, with both of them EQ'd the same etc? I will put money on that they sound the ****ing same. If they're using the same amplifier, then that amplifier will replicate the signal identically on both units. All you are gaining with the DSP, is a few more options to **** around with the signal, don't you realise that?

Identify the amp chip. Post it on here. If it's significantly better, then I take it back..... if it's a TDA7851.... then you're talking cat piss mate. Sorry.