Comprehensive review of the Alpine DVA-9861E DVD-audio/video receiver.



All listening tests and installation notes come from my own installation into “Audible Gold”

My own 1986 Mitsubishi Sigma sedan and existing trophy snatching system. This head unit replaced my worn out Alpine CDA-7842R cd player.



Front panel build quality and layout.



To put it simply, this head unit reaks of quality. The metallic spun and rubber edged rotary controller has a solid indent and positive feel to it. The “epicenter” of this head units controls are around the rotary controller with an array of large and positive feeling clearly marked buttons and includes six of alpines traditional “frosted” buttons. At first I was at odds with the layout, well used to my previous unit. But time quickly changed that and I soon found the layout of buttons to be intuitive and well thought out. This head unit is very easy to use once you are used to it.

The large LCD screen is a marvel. It is easy to read and subtly back lit. In the dreaded driving into the sun wearing polarized sunglasses scenario, I can barely read it where as my previous head unit was completely unreadable.

Below the screen is three rocker buttons for the 1-6 radio presets. While these work well, I would have preferred 6 individual buttons as per the previous model, the DVA-9860E. But that is my opinion.

Finally, the single blue LED lighting the six alpine frosted buttons is easily seen at night thru the buttons. Too easily if you ask me, even when connected to the dash light dimmer. The unit has a black out feature which turns on the head units lighting when you touch a control and drops out after 5 seconds.



Overall this head unit oozes class by the bucket load and matches the cars that Alpine have always covered their catalogues with.



Mechanical.



The full face control layout of the head unit is really great and achieved by hiding the disc slot behind the face. Reaching past the lowered face and grasping the disc without smothering it with fingerprints needs a different technique to what I am used to. I find the best plan of attack is to go for the edge grab rather than the center “pinch” forefinger and thumb. The eject button and slot are illuminated making disc insertion easy at night time.

The player takes some time to read the disc but this is to be expected given the range of discs this unit can play. Contrary to what the brochures appears to say, this unit can play both DVD- and DVD+ in both R and RW single and dual layer. Once the unit has decoded the disc it is quick in jumping track to track. I could not trip the unit up with CD’s whatsoever, but I did manage to upset it with a DVD+R loaded with 110 folders and 1190 songs in mp3 format, slowing track selection down considerably. But given the information the unit had to process to keep up with my frantic button pushing, it is still commendable.

Finally the flip front face is removable, something I didn’t expect as I assumed that detachable face’s went by the way side years ago. The face is easy to remove and replace and appears to be solid and well built and should last years of operation as I have found with Alpines previous units.



Menu.



At first I was at odds with the menu layout and access. It is much different to what I was used to. But again with a little bit of practice you will get used to it. Initially I was getting the “mode” and “menu” buttons mixed up while trying to make changes in the menu system.

The manual is over 60 pages and just under A4 size. There is a lot of information in there and may seem daunting, but remember what this unit is. Basically it is a cd player and a dvd movie player so if you got the manual for a regular cd player and stuck it with the manual for your home dvd player, then you have the manual for this unit. Both sides of the units operation are very logical and when accessing the dvd side of things, I felt like I was operating my home theatre’s dvd player. The menu layout and command methods are very similar to the typical home dvd player you watch movies on. The manual also includes operating instructions for the PXA-H701 processor which it can command fully so when you take everything into consideration, this unit is actually quite easy to use and very well set out and logical.



Remote.



What can I say about the remote? Ok, go grab your home theatre amp or DVD player’s remote and give it the shrink treatment. There are so many buttons! The remote does the basics when it comes to audio only play which is about all you really want it for. But when it comes to DVD movie playback the remote really shines. Like so many home unit DVD players, many of the functions are only usable from the remote. Though that isn’t correct. The alpine unit can access most if not all of it’s functions via the face. It is just that it is so much easier from the remote which really is the way it should be. Sit back and enjoy the movie with the remote at hand rather than trying to access it via the face.

Strangely, the remote uses a CR-2025 battery instead of the usual AA or triple A batteries. I guess that keeps the remote slim and light weight which is a good thing.



Connections and mounting.



As you would probably expect, this unit is a smorgasbord of connections and cables. Alpine has chosen RCA jacks directly on the back for the front/rear/sub outputs rather than on leads like previous units I have had. Bad. A decent RCA plug with thick OFC cable will add another 6-7cm of needed mounting depth which could make this head unit un-installable for your car. Funnily enough, on the other side of the deck, alpine have supplied lead plugs for the video out, ai-net and I-pod leads and the optical output jack is mounted at a right angle across the small rear cooling fan outlet. Nice space saving idea mister Alpine, so why didn’t you do the dame for the RCA jacks?

Finally the mounting sleeve needs a quick mention. This uses concealed side clips as opposed to the front lift pin type of my previous head unit, which I much preferred. The concealed side clips have a noticeable amount of “slop” of the head unit moving in the sleeve. While you can pack the unit easily enough to prevent this, it is a cost cutting that shouldn’t be on a unit of this price.



Sound quality



Now that we have got all that minor stuff out of the way, lets get to what really matters. How the heck does it sound? Just let me say that Fine chocolates also come in 24 bits as well as fine D/A converters. Once I had finally sweated and swore the unit into my dash I was ready to sit back and listen. Armed with my favorite discs from my IASCA sound quality judging days I put this head unit thru its paces and I was impressed.

The first thing that I noticed was the ambience and harmonics. 24 bit D/A converters are renowned for recreating this far better than others and I was glad to again discover this to be true, the first time for myself in the car. Instruments had that much more taste to them, slightly brighter with more presence and detail. It bought a better sense of realism to the music overall. A very impressive result.

. Interestingly, I tried some of the same songs in mp3 format as a comparison and the stark difference created by MP3 compression, was almost revolting in comparison and helped highlight the differences for comparison. Why Alpine bother putting MP3 support into a head unit with 24 bit DAC is beyond me. It seems almost a crime. (MP3 is known to mostly destroy harmonics & ambience)

Second, The overall clarity was superior. This could have been due to my previous unit’s age and rapidly failing laser diode but even then, my favorite songs I have listened to for years had a distinctive and clearer presence & clarity. The overall sound was warmer too. Almost Valve tube amp like in a subtle way. Vocal’s also had that little bit more to them. In between breaths and those subtle details felt that much more life like. Crouching tiger/hidden dragon’s “farewell” Cello lead was more revealed and detailed, hearing detail I had only heard previously from my Denon/Bower & Wilkin’s home theatre system and not in the car with my old unit. It would be interesting to hook this unit up and compare it to my HT DVD player. I believe it will wallop my Sony DVD player for sound, but the composite video output will probably look ghastly compared to component or even S-video.



Finally the sub base is better controlled via Alpines “bass engine” which I had previously considered an unnecessary “bells & whistles” gimic. The bass engine gives the user more control over the sub woofer system and control is a good thing. By adjusting the bass engine I was able to either tweak the Sound quality of the sub bass, or, screw that little bit extra of output for breaking the decibel meter with, all from the head unit control. That has to be a good thing I’m sure.



Summary.



Overall it is pretty hard not to recommend this head unit. If your all about the sound quality then the 24 bit DAC is all you need to know. The rest is icing. If you want to mix it with your MP3 player then a 24 bit BAC is a complete waste and you would be better off buying a cheaper head unit and putting the change towards next years i-pod. Though with 8.5 gigs of burnable disc space, you would wonder why you would bother with an i-pod interface at an extra cost when a couple of discs will give you the same amount of storage space.

Audio/Visual is the latest toy in ICE. Alone this unit can handle all the A/V you could ever want. Combine this unit with alpines PXA-701 and you have a tuff combo with an extraordinary range of control. Time alignment, eight channel crossover and a huge multi band EQ with 5 way parametric EQ as back up and it is a cheaper combo than the flag ship DVA-9965E except for the super video output, You would hardly notice the difference on a ten inch screen.

Even as a sound quality only set up the DVA-9861E + PXA-H701 is a excellent combination.

But be warned. If you buy the DVA-9861E, you could be tempted to buy the PXA-H701 next!

Hmm, by your reports, I think that the 9861 you have is a totally different model to the one I owned, and the ones Ive played with since. I say this because my impressions of that unit are totally different!!!

I owned the 9861 for around 3 months before upgrading to the Pioneer P90 combo (was an enticing deal). Ive used it both as a straight deck, and attached with the H701, set it up for DVD's (had a screen) as well as applying full SQ settings to it. Ive used quite a few different types, many Alpines, a few Pioneer's and an Eclipse or two amongst others.

In terms of build, that face couldnt get any cheaper if Alpine tried. The volume button is extremely annoying with its pop-out feature, and if it was designed properly, not required. The volume rotation however, was quite nice. The frosted buttons were disgusting, and how Alpine can put their name to something like that is a shame. They feel plastic, cheap and brittle. Bring back the older 2004/2005 models, these are worth their coin. The menu is hard to learn, finicky and not really all that logical and if you have the Processor, an absolute balls-up. With the processor connected, it takes you ten times longer then it should to setup and scroll through menus. Its also deadly to play with whilst driving, so dont even try.

That face has the worst connection mechanism Ive ever used. Its far harder then it needs to be, and compared to other units on the market, more finicky then units either half (or double) its price. Disconnection is fine, but putting it back on should have been more thought out. CD ejecting is very quick, but loading the disk is mighty slow. Takes far too long. The 9965 has the same features, and can do it in a fraction of the time.

The sound coming from that unit is woeful as well. There are 1-bit DACs on the market that sound better. Heaps improved when connected up to the H701, but only through the digital inputs. Going DAC-RCA-ADC-Processor-DAC is far too noisy, the digital input is a lot cleaner. Compared to other units on the market though, the Alpine combination whilst being clean, lacks any sort of dynamics and warmth. Voices are there, but they just dont twig the emotional heartstrings like I expected. Sound is thin, clarity is there but its like a scalpel. All steel and no emotion. If you like your valve amps, have a go on a P9 or P90 combo, very warm. Same goes for the McIntosh MX406, thats a keeper.

The one good thing about this unit is the subbass response. Once time-aligned, I had the subbass leaping out of the dash. This is something I still havent been able to perfect with my P90. Time alignment is fairly logical once you understand the procedure, but personally I think inputting distances is much more practical.

Overall, I found this unit cheap, plastic and finicky. It is slow, menus are mind-knumbingly painful, and downright useless with a Processor attached. If you have the H701, use the C701 for control. Definitely not worth its RRP (or even street price), but maybe half that. If you want to play all those media types, save up and buy the 9965, because THATS worth every cent. I did enjoy judging the SQ from this unit at the comp though, as the volume button is very nice, and track searching is lightning fast.

All show and no go IMO.

**Note** This is my opinion only, and should be taken lightly. No offence intended to Audible!!

To be fair the P90 combo retails for alot more than this unit, so it should be better.
My $0.02
Valuable insight from both parties tho.

Some interesting comments there thematt. No offence taken!



Pop out volume control. I can only guess that the pop out volume control is so that the face can fit into the carry case which I will point out is exactly the same as the case I got with my old unit. I have no issues with the pop out volume control at all and as you said, the rotation is very nice.



Frosted buttons. I guess I could have been a bit more harsh here. The single led light behind them is the biggest annoyance for me. I have seen/pushed far worse "frosties" in my time. For example, the RUX-C701. Alpines history with it's own frosted buttons has always had it's ups and downs. For example the woeful design of the 2000 CDM-786x range to incredible 7909L.

2004/2005 models? Do you mean the CDE-984x line or the CDE-982x line? (which my brother in law owns the 9827)



Face plate connection. I didn't really want to go into that too much. Your right, it is a bit of a pain, but who detach's the face plates on a regular basis these days anyway? I think it is a feature that should have gone by the way side years ago as it is an unneccesary complication to the unit. I never timed the load/eject times. There isn't that much of a difference by my watch. Perhaps a difference in production?



Sound quality. Always going to be subjective and a matter of opinion. As I said, this was in my own car and compared directly to my old unit, the CDA-7842R which is a reg 1 bit DAC. Yes, the DVA-9861 sounded better than that unit in my car and back in it's day (98/99) the 7842 was considered a good sounding unit and was very common in the competitions cars when I was judging. The 7842 was a $899 rrp unit as well back then.

Also, I bought the head unit from Grant at alberts morley. Grant recommended the unit to me knowing full well the quality of my system and said that the unit is a very good sounding head unit. Like you, he had one in the SS for a while and he was impressed with it's SQ. Though in grants defence, He did think I would be better off with the HX-D2 which in hindsight, would be about the same price as the 9861/701 combo so I could be like you, and changing this head unit out soon myself. I am a clarion fan boy as well as alpine.



As far as controlling the PXA from the head unit, I have been told that it is next to useless as well. (grant being one of them) I have bought the C701 controller which I plan to use to set the processor up with and then disconnect the controller. Once the T/A and crossover points are set and the EQ's are all disabled, I won't need to make any changes to it so the 9861 "useless" ability will be irrelivant but untill I get the H701, I can't really comment.

But my car audio usage is very different to most. I just load up the music, adjust volume and track up/down.

I don't adjust bass, treble, balance, fader, etc. I have no need to so changing settings in the H701 on the fly wont be a problem for myself.



As far as price goes, I agree. It isn't worth $900. I'm not actually sure what "street" price would be. $800? Less? I guess that given that the CDA-9887 is going to be released for around $600, then the 9861 would be expensive in comparision. I cannot actually reveal the price I paid for mine. Suffice to say, if you knew, you would well understand why I purchased it.

What about Video out? dose the head unit have any? or does the PXAH701? and What about Video in? how many Video in and Video out?

I'm happy with mine!

I bought this because it was a simple head unit, that played DVD.

I dont have a screen, i dont want a screen and most importantly, I cant afford a screen.

I love the ability to have a MP3-DVD, a few of those in your car and your set for any occasion.

I hooked up the full speed iPod cable and that works a treat, whack the iPod in, it charges, operates all from the H/U, allows searching by genre, artist, album.

My mate, a sparky, assisted me to test the pre-outs, said to be 4v, we rated them using his multimeter at 3.79V + 3.88V for the F+R respectively & 3.89V for the Sub out. at full volume with no boost, all settings -0+

The 24bit DAC definately makes a difference when it comes to studio produced/stamped cds (MP3s sound fine, but you know the warm ugliness of an MP3 soundwave reproduced through high quality gear like this that im talkin bout)

I have it hooked up using some stupidly expensive stinger RCAs to my PDX-4.100 and at ?stock settings (gain 0, filter full, etc) and at max volume the sound that comes out of my Type X 6.5s is crystal clear (engine on and off) and rediculously loud... but it is so clear, you forget how loud it is, there is not a hint of distortion (only the rattle of my car and flutter of the plastic seal around the space. (this is also a very good effort for my speakers, but i can feel they crave more power...).

The only thing that dissapointed me about this H/U after using it for a while was that despite the remote having a button for anything, you cannot jump to a track number, pressing the numbers on the remote only applies to chapter selection when playing a DVD-video...

aside from that, no problems...

Love the display, love the buttons, the volume trimpot glides so smooth and has a lovely little trim around it that feels nice hehe, and pops in and out for ease of storage in the case and aesthetic reasons i beleive... popped in you can still adjust volume, but looks sleeker.

I have no issues with the removal/reattatchment of the face, its pretty much the same as my old Kenwood KDC-MP4029 so i am used to the whole slot in a tiny pin sort of thing... but it is something recquiring you to be more delicate than you should with something that is used in this sort of application...

So yes, that is my opinion after owning it for about 3 months, i like it, im happy with it, i havent talked it up, dont mistake me, i have said what I think... heh

A cheaper H/U in its place in my system, would be the downfall, this headunit performs brilliantly for me and it is a quality head unit, and i really like it.

Thanks for reading!


P.S. if you know how to jump track on this H/U or have a suggestion to try based on other alpine head units... i would appreciate any assistance! thanks! cheers