# Is there a trustworthy brand of Chinese aftermarket Android radio?



## Carver_Baker (Dec 2, 2020)

Has been thinking about upgrading the radio on my car, but I just don't know which one to buy. Pioneer, Alpine, Kenwood all claim great sound quality but the price is really high compared to Chinese aftermarket radio. 

So is there one trustworthy brand of Chinese aftermarket Android radio? Which has great sound yet the price is low too?


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## Theslaking (Oct 8, 2013)

Joying's higher level HU's seem to be the best. I have one and been very happy for the couple months we've had it.


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## Jaloosk (Jan 13, 2010)

I’ve heard good things about Joying too, though I haven’t used one.


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## Dremgragen (Jul 14, 2008)

I'm using a joying and I'm pretty happy with it. I use digital out to dsp, so I can't speak for its sound quality. Solid screen, plays my files, and Tidal app works on it too. My biggest complaint is using touchscreen for volume, so I use dsp remote for volume instead. 

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk


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## FAUEE (Jul 22, 2010)

Joying is as trustworthy as anything Chinese.


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## Carver_Baker (Dec 2, 2020)

Thanks for all your recommendations. What about XTRONS brand? I found many people are talking about it on YouTube with 90,607 views. 

This Interior Mod Changes Everything! - YouTube


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## SUPERMARIO0615 (Dec 13, 2020)

When i bought myself a radio , i had the same concerns, too many different Chinese brands, and they look quite similar. I decided to get an XTRONS on Amazon as my friend has one and it as lasted for over 3 years, also checked XTRONS facebook page, they look very reliable., and their products have very innovative design, clean look.


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## MythosDreamLab (Nov 28, 2020)

I know I'm new here, but it seemed odd to me that the two people propping up this Xtrons brand have a total of 3 posts between them, draw you own conclusions from that... cheers


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## Batryoperatedboy (Jan 11, 2011)

Great... Now I just spent 20 minutes Googling supermario0615... He joined maybe 15 communities in the last month and yeah... Mythos is correct to be ambivalent, at the very least.


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## evo9 (Jul 6, 2005)

Carver_Baker said:


> Pioneer, Alpine, Kenwood all clamin great sound quality but the price is really high compared to Chinese aftermarket radio.



They are not great sound quality. They are superior sound quality and superior over all quality. They have been around for a long time, they research and design their products. Not stealing IP like the cheap Chinese brands.


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## Jroo (May 24, 2006)

here is the conversation that I recently had with the shop and installer that I trust. They have installed several over the past year and have decided to no longer offer installation. In short, most of them come back with some issue. They said a few have been much better than most but for them, not worth the hassle. The other issue is lack of support. Basically you get no support from the makers. The support is coming from forums or previous users. They said on several occasions they had issues at installation and there is no where to go because contacting the maker is a black hole. 

The biggest difference between an alpine or pioneer etc is 9 times out of 10, its going to work right out of the box. They know what is in the unit and build quality and if you have an issue, you have support. The chinese brands look cool and are feature rich, but I think still have a few kinks to work out before I would consider them for a long term solution.


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## jtrosky (Jul 19, 2019)

I would say that the chinese Android-based radios are more about "features" than "quality". 

There are reasons why the big name brands don't sell full Android-based radios - it's really not that good for the task (AndroidAuto via your phone is a much better solution)! There is also a reason why these Chinese radios are so cheap - it's because they don't have much R&D into them and they use low-quality parts.

I tried two different Android plug-and-play radios for my "other" car (now my wifes car, actually) - a 2012 Impala. I ended up returning one (a "Hizpo") and kept the other (an "Eonon"). I initially set them up "on the bench" in the house using a 12v power supply, an Alpine red-brick amp and some extra speakers that I had laying around. I actually loved the units while messing with them "on the bench", but after I finally installed one in my car, it wasn't long before I pulled it back out. The RCA outputs are absolutely horrible, so I ended up using speaker-level outputs to connect to my amp instead because they were cleaner. Still had lots of "noise"-related issues that I didn't have with other more "known" brands using the exact same setup. I also remember that people had issues with the bluetooth chip not working when it was below a certain temperature too. 

They advertised a "9-band" EQ. However, it was actually just a 3-band EQ with 9 sliders.  The radio reception was horrible. Their own Eonon-branded dashcam caused noise issues on the radio when the camera was on. There were so many little "glitches". Things like resuming music when you started the car required crazy hacks. Actually, you had to hack _so_ much to get them working like you wanted. None of them support XM. None of them support iPods.

These things are definitely a case of "you get what you pay for". Just not worth it if you are interested in a true SQ setup.


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## Jroo (May 24, 2006)

jtrosky said:


> I would say that the chinese Android-based radios are more about "features" than "quality".
> 
> There are reasons why the big name brands don't sell full Android-based radios - it's really not that good for the task (AndroidAuto via your phone is a much better solution)! There is also a reason why these Chinese radios are so cheap - it's because they don't have much R&D into them and they use low-quality parts.
> 
> ...


In a nutshell, this is what my shop told me. Look good, not worth it to use yet.


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## preston (Dec 10, 2007)

The brand with the best rep out there is Joying. I recently installed one Android 10.1. So far so good. Fast boot, fast interface, everything works as expected.. The latest gen rear view camera is excellent way better than the OEM camera in my 2015 GMC. Seems to be a steady stream of positive reviews on you tube from real users. Some complaints on there about minor software glitches, but seems that it has continuously improved over the last two years. So far I'm perfectly happy with it other than a somewhat spotty connection to my in house wifi (but I also haven't moved the car to see if it improves). I have a sim card coming tonight so i can try streaming on the go direct from the head unit (hate messing with my phone every time I get in and out of the car and still not convinced BT streaming is full SQ). 

I have looked at the built in nav app but haven't used it but gps is working. I have downloaded apps like Tidal and USB Audio Player Pro and they work good. Terrestial radio reception is good. SQ through the digital is excellent (and volume is controllable although it does chop bits like all digitial volume controls - I run full volume and use the Helix director to control volume). The steering wheel controls work. I have gotten a quick answer to any emails I ahve sent although the answers aren't the greatest. 

I'm actually pretty chuffed on it even though I sort of resent the massive complexity introduced into my life compared to the single DIN P99rs I've been running for years.


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## CrimsonCountry (Mar 11, 2012)

preston said:


> The brand with the best rep out there is Joying. I recently installed one Android 10.1. So far so good. Fast boot, fast interface, everything works as expected.. The latest gen rear view camera is excellent way better than the OEM camera in my 2015 GMC. Seems to be a steady stream of positive reviews on you tube from real users. Some complaints on there about minor software glitches, but seems that it has continuously improved over the last two years. So far I'm perfectly happy with it other than a somewhat spotty connection to my in house wifi (but I also haven't moved the car to see if it improves). I have a sim card coming tonight so i can try streaming on the go direct from the head unit (hate messing with my phone every time I get in and out of the car and still not convinced BT streaming is full SQ).
> 
> I have looked at the built in nav app but haven't used it but gps is working. I have downloaded apps like Tidal and USB Audio Player Pro and they work good. Terrestial radio reception is good. SQ through the digital is excellent (and volume is controllable although it does chop bits like all digitial volume controls - I run full volume and use the Helix director to control volume). The steering wheel controls work. I have gotten a quick answer to any emails I ahve sent although the answers aren't the greatest.
> 
> I'm actually pretty chuffed on it even though I sort of resent the massive complexity introduced into my life compared to the single DIN P99rs I've been running for years.


I'll echo what preston said as I ran one for a few years and loved it. Mine was an older one now and only ran KitKat but I had it setup via Tasker and other things and it was fully automated and flawless for what I needed at the time. Mainly used it for Poweramp with my external HDD.

It did have a few glitches now and then but overall, I was very impressed with how well it ran. I would think the newer ones would be even further streamlined and only require intense fiddling if you wanted to go deeper (root, complex Tasker profiles, etc.). Add the fact that these now have optical out and fast boot, I think they're worth trying for anyone willing to take a chance.


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## Theslaking (Oct 8, 2013)

I have had 3 of the last 4 Pioneer/Kenwood's (top of the line units)break on me when they were still new. A Kenwood twice. Your telling me a Chinese unit is going to be worse? 

The Joying I have is excellent. Had it for a couple months now. Sound is awesome. No glitches. Just works perfect. Couldn't be happier so far.

I have heard several bad/horrible things about other brands. Nothing real bad about Joying and nothing beyond a glitch here and there in the last couple years. The customer service has been excellent as well. Answered my questions quickly albeit with lackluster translation at times.


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## preston (Dec 10, 2007)

And Pioneer and Kenwood and everyone else won't give us digital out !!!!!!
I want to support the brands that have supported car audio but why can't they do this one simple thing ?????
It genuinely angers me !


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## sapphari (Oct 7, 2013)

I've been tempted by Joying too, heard good reviews. It looks like they don't make a model for my car yet though, which is a 2020. I might reach out and see what they have in the works or if the previous model is forward-compatible.

One thing I read about the model they have that is for the previous generation of my car is that you lose the functionality of the stock USB. Is this true for the units you all have? The mention is all the way at the bottom of this page, under 'Note' JOYING Android 10.0 9 Inch Car Radio for Honda CRV 2017-2019 with DSP Optical Output


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## Dremgragen (Jul 14, 2008)

preston said:


> And Pioneer and Kenwood and everyone else won't give us digital out !!!!!!
> I want to support the brands that have supported car audio but why can't they do this one simple thing ?????
> It genuinely angers me !


This. I'd have happily bought a Clarion or Kenwood or Sony or Alpine or Pioneer or ... you get the idea. 

Simple request: Android. Big screen. Digital out. 

And now that I've had it: quick boot.

It's not rocket science. It's not a crazy request. I don't understand where their head is at (or why it's up that place it currently is).

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk


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## Theslaking (Oct 8, 2013)

sapphari said:


> Is this true for the units you all have?


This makes sense. I don't see how it could keep it unless the factory radio usb went to the ecu then radio, which isn't going to happen. However it would pretty easy to splice in to the factory usb terminal with the Joying cable. Then you wouldn't know the difference.


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## Ali-323i (Oct 4, 2019)

Based on my experience and research, I agree Joying is the one to go with... BUT only if you’re using the optical/digital out. 

These units are all still plagued with really poor RCA voltage (0.5V), and it seems the analog outputs may still introduce a noise floor a bit higher than preferred. 

I am also suspicious of build quality and longevity.... but that’s probably a harder one to get evidence for. 

I’ll also mention that I did have an eonon unit which lasted less than two weeks before putting back my 10-yr old pioneer due to the rca and noise issues highlighted above.


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## jtrosky (Jul 19, 2019)

To me, it's not even just the hardware quality and noise-related issues that I experienced - but also the lack of "maturity" in the software as well. I mean you have to use something like Tasker and hacked ROM's to get the system near the "usability" level that is needed for a car head-unit, IMO. 

I had to install third-party ROMS and setup Tasker jobs just to get the damn thing to keep apps open in the background during "sleep" and do things like resume music playback automatically (something that just about every other brand-name head-unit does - and is expected). Luckily, I'm in the IT field and I'm comfortable installing ROMs and setting up tasker and stuff like that, but a lot of people just aren't comfortable with that. I'm _still_ getting people from the XDA forums messaging me asking how to get Tasker setup to resume music playback automatically - and I haven't participated in those Chinese head-unit forums for years now.  Functionality that I consider extremely basic.

At the end of the day, I really did find having a full Android OS on my car headunit to be very useful. I just want to listen to music - not check my email or play games. 

Maybe things have matured a little - or maybe the Joying is different than the rest - but my experience was definitely not a good one...


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## Ali-323i (Oct 4, 2019)

That’s a fair point, but the eonon I had actually worked quite well... aside from the noise floor and weak RCA. 

But audio playback resumed automatically, unit woke up from sleep in 2-3s when starting the car, and though I ultimately used a custom ROM, the stock one was also pretty good and I’d have been fine keeping it. 

This is an example of how tricky it can get with android units, as there are so many and they all differ in some form or other, often with the preloaded OS / software. 

I agree, if you’re just looking for something to work, and have good audio and build quality, make it easy and go for an audio brand.... but that doesn’t mean good results aren’t available with the RIGHT android unit.


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## jtrosky (Jul 19, 2019)

It's been a while, but specifically, the Eonon that I had (and other brands of units that others had) would not resume playback of music from an SD card automatically - for multiple reasons - including the time it took for Android to mount SD card after waking from sleep and I think even because the stock firmware killed the media player when it went to sleep. Resuming media stored on the internal storage worked fine - if you used the stock media player (I think I had issues with other players even on internal storage though). I just remember running into a lot of issues like that, which took a lot of work to make work like you'd expect. 

Also, getting streaming media to resume playback took a tasker setup as well (had to wait for wifi to become active via a phone hotspot) - and again, also needed a third-party firmware to stop the streaming media players from closing automatically when the unit went to sleep. The third-party firmwares made the functionality a LOT better though - the stock firmware had way too many issues, IMO. 

I also seem to remember that the EQ didn't work on certain sources for some reason - because the audio didn't go through the devices firmware or something like that (and like I said, the "9-band" EQ was really only a 3-band EQ with 9 sliders. 

But this was a few years ago too, so....


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## sapphari (Oct 7, 2013)

Could also run a USB cable from the HU through the dash to the cabin


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## Bobbo (11 mo ago)

no they are ALL garbage, this is CHINA we are talking about, not Japan


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## MythosDreamLab (Nov 28, 2020)

Bobbo said:


> no they are ALL garbage, this is CHINA we are talking about, not Japan



Same country that makes iPhones...


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## reid1boys (Nov 15, 2010)

how cheep do you need? I can remember spending 600 bucks for an alpine head unit 30 years ago. Today, car audio gear is CHEAP. HU, amps, processors... all of it.


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## khlae (Dec 31, 2016)

jtrosky said:


> I also seem to remember that the EQ didn't work on certain sources for some reason - because the audio didn't go through the devices firmware or something like that


'sound enhancements' in android have this problem, it's not just that head unit, it's literally every single android phone that I've had some kind of equalizer on (cyanogenmod default, stock sony/samsung enhancements, viper4android....) Sometimes its a case of the music playing app uses the wrong audio output library(foobar2k has an option 'use opensl audio output' and that seems to defeat viper4android), the requested sample rate is wrong, or software was loaded in the wrong order. Usually winds up a bit fiddly in the worst way.


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## matt81 (Dec 31, 2018)

Look on 4x4 Shop Canada - Home of Car Infotainment and More they sell android head units and screens. They are hands down the best when it comes to tech support and quality. I bought on of their models for my Lexus NX300. When i had to email them for tech support, i got an answer within 24hrs and they fixed it fast.


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