New HU, Alpine, Kenwood, Pioneer or Eclipse?

[slim142]

I recently made a post about which Alpine unit to get, that was cause I wanted a single din unit and until today I was about go pull the trigger for a CDA-9887 HOWEVER...

I will be getting some money (yay!) tomorrow and I realized I might as well just go double din with full DVD and navigation support (finally a GPS!)

I was looking into a bunch of models for some good hours already and cant decide for the life of me which one to go for.

The models are (in no particular order)

Alpine INA-W900

Pioneer AVIC-Z120 AND AVIC-Z110

Kenwood DNX9960

Eclipse AVN 726E

Here is what I concluded with my research

Alpine

First, it has absolutely no company support for the navigation. Yes, its a good price for the unit and has updated maps (well, 2009 maps) compared to the previous W505 model (which never got updated from its 2004 maps), but still, in a year I dont want to be driving around with an outdated GPS. Only 2V preamp outputs.

Now the PROS are that I really like the iPod interface and again, price is great. Also, it comes with the 24bit Burr Brown DAC. And a lot of good feedback from Alpine, most people seem to like it.

Pioneer

I have no idea what the difference is between the Z120 and 110, only difference I see is the interface, but if its the interface, I like the 110 more. I cant find anywhere if it has a 24bit DAC (huge con if it doesnt) and Im not sure if it has Garmin GPS (amazon reviews seem to show it doesnt and they charge $200 for 1-year updates???!!! HUGE CON!!!!).

Pros: has 4v preamp outputs, at least the firmware gets updated and good price

Kenwood

DNX9960 seems like the one I should go for.

1) 24bit DAC

2) 22watts RMS (all others are 18 only)

3) 5v preamp outputs

4) Garmin GPS!!!

5) Bluetooth included

6) Unit software, bluetooth and GPS firmware updates!!! With the last GPS updates provided on July of this year

The interface looks to be user friendly, even though I like the Alpine interface more, its still good when set on Aurora (blue theme). Also, a lot of bad comments in the amazon page, but one user posted a video and seems to have clarified everything (thank god, and unit updates seem to have fixed most problems posted there too).

Now, before I pull the trigger for this unit, I want to know, if I use the KCA-iP301V (cable for ipod) to use my ipod, does the 24bit DAC processes the audio? Thats something I NEED TO KNOW because I will be using my ipod 99% of the times and I really want the 24bit DAC to be in used when I play music from my ipod.

Also, how much more does the 22watts RMS benefit me over the 18watts RMS of the other units? And how much better are the 5v preamp outputs over the 2v ones from the other HUs? And what exactly do they mean by 5.1 preamp outputs?????

Last but not last

Eclipse

Really good interface (Dont know if I like it better than the Alpine UI, but it looks awesome)

5v preamp outputs

Incredibly fast boot up, a bunch of different themes to choose from (colors) and extremely fast response when changing sources

Now the cons are as we all know, Eclipse is leaving the car audio market (or already left since it was posted in january of this year) so Im not sure how long will the GPS be supported. The last update for the GPS was on April of this year, who knows when will there be another update (IF ANY). If anybody has any info here I would appreciate.

Also, it doesnt say anywhere if it has a 24bit DAC, I would be really disappointed if it doesnt, however, I heard their quality is amazing anyways, but a 24bit DAC is very welcomed.

With this said

Ive concluded that I most probably wont go for Alpine (no updates for GPS is bad enough) or Pioneer (pay for gps updates, and not enough good feedback from it).

Now the question is whether I should go for Kenwood or Eclipse. However, I would like if somebody here helps me to find out the following:

Do both units (the kenwood and the eclipse one) come with a 24bit burr brown DACs (or equivalent)? and if the iPod music is processed by the DAC and not by the ipod when using their respective cable.

Does the eclipse use garmin gps?

and most importantly, is it worth getting the eclipse unit even though its leaving the car audio market? what guarantees me map updates in the future?

*Sorry for the long post, I just want to make sure Im getting the best for my money. Its a big investment and I seriously wouldnt like to be dealing with returns or wrong decisions.

UPDATE: Seems like the Eclipse unit is out of stock everywhere. I mean, unless everyone recommends it over the kenwood, the problem here will be to find one...

UPDATE2: Just found one page that says the eclipse unit its rated at 14rms? and another one says its rated at 15rms. The page that says its rated at 15rms seems more realistic and at the same time it says the unit uses a 24bit DAC which is good to know. But iss this unit seriously rated this low? I would prefer it to be at least 18rms, but since I will be going active in the future I dont think it matters right? And does that affect the 5v preamp outputs it has?