Ultra Adjustable and HUGE! Sony’s 10.1” Floating Screen Head Unit - XAV-AX8500
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- čas přidán 27. 08. 2024
- If you want to upgrade your outdated factory radio a large "floating screen" style head unit is a solid choice! Sony's new XAV-AX8500 has a ton of advanced features including Wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, but most notably it's large 10.1" screen can easily be adjusted for optimal position in a variety of installations. Let's dive in with an unboxing and feature review on this aftermarket headunit solution!
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Hey guys! I'm getting a lot of emails and questions asking if this head unit is compatible with your vehicle. The best way to find out is to use the Vehicle Selector tool on the Crutchfield website. You can also save on your next purchase by using our special CAF fan link here - www.crutchfield.com/I-rCAFcYTB/rf/ef28766d-4881-4df6-9f8b-287145ad3d36/
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At the end of your video, I got the suggestion for the video I had mentioned in the comments that I was interested in, so I deleted it before I saw you had replied to it. I must appologize 😄
Great videos all over as usual, will check that video now :)
@@CarAudioFabrication
Do you know if Sony is planning to make an EU version of this with DAB+?
XAV-AX8550 any time soon?
I really like the adjustability of the screen, as it is more flexible than the XAV-9500ES/XAV-9550ES and it has a lower price tag.
Question man I want to install component speakers in the front and rear. How can I make the car louder? Originally I was going to do 125rms but I’m looking at 275rms options. Is there a big difference in speaker loudness from 125rms to 275rms? If you can make a video on loudness of speakers at certain wattages I’m sure you’ll get a lot of views.
@@alexissalguero5751 To make it louder, you would need to add an amplifier, more power generally equates to louder, but only up to a certain extent, then you lose quality. The loudness of specific speakers at specific wattages is going to vary based on their efficiency and quality. A 300w-400w 4 channel amp would be more than sufficient for two pairs of good quality components. Some people will tell you to get two 4-channel amps, or a single 6-8 channel amp so you can isolate the tweeters separately from the mid-bass and bypass the passive crossovers, but unless you're doing competitions or are an audiophile, that isn't necessary.
What year and trim F150 did you show it installed in? Crutchfield is showing it to not fit a 2019 F150 XLT
That screen border is massive! Missed opportunity to incorporate an actual volume knob
@@Mr_Ruhl I think it's a bit more universal as is. It makes a sleek OEM-looking installation more possible without an extra knob
@@Mr_Ruhl uh huh… a physical volume knob and a mute button
especially in 2024, that's thick border belongs to 2009.
I think the massive border is for durability and stability. It’s is also where you place your fingers to adjust the angle of the screen and not touch the screen.
Came to say the same thing. Those bezels are atrocious. But, that will be on the "upgraded" model.
I've been casually eyeballing this thing for a new used car I just picked up. This video is perfect timing, and answered a LOT of my questions! Thank you!
Thank you so much for help keeping the car audio world alive. Your passion shows.
Looks a lot more substantial than my current floating screen headunit I dont need any of the CAN things since its in my 01 f150 but... Just the build quality has me wanting to upgrade
720p is a slap to 2024
thats not your ipad that you carry everywhere
Seems awesome radio wish it can play cds still😢...❤
15 quid will get you a usb cd drive, connect to laptop and rip the CDs to flac and put on memory stick. Jobs a good one.
@Hexa8 cool, now you can play your 5 songs 😆
I cannot remember. The last time I purchased. An aftermarket car radio 😅 been years.
The price of this one would probably blow your mind then😅
Feature packed for real
That's a beautiful screen 😍
It's not even 720p.
The layout is good and much more compatible with the car OEM unit functions than my Alpine
I feel like this unit almost always either blocks the A/C controls or the A/C vents. I really want to put the 9500 in something though. Maybe a boat
I need this for my 2006 infiniti QX56 sure. Great review
Missed some of those adjustment screws in the install guide I used, being able to make it more flush with the dash should fix my issues!
Only 720P?????
Feels even less. Like 576p.
Even the early ones were good, at least for me they're a good choice
I want those 3 way z-overs
This looks like an awesome deck. I hope it will work with my 07 tundra. Very, very nice
Take a look on Crutchfield and see!
Be cool if you could test the electrical output after applying crossovers and EQ.
My Pioneer radio the custom EQ seems like it changes nothing, i.e. put bass at -24db and everything else +24db and it sounds the same.
Time alignment and crossovers sound like they work, but the 24db xover on the radio sounds way less steep than the 24db on my new (used) TWK88 DSP.
Would be interesting to see how well these functions compare to something like a standalone DSP.
Perhaps in the future! Thanks for the idea
Does the Factory Mic still work with this head unit or do you have to use the one that comes with it?
That is a nice idea for a screen in the car. Would get. It would be interesting if they had a vertical mode too.
Stinger
Would love to upgrade to one of these screens, but wish they’d include an s-link port so my existing Sony CD changer could be used with it. Wouldn’t think it’d be that hard of an add for them. 🤷♂️
Also, WHEN ARE THE BIG FIVE AFTERMARKET HEADUNIT COMPANIES GOING TO ADD OPTICAL OUTPUTS FOR OUR DSP??!!!!!
The Chinese do it. However, I wouldn't trust their products.
I too wish this was more common.
Stinger Heigh10 has one.
For what the big names are charging, the Chinese head units are worth a look. I love mine. Starts up quickly, solid wireless connections, pre-outs suck but that doesn’t matter if you’re using digital out
@@webberfan1234 Am patiently waiting for the next model 🤞
@@LingLing1337Which one?
I noticed that you installed this on a Ford F150 as it looks exactly like my 2015 F150 dash. I was told by a stereo installer that I would need to change all the controls to touch and have to remove the dials in order to use this Sony XAV-AX8500. Your video shows the original dials. Is there a kit that allows you to just change the screen without having to change the dials? I have the original 4" screen. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
I was thinking about those left and right camera connections. If you connect the trigger wires to the indicator light connections, you'll see the pictures go on/off continuously 😄 But maybe it keeps it on for a bit after the lights go off or it activates in an other way.
Sincere question, why buy this over an Android head unit? I have a 10" Android head unit for my older car that has the same single DIN and fully adjustable floating screen. The thing I like about Android is that I have wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto plus there are a boatload of apps are available from the Google Play Store. I can also completely change the look of the screen with different launchers. My unit has DSP with all of the audio features of this Sony unit. As previously mentioned the screen is a 10" 720P QLED plus I have the ability to split the screen. The kicker is that I paid 1/4 for mine of what this Sony is priced at. If you have a newer car, the Sony's integration with the doors and HVAC are nice but then you are talking even more money. I just don't see the advantage of the Sony.
I have Sony and the 5v pre amp is only when everything is maxed out!
I need a deck that has ability to show control my heated\Ac sets and climate controls
I kinda wish sony gave it an OLED panel or something so that the blacks are less "Glarry" at night
Pretty neat. Could easily replace my current minipc & amplifiers -setup. Too bad this does not have 3way-crossovers for advanced active systems with separate midbass, midrange and tweeter-elements.
I have a 2018 murano and now I want one 😂.. don’t need it but it’s a cool upgrade
You need it. 😁
@@CarAudioFabrication 😂😂 it’s sitting in the cart until I convince myself otherwise
The UI is just sad, the resolution is too low for my liking. A 1080p or 1440p would've been great. Otherwise, this is a good piece of tech.
I have a 2016 Chevy silverado 1500 with a double cab. My question is, what sized subs would work best for my truck? Also what wattage range should I work with for the best sounding quality? 🤔 I primarily listen to country, country rap, metal, and classic rock
Should be compare with pioneer floating headunit..please make a video on pioneer also
This is awesome!
This is great. Got love technology. Cars are now more compatible with Apple play and Android... maybe and possible in the future, our phones and tablets do all this? Now that would be cool. Computers, softwares, apps, galore, oh my.
I have a weather app on my phone that works with Android Auto. Found it cool to be able to see the weather radar where I was located while driving
Right on time for apple to come out with CarPlay 2.0 and make it all obsolete.😂
JVC and alpine already make a radio like that
Lol, and so did Sony. Floating screens have been around awhile.
Hmmm. This Sony or the Kenwood 958XR? I like the idea of the larger screen but also like the fit in the dash of the smaller Kenwood.
Man I like this head unit, way better the my factory radio with a lot more features. But of course it come with a price!! Do you think it’s worth it?
I'd love something like this in my 06 Element. Afraid to look at the price, though
Do you know if this will control a car (Toyota/lexus) that has climate controls inside the factory infotainment? No hard button controls anywhere
Currently these vehicles need systems like Teyes and Phoenix audio to replace the factory system
The chime every time a touch is engaged is a HUGE issue for me and I would hope that you can disable that "feature". This would be a hard no for me if not able to disable.
If you watch the video I show the option to turn it off
i got the same one today when i play youtube videos it doesn’t fill out the whole screen trying to find a resolution to watching videos in full screen
i forgot to mention i’m using hdmi to connect my phone
Hi, my name is Allen. I love your channel. I learned a lot, but I have a question. How do you set up an install a DSP with an equalizer or aftermarket or factory unit?
Would want to know if it's compatible with Toyota hibrids showing that information
Buttons should have been color changing to match vehicle interior dash lights .
It is a giganormous screen that would have some real value if it had maps?
Damm this looks sick would nice if it would fit the honda del sol but for the price of 899$ its not worth testing it but would be sick with apple car play and such. Great videos keep up the good work
How does it work with rear entertainment packages?
subscription for the tuner?
Curious how this compares to the ES line of Floating Screen headunits.
Like the 9500ES.
Considering either Sony, or Alpine Halo. Will be pairing with a Mini-DSP 8x12 w/ Dirac.
But will it also work with the cars factory reverse camera? Or nissans around view camera?
I want to see a coax(spdif) output on any new good headunit these days.
Most manufacturers aren't willing to pay the licensing fee to have that.
@JasonWW2000 yet there are hundreds of cheap dacs and interfaces with a spdif input or output. The dsp chips most of these brands use have a spdif output or at least a spare i2s ouput. The hardware costs cents as it's already there apart from the plug.
Got excited for a video about this, unfortunately you didn't cover the features I'm interested in... I have the AX5500, and the main drawbacks of that one, is how sluggish it is when it comes to video files via USB (playback is fine, but menu navigation and switching between files, etc.. it's very latent). Used handbrake mainly to re-code videos to 720p H264, and even then some videos would fail to play, while others played perfectly fine.
Also it's HDMI in is full-sized where as this one looks like a mini-HDMI. Also curious about this ones native resolution when it comes to HDMI, both "boast" 720p where the 5500 only accepts 720p or lower and down-scales it to fit an oddball resolution which presents problems with certain HDMI devices like a small USB powered HDTV tuner (had to use on a real TV first to change settings to 720p as it defaults to 1080p), or utilizing Samsung DEX from your smartphone (Does work but complains about the native resolution). I do a lot of camping, and the ability to pick-up local TV broadcast for news/weather is awesome! (No i'm not watching live TV as I drive around, figured i'd mention that before it gets commented)
Looks like I'm going to hold out still from upgrading until I can find out more. The only feature that grabs my attention thus far other than a larger screen is Wireless Android Auto, as the 5500 was wired and quite often the USB connection wasn't enough to maintain charge with it being 2A out, no Power-Delivery charging options. At least with wireless your USB connections free on the phone to use a better charger that can keep up.
Is it possible to use this headunit as a mobile wifi hotspot. I notice everytime I get into my truck I see on the wi fi option on my phone that my headunit always pops up as an option.
I really wish I could put one of these in my 2023 Blazer. I am stuck only being able to use speaker level inputs and the factory radio is horrible, so I am trying to make a system sound good with the very first link in the chain being garbage input. It is definitely better than stock with my D-5.1300, but I can only turn it up to 1/2 volume before the distortion kicks in. I am very disappointed in the sound quality of Chevy's base stereo. My Trailblazer form 2006 sounds better and gets louder.
would the custom sound controls (EQ and H/L pass filters) eliminate the need for a DSP for running external amps to speakers and subs?
Why is it that you can't get more than 20w RMS from an aftermarket head unit? Digital amplifiers cost next to nothing so why so low? My 2001 Alpine cd player put out 27w RMS and it was the only unit ever to do so before or after. It was quickly discontinued in favor of newer units going back to the lazy 20w/channel once again. I find it very frustrating considering I can by amplifier boards from Ali Express that deliver 50w RMS using Texas Instruments digital amps for $25 with bluetooth included.
How does this compare to the Alpine's iLX-F511Ai?
Trying to figure out what to replace the garbage head unit in my 2023 Hilux with.
I feel like most of OEMs going down this design path starting with the radio and now including the instrument panel started out with good intentions but has just ended up looking lazy or screens were a afterthought they forgot to finish so they duck taped a couple iPads in the night before release. I get the utility and cost effectiveness of screens and software buttons but there’s zero effort made to physically integrate the units in to the design. Kind of like when dodge just slapped pepboys generic fender flares on their cars. It’s the smallest bandaid they could use. Screens shouldn’t protrude from the dash or cover vents ect. At what point does a tool become distracting or just clunky for no reason?
Great video
Again, no one who reviews these radios shows a test to see if Sony fixed the carplay lag issue while in a phone call. All sony radios I've had work fine until you get a phone call in carplay, then the radio sinks to 2 fps and is super laggy. Have they fixed that issue with this new head unit?
That bezel though...
It's large for a reason, so there is real estate to push on to adjust the screen
Is it possible to rotate the screen 180 degrees to mount overhead?
Hmm, that would be a good question for Crutchfield. You definitely could shift the screen down, so that it is basically lower than the mounting hole if you are in a near ceiling location
My sony xav unit has only an orange/white dimmer wire, i connected it to my car's orange white wire and it doesnt dim when headlights are on... should i connect it to car's solid orange wire?
Hard to say without knowing the vehicle. If you purchase with Crutchfield they can assist
Hi Mark
Hi Mark, would you consider helping me with my Sprinter? Been learning from you but I think I made some speaker, door insulation mistakes. Depending on where you are I could come to you for some help and maybe there is content for your viewers. Thx Kurt
Why haven't manufacturers figured out to have the screen stand-alone with a cable instead? Or why are there so few head units with digital signal output?
I only have space for single din in my vehicle and there is no way to mount a screen in that location and I looked for ages for one that might fit.
I gave up and went the dsp-route so now all I want is to have a small display with continuous power, carplay and a digital signal output to my dsp.
There are tons of "carplay displays" out there but none with digital signal output from what I've seen. Does my dream device exist?
Scion's HU pretty sure had rca output from factory
Use a Tablet.
So what’s the difference between this and the 9500ES?
What kind of access to climate controls can the Maestro unit give you in a Ford as shown? Reason I ask, is I have a 2015 w/ MyTouch and manual/analog climate controls. I've always wondered about some sort of aftermarket set of relays to replace manual climate controls with something having thermostats and "set temp and forget you have climate controls altogether" function, like the thermostat in my house and I don't even have to tell it "heat" or "cold" I just set a temp and a controller and set of relays gets me there without further fiddling
I'm impressed this new crop of amps from JL gives you so much control over time alignment and they're offering so many channels in such a small chassis. It's been a while since I worked my own car install, I built time alignment for it on the Alpine C701 iirc, and that unit had an annoying noise in the mids and highs that kept my system from sounding great and was intrinsic to that device/I later found out was common. Now, I dream of one day putting an Atmos-capable system with a height channel in my truck lol I want those rain drops all around me
Also, I reject the idea you can have "too much" time alignment in a car audio environ, once you minimize path length differences, I see no reason from a staging, sound pressure level/efficiency, or any other point of view you shouldn't align for every bit of those remaining pld's. I know what it does to staging and if you want to widen you can pull the highs across the dash, widen the stage, and pull the sound forward if necessary using gain in the tweets/highs middle and at the A-pillars
Also, I assume everyone that flips the leads on a midrange because it's anything to do with delay and staging to be a tree-worshipping druid drunk on first year signals courses and misunderstood application of theorem. All you're doing is introducing random comb filtering based on frequency and path length differences in your vehicle, and changing polarity has not one thing to do with the time of arrival your brain and auditory system are using to determine the angle the sound came from in a narrow band across the upper midrange. You have more control over such tomfoolery using an EQ than you could ever hope to gain by turning one speaker out of polarity with the others in the middle range. The purpose of time alignment isn't just staging, the sound pressure levels your speakers are working in concert to create at your ears are everywhere better and more tightly controlled if they arrive at the same time at listener position, instead of one speaker's output comb filtered/interleaved into the stage as it works against other speakers in terms of linear response
How would this compare to the Kenwood Dmx-1057xr?
Y isn’t there a CD slot & AUX input?!?! I’d pay an xtra $50-$100 for that feature
Using this is where I make a joke about what kind of dinosaur did you play that on but I go back A-track and cassettes
No Demand less people are wanting those things sadly so less decks have them. But hell for 900 dollars you'd think it'd give you a handy also
You physically couldn't add a CD mechanism to this unit.
Yo i like u bro! I like how you say all the things bro! You good!
2018 f150 crutchfield website says it doesn’t work?!?
What ever happened to the Elantra project?
I hope this device is coming to germany😢
I have the similar truck and interior. My complaints our stock head units are so slow and laggy to start up…I’m 5 mins down the road before “it catches up” to being on lol. Does this new set up take away a lot of that laggyness?
Starts up and connects to my phone before I'm done reversing out of a parking spot.
I wonder if this clips @ 29 volume like my Alpine :(
You've been able to get no name chinese versions of these for years. What's taking so long for big names to produce these items.
The no name versions are garbage, they have constant issues, are laggy, have zero signal quality, and are poorly engineered.
Please help sir which 4Ch amp is good for Pioneer 1212D4 ?
My requirements is:
Want to use 2 6 by 9 speakers with this subwoofer.
Wonder if this works with Hondalink 😢
Use the Crutchfield vehicle selector and easily see what features are retained, and do t forget you can save using the link in description
Missing my favorite feature. I own over 300 CDs !
Does anybody know if this could be adapted to get data from a diesel motorhome port?
Will this work for my 2020 ram 2500 tradesman
Im trying to figure out if this model will fit in my car without looking too out of place but cant find anything other than the 10.1 screen size. Would you mind giving me the Height and width of the display?
10.1 is diagonal. Easily extrapolated from there.
Since my F150 only has a digital button for the heated steering wheel, would this be in there too?
Yes it carries over
Only if it had a volume knob
It's funny because they continue to fail at one thing pioneer did in an amazing way just once with the DMH8600NEX... a true, wire connected full floating display where the brains of the head unit can be mounted completely separate from the screen, either up to a few inches away with the included wire or up to 6 feet away with an optional one.
I would love to upgrade one day, but my car will only fit something with that extreme adjustability. Check it out if you see this comment.
No volume knob and no digital output is such a shame!
Mark I want this soooo bad but I have a 2021 Honda Civic which has a bunch of the repair can buses for repairs built into the factory 7.1” head unit. Will this Sony still be compatible or do I need an additional computer module to work with the 8500?
You need the Metra dash kit which has a display to keep all that stuff working. The kit isn't cheap though obviously
Does it have a DSP?
what is the European model number of this thing?
I don't see a big difference between this and the SONY XAV-9500ES, which I have in my car now.
Sony xav 8500 with HDMI input
If my car has a 6 disc changer thats in the backseat... Can it be controlled by this? And connected?
That'd likely depend on how the changer is wired to play through your current system. If it's a factory stock option, you could look up the make and model of your vehicle on crutchfield to verify what is or isn't compatible. If it's an aftermarket changer with RCA cables, nothing shown in this video implies that it would work.
Can you watch CZcams or Netflix?
Does anyone know if there is a eqivalent model for the european market?
You forgot to mention it's idata/maestro compatible, that's an important thing to mention if they want all the extras
You obviously didn't watch because he did say it was
I spent a good portion of the video showing that...
Doesnt have an 8 track player. I dont want it.
Hahahaha
In car wax cylinder only!
2024 and still no digital output headunit.. shame.
It's not so much about modern technology, it's that a toslink output is copyright by Toshiba and it would add a huge increase in price to the head unit. Look at the Sony gs9 at $1400.
@@JasonWW2000 don't use toslink then, just go digital coax out. All the chinese brands in the 200-300 dollars range have a digital out port. You can go to any major car audio competition, half the people there use a chinese source unit only because of the digital out, that's including myself. And the Sony GS9 is mega overrated by the way.
@@DirtyhealzI believe Toshiba owns the rights to both types of digital signal. The reason some of the Chinese companies can get away with it is because they are doing it illegally and are very unlikely to get sued by Toshiba. This is why none of your larger, more mainstream brands are doing it.
Question, my head unit has most all these functions like eq and time alignment and crossover but i ended buying a dsp did i make a good choice ? Is dsp a lot better ? Thanks
Yes. A real DSP is going to give you EQ, crossover, TA etc per CHANNEL. One full system EQ doesn't allow you to correct each speaker. It's nice to have, but a dedicated DSP offers for more functionality.
@@CarAudioFabrication your awesome for answering seriously and because of you I did my whole system myself I was really inspired and I learned a lot! I sodered all the wiring and used rivets nuts and everything I was surprised what I accomplished and I am at the final steps just getting the dsp to work, I mounted my amps making a rack like you have shown I really appreciate you and hope you continue to grow huge because you definitely have the experience thanks!