Product Reviews

Sounds so much better than the factory radio,lot more power and bass

Had to get a replacement for my Double DIN Pioneer head unit in the motorhome, which had failed after about 7 years and had cost a fortune when installed and as I was in rush to get a new unit fitted before a trip. I ended up getting this ‘lower end’ Sony unit as it was the only one available. I’m so glad I did, as I discovered the hidden benefits of still having a physical HOME button and also volume control, so no need to tap screens etc for volume and screen changes - excellent when on the move! No problem with the trailing lead to iphone for Apple Play, which I was a little concerned about. Only slight improvement I can suggest at this time would be a higher definition screen for the reverse camera as it does seem a little blurry on the extreme edges of the screen, which I don’t recall having on the Pioneer unit, but the Sony seems to have a wider and deeper rear view, so not a problem! All in all I am delighted with the unit, especially at the price - mapping is very clear and defined even using google earth and although Im not a big music person I do find it has a notably superior sound quality and plenty of choices on the graphic equaliser. Wouldn’t hesitate to recommend!

Easy to install as long as you’re get correct fixing kit for your car I fitted in a vw golf mk6 only disappointed is it doesn’t have dab as standard

I have a 2011 with only about 64,000 miles on it. I've thought about a new car but am not eager to take on a new car loan. One of the things the Corolla needed was an updated radio so I had the XAX-AX1000 installed and have been very happy with my decision. The unit is responsive and versatile. I can control it with the existing steering wheel controls with no problem whatsoever. Apple CarPlay is a great addition but Bluetooth connection works very well, also. The audio took a bit of time to tweak because, with a 10-band equalizer, there is quite a bit of adjusting that is possible. Having a backup camera has been an excellent safety addition and I'd recommend that option to anyone installing this radio. For me, there is very little to dislike about this unit. It has breathed new life into my 10-year-old car!

Whilst it is one of the cheaper units don’t let that put you off. I’ve found it excellent with loads of features that all work very well. I’ve fitted it to my vw transporter Campervan. Very easy to fit but you’ll need to buy a harness kit for your specific vehicle (about £10) and pick up how to fit it either on a forum for your vehicle or a utube tutorial.

Absolutely love this receiver! The built in amplifier is fantastic and plays beautiful clear and loud music. The user interface in this device is the primary reason I purchased it and it runs phenomenally, smooth, quick, and easy to use. Not too many features to where you get lost they keep it simple yet very effective so you can focus on driving. Only downside is that it doesn't have android autoplay although the competitors in this price range do but the volume knob and user interface makes up for that. Also the peak power output and rms is greater than the competitions. Overall its greatly enhances the sound of your music!

I bought this for my daughter who has an Iphone for her car. Her car is now my car and I have a Galaxy S10 and can't enjoy using this. It is total garbage. Why do companies have to compete at our expense.

I bought this to go with a backup camera, but I also love the radio and all of its features. I can talk on my cell phone handsfree!

So far this is a nice product but the BlueTooth pairing doesn't seem to work.

I wanted a new head unit for my old Volvo that worked with Apple CarPlay but was not expensive, I looked into everything and ended up buying the Sony and I have been really pleased with it.

I was looking to replace my single DIN stereo with a double DIN stereo for my Acura RSX, and quickly caught onto the XAV-AX1000. Also, having Apple's CarPlay feature is the best touch.

I love the Apple car play features. Works seamlessly with my phone. Great features otherwise with one exception. There’s no way to mute the stereo. The only option to mute the stereo quickly is by turning it off. I contacted Sony, and they confirmed this quirk. Otherwise, it’s a great stereo.

My head unit tends to freeze randomly when I’m going down the highway. The usb input in the front is very sensitive, when I drive over a bump and the usb plug slightly moves, car play will disconnect, if my finger slightly grazes the usb when I’m turning the volume knob car play will disconnect. I can’t believe this costed $300. And it’s a Sony, very disappointed.

I wish i can downgrade. Firmware 1.03 is not available at all. 1.22 has problems. Maybe somebody here can help to downgrade.

Bought this a month ago and it has all the features that I wanted, FM Radio, USB, How ever u can’t save your favorite radio channels.

I love the way this head unit looks but it has an issue when trying to run more than one app at a time. For example, I can't run spotify and Waze without the headunit freezing out one of the two apps and ultimately needing a reboot.

It is a good unit but it has serious human interface problems which should be easily solved with software upgrade. this is my list: It supports only one Bluetooth connection at a time , i understand that but every time i connect a new device, the previous one is erased and i have to pair again and again. Today even the most simple units support several phones at once. This unit uses and remembers just one phone. Using the steering wheels, pressing green button does not bring phone screen . So no one step access to missed and last calls directly. You have to touch screen, choose phone, choose recent calls etc. very dangerous while driving. Source button does not bring you the phone screen. The red and blue buttons are virtually useless. The are good only answering and hanging up a call, so they don't save you any step during call (you can also touch the screen, same thing). Last software update also killed the way FM radio works. after few seconds, the station stays but looses the station focus. So pressing next channel will always bring you to your first memorized channel.

I have this unit, used it for a few months & tried a software download from your website & ended up bricking my head unit. is there a way to fix. very disappointed because it’s unusable now.

I enjoyed getting this product working for my car! I had one issue with getting the steering. Controls to work but managed to get it to work. Sounds amazing with my speakers too.

buy this deck for R3 !! sound is awesome simple feature & nice built . 4 star for the price :)

I purchased this about 9 months ago, just fitted it and really pleased, however a day a go it completely stopped working and is now going back to Sony for a warranty repair, fingers crossed Re features it could do with an on off button on the volume for when ignition off.

This could be really good. Having trouble with the unit thinking there is a back up camera installed when there is not. Keeps defaulting to frozen no video input message That can only be removed by doing a home button reset. Then the same message comes up. Seems like a software issue. The camera is turned off in settings. It’s making the unit unusable. Please help.

Bought this stereo from Halfords for £225. It’s the cheapest branded stereo I could find with Apple car play. Everything works great, especially Apple car play. Doesn’t have DAB radio which is the only downside.

I Bought this sony to replace the KENWOOD DMX125BT I bought a month ago, that will not turn on and off all the time, have to keep pushing buttons over and over to get to turn off or on.I am so glad I got the the sony ,so much better, even though I lost money after replacing the kenwood a month after buying it, but I guess it was well worth it.so sony so much better for the price.I wish I would have got the sony first,I coud have saved 200.00 dollars.I learned the hard way.will likey buy another sony for my other car,no more kenwoods for me

It works very well very happy with it easy to fit as well

Cracking little stereo. Easy to use, sounds amazing and love the built in CarPlay.

I am so in love with this that I find myself making excuses to drive lol

My 2108 Dodge Grand Caravan was lacking Carplay and so I bought this from best buy and installed it there itself. I am a big fan of sony and this Car stereo has surpassed my expectations. Excellent interface with improved sound quality. I am so happy that I selected this over other brands.

I’m very happy with the unit after using it for about a month. Installation was a snap. Especially with Crutchfields preassembled wiring harness. No complaints.

I bought it from Best Buy and after a month or so, the touchscreen doesn’t work and of course I can’t return it

I bought this for my 4runner. Cuz my first receiver burnt out. This like I said is a hidden gem. It works awesome and love the way it shows and displays things. I'm very happy and satisfied with this unit.

Started right up as expected. All s good on day one. Great sound on the stock speakers of my 2006 Mustang which had the factory Shaker 500 system. Added a pair of 10” subs with amp in the trunk and still have some tweaking to do. Thanks Sony for a great head unit.

bough this two weeks ago. Very easy to install into my jeep grand cherokee 2002. Had to buy a dash kit and cut the inside of my dash to fit this stereo, but now it fits like a charm. Looks sleek and not flashy, almost as if its the factory made stereo.

Bought this due to a new handsfree law in my state, plus the NY Times had a review that called this the best value buy for carplay radios. I'd agree with that. It's easy to use and I like that it has a volume knob instead of buttons. Really like that it keeps playing the radio in the background while in carplay mode. One quibble is that there are only about eight characters for the RDS feature, meaning it takes about four or five lines before you get an artist or song, which is annoying when you're driving and just want to get it at a glance. There's plenty of screen real estate to show it all at once, so maybe they can fix this via an update in the future.

Purchased this product on Sep 10th and it was delivered on the 19th in excellent packed condition. All instruction sheets were received to remove and install the new unit and they were precise and on point. I absolutely am satisfied with this Sony product. Certainly exceeded my expectation. Carplay is absolutely wonderful and a joy to play with. The output wattage is also more than ample for this unit. Did not know about DSO but it certainly makes a difference with door speakers that are mounted toward the bottom. Would certainly recommend this product and also Crutchfield for their excellence in technical expertise and overall purchase experience. Good Job.

make it work with samsung. otherwise its a great unit

Bought this to replace factory radio in my Truck I love the Apple Play its great but some time it randomly diconnects and i wish you could and your own images for custom wallpapper but is sounds amazing threw the factory sony amp and speackers and I love the ability to acces my phone and music right from the screen.

I bought this unit a month ago and had it installed and much like the review by AckMan I too cannot get this unit to work consistently with my iPhone X. I have to constantly plug and unplug the cable in hopes that it will eventually activate CarPlay. It works occasionally but it disappointing right now as I cannot make it work every time and I've tried several cables too.

We had Best Buy install this system in my wife's car. Unfortunately, every time I call her, I hear all her phone alerts (emails, texts, meeting reminders) plus all her directions from Google Maps. This is extremely annoying and disappointing. Perhaps we received a bad unit? Best Buy doesn't know how to correct it.

I bought this to replace an older Pioneer I had. It’s like night and day! This is a fantastic unit that won’t break the bank.

I had this unit installed a few weeks ago. At first not so sure of going full multimedia, but it has proven to be an excellent decision. Sound is crisp and clear using only my iPhone. Mostly iTunes And Spotify. Phone calls are easy with Siri. In short, I love it.

Prevents me from being inclined to use my phone whilst driving as the touch-screen does everything I need it to do.

This definitely improved my 94 Toyota celica by adding features like touch screen, Bluetooth and apple car play.

I bought this at Best Buy and it has changed the way I enjoy the minivan. I'm able to play all the music I want from my phone and use Apple CarPlay to use directions.

I recently bought, I love the unit just wish there were more background options.

I just bought the stereo. I loved it. Then I bought an iPhone X and it won’t work Apple Carplay.

Push buttons hard when first turning on..............

It met my requirements of having an easy to get to USB port and CarPlay. The audio is very good. The siri handsfree works very well. My only gripes are nitpicks. The software needs has some items that will probably be fixed in the next few releases.

Bought this and I love it wallpapers could be better but that’s the only downside of it everything else is perfect works like magic when you plug your iPhone into it.

Absolutely the best when it comes to technology and fit!