Sony XAV-AX8500 Pros vs Cons

I am seriously thinking of ordering this head unit to replace the stock Entune non JBL in my 2014 Sport. Trail Grid Pro is running a sale on their Plug and Play units. Thought I would ask if anyone had any experience with this head unit?

 

I guess I will have to give the Pros and Cons, ordered the head unit. Not sure on a shipping date yet.

 

I just installed the XAV-9000ES/Maestro from Trailgrid last week. It took about 2 weeks for me to get the unit. when I ordered they had just changed their inventory system and had some slight hiccups w/stock.

I love the sound quality of the Sony, you can dial in the sound you like. Rear camera quality is excellent (stock 2015 rear cam).

The engine gauges are a nice feature and I now get individual tire pressure readings for my 2nd gen along w/fuel mileage.

I had to set the gauge units to English and do a reboot on the Meastro (in the Sony menu) for it to finally read the tire psi and display English units vs metric for the other gauges.

Apple CarPlay works flawless and connects immediately. No issues w/mic sound call quality.

FYI had to change one of the adapters trail grid had installed on the unit to match my system. They send you everything and you might need a harness that’s in the bag marked extras.

For reference I have an access cab w/4 JL audio speakers, a JL audio 8” micro sub & 5 channel alpine amp under the drivers seat. I have had the same speakers/amp with the factory entune for 10yrs.

Another great feature is the ability to have your ripped music catalog at your fingertips. I bought a 2tb thumb drive (ran usb cord from rear of unit to glove box)

The unit will play all of my ripped flac, wav and DSD files. Big difference in sound quality vs streaming to these ears.

I had a Daisata for 1 week in August, worst sounding unit I have ever had, even worst than the 1987 Kraco cassette head unit I had in my 1986 ford escort.

The Daisata did have a sexy responsive screen.