I think after considering Sony F7700 and Pioneer DEH-P1Y, have fallen in love with Alpine 9835 (not 9853 which apparently has problems)...

However I was reading reviews and there are some neagtive comments about it's mp3 capabilities -

1) long time to load
2) cannot navigate through subdirectories
3) mediaXpander (BBE equivalent) makes the music sound bassy
4) 2 second delay between songs

Has anyone got this unit and found these things an issue? Or can the myriad of sound settings possible on this unit easily compensate the lack of a quick-fix for mp3s - I am getting a unit mainly to play mp3s as I hate listening to the same songs over and over again!

I have the Pioneer MP3550M or something like that, and it also plays MP3. When first inserting disc, it usually takes around 15 seconds to play first song. Audio cds are faster. I think its because it is detecting what format the disc is as MP3 is a data disc and needs to read the directory structure. Between songs, yeah, it usually takes a few seconds, but hey, audio cd's have a 2 second pause also between tracks. (unless its a mixed album where each track is mixed into the next).

So I wouldn't worry about that. I think its normal.

The fact that you cannot navigate through sub-dir is crap. Coz i like to organise my songs between RnB, trance etc... makes it somewhat easier to find songs i wanna listen to, instead of having to jump 75 songs to get to it.

Pioneer are pretty good units. They also have Treble, Mid and Base control. I can also make my rear 6x9 speakers pump out the bass while fronts take care of everything above 250hz. So yeah...look around. :)

I've noticed something, when I have a CDRW with about 50% full of MP3s, it takes about 30 seconds plus to load the first song; however, if I have a CDRW with 100% full of MP3s, or close to it, it loads within 5 seconds. Not sure how, not sure why (probably has something to do with reading the disk from the outside to the inner of the disc.

I think after considering Sony F7700 and Pioneer DEH-P1Y, have fallen in love with Alpine 9835 (not 9853 which apparently has problems)...

However I was reading reviews and there are some neagtive comments about it's mp3 capabilities -

1) long time to load
2) cannot navigate through subdirectories
3) mediaXpander (BBE equivalent) makes the music sound bassy
4) 2 second delay between songs

Has anyone got this unit and found these things an issue? Or can the myriad of sound settings possible on this unit easily compensate the lack of a quick-fix for mp3s - I am getting a unit mainly to play mp3s as I hate listening to the same songs over and over again!

I have a few friends with the 9835 and 9833, and I have the old 9807 Alpine MP3 HU...

Initially the cd will take a few seconds to begin reading. Ive found it comparible to that of an audio cd loading though..

As for navigation, there is a search function which allows you to flick through the id3 tags or track names in the current folder, and its easy to skip through to a different folder. Folders are numbered, so if you had an album folder within an artist folder on the cd, the root folder would be 01, the artist folder would be 02 and the album 03. The player would automatically play from Folder 03 if these were the only ones on the disk. Im not sure what kind of navigation functionality you were after..

The media eXpander button is just like a bass boost button.. It adds a little dimension but can distort at high volumes, depending on your speaker setup..

Yes, there is a delay between tracks.. (1-2 seconds).. Its rather annoying when you have DJ Mixes etc but as far as I know theres really not much you can do about that without burning an audio CD.

My JVC does not have that problem, I suppose it is how you burn them that counts, I have DJ mixes going oall the time and I get no delay what so ever.. all is smooth,I suppose it would depend on what Buffer the Mp3 Deck has to resolve this problem..

go try a JVC,

My last JVC, superb with MP3's, althou fast forwarding was sluggish....
u could sort throu the sub dirs, it played at the quality the song is encoded to, and delay between songs is minimal....

My new deck is also JVC, wont stray from JVC now, quality is too good.

i've got the alpine 9827 to read mp3 at first it does take about 3-5 seconds quality for these units are preety good but i supose depending on how many directories you have got.

I have no problems navagting through sub directories might be different for the high modles but i assume they should be the same.

The bass expander can make it a bit bassy but there are a few different bass and trebble modes that you can knock it down so it is not bassy for bass there is 4 different frequecy and also bandwith and for trebble there is 4 different frequency also.

I've noticed something, when I have a CDRW with about 50% full of MP3s, it takes about 30 seconds plus to load the first song; however, if I have a CDRW with 100% full of MP3s, or close to it, it loads within 5 seconds. Not sure how, not sure why (probably has something to do with reading the disk from the outside to the inner of the disc.
Do you close the session when burning a half full disc? Or leave it open? Also, the discs are read from the inside out. ;)

I dont think a few seconds is too much to worry about. I mean, its probably still quicker than trying to find the right music cd and swapping it into the player. So either go for JVC which are good or Pioneer. From experience i know they play them well.

I think after considering Sony F7700 and Pioneer DEH-P1Y, have fallen in love with Alpine 9835...

Mate, I wouldn't worry about those concerns (IMO). Buy whatever you want - as long as it's a good reputable brand.
I have an Alpine 9833 in the family car and have had no problem with it but then I'm not an expert either. (Experts sometimes find things to winge about when us plebs just go wow what a kewl unit!)
I also have a Pioneer DEH-P1Y for the Magna but it's not in yet so can't give you a Comparison.