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I've got the 5500 and absolutely love it. It works flawlessly with my Samsung Galaxy SIII streaming Pandora on the Pandora input and you get all the control on the deck that you would normally have on your computer or phone like thumbs up, thumbs down, skip song, etc. The iphone will not do Pandora wirelessly on the 5500, an iphone has to be hooked up with the cable. It also works well with streaming music stored on the phone.

It looks like the Alpine has everything the 5500 has and maybe even a better EQ and crossovers. The thing I like about the Alpine is the mirror link for Android that mirrors your phone and lets you use certain apps like navigation on the deck so the phone stays in your pocket. The 5500 has an app mode for iphone but it doesn't work for Android even with ARLiberator. The Pioneer 8500 works with app mode and Android through ARLiberator but even then you have to root your phone and hook it up by a data cable and the 8500 is about $50 more expensive. The Alpine is $100 more expensive than the 5500 but, if the mirror link works like its supposed to, I think it would be worth it. I've always had Alpine decks until I got the 5500 but Alpine didn't have anything at the time that would stream Pandora from Android.

 

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Oops. Looks like I spoke too soon without finding all of the specs. The Alpine only has 2 volt outs which would be a deal breaker for me. I don't understand why they would make a deck like this with lower voltage outputs when it would only cost them a few bucks more in parts to put 4 volt outs on it. Maybe they don't want to compete with the next deck up in their line?

 

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I honestly don't know if it will make a difference to you or not. It does to me. Having higher voltage outs gives you a lower noise floor and more dynamic head room. It deals with noise from the deck to the amp. Basically, higher pre out voltage means that a higher percentage of the signal that gets to the amp is music and less of the signal is noise. It allows you to use a lower gain setting on the amp to match the output voltage of the deck so any interference is a lot less intrusive to your music. The result is that the music is more dynamic and detailed and the amp tends to work a little bit better because the gains are set lower.

 

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I agree with Platinumb. My last deck was an Alpine CDA-9887. It was incredible both sound and features wise. I bought it in about 2002 or 2003 and it was still going strong when I sold it because I wanted to use my stock deck when I got my Tundra. I wish I would have kept it because I would have put itn my Tundra in a hot second even though it was single din and had no blue tooth or Pandora. I have to say that I was a bit disappointed with Alpine's offerings for double din with the same features as the 5500. Either way too much money or the little details suck like no high voltage pre outs. I have also seen several complaints of bluetooth problems and satellite radio issues. I don't think Alpine is anywhere near where they used to be.