Product Reviews

I had this unit installed because of my installers recommendation. He said it’s the best unit on the market right now. He was right! Sound quality is amazing and the features and user interface are top notch. Highly recommend!

I am loving mySony Mobile receiver! I own a 2017 RAV4 and the GPS system was awful! Reason #1! The second reason was that my 74 year old eyes could not even see the tiny navigation screen. With this system I have both the gps capability I wanted plus the extra screen size. I am also so happy to be easily able to listen to my audible books, podcasts and enjoy the handsfree phone functionality. Big plus for me is also the back up screen view. All around I am just so happy with my new Sony system.

I want to start by saying that I rarely give negative reviews. I am an Amazon Vine reviewer which means I give honest reviews. This is a very nice receiver with incredible sound quality. I had it installed in my 2015 Toyota Tundra 1794. The screen size is perfect and very responsive, no lag whatsoever. Image quality is very good. Fingerprints are very minimal. Navigation to settings and apps is also very good. I had the Meastro module installed which means the unit controls all my truck features. Also had the XM module installed and the interface is very nice but now it has a mind of it's own and plays when it wants. Within 2 weeks, I started to get several issues and the head unit was replaced. Issues resolved. Now, I am have more issues and I'm getting to the point where I'm regretting the $$$ I paid. The wireless CarPlay works great but when it doesn't, all sorts of things happen. I get a black screen with Chinese writing (see photo's) When I get an incoming call, it's a roll of the dice if the music is going to stop so I can hear the call and if it does stop and I hang up the call, the music doesn't play. I have to shut the unit off and start it again. Same with the XM unit. I do this frequently and it's becoming very frustrating. My Sony software/firmware is up to date but I think they need to do another update and keep updating it as frequent as Apple pushes out their updates. It's needed. I have contacted Meastro and they tried to assist. (no luck) For the past 2 weeks, when I'm using Amazon Music, I get a notification on my Apple Watch "something went wrong, refresh" When I hit the refresh button, it then says "Please enter the code below (shows a code) at amazon.com/code. I go to my phone enter it and it used to come up with a Chinese Amazon site, now it just takes me to the Amazon home page. I just press the crown now to get rid of the message on my watch. As I stated, it's a beautiful receiver with excellent sound and sound settings (very detailed sound settings) but the above issues have me completely frustrated and aggravated, especially for what I paid. Frequent updates are definitely needed.

I bought this about one month ago and installed it in my 3rd gen Tacoma about two weeks ago. Overall, I am pleased with this unit so far. It has great features, a fantastic large touch screen and it integrated perfectly with my steering wheel features. I would have given this a 5 star rating, but the Apple CarPlay / Waze is very "glitchy" with this head unit. The XAS9500-ES unit I have cuts out and temporarily freezes, and it only happens while using the Apple CarPlay feature or while running the Waze traffic App.

I am very happy with this purchase ,great quality and sound

I bought my system from Crutchfield, and everything arrived on time... My only complaint is that my phone doesn't pair up with the Bluetooth 15% of the time, causing me to have to restart my truck, and/or restart my phone...

I bought this unit looking for excellent sound quality and was not disappointed. Top-notch audio with individual speaker tone adjustment, etc. But some areas need improvements: A) I use a USB drive to get the best possible sound from hi-end music files (DSD, FLAC, etc.). However, the USB drive interface is minimal, and it will just list your folders and files. It does not build a library to sort by Artist, Album, genre, etc. B) For such a large screen, the amount of information shown from MP3TAGs is minimal. Only Title (up to 64 characters in two lines), Album (up to 45 characters), and Artist (up to 45 characters) are displayed. There is enough room to show genre, year, etc. C) "Title" changes font size based on the number of characters. Please stop doing it. Keep the same font consistently. D) Please kill the auto-play option for the USB drive! Every time you start the car, the unit will scan the USB while playing the last song. If that previous song is finished before the scan is completed, the unit will always jump to the first song in the first folder! E) I don't have a backup camera, and even though I switched off the option, the unit always tries to show a backup camera when I hit reverse. F) This is a hardware annoyance - you may adjust the screen sideways, tilt, depth, and height but not spin it towards the driver. In my case, it is pointing to the back seats! G) There are individual volume levels for different sources (Media, Phone Call, Ring Tone, etc.), but they should be relative to the overall volume. So, for example, if I lower the unit volume, all sources should lower their levels in the same amount. H) The manual talks about an RM-X400 remote. Nobody has it. It is impossible to buy (at least in the US). I) The "Sound" adjustment is present in two different menus for different sound adjustments (Basic Setting Operation as "Sound" and System Menu as "System Sound"). They should be together in one option. J) Smaller fonts and icons in general, smaller icons in Apple Car Play, map resolution, etc. are also areas for improvement.

I drive a 2007 Toyota RAV4 and wanted to install an aftermarket infotainment system to finally go handsfree and use Apple Car Play to connect via BT (and/or hard wired). The user interface with this deck is seamless and super user-friendly. What was MOST IMPORTANT to me was the Sony Bezel with the volume controls, a home button and buttons to Fast Forward/Reverse music tracks. I had orignally chose a smaller Pioneer but due to a lack of control ontheir bezel, I swapped and upgraded to this 10" Sony ES deck and have been singing praises ever since. Love it!! I needed dedicated control buttons since I did not have steering wheel controls to perform the same functions. THANK YOU SONY for being intuitive to your customer who had these needs with an older vehicle and who would purchase this solution. I paired this deck with ES speakers and the sound quality is what I would expect from an ES Line. Awesome range of sound! I have plans to install at a later date the ES 10in subwoofer. The sound quality is so good that I am compelled to upgrade my music service from Spotify to HD music found on Tidal music app. In addition, the quality of the tablet is wonderful. Visibility in different lighting is really great as well as the viewing angles. Sony now has a smaller size if this ES deck but regardless- I am loving my 10" screen and it is very easy to access and read the screen. THANK YOU SONY!!!!!

First of all, I love this head unit. I previously had the Sony AX210 and the 9500es offers a ton of worthwhile updates. The 9500es has an updated version of Sony's operating system, which I think is the best. It's clean, simple, intuitive, easy to use, and aesthetically pleasing. The screen is of course larger, but also much easier to see in the sun with significantly higher resolution and quality. It is also FAR more responsive; it's clear they beefed up the processing hardware quite a bit. The wireless Carplay works flawlessly and I cannot imagine going back to wired. The EQ is basically endlessly adjustable, and the sound is great. I've used it both off the head unit directly and amplified, no complaints on either. iDatalink Maestro works equally well on both units, no complaints there. I would highly recommend this head unit and believe it is the best on the market. So why only 4 stars? It does have a couple of areas with room for improvement. The good news is that some of them could probably be addressed via software updates: -No wired Carplay option despite having a USB-C high amp port. Why does this matter? Wireless Carplay uses a lot of battery, so you end up plugging your phone in any way on longer trips. It's also an easy way for friends to play their phones in your car without fully linking with the system. Wired is also currently the only way to get the highest quality audio via CarPlay. -The customizable buttons don't have an option for the equalizer. -No line in

First impressions have been positive. The operating system is simple and really easy to use. I'd like to see the ability to turn off the internal amp, and individual speaker lvl adjustment added into the software, as well as wired apple car play support added in, since apple won't stream hi res wirelessly. Possible backlight, and contrast added for the display for daytime use, and Android auto to not default to the map on restarts. But otherwise it's an excellent unit with nice adjustments.

Hi res playback is stellar, best head unit on the market