Good SQ Headunit?

definately look at the big features like crossovers, dedicated pre-outs, boost/cut frequency selections, and such.  What i can tell you, is that alpine has a excellent crossover for sub, and mid on that model.  And you can choose what frequency you want to be your "center" frequency and boost/cut it.  Unlike other cd players where they choose the frequency for you.

Oh and don't forget the alpine has the function so that you can adjust the sub, and only the sub's level from the push of the volume knob.  no more of this getting out, walking to the back of the car, and adjusting the amp for every diffent kind of music.

Sometimes big features have nothing to do with sound quality. I am sure that you are aware that most cd players with built in crossover's limit the slope of the crossover to 6 or 12 db per octave. Maybe, just maybe there are some out there that are 18 or 24, but generally speakering, most crossover on amplifiers are a minimum of 12db up to (high end guys) 24db per octave (also with hight slopes available). Most cd players in the industry have dedicated pre-outs for front / rear /subwoofers, not just the Alpine, but in the lowly old now out of business in Canada, Jensen. The cd5441 also has a dedicated subwoofer level control, push the volume knob until it reads non fader, turn the volume know up or down to adjust level. If you take a water hose, run it through a whole pile of gates, what happens to the pressure in the end. The best path for audio is as direct as possible to keep the signal clean. Eq's and such can be useful if they have a dedicated purpose (to solve a dedicated problem) otherwise they are a bandaid to fix a problem. If you start out clean, you end up clean. The Alpine is a good cd player, miles ahead of people like Driftwood, Clarion, Sony etc., but not since the original Alpine 7909 back in the late 80's (sold some of these) have they produced a cd player that has the same "flavour of sound" that compared to that old model. Btw, the Eclipse Cd5441 is a 2 year old model, so you should ask for a redt hot scorching price on it. It has a 5volt (at 0db) non clipping 100ohm pre-out bank. What this means to you is that in an amplified system, with the gains set properly, you can pin the cd volume control (top volume reads 80) and get no distortion. The lower the impedance on the pre-out, the better the sound quality. Now as I pointed out earlier, I'm not trying to knock the Alpine, it is a great cd player, probably my third choice personally, but when you compare apples to apples on the basis of sq, the Eclipse is a clear winner. To argue that point is great, that's what these forums are for, one thing to remember is that we all hear differently.

The main differences in the two models are the asthetics, the newer model has a lower pre-out impedance (will help to improve sq), A MOSFET amplifier section in the new unit (higher current power supply - this will have no bearing in an amplifier system). As far as ease of use goes, the new model CD5433 is way easier to use, especially the track controls - on the old one the controls for the track functions tend to rattle, a remote control with volume control (new model), MP3 capability (not a factor for sq). If I had my ruthers, I would buy the new one. I use the CD8443.