Alpine CDA-9831 is it a good HU?

Well, I have the same HU and love it especially the time correction feature and the eq features IMO this was the last year that alpine made really strong HU's. If I had any complaints at all it's that you cannot turn the sub all the way off with the subwoofer control and if you add satellite radio or iPod functionality the display will only show up to 15 characters I believe. As far as being bettert than the Pioneer thats your call I would go alpine but listen to them both and then make a decision. One more thing though, the alpine will be harder to set up initially and the menu's are a little hard to navigate but you do get the hang of it pretty quickly