Roger Fingas
Sony on Monday revealed the XAV-AX200, its latest aftermarket receiver with support for Apple's CarPlay, due to ship in North America by the end of the year.
The unit will sport a 6.4-inch touchscreen, and also run Android Auto, Sony said. Some other features will include Bluetooth, a DVD player, configurable steering wheel input, FLAC lossless support via USB, and SiriusXM radio.
A 4-channel amplifier will deliver up to 55 watts per channel, with a 4-volt pre-out. When driving it will allow switching between three external cameras, including a dedicated reverse input.
Sony has yet to publish images or a pricetag. The CarPlay-compatible AX100, however, costs $449.99.
A growing number of automakers now offer CarPlay, including brands like Chevrolet, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, and Kia. Most compatible vehicles are 2016, 2017, or 2018 models however, which may force owners of older cars to pay for aftermarket upgrades. Some other third-party receiver brands include Alpine, Clarion, Kenwood, and Pioneer.
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12 Comments
Can't work out if it is wireless CarPlay.
The AX100 doesn’t have HD radio. I wonder if this new version will get it. Not a huge deal, I mostly use mine for CarPlay anyway. I think it’s the best aftermarket option. Very nice looking software and hardware design. Looks very clean. All the other aftermarket head units feel like they were designed by a 50 year old guessing what a 12 year old would think is cool. Also it has a physical volume knob which I like. Sounds pretty good too. Only other thing I might add is the HD radio for the occasional short trips when I’m not plugged in. Oh also the safety warning pops up on bootup every time and you have to physically press OK every single time and you can’t disable it.
1) I'd love to see a review of Alpine's new iLX-107 with wireless CarPlay. A friend has one and I was concerned about the performance of the UI between devices but he says it feels instant. Still, he doesn't do reviews so I'd love to see a site like AI tackle it, if possible.
2) At this point I think it's important for any article about CarPlay to start using the wired or wireless modifier for CarPlay (and Android Auto).
Hello Sony, sell this unit to Toyota. They can't figure out how to implement Carplay in any of their models. It's win for Sony, Toyota and Toyota customers.
I have the AX100 and it's really good. Not sure what's changed for this though. I did have the Pioneer, but that broke after 18 months. The 100 is better than the Pioneer SPH-DA120 that I did have in every way except one - on the Sony, you can't tell it you have a right hand drive car which moves the home button, time, and shortcut buttons in CarPlay to the right hand side of the screen.