The Sony XAV-701BT is the one of Sony’s latest double din head-units, with a 7″ touch screen and more features that you could shake a stick at makes for a very fun and versatile head-unit! My first impression was that it was a very sleek looking unit with a large screen and simple but functional buttons at the bottom of the screen.
The sound quality of this unit is superb with its EQ7 7-Band Equalizer, S-MOSFET and 3 high power 5v Pre-outs. For the few weeks I was using the Sony XAV-701BT I ran 2 sets of DD-CS6.5 Components front and rear off the head-unit and 2 DD-3512-D2 Sub-Woofers off a DD-M3a Amplifier through the Sub-Woofer Pre-Out. I was and am very impressed by the sound that the Sony XAV-701BT produced with components running straight off the head-unit as I usually amplify all my speakers/components.
The touch screen on the Sony XAV-701BT is very responsive and like all the other Sony XAV head-units it has gesture control which comes in very handy for changing tracks without looking at the unit while driving! It is also very easy to navigate/use and even people not familiar with touch screens would still be able to use it in a flash without any hassle.
Features:
- 7” TFT WVGA Touch Panel Monitor
- Dual USB 1-Wire Connectivity
- Built-in Bluetooth
- Smartphone Connectivity*
- Passenger App Control for iPod/iPhone
- Variable illumination
- Mirrorlink
General
- Dimensions (W x H x D) Approx. 178 x 100 x 185 mm
- Mounting Dimensions (W x H x D) Approx. 182 × 111 × 160 mm
- Weight (kg) Approx. 2.4kg
Monitor
- LCD Type TFT Active Matrix
- Screen Aspect 17:9
- Screen Diagonal (Inch/cm) 6.95″
- Screen Size (W x H) (mm) 156.60×81.60 mm
- Resolution: Number of Picture Segment 800 x 480
- Dimmer Yes
- Colour System PAL / NTSC / SECAM / PAL-M automatic select
- Motorized Yes
- Brightness (cd/m²) 500
Tuner
- Preset FM18 / AM12
- Best Tuning Memory (BTM) Yes
- CD Playback CD-R/RW, MP3 (with ID3Tag v.2.4), WMA, AAC
Amplifier
- S-MOSFET Output Power 52W
- Pre Out 4.1ch
- Sub Out Yes
- EQ7 7-Band Equalizer
Overall I feel the Sony XAV-701BT is one of the best double-din head-units to have come out of 2012 so far, being very beautiful yet simplistic in looks, it has a very smooth and quick touch screen and the ability to use Mirrorlink makes it a very appealing double-din head-unit.
Mirrorlink only seems to work with compatible Android phones though which means all the iPhone users can not make use of their GPS or onscreen APP’s. This still wouldn’t stop me from buying one myself though as the functions that do work with iPhones/iPads work so seamlessly and not being able to use my GPS functions on my iPhone isn’t really a big deal as I don’t really use GPS enough to justify this function.
People that do have a compatible Android phone will love the Mirrorlink function though as it allows you to display many APP’s onscreen including YouTube, GPS Maps and many more! If you own a compatible Android phone this is the head-unit for you!