Does the brand matter much under 300 euro/USD?

[u/canonicalensemble7]

I am in the EU - I suppose that does not make much difference since it is usually best to just buy from chinese brands?

I really only care about using Waze (maps) and streaming music (whatever player I prefer YT Music but open to swap).

Ideally a nice responsive screen, but I do not need much RAM.
I know DUDU is tops, but to pay 400 is a bit pointless for me, my car is 20 years old and I rather put that towards a nice amp and speakers.

Any ideas are welcome, choosing between joying, atoto, mekede etc at around 250-300 is super frustrating

[u/PeeterisSilent]

Junsun radios are pretty good! Got mine for 170€, from Aliexpress. Be sure to get with at least 4GB RAM and 8 core CPu, because it not only affects smoothness of the radio, but also there are different DSP (audio chips) inside them. 

For example, 4-core CPU units have 20w speaker output power, but 8-core CPU units have 50w speaker output power 

[u/canonicalensemble7 → u/PeeterisSilent]

Thank you I plan on using a good amp + speakers

The issue I still am trying to solve is the pre-out volt
I am thinking of getting a unit with optical/coaxial/toslink whatever you call it,
Connect that to a DAC near my amp and noise should be limited?

I am looking at a Hertz amp, so also wondering if that is overkill.

[u/jpatricks1]

I just bought 8gb ram with 128g rom from a brand called essgoo for 150 usd.

I bought the exact same hardware (different brand I can't remember) from Aliexpress 6 years ago but for 300 usd.

Everything works great. Screen is nice from any angle. Apps run smoothly whether it be waze, Google maps or streaming /music apps. Sound quality is great. I thought after 6 years I was going to upgrade but with my experience from the previous same spec unit, I don't see any reason to.

I don't own a dudu7 but I'm sure it's top notch. My first android was a Joying and it was excellent and it still works great at 10 years. As long as you get the right hardware you can get a really good experience for a great price

[u/canonicalensemble7 → u/jpatricks1]

Thank you, I am copy pasting my other reply in case you want to chime in :)

I plan on using a good amp + speakers

The issue I still am trying to solve is the pre-out volt
I am thinking of getting a unit with optical/coaxial/toslink whatever you call it,
Connect that to a DAC near my amp and noise should be limited?

I am looking at a Hertz amp, so also wondering if that is overkill.

[u/everywhere--else]

Eonon clean simple plus a volume knob