Product Reviews

On occasion, when I’m at the home screen and CarPlay is connected wirelessly, I won’t be able to select it from the home screen; the screen registers, but it will not send me to the CarPlay page. Also, on occasion, the unit disconnects from CarPlay. Otherwise, it’s a good radio. In particular, the FM signal is terrific on this radio compared to others that I’ve had. Although, the screen could stand to be brighter, and it doesn’t include a few options as the lower echelon model- the AX1000, such as digital stage organizer or bass boost.

I bought this radio just shy of a year ago and the buttons began falling off. The volume button fell off about a week ago and the home button is on its way out. (From what I’ve now seen online there is countless threads of this being an issue and Sony won’t warranty it) I pretty much got told where to buy the part from and the rest is on you. For this being a Sony product there is no backing their product pretty unfortunate since I’m not even a year into the three year warranty. It seems like there was definitely a lack of thought process with the way the buttons mounted to the face plate (two rectangle slots on both ends of the button) The display screen “shield” we’ll call it also decided to start having a soft spot on the bottom right. (Evidently it goes hand and hand with the buttons) Part # A-5051-423-A Sony Panel Assy(sv) Everything else with the radio works fine but for the price point this is at it should be built a lot more sound. Build quality wise it’s right in like with cheap knock off CarPlay radios which shouldn’t even be thought. All in all, I more than likely have gotten what I need to know from this experience and won’t be buying another Sony radio from here out.

Overall it's a great upgrade over the original radio in a 2015 Subaru Outback. Going to wireless CarPlay certainly is convenient. Using the RR (Radio Replacement) unit from iDataline Maestro means I still have access to all the car settings, steering wheel controls, etc. However, I dislike the reverse camera messages and I've had a problem with CarPlay map locking up. The rear camera shows continuously shows "Check surroundings for your safety" when in reverse. The text does not go away and it takes up enough screen real estate that it interferes with -- you guessed it -- checking my surroundings. If you have to have the legal disclaimer, it should go away after a second or two so I can make use of the camera. The other problem is the CarPlay display has occasionally locked up. As far as I can tell, it's always been where my phone has had poor or no cell coverage. I believe it happened both when using online and offline maps. Turning the car off and then on fixes the glitch, but it happened three or four times in less than an hour.

I regret being talked into “upgrading” from my XAV-AX100 which had many great features that Sony decided to do away with. Among many other terrible design decisions, Sony decided (completely arbitrarily) to turn its back on CarPlay users with the AX6000 and THROWS OUT USB CarPlay, allowing *only* WiFi CarPlay which offers “great benefits” such as a 1-2s delay on touch, a washed out pixelated display, noticeably worse sound quality, enormous battery drain, interference with GPS and 5G connectivity—all things that would be completely resolved IF Sony permitted USB CarPlay just as it does for Android Auto. This model also abolished some sound configuration settings such as the Bass Boost feature which although simplistic, can’t be replicated on the 6000. The buttons, like everything else about this device, feel cheap, plastic, loosely fitted, and stupidly unintuitive compared to the single knob/button that older models had. This is an obvious cost-cutting, profit-maximizing move by Sony who clearly has no interest in making great components or maintaining a once great reputation believing it can deceive consumers into buying lower quality, haphazardly “engineered”, rush-to-market planned-obsolescence products designed for their *true* customers: the shareholder. One last thing: Doesn’t support USB CarPlay (but you wouldn’t know it from this website, looking at the box, or any other way than installing it yourself and being supremely disappointed! Wireless CarPlay has more than 1 second delay between skipping tracks, pause play, etc. Also the mute button completely cuts volume rather than dropping it to very low but still audible (ideal). Please fix all of these things, Sony. I want my money and my XAV-AX100 back :-(

The car play feature is great. It would be nice if you could have AM, FM, and SiriusXM stations together in a favorite list. You can only have minimum radio stations saved.

I purchased this head unit a month ago and since I've installed, works great and the quality of the sound is great. I love it. the screen looking is phenomenal.

I got this at nortons stereo and so glad I bought it

The AX6000 is excellent and I only have two improvements that kept me from giving it 5 stars. The screen is very responsive to touch, the start time is excellent at just a few seconds similar to a factory display, the button feel is great and feels very crisp. The only issues/improvements are that I would like the ability to increase the brightness of the background/wallpaper images; the icons and apple car play screens are very clear but the wallpaper seems dimmed out and would benefit from customizable brightness of background or wallpaper images. Second I would like the analog clock to be selectable as an on/off feature. I would be glad to work with Sony to evaluate firmware updates that could alleviate these complaints as an end user test customer.