well he said he was using a fm transmiter, so that was I compared it to. With my ipod mini i do have the Itrip, and its the best thing I could get at the time. But im looking into getting the alpine HU with the ipod connectinon so I can control the ipod from the HU. I know alot of other companies might have more features, but I love the way the ipod connects to my computer, and the interface.