Alpine CDA-9835 (c. 2005)

The Alpine CDA-9835 was the company's flagship in-dash CD player/Ai-changer controller for 2005. That was the year Alpine paired its BioLite display with the V-Drive amplifier. Owners often bring it up alongside older favorites like the 7909 and 7998, and at least one Alpine collector described it as "the best Alpine deck you can get right now, although it is a classic." It is the only BioLite-display Alpine to carry the V-Drive amp.

What's actually documented about the unit:

26W × 4 V-Drive amplifier; three 4V pre-outs
Bass Engine Pro with 6-channel digital time correction, 5-band parametric EQ, subwoofer level/phase control, and selectable 2- or 3-way digital crossover
Regulated 1-bit DAC; Media Xpander; MP3/WMA/CD-R/RW playback with CD Text and tag display
Swing mechanism with detachable face; two-line BioLite color display with 512 illumination colors
MaxTune SQ tuner; SAT Radio ready; iPod-ready via KCA-420i; Versatile-Link, MobileHub, and MM driver ready
i-Personalize, including downloadable audio parameter settings and control of up to eight amps
RUE-4187 wireless remote included

The official record is thin. No original retail price, dimensions, weight, or lab measurements (frequency response, THD, S/N) have surfaced. The closely related CDA-9835R does have a factory service manual - Alpine's own manual lists that variant as an FM/MW/LW/RDS CD receiver - but the base CDA-9835 without the R suffix isn't as well documented. On the used market, a mint-in-box example was listed with an asking price of $300. Sellers call it rare, though one forum commenter noted that there's usually one up on eBay at any given time.