So I temporarily installed the RFX8250 (no frills SQ deck) in my car the other day and A/B'ed it with my stock radio running through a Dave Navone LOC.
To be honest it wasn't a night and day difference. With some careful listening on a bunch of different songs, maybe the low end (200hz and down), seemed a bit clearer and a little less harsh on the higher side. Was running back to back direct to a Soundstream amp.

The positives are it is nice looking, it actually displays a volume number, unlike the stock unit and it has balanced output. I made a cable Mini-Din to Mini-XLR to go to my EQ and Mini-XLR to RCA to run balanced to the XTANT amp.

The full install will be whenever the XTANT gets back.

what speakers do you have?

I wonder who made my RFX8340? Got a link to a pic of the 8250?
I know the 8340 is no where near yours, but it does have dual 1 bit DA converters.

http://search.cardomain.com/cgi-bin/MsmGo.exe?grab_id=31&EXTRA_ARG=&CFGNAME=MssFind%2Ecfg&host_id=42&page_id=5643776&query=%2A8250%2A&hiword=%2A8250%2A+


http://images.cardomain.com/products/roc/ROCRFX8250TI.jpg

I have MBQuart PSD 216's and am running a Soundstream A4 at 100x2 to them. It sounds damn good with either HU. I just need to work on speaker placement, there is way too much distance between the tweeters and the mids. I think as a summer project I will play with fiberglass.

Good deal!!

The 8250 went for $152 yeasterday on e-bay!!!

yeah I know. Sucks for me. Those were refurbs (direct from rockford) with a 90 day warranty, the SD ones are new with a year. is it worth $200 more, probably not.
Worse is the guy that paid $650 for one on ebay 2 days before they went on sale for $350.

i cant beleive it didnt sound very different.. thats supposed to be a step above Nakamichi.. there tons of threads about that exact deck on every car audio forum..

speaking of which, check this out
http://forum.soundillusions.net/showthread.php?t=33267

Originally posted by placenta
i cant beleive it didnt sound very different.. thats supposed to be a step above Nakamichi.. there tons of threads about that exact deck on every car audio forum..

Maybe my ears suck. But they were very similar. The stock unit with a decent LOC like the Navone is very good. Believe I spent $350 I wanted it to sound a lot better. I even got my wife in the car. I am a firm believer that HU's don't make much of an audible difference. Especially once the car gets moving.

Obviously if the HU has things like Crossovers/Time Correction and stuff that will make a huge difference.
There is only so much data on a CD and it is all 1's and 0's.
I know these higher end unit's interpolate the data more then lower end, but can you hear the difference between 44k samples/s and 88k or 176k, probably not.

I will do a second listening test after I get my XTANT amp back from servicing. I will use an Oscilliscope to match the gains and the volume. So it will be a truer test.

Regardless I have 2 now I bought one of the ebay ones:)