I am going to look hard into this!! I have the 8.4. - so that is good. Mine has the nine amplified speaker Alpine system- with subwoofer - hopefully it will be able to play with those nicely?? This sounds like a real fix. Does it also keep the satellite radio Sirius XM?
While I cannot competently speak to any nuances of the 5th Gen 12" screen systems and/or their issues.
I can 100% speak to the operational improvements to the 8.4" Uconnect systems, be it 6-speaker standard systems and/or the the factory upgraded Alpine 9-speaker systems.
In my then 19' new truck with only the 6-speaker stock standard speaker system, and now my 23' new truck with the upgraded Alpine 9-speaker stock system... I immediately, upon taking delivery of my new 23' had the 8.4" Uconnect system removed from my 19' and installed, in my 23', a Kenwood DMX957XR head unit with an entirely new audio system with the standard 6-speaker system replaced with Focal door and dash speakers in the 19' firstly.
Now in my new 23' with the Alpine system, I transferred over the 6 Focal speakers, and my installer then used the factory Alpine center dash and two roof speakers as well as as the factory Alpine amp, as only surround speakers and their amp for surround only, and had a pair of Kenwood amps (2100W of total power) installed in conjunction with a db 5-farad digital capacitor and a pair of Audiomobile EVO24-10 subs in custom boxes stuffed with polyfil under the rear seats, also from my 19', installed and then perfectly tuned to audio perfection.
I used the iDatalink Maestro module for the complete integration of all the aftermarket components, and after installation called Sirius and had the account switched to the new aftermarket deck with no issues.
However, my new aftermarket HU had a 1-year Sirius subscription included, so, being that I just bought my new 23' truck with an included 1-year Sirius factory subscription, I called them and they honored the factory included subscription, and then honored the aftermarket Kenwood subscription to run one after the other, and then after 2-years of included services, I then pay the annual subscription fees
In total I spent about 1.5 hours on the phone, but I got 2-years of Sirius for no costs
