Boss Audio BCPA10RC Digital Media Receiver with 10" Floating Capacitive Touchscreen, Apple Carplay and Android Auto with Backup Camera

Our testing and analysis of the Boss BCPA9RC & Boss BCPA10RC

Today’s market is full of oversized headunits that are hardly worth the investment. Getting a headunit with a big display, Apple Carplay and Android Auto should be simple. Boss understands this, and their BCPA9RC and BCPA10RC are single din headunits which both feature oversized floating displays, apple carplay, android auto plus they both come with a license plate backup camera, all under $400. 

These two headunits are identical except for only one difference which is display size, the BCPA9RC is 9” and the BCPA10RC is 10”.

What's inside the box

Included in both boxes is the Boss LPCB40 license plate backup camera which comes with RCA and Power extensions, wiring harness, external microphone for HFC, mounting brackets, hardware, radio removal and mounting tools, warranty card, installation manual, oversized floating display, and single din chassis. Just to reiterate, this is a single din headunit, not a double din despite the display size.

How to attach the floating display

Attaching the display to the chassis is much more simple on these headunits than with other floating displays we’ve covered. There are no screws or tools required. Simply plug the display into the front of the chassis with its rear mounting head. The mount is also a ball joint, meaning you can tilt, turn or twist the display however you like. You can also easily adjust the height of the display. The two buttons on the chassis will quickly release the display when pressed together.

Rear connections

Rear connections on both headunits include wiring harness for power ground and speaker, 4V RCA pre-amp outputs for front rear and subwoofer, RCA AV Inputs, radio antenna, plus pigtails for front camera, external microphone, backup camera and two USB inputs, one for USB Thumb drives and one for Apple Carplay and Android Auto. 

Display differences

OK let’s dive into why you should consider these headunits. The displays are large and vibrant, plus are capacitive touchscreens. But they do have one major con. They’re not HD, they have resolutions of 800x480 pixels. With a display of 9 or 10” I at least need some more pixels to take up all that real estate. The display size of just one inch is quite noticeable side by side. But although the 10” screen is larger, I found its touchscreen to be less responsive. For display customization select a preset wallpaper or upload your own, adjust display settings and select an LED illumination color. The headunit has decent audio customization.

Operating system

The Operating System on both is very simple and a bit plain, but you really don’t need much more than what they give you. It gets the job done. Besides, the real crown jewels of the stereos are Apple Carplay and Android Auto. They both require a USB connection on this stereo, they cannot operate wirelessly. The connection will also charge your device. Get access to your music, audio, messaging and navigation apps which all look great on the massive display. Video apps do not transfer

Audio sources

Thanks to the rear RCA AV inputs, you can mirror an iPhone or an Android device to the stereo with a few simple adapters. Connect the stereo and your phone using the QVM HDMIV-2 and a Lightning Digital AV Adapter or the BU-CHDMIV for Android USB-C phones for a full screen mirror.

For other audio sources the stereo has built in bluetooth for hands free calling and wireless music playback, which you can only access by disconnecting your phone from apple carplay or android auto, so I wouldn’t see myself using those sources very often. 

With a USB thumb drive, for audio the headunits play back WAV and MP3 files. For video they play AVI, MKV and WMV files. And for images it can display JPEG, PNG and BMP files.  

The radio tuner features 18 FM and 12 AM presets, it is not HD radio

An enticing feature of these headunits is the inclusion of the license plate camera. The LPCB40 is a universal camera that is easily mourning on top of your rear license plate. You can also add a front camera with the front camera input which you must active in the settings. 

For steering wheel control connection, use the Axxess ASWC universal interface, link in bio. The stereo is not compatible with SiriusXM outside of an app used for apple carplay or android auto. 

Boss Audio BCPA10RC Testing

Let’s test this stereo out, again Boss rates the stereo 80W x 4 channels.

BCPA10RC Two channels driven, 4 ohm, 1 KHz, 14.4v

Volume number: 36

HP8903B Audio Analyzer: 19.23W RMS per channel, 1.13% distortion and 8.56 volts of output.

AMM-1: 13 Watts

Lumy Voltmeter (Speaker output voltage): 8.72 volts

Current draw: 5.02 amps

BCPA10RC Two channels driven, 4 ohm, 40 Hz, 14.4v

Volume number: 36

HP8903B Audio Analyzer: 18.71W RMS per channel, 1.0% distortion and 8.55 volts of output.

AMM-1: 13 Watts

Lumy Voltmeter (Speaker output voltage): 8.58 volts

Current draw: 5.09 amps

BCPA10RC RCA outputs, 1 KHz, 14.4v

Volume number: Full volume

HP8903B Audio Analyzer: 3.75 Volts RMS per channel, 1.0% distortion.

BCPA10RC RCA outputs, 40 Hz, 14.4v

Volume number: Full volume

HP8903B Audio Analyzer: 3.77 Volts RMS per channel, 1.01% distortion.

Frequency response

Extremely flat and huge frequency response

Boss Audio BCPA9RC Testing

BCPA9RC Two channels driven, 4 ohm, 1 KHz, 14.4v

Volume number: 36

HP8903B Audio Analyzer: 19.18W RMS per channel, 1.1% distortion and 8.7 volts of output.

AMM-1: 13 Watts

Lumy Voltmeter (Speaker output voltage): 8.72 volts

Current draw: 5.05 amps

BCPA9RC Two channels driven, 4 ohm, 40 Hz, 14.4v

Volume number: 36

HP8903B Audio Analyzer: 18.62W RMS per channel, 1.1% distortion and 8.57 volts of output.

AMM-1: 16 Watts

Lumy Voltmeter (Speaker output voltage): 8.6 volts

Current draw: 5.15 amps

BCPA9RC RCA outputs, 1 KHz, 14.4v

Volume number: Full volume

HP8903B Audio Analyzer: 3.78 Volts RMS per channel, 1.0% distortion.

BCPA9RC RCA outputs, 40 Hz, 14.4v

Volume number: Full volume

HP8903B Audio Analyzer: 3.77 Volts RMS per channel, 1.0% distortion.

Frequency response

Extremely flat and huge frequency response

As we expected these headunits are identical besides display size. And they put our solid power and will bring new life to your speakers for sure. These headunits definitely have decent power which will absolutely bring some new life to your car speakers. Add that to the price tag under the $400 range, apple carplay, android auto and an included backup camera, these should definitely be on your radar for upgrading your factory system. 

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