My wife puts up with a lot living with me. Our house is a constant testing ground for new technology; every few days I’ll need to explain the speakers now answer to new voice assistant, there’s a new app for turning on the lights, or that nothing works because I broke the internet setting up a router. Rarely is she happy about these changes, and from the thousands of gadgets that have passed through our home in the last few years, I can count on one hand the products she has shown interest in.

Sony’s XAV-AX5000 in car stereo is one of those rare products; after just two days in our dashboard, we both decided we needed to buy it. The unit is Android Auto and Apple CarPlay ready, so when you connect any modern smartphone to it the screen on your device dims, and navigation and a few multimedia apps are served to a large screen in your dashboard. The interface is simplified, with large touch targets that are easy to hit at traffic lights, and voice commands from either Siri or Google Assistant, depending on your phone.

I know nothing about cars and even less about stereo equipment, so finding a suitable unit that supported both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto was daunting. After months of looking at similar unit, I gave up and chose the Sony because it had been chosen the best in class on the New York Times comparison website, The Wirecutter.

The XAV-AX5000 retails for $599, and installation was another $300, making it a fairly costly upgrade. Car enthusiasts in my life insist I could’ve installed the unit myself but, again, I know nothing about cars, so wanted to leave it to the experts. This unit will fit in any car that can accept a "double din" sized stereo.

Android Auto and Apple CarPlay have been around a few years, but this was my first time testing either. Both systems are excellent, and leave traditional car dashboard stereos and stand-alone GPS units for dead.