I agree that the Soundstream is part of your problem. To put it simply "they ain't what they used to be". I moved away from them to Orion and have never looked back. The one that I am most surprised by is a fairly new company, Xtant. They are very impressive in biuld quality and are easily configured to about anything you can imagine. Eclipse is a pretty good head unit therefore I do not beleive your problem lies there but you could have a bad unit. I personally use the higher end Clarion Pro Audio head unit and wouldn't trade it for the world. It now resides in its third car and I have no plans to replace it. Just my two cents, hope it helps.
Please Help: High-End car audio
Firstly, I hope those word aren't an oxymoron. I've got all Focal drivers with a Soundstream amp. I bought an eclipse head unit and in-dash changer and hate the sound. Its not bad, but for as much as I spent, I'm not happy about it. It just sounds thin and unlifelike. The factory cd player through the spkr-line level adaptor didn't sound that much worse. If anyone has any experience with some head units in the car that really sound nice I'd be appreciative. The most I can do is exchange the Eclipse gear or try an sell it. Is Nakamichi about the only other one? And just how bad are the tuners at the expense of a good cd player. My home system is a fanfare tuner with all Van Alstine gear. I don't expect my car to sound that good, but at least musical. And I won't buy McIntosh, too expensive and ugly.