What makes Sony mediocre?
Hard to explain. For the head unit, audio features are less, their speakers doesn't sound as good as others. You have to be keen on audio to be able to see the difference. I gave them a shot since they make good TV but not the same department I guess.
Same thing with Bose and Beats by Dre where both are plain marketing rather than audio quality.
I should have asked first, are you a radio/mp3/satellite/podcast/audio book listener? Or a .wav/CD music type? If the former, it shouldn't matter in which headunit you buy, if latter, then getting the right headunit and speakers combo to get the most out of the audio source.
I just like to listen to music on my IPhone and sometimes listen to the local radio stations.
I've already replaced the speakers with Polk audio. Cheap and popular for wranglers.
I was looking at these:
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_500CDE143B/Alpine-CDE-143BT.html
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_158N5100BT/Sony-MEX-N5100BT.html
Looking at the specs, either are good for your intended use.