2001 BMW X5 stereo advice please
Discussion
Hi Meathead,
The Andrive and Dynavin are Chinese made units! Both have 'new' units out recently as well.
Dynavin used to have better UK representation but that's kind of gone quiet, and it's only seemingly a few sellers, mainly on UK Ebay selling them. There's much better support and representation for them in the USA as over there, a specialist is taking good care of USA based customers and offering the level of service you'd expect. The UK's Andrive is the only company doing something similar here.
The cheaper one you reference is now an older version - I'd say not to bother really, and if you do decide on one of these two chinese units, get the latest versions.
No after market head unit is 'true' plug n play - you do have to do some level of fitting work, and if you oem BMW setup had satnav, you'll need a 5m long extension cable fitted as well.
My recommendation will always be for reputable, premium brands where everything is designed and made with quality in mind. Yes, there's no units from the big brands like Kenwood, Alpine, Pioneer, Parrot, Sony etc which look BMW oem, but for me I don't care - function over form here! If oem looks are *a must have* then consider either the Andrive or Dyanavin but be aware of 'potential' issues etc.
Cheers, Dennis!
The Andrive and Dynavin are Chinese made units! Both have 'new' units out recently as well.
Dynavin used to have better UK representation but that's kind of gone quiet, and it's only seemingly a few sellers, mainly on UK Ebay selling them. There's much better support and representation for them in the USA as over there, a specialist is taking good care of USA based customers and offering the level of service you'd expect. The UK's Andrive is the only company doing something similar here.
The cheaper one you reference is now an older version - I'd say not to bother really, and if you do decide on one of these two chinese units, get the latest versions.
No after market head unit is 'true' plug n play - you do have to do some level of fitting work, and if you oem BMW setup had satnav, you'll need a 5m long extension cable fitted as well.
My recommendation will always be for reputable, premium brands where everything is designed and made with quality in mind. Yes, there's no units from the big brands like Kenwood, Alpine, Pioneer, Parrot, Sony etc which look BMW oem, but for me I don't care - function over form here! If oem looks are *a must have* then consider either the Andrive or Dyanavin but be aware of 'potential' issues etc.
Cheers, Dennis!
Dennis you are a legend! Thanks for taking the time to share thid information with me 
Did my car ever have a factory fitted sat nav? I dont know.... Has it already got an extension cable? Dont know that either... Is there some how i can check? (If not then thats another £50!)
Ideally i will get a unit that looks like it could have been oem, but if thats going to cost silly money and/or be a pain in the ass as far as fitting and reliability is concerned, then i dont have a problem with a single din with a poppy outy screen.
Speaking of... Will any single din poppy outy screen fit? (My broken pioneer does...)
I know what youre thinking, yes "poppy outy screen" is the technical term
Did my car ever have a factory fitted sat nav? I dont know.... Has it already got an extension cable? Dont know that either... Is there some how i can check? (If not then thats another £50!)
Ideally i will get a unit that looks like it could have been oem, but if thats going to cost silly money and/or be a pain in the ass as far as fitting and reliability is concerned, then i dont have a problem with a single din with a poppy outy screen.
Speaking of... Will any single din poppy outy screen fit? (My broken pioneer does...)
I know what youre thinking, yes "poppy outy screen" is the technical term
Hi,
I suggest you take a look around at various BMW forums to see what other E53 X5 owners have done with regards to their audio upgrades and head unit changes. Due to the 'angle' of the dashbaord, I think a 'flip out' screen single din type unit 'could' work. you'd probably have to keep it set to an angle which works for you. That said, I've never fitted one, so there 'might' be issues and on top of that, these 'flip out' type units are generally less popular nowadays than they used to be.
You can look at your car's VIN number and cross reference it online (ive forgotten the exact website now though, its late!) to see what it left the factory with.
Cheers, Dennis!
I suggest you take a look around at various BMW forums to see what other E53 X5 owners have done with regards to their audio upgrades and head unit changes. Due to the 'angle' of the dashbaord, I think a 'flip out' screen single din type unit 'could' work. you'd probably have to keep it set to an angle which works for you. That said, I've never fitted one, so there 'might' be issues and on top of that, these 'flip out' type units are generally less popular nowadays than they used to be.
You can look at your car's VIN number and cross reference it online (ive forgotten the exact website now though, its late!) to see what it left the factory with.
Cheers, Dennis!
DennisCooper said:
Hi,
I suggest you take a look around at various BMW forums to see what other E53 X5 owners have done with regards to their audio upgrades and head unit changes. Due to the 'angle' of the dashbaord, I think a 'flip out' screen single din type unit 'could' work. you'd probably have to keep it set to an angle which works for you. That said, I've never fitted one, so there 'might' be issues and on top of that, these 'flip out' type units are generally less popular nowadays than they used to be.
You can look at your car's VIN number and cross reference it online (ive forgotten the exact website now though, its late!) to see what it left the factory with.
Cheers, Dennis!
The factory data sheet can be created here:I suggest you take a look around at various BMW forums to see what other E53 X5 owners have done with regards to their audio upgrades and head unit changes. Due to the 'angle' of the dashbaord, I think a 'flip out' screen single din type unit 'could' work. you'd probably have to keep it set to an angle which works for you. That said, I've never fitted one, so there 'might' be issues and on top of that, these 'flip out' type units are generally less popular nowadays than they used to be.
You can look at your car's VIN number and cross reference it online (ive forgotten the exact website now though, its late!) to see what it left the factory with.
Cheers, Dennis!
http://www.bmwarchive.org/vin/bmw-vin-decoder.html
The parts catalogue is here:
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/index.do
This thread has the details of recommended (by users, not PH editorial team) parts suppliers:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
BMW UK's ebay parts / extra bits / tat store:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/bmw_direct/m.html?item=1...
I wouldn't bother with any of these chinese units, I was looking for the same for my E39 but after a bit of online research I came to the same conclusion as Dennis, they look nice but are made from poor quality components. There is no way I would spend £600 on substandard equipment especially when you can buy something of far superior quality for much less.
I bought this http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/alpine-cde-178bt
Connect smartphone with Bluetooth
Stream Spotify or any other music
Google maps for sat nav, music volume lowers and sat nav woman talks through the stereo
Hands free phone calls, phone book also accessible via head unit display.
It will slot into that adapter plate you already have in your dash, it has a usb cable out the back that I fed into my glovebox if you want to connect your ipod etc. and you can buy an adapter so you can still use your steering wheel buttons.
The best part though is the sound quality, even with the standard speakers which are known to be pretty gash the difference is night and day, the standard BMW head units are terrible.
As for DVD's, couldn't you just hook up a DVD player up to the rear screens?
I bought this http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/alpine-cde-178bt
Connect smartphone with Bluetooth
Stream Spotify or any other music
Google maps for sat nav, music volume lowers and sat nav woman talks through the stereo
Hands free phone calls, phone book also accessible via head unit display.
It will slot into that adapter plate you already have in your dash, it has a usb cable out the back that I fed into my glovebox if you want to connect your ipod etc. and you can buy an adapter so you can still use your steering wheel buttons.
The best part though is the sound quality, even with the standard speakers which are known to be pretty gash the difference is night and day, the standard BMW head units are terrible.
As for DVD's, couldn't you just hook up a DVD player up to the rear screens?
BrownBottle said:
I wouldn't bother with any of these chinese units, I was looking for the same for my E39 but after a bit of online research I came to the same conclusion as Dennis, they look nice but are made from poor quality components. There is no way I would spend £600 on substandard equipment especially when you can buy something of far superior quality for much less.
I bought this http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/alpine-cde-178bt
Connect smartphone with Bluetooth
Stream Spotify or any other music
Google maps for sat nav, music volume lowers and sat nav woman talks through the stereo
Hands free phone calls, phone book also accessible via head unit display.
It will slot into that adapter plate you already have in your dash, it has a usb cable out the back that I fed into my glovebox if you want to connect your ipod etc. and you can buy an adapter so you can still use your steering wheel buttons.
The best part though is the sound quality, even with the standard speakers which are known to be pretty gash the difference is night and day, the standard BMW head units are terrible.
As for DVD's, couldn't you just hook up a DVD player up to the rear screens?
I did exactly the same thing, using an Alpine head unit. Very pleased, and a million times better than the BMW Business unit!I bought this http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/alpine-cde-178bt
Connect smartphone with Bluetooth
Stream Spotify or any other music
Google maps for sat nav, music volume lowers and sat nav woman talks through the stereo
Hands free phone calls, phone book also accessible via head unit display.
It will slot into that adapter plate you already have in your dash, it has a usb cable out the back that I fed into my glovebox if you want to connect your ipod etc. and you can buy an adapter so you can still use your steering wheel buttons.
The best part though is the sound quality, even with the standard speakers which are known to be pretty gash the difference is night and day, the standard BMW head units are terrible.
As for DVD's, couldn't you just hook up a DVD player up to the rear screens?
I did consider the Parrot Asteroid double din unit, which fits the E39 without having to butcher the dash, but I was advised against it by the retailer, who said that they were a bit unreliable - they had about a 75% return rate.
This is the new Dynavin unit http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.ph... looks quite good.
I was also considering the Parrot but I felt its priorities were more about the features, functions and usability it provides rather than being designed using the best components for outright sound quality and performance.
A design concept not dissimilar to the Chinese units except you've got the peace of mind of dealing with Parrot if any problems arise which apparently is very common, I wasn't aware of that.
A design concept not dissimilar to the Chinese units except you've got the peace of mind of dealing with Parrot if any problems arise which apparently is very common, I wasn't aware of that.
Hi,
I've had the Parrot Asteroid Smart in my car since it was released. I'm extremely happy with it, just two times in the last 18 months, when I switched it on, the 'trigger' to switch the amplifier driving my cabin speakers didn't quite work. Other than that, it's been absolutely fantastic in terms of reliability.
I previously had an Alpine Ixa 407BT unit which is a diskless unit as well and I was concerned about the Parrot's sound quality being quite a bit less. I needn't have worried as I'm very very happy with the SQ from the Parrot Smart. I can indeed 'tell the difference' and if anything the Alpine has a 'warmer' and more 'laidback' character to it's sound quality. The Parrot in my opinion remains much better than the generic chinese head units in terms of SQ. The Parrot's use of quality electronics, components, IC's and manufacturing quality is ad you'd expect from a premium brand i.e excellent. In no way does a chinese unit compare.
For the retailer experiencing high return rates, that may well be the case, however, overall there's not been anywhere near the amount of unhappy and miffed customers as compared to all the chinese unit's out there!
Time will tell if the latest Dynavin N6 is much improved compared to the older ones, currently, in the USA where it is supported very well, the DSP function they promise isn't working properly in E39's and they're working on it - should have been fixed prior to releasing it! *EDIT - it's apparently been fixed for USA E39's, however apparently, in Europe it's always been working to support the DSP compatibility*
Cheers, Dennis!
I've had the Parrot Asteroid Smart in my car since it was released. I'm extremely happy with it, just two times in the last 18 months, when I switched it on, the 'trigger' to switch the amplifier driving my cabin speakers didn't quite work. Other than that, it's been absolutely fantastic in terms of reliability.
I previously had an Alpine Ixa 407BT unit which is a diskless unit as well and I was concerned about the Parrot's sound quality being quite a bit less. I needn't have worried as I'm very very happy with the SQ from the Parrot Smart. I can indeed 'tell the difference' and if anything the Alpine has a 'warmer' and more 'laidback' character to it's sound quality. The Parrot in my opinion remains much better than the generic chinese head units in terms of SQ. The Parrot's use of quality electronics, components, IC's and manufacturing quality is ad you'd expect from a premium brand i.e excellent. In no way does a chinese unit compare.
For the retailer experiencing high return rates, that may well be the case, however, overall there's not been anywhere near the amount of unhappy and miffed customers as compared to all the chinese unit's out there!
Time will tell if the latest Dynavin N6 is much improved compared to the older ones, currently, in the USA where it is supported very well, the DSP function they promise isn't working properly in E39's and they're working on it - should have been fixed prior to releasing it! *EDIT - it's apparently been fixed for USA E39's, however apparently, in Europe it's always been working to support the DSP compatibility*
Cheers, Dennis!
Edited by DennisCooper on Tuesday 9th September 00:09
Hi meathead,
Bet it's the price that made you change your mind into taking the gamble on a chinese unit !!
Hopefully, the unit you've bought will work fully and continue to do so
Good luck on the installation, remember, all the questions you'll likely be asking about installing it have been covered over the various BMW forums. You'll need to run 12V, Switched 12V, earth wiring, extend the antenna from the back of the car to the dash area. If you are wanting to use the Dynavins on board amplifier, then you'll need to run speaker cables from the rear and front locations to the dash area. If you in the future might wish to run an amplifier(s) then you'll need to run RCA/Phono leads front to rear and also a remote switch on lead as well.
Any other install issues have all been asked about and covered previously, so do take a read around to get your answer.
Cheers, Dennis!
Bet it's the price that made you change your mind into taking the gamble on a chinese unit !!
Hopefully, the unit you've bought will work fully and continue to do so
Good luck on the installation, remember, all the questions you'll likely be asking about installing it have been covered over the various BMW forums. You'll need to run 12V, Switched 12V, earth wiring, extend the antenna from the back of the car to the dash area. If you are wanting to use the Dynavins on board amplifier, then you'll need to run speaker cables from the rear and front locations to the dash area. If you in the future might wish to run an amplifier(s) then you'll need to run RCA/Phono leads front to rear and also a remote switch on lead as well.
Any other install issues have all been asked about and covered previously, so do take a read around to get your answer.
Cheers, Dennis!
Esseesse said:
OP, get a working OEM unit. Nothing else is quite right. What does the OEM 16:9 unit lack?
Positives to oem 16:9 setup = 100% oem looks in the dash. 100% OBC functions. Negatives to oem 16:9 setup = multiple points of failure which are all becoming more frequent nowadays - Amplifier dry solder joints issue, GPS computer drives failing, LCD display/backlight failing, CD changers mechanisms failing and some of these have multiple points of failure each. Fixes to each aspect are relatively expensive. The amplifier can be upgraded with a specialist doing this work for RCA phono outputs and modestly higher power output components. The OEM sound quality is generally regarded as poor, not very good at all, pants, rubbish, acceptable depending who you speak with. Only a 'relative' few are 'happy' with the sound quality of the oem. Analogue TV tuner is now useless and the hybrid analogue/digital unit which can swap in it's place is very expensive. To add ipod control and connection, needs another amount of spend of which the best is the Intravee 2 and Alpine KCA 420i interface unit. As the oem controls were meant to control 6 CD's, the menu system is quite slow when having to scroll and press the select button and twist it to select various options within the oem usability interface. OEM bluetooth is old, and less and less new mobile phones will work fully and properly with it, if no BT is in the system, then to add it is expensive. Bluetooth audio streaming isn't possible with the oem module either. The cassette slot in the monitor is pretty much useless as it's a dead format nowadays, updating maps if purchased legitimately is expensive. No easily available and oem controls Digital Radio capability - even if you can find one of the early Alpine DAB tuner modules and you guessed it, they're expensive if/when they turn up, you *must* have the intravee setup to use it any other 'add on' isn't fully compatible with the oem controls. I guess there's other niggles with the usage of the setup, and perhaps some specific features etc too but it was designed back in the late 1990's!
Cheers, Dennis!
DennisCooper said:
Esseesse said:
OP, get a working OEM unit. Nothing else is quite right. What does the OEM 16:9 unit lack?
Positives to oem 16:9 setup = 100% oem looks in the dash. 100% OBC functions. Negatives to oem 16:9 setup = multiple points of failure which are all becoming more frequent nowadays - Amplifier dry solder joints issue, GPS computer drives failing, LCD display/backlight failing, CD changers mechanisms failing and some of these have multiple points of failure each. Fixes to each aspect are relatively expensive. The amplifier can be upgraded with a specialist doing this work for RCA phono outputs and modestly higher power output components. The OEM sound quality is generally regarded as poor, not very good at all, pants, rubbish, acceptable depending who you speak with. Only a 'relative' few are 'happy' with the sound quality of the oem. Analogue TV tuner is now useless and the hybrid analogue/digital unit which can swap in it's place is very expensive. To add ipod control and connection, needs another amount of spend of which the best is the Intravee 2 and Alpine KCA 420i interface unit. As the oem controls were meant to control 6 CD's, the menu system is quite slow when having to scroll and press the select button and twist it to select various options within the oem usability interface. OEM bluetooth is old, and less and less new mobile phones will work fully and properly with it, if no BT is in the system, then to add it is expensive. Bluetooth audio streaming isn't possible with the oem module either. The cassette slot in the monitor is pretty much useless as it's a dead format nowadays, updating maps if purchased legitimately is expensive. No easily available and oem controls Digital Radio capability - even if you can find one of the early Alpine DAB tuner modules and you guessed it, they're expensive if/when they turn up, you *must* have the intravee setup to use it any other 'add on' isn't fully compatible with the oem controls. I guess there's other niggles with the usage of the setup, and perhaps some specific features etc too but it was designed back in the late 1990's!
Cheers, Dennis!
The OEM bluetooth hands free works totally fine with my iPhone 5. As for bluetooth audio, well there is an AUX input on the back of the display. I'm just waiting for a wire to come in the post so I can hook up a little bluetooth audio receiver to the switched 12v.
Its arrived!
Turns out the cable that connects to it is already in my dash, so plugged it in and it works! So job done..... Er not quite O_o
Few problems:
1. How in the blue hell does one remove this plastic internal housing (i cant see any screws...)
2. The units menus etc is all in english, however when i use the sat nav (tomtom) its in russian... I think
3. Ipod connector i will wire into glove box or ash tray (as i found a guide) but where do i put the gps antenna?
4. Speaking of antennas, what does the stock one look like? And where is it? The old pioneer only had the two wires from my previous post plugged in (no antenna) and the radio worked fine
I knew this wouldnt be simple, and im not too keen on paying someone to do it!
Turns out the cable that connects to it is already in my dash, so plugged it in and it works! So job done..... Er not quite O_o
Few problems:
1. How in the blue hell does one remove this plastic internal housing (i cant see any screws...)
2. The units menus etc is all in english, however when i use the sat nav (tomtom) its in russian... I think
3. Ipod connector i will wire into glove box or ash tray (as i found a guide) but where do i put the gps antenna?
4. Speaking of antennas, what does the stock one look like? And where is it? The old pioneer only had the two wires from my previous post plugged in (no antenna) and the radio worked fine
I knew this wouldnt be simple, and im not too keen on paying someone to do it!
Regarding the Eonon units. I was also shopping around for an aftermarket replacement for my 2002 X5. I ordered one of the Eonon units direct from the factory (not via Amazon or eBay) for my 2002 E53 BMW. The unit arrived with very little, poorly written documentation. The CANBUS function did not work at all (i.e integration with steering wheel controls didn't work as they said it would), screen was totally unreadable in daylight and radio reception was horrible compared to the 13 year old plain Jane factory radio in my car. Integration with the dash lighting system also did not work, so at night none of the lighting on the radio buttons worked. I had to memorize button functions or take a flashlight at night to use the unit! Navigation worked (but cost extra for the maps). Support staff seemed to be working off a standard set of responses and were unable to adequately answer wiring harness questions. Movies did not play from the SD memory I put in - I think they told me after I bought it that it only supports a few video codecs and MP4 was not one of them (maybe they have fixed this by now but it didn't work for me). I returned it to the vendor in Hong Kong (from where it was shipped). It took much badgering and almost 6 months to get my money back (less some percentage they hold back as some sort of restocking fee). They wanted to send me a replacement unit (at my shipping expense). I declined since Eonon sent me junk the first time and I had no confidence after dealing with their support people I would get a working unit the second time. To add insult to injury, I received a fat bill from FEDEX some 4 weeks after it arrive for taxes and duty.
Edited by swebster on Sunday 1st March 15:08
Sounds like complete junk, if OEM look was a must I think I would just do my best with the OEM unit rather than get ripped off with this chinese crap, you could almost excuse it if they were cheap but they most definitely aren't!
Fortunately for me I can live with the compromise of a non OEM looking unit.
Fortunately for me I can live with the compromise of a non OEM looking unit.
Hi there - just bought a 2005 x5 and the head unit for the nav/stereo etc needs replacing. Ideally I would like an Android based system so I may use Google maps for nav, any suggestions for what unit to purchase and from where?
Lots of cautionary tales about cheap imported units so keen not to add my story to that particular list!
Thanks in advance for all advice.
Lorna
Lots of cautionary tales about cheap imported units so keen not to add my story to that particular list!
Thanks in advance for all advice.
Lorna
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