In- Car Bluetooth
Discussion
Chaps,
There doesn't seem to be an in-car HiFi section on PH, so I'll put this one here. (If I have missed a better section for it then mods, please feel free to move it.)
I have an older Blaupunkt DAB car head unit in my 944. I'm not looking to change it, but would quite like it to pick up bluetooth from my 'phone. To that end, I have been browsing this sort of thing;
It's a bluetooth receiver that plugs into the aux-in port of the headunit and also to a USB power supply and allows you to stream music from your 'phone to your car audio system. I'd mount it out of sight somewhere in the dashboard, such that it powers up when the ignition is on and hence works seamlessly.
Has anyone bought one of these? I'm not looking at the Belkin one in particular, it's more an illustration of what there is out there - and there are thousands to choose from, with prices from £10 or so to quite a lot more. My questions are;
- Which ones are good and which ones should be avoided?
- What's the sound quality like? CD-quality? Worse? Better? (FWIW, the 'phone is an Android Motorola Moto G)
- I do want something that pairs with the 'phone immediately when you get into the car, not one that needs to have a button pressed to initiate the pairing process. (Yes, I'm fussy!)
- I'd like something that can pair with two phones - my wife's and mine (although clearly not both at the same time!) I presume this is possible?
If anyone has been down this path and has any recommendations I'd like to hear - thanks.
Oli.
There doesn't seem to be an in-car HiFi section on PH, so I'll put this one here. (If I have missed a better section for it then mods, please feel free to move it.)
I have an older Blaupunkt DAB car head unit in my 944. I'm not looking to change it, but would quite like it to pick up bluetooth from my 'phone. To that end, I have been browsing this sort of thing;
It's a bluetooth receiver that plugs into the aux-in port of the headunit and also to a USB power supply and allows you to stream music from your 'phone to your car audio system. I'd mount it out of sight somewhere in the dashboard, such that it powers up when the ignition is on and hence works seamlessly.
Has anyone bought one of these? I'm not looking at the Belkin one in particular, it's more an illustration of what there is out there - and there are thousands to choose from, with prices from £10 or so to quite a lot more. My questions are;
- Which ones are good and which ones should be avoided?
- What's the sound quality like? CD-quality? Worse? Better? (FWIW, the 'phone is an Android Motorola Moto G)
- I do want something that pairs with the 'phone immediately when you get into the car, not one that needs to have a button pressed to initiate the pairing process. (Yes, I'm fussy!)
- I'd like something that can pair with two phones - my wife's and mine (although clearly not both at the same time!) I presume this is possible?
If anyone has been down this path and has any recommendations I'd like to hear - thanks.
Oli.
IOPlay2, best sound quality I've had from a handsfree car kit. A2DP so you can stream music and if you want to hook something else up, there's a Bluetooth charging adapter with a range of plugs on that will work. The only strange thing is that onboard the IOPlay, there's an old 30 pin iPhone/iPod type adapter, but not a micro SIM one
Parrot - best connectivity options, micro USB, normal USB, iPhone (old version I believe) and some neat use of the Bluetooth, when on another input and using the phone as a sat nav, the audio cuts in showing Voicemail or something as a caller, then it's off again. With the IOPlay, you only get bluetooth audio from the phone sat nav if it's actually on that input
Parrot sound quality is s
t though, and the amps are only 20W, compared to 80W from the IO
I wouldnt bother with that adapter personally when you can spend more and get a lot more
Parrot - best connectivity options, micro USB, normal USB, iPhone (old version I believe) and some neat use of the Bluetooth, when on another input and using the phone as a sat nav, the audio cuts in showing Voicemail or something as a caller, then it's off again. With the IOPlay, you only get bluetooth audio from the phone sat nav if it's actually on that input
Parrot sound quality is s
t though, and the amps are only 20W, compared to 80W from the IOI wouldnt bother with that adapter personally when you can spend more and get a lot more
I have this one:
http://www.belkin.com/us/p/P-F4U037/
It works quite well for music. Call quality is a disaster but I expected that.
The only major annoyance is that it doesn’t turn itself on until you hit the button so in reality I always forget about it and listen to radio instead.
If the thing would just turn on, pair itself and start playing as soon as it gets power, it would be almost perfect for music.
http://www.belkin.com/us/p/P-F4U037/
It works quite well for music. Call quality is a disaster but I expected that.
The only major annoyance is that it doesn’t turn itself on until you hit the button so in reality I always forget about it and listen to radio instead.
If the thing would just turn on, pair itself and start playing as soon as it gets power, it would be almost perfect for music.
andy-xr said:
Parrot sound quality is st though, and the amps are only 20W, compared to 80W from the IO
Not necessarily...t though, and the amps are only 20W, compared to 80W from the IOI've got a Parrot Mki9200 in my e46 and I've used the line out from the Parrot into the aux-in on my factory head unit. It still retains the bypass loom and uses its own amp for calls, however by setting (in the Parrot menu) "mute on streaming" to off, it allows music to be streamed to the head unit at line level and then to the speakers via the Harmon/Kardon amp. The quality is actually pretty good.
With a 32Gb SD card full of music, support for pairing 2 phones at a time, and a decent user interface (5 lines of text vs the IOPlay's 1 or 2), it's perfect for my needs. I paid £80 2nd hand for it, plus about another £20 for the car specific loom.
Chaps,
Thanks for the replies. I should probably have added the caveat that I am looking for something that will simply pick up BT and feed it into a line-in jack at the back of the existing head unit, and don't want to pay much for what must be a very simple device.
Krikkit, a Parrot sounds nice but they are ugly and - as you said - overkill, bringing a lot of extra functionality I don't need or want. Thanks for the suggestion tho'.
Andy-xr, same again really. I'm sure it's great but that looks like it's aimed at iPhone users (I am in the Android ecosystem) and again more than I need. They also seem to retain for around £120, and for that money I'd be buying another head unit for an all-in-one solution.
Craikeybaby, thanks, I didn't know that - I assumed it was decent quality. Maybe I should just drop this idea ...
EricE, thanks, that looks like what I am looking for, but the lack of auto-connecting would put me off, as would the price.
Maybe this is just another good idea to be filed in the "not worth bothering with" bin!
Oli.
Thanks for the replies. I should probably have added the caveat that I am looking for something that will simply pick up BT and feed it into a line-in jack at the back of the existing head unit, and don't want to pay much for what must be a very simple device.
Krikkit, a Parrot sounds nice but they are ugly and - as you said - overkill, bringing a lot of extra functionality I don't need or want. Thanks for the suggestion tho'.
Andy-xr, same again really. I'm sure it's great but that looks like it's aimed at iPhone users (I am in the Android ecosystem) and again more than I need. They also seem to retain for around £120, and for that money I'd be buying another head unit for an all-in-one solution.
Craikeybaby, thanks, I didn't know that - I assumed it was decent quality. Maybe I should just drop this idea ...
EricE, thanks, that looks like what I am looking for, but the lack of auto-connecting would put me off, as would the price.
Maybe this is just another good idea to be filed in the "not worth bothering with" bin!
Oli.
I have the io play thingy.
It's mostly fine but doesn't like it if I switch the engine off & on again with it plugged in.
It's also easily confused (rather like me) and doesnt work well if you are using the car stereo to listen to the radio & mutes it whenever the phone receives an email or text or if the screen is activated.
Good sound quality but it also doesn't use the sub in the boot (presumably that's a line out of the stereo) so you get a completely different sound, and if you don't switch the CD player off you can still hear it playing through the sub.
They're not perfect but they're a good enough solution to iPhone connectivity & Bluetooth calling without having to bin the standard head unit.
It's mostly fine but doesn't like it if I switch the engine off & on again with it plugged in.
It's also easily confused (rather like me) and doesnt work well if you are using the car stereo to listen to the radio & mutes it whenever the phone receives an email or text or if the screen is activated.
Good sound quality but it also doesn't use the sub in the boot (presumably that's a line out of the stereo) so you get a completely different sound, and if you don't switch the CD player off you can still hear it playing through the sub.
They're not perfect but they're a good enough solution to iPhone connectivity & Bluetooth calling without having to bin the standard head unit.
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