How useable is the Dension in a vantage?

[davek_964]

I have Dension in my Cayenne so I know basically what it does. I want it in the vantage too but must admit I'm struggling to justify the cost - it's a fair chunk of cash just to be able to plug an iPod in. So I'd like to be sure that if I do get it installed, I am sure of what I'm getting.

In the Cayenne, I get a main menu option to select the iPod. Once I have, I can use the up / down buttons to scroll through a choice of "artists" / "albums" / "playlists" etc. I can select what I want by holding the down button for a couple of seconds, and holding the up button for a few seconds takes me back up a level.

Once I'm into albums / artists etc I have another choice of what artist / album I want. The first choice is A-Z search and if I choose that then I get to scroll through the first letter and once I select it, I can scroll through artists / albums that share that letter and select one. Or I can just scroll through all artists / albums one by one.

I assume the vantage system works the same way?

[Jonsv8]

My Vantage pretty much does this as standard. Its not the best screen as its the small one not the Nav screen bit it works.

[davek_964]

Jonsv8 said:

My Vantage pretty much does this as standard. Its not the best screen as its the small one not the Nav screen bit it works.

Thanks, that's what I assumed.

[jakesmith]

I had that system in a few of my Porsches, it did work fine but was a bit like trying to decorate the hall using a long roller, theough the letterbox on the other side of the front door, must be even more fiddly on the tiny Aston screen, good luck!

[Jonsv8]

Just to be clear, the system I have is an Aston MArtin one, not an after market Dension one. I thought it had been std fit for quite a long time.

[SlartiF430]

I had one in my db9. Worked fine. The screen is small which makes navigation less than ideal but you have access to your iPod library. I ended up not bothering with the navigation. Just set up a couple of driving playlists and just played them. I have s brilliant system in my current Audi A8, I still don't bother navigating my library though because no matter how intuitive the system, driving a car is not conducive to navigating music libraries imho.

[1973ja]

Give James @ Paralight audio a call, he pretty much did everyone's AM on the forum before the factory fit option. Top bloke

[KarlFranz]

Best way to deal with this is to put the Dension in iPod UI mode instead of Gateway UI mode. Then you simply use the interface on the iPod to search for songs, playlists, etc. The Play and Pause functions as well as the volume still can be adjusted via the car controls.

[Omaruk]

KarlFranz said:

Best way to deal with this is to put the Dension in iPod UI mode instead of Gateway UI mode. Then you simply use the interface on the iPod to search for songs, playlists, etc. The Play and Pause functions as well as the volume still can be adjusted via the car controls.

How do you do that Karl Franz?

[KarlFranz]

I don't have the Dension any more because i bought a new Aston. But, if i remember correctly, you select disc 5 (or maybe 6) and it's one of the options in the settings menus. Sorry i can't offer more help.

[jakesmith]

KarlFranz said:

I don't have the Dension any more because i bought a new Aston. But, if i remember correctly, you select disc 5 (or maybe 6) and it's one of the options in the settings menus. Sorry i can't offer more help.

That's how you do it, it's in the setting menu. Just don't get seen by the police playing with your iPod whilst driving. And no, that isn't a euphemism.

[davek_964]

jakesmith said:

KarlFranz said:

I don't have the Dension any more because i bought a new Aston. But, if i remember correctly, you select disc 5 (or maybe 6) and it's one of the options in the settings menus. Sorry i can't offer more help.

That's how you do it, it's in the setting menu. Just don't get seen by the police playing with your iPod whilst driving. And no, that isn't a euphemism.

That wouldn't work for me since I tend to keep iPods in the car and the one destined for the vantage has a broken screen!

It sounds like it won't be much different to the Cayenne and I find that fine so it should be OK. However, the decision to install one might be delayed since there is a watch I've been after for a while and one has turned up. I'm off to Milan on Thursday afternoon to see it - if it's still there and I like it, I'm likely to blow the Dension budget!

[davek_964]

So, it's fitted this morning - but although I'm used to using the one in my Cayenne I'm finding it a tad painful.

The key feature I use in the Cayenne one is A-Z search. This makes finding an album / artist much quicker, since I can select a letter then find what I want from a much shorter list. But I cannot find any way to get A-Z search on the Vantage Dension? Stepping through each album to find the one I want is seriously impractical.

Also - on the Cayenne, if I find an artist I want I then get given a list of albums by that artist so I can choose which one I want to play. But the Vantage Dension seems to just go from Artist to a list of tracks?

Am I missing something, or is this behaviour not possible in the Vantage version? Is there no A-Z search?

At the moment, I'm a bit disappointed. The Cayenne version is clunky, but useable - so far this seems to be a bit unuseable, and I'm thinking I may need to select stuff on the Ipod UI.

ETA: Sorted - found it in CD6. Track let's you decide whether to search album / artist etc and then the first option is ABC Search. And selecting the artist then lists the albums. Much happier now!

Edited by davek_964 on Friday 16th October 16:35