[Mporto75]

Originally Posted by kenbrinkman

Hey guys, just finished installing the AirEnabler Adapter Kit that arrived this morning from Amazon. The box was smaller than I expected so I was hopeful that I could find a spot to hide as much of it away as possible. I decided to pull up the center trim to have a look at any potential spots and there's the perfect one in between the rear edge of the center trim and the front edge of the glove box.

1. Purchase the AirEnabler Adapter Kit from Amazon. It comes with everything you need: 12v power adapter, USB to USB micro cord, USB DAC (Digital to Analog Controller), and 3.5 mm audio cable.



2. Pry up your center trim. First remove the shift boot by pulling one of the corners away and out, working your way around the boot. Then, grab the rearward edge of the storage binnacle (iDrive is different) and just pull up. Should pop out relatively easily. You don't need to remove the whole thing, just enough to provide space to maneuver in.



3. Here's the location of the perfect spot to hide the box.



4. Pull up the rubber mat that lines the bottom of the glove box. Arrange the box and wires so that it's seated nice and securely inside the area of dead space. Tuck the wires through to the glovebox, underneath the plastic bottom of the glove box. It'll be obvious when you see it what to do. There's plenty of space to hide everything.



5. Plug in the 12v adapter, usb power, and 3.5 mm audio jack.



6. Replace the rubber mat, pop the trim back in, reseat the shift boot and you should be left with a reliable and clean airplay installation.



7. When starting the car, the box takes about 15-20 seconds to boot (not nearly as long as an AirPort Express) so you don't really notice it. Join the AirEnabler_XXX wifi network. The box is preconfigured to send all data from the phone to your cellular network, not wifi. It's pretty smart. You'll notice that I'm connected to the wifi network, but there's still the LTE logo in the corner, letting you know it's still connected to the cell network as well.



8. Set the car's input to AUX. If you're on iOS 7, swipe up from the bottom, hit airplay, choose the box (I named mine something different, the default is the same as the wifi network) and enjoy high quality, wireless music.



TIPS:

- Turn down the volume on the car's head unit all the way, set the iPhone's volume to 80-90%, then readjust the car's volume. This will ensure the best sound quality.

- This is a good guide on the box from the manufacturer. It has everything you need to know about setup, advanced settings, etc.

- The box is plug and play out of the box, but any advanced configurations require Telnet it access the box. It's still pretty simple. The guide above has more info.

- Because this interfaces with the car solely with the AUX IN, there's no control from the steering wheel or head unit. Only volume. This is essentially the same as a wireless AUX IN.

Thanks for tip just ordered mine. Thanks.

[Marc2oh9]

just installed it, super easy! Thanks for the write up

[s!ke]

Ok so here is a question for you. Right now I am using airplay via Bluetooth. I have a Bluetooth receiver set up the same way as you (power through a 12v USB adapter and the sound through the aux port, as I don't have a USB port) in my car and my music apps such as DI radio and spotify play wirelessly through that no problem.


However while playing it this way I am not able to use two music apps at a time. For example. If I am playing a song in spotify or soundcloud (let's say it's a mix with no track listing) and I try to use shazam to ID it, the radio app will shut down. As far as I know this only happens when on BT (not sure about airplay)

However, if I plug a aux cable into my headphone jack and the aux port and don't use Bluetooth I can use a music app and shazam simultaneously.

Any idea if this is a limitation of Bluetooth? Same thing with airplay?

[kenbrinkman]

Originally Posted by s!ke

Ok so here is a question for you. Right now I am using airplay via Bluetooth. I have a Bluetooth receiver set up the same way as you (power through a 12v USB adapter and the sound through the aux port, as I don't have a USB port) in my car and my music apps such as DI radio and spotify play wirelessly through that no problem.


However while playing it this way I am not able to use two music apps at a time. For example. If I am playing a song in spotify or soundcloud (let's say it's a mix with no track listing) and I try to use shazam to ID it, the radio app will shut down. As far as I know this only happens when on BT (not sure about airplay)

However, if I plug a aux cable into my headphone jack and the aux port and don't use Bluetooth I can use a music app and shazam simultaneously.

Any idea if this is a limitation of Bluetooth? Same thing with airplay?

I don't know how it would behave off the top of my head, but when I get in my car after work today I'll check it out and see what happens.

[s!ke]

Originally Posted by kenbrinkman

I don't know how it would behave off the top of my head, but when I get in my car after work today I'll check it out and see what happens.

Thank you.

YEah try to play DI radio app or Pandora, and then shazam a song.

That is pretty much the only use case I am trying to solve for, everything else works perfect haha.

Thank you!

[NJ | 330]

how the sound quality with the airplay vs aux cable?

[275o]

NICE!

I think i gonna do that on mine!

[CertifiedOfficial]

Originally Posted by NJ | 330

how the sound quality with the airplay vs aux cable?

It'll be the exact same, as the aux cable is still used between the Airplay and the car.

Going to order this for my E90. This should be much better sound than the BT receivers I've been eyeing! Eventually I hope to integrate a USB input into the car, but until then...

Edit: Ordered, will have it installed this weekend.

[ntrinh91]

Does it support video? For example, if you put youtube on airplay, it wouldn't show the video.

[CertifiedOfficial]

Got the kit and had it installed in under 10 min!

Works great, just wish I had an accessory source for the Airplay.

Originally Posted by j13jjs

To help negate the 20 second start up time I'd suggest using the power from the glove box flashlight port if you have it. It gets power when you unlock the car or open the door and shuts off a few minutes after you exit the car.

You can either plug in with one of these



Or just splice into the wires behind it.

This is an excellent idea, I need to source this part, somewhere, as ECS no longer carries it.

[CertifiedOfficial]

Also, this should answer most people's questions about where to buy, setup, etc: http://airenabler.qnology.com/

[kunal_d]

Thanks for this post! It looks like an easy and seamless install. Just ordered my air enabler and will post my results, can't wait!

[Ivan James]

Very cool! Can't wait to try this.

[m1ka]

+1 stoked on this device!

[Meeni]

I bought a simpler and better device : a bluethooth A2DP adaptor with BT4 (thus lossless audio codec). The sound quality is very good, far away from earlier BT2 standards.

http://www.amazon.com/iClever-Blueto...V0ZKDGWQWNA53F

This is excellent, it turns on instantaneously with the engine, pairs with the phone in less than a second, w/o any interaction or button pressing (it can remember autopairing with 2 different phones).

Also, it has a phone handfree call module, so if you don't already have one, that's a good feature. But you can still use the car integrated phone module at the same time you use the BT audio if you prefer (which I prefer, the mic of the car is better placed than the mic on module, since I keep it out of sight in the center console).

Overall, highly recommended.

[mkPOTO]

very nice!

[m1ka]

For those of you whom upgraded the usb DAC (I bought the Creative one), is your audio quiet?

I used TelNet to raise the default audio at 70% to 85% but it still does not seem as loud (and yes my iphone is 90-95% volume.

What percent did u raise to?

Did I do something wrong? I took a screenshot of the TelNet screen.

[taibanl]

Originally Posted by Meeni

I bought a simpler and better device : a bluethooth A2DP adaptor with BT4 (thus lossless audio codec). The sound quality is very good, far away from earlier BT2 standards.

http://www.amazon.com/iClever-Blueto...V0ZKDGWQWNA53F

You have no idea what you're talking about, BT A2DP, per its specification is significantly inferior SQ to lossless airplay.

I'd love to see an official source stating BT 4.0 has lossless support.

[Meeni]

Sure, it is not lossless, and maybe you are one of the few blessed with the curse of being able to discriminate between lossless and properly done mp3, that is, better than random. If so, I doubt you can reiterate the tour-de-force in a moving car with road noise.

AD2P had very bad audio quality, more like mono-radio, and that gave it a bad rap. Now things have changed, its perfectly fine with aptx and most will be unable to tell there was compression at all.

[taibanl]

Originally Posted by m1ka

For those of you whom upgraded the usb DAC (I bought the Creative one), is your audio quiet?

I used TelNet to raise the default audio at 70% to 85% but it still does not seem as loud (and yes my iphone is 90-95% volume.

What percent did u raise to?

Did I do something wrong? I took a screenshot of the TelNet screen.

set to 95 or 99, you'll be fine.

[Isaiah5411]

Somebody above asked a question that didn't get answered and I'd like to know the answer myself:

If you're watching a video (on your phone or tablet) and use the AirPlay adapter, will it play the sound through the car audio while still being able to see the video on the source?

[taibanl]

Originally Posted by Isaiah5411

Somebody above asked a question that didn't get answered and I'd like to know the answer myself:

If you're watching a video (on your phone or tablet) and use the AirPlay adapter, will it play the sound through the car audio while still being able to see the video on the source?

Yes