[Isaiah5411]

Originally Posted by taibanl

Yes

Thanks!

[taibanl]

Originally Posted by Isaiah5411

Thanks!

But i should add there id buffering so its likely to be delayed

[Isaiah5411]

Just installed the AirEnabler in my car using the Creative Sounds Blaster X-Fi Go! Pro. Works and sounds great, especially after downloading the Telnet Lite app and adjusting the volume level to 95, which matched the other levels (CD, SAT, etc.) with the Iphone and iPad mini at about 90%.

As others found, the supplied DAC (and mini-stereo cable) were not the best quality. Once I installed the Sound Blaster (which I ordered at the same time as the AirEnabler from Amazon thanks to this thread)) and replaced the mini-stereo cable, everything was perfect. Accessing the unit's menu thru the app and changing the volume, Wifi SSID name, and AirPlay name were a piece of cake.

So...thanks again for the great DIY. As others have said, its a real game changer...blows Bluetooth away in sound quality and versatility.

Note: I'll be posting pics of my iPad mini 3 install soon. Came up with what appears to be a unique way to mount it that works well, looks good, was cheap, serves more than one function and requires no permanent modifications...pretty much met all of the criteria for a good DIY.

[Isaiah5411]

Just a little update: I bought a battery back-up to see if I could avoid the 40 sec delay. I ordered a Jackery Giant from Amazon

(http://www.amazon.com/Jackery%C2%AE-...=jackery+giant)

Charged it up, plugged it in, clicked the power button once "to charge" (as per instructions) and the AirEnabler powered up and stayed powered up after turning off the car, locking it, and getting back in numerous times. Now I can continue to listen to music over AirPlay after the car engine is stopped like we can with other Modes of music.

So...it works perfectly, drawing very little current overnight. (And, it would take A LOT to drain the battery, with the Giant having 1200mAh). And...it does NOT disconnect from the AirEnabler when it starts charging, as Qui (the AirEnabler seller) was concerned might happened. It constantly charges while the car is on.

No more 40 sec delay!!!...which sometimes seemed like an eternity.

[Sample]

Originally Posted by Isaiah5411

Just a little update: I bought a battery back-up to see if I could avoid the 40 sec delay. I ordered a Jackery Giant from Amazon

(http://www.amazon.com/Jackery%C2%AE-...=jackery+giant)

Charged it up, plugged it in, clicked the power button once "to charge" (as per instructions) and the AirEnabler powered up and stayed powered up after turning off the car, locking it, and getting back in numerous times. Now I can continue to listen to music over AirPlay after the car engine is stopped like we can with other Modes of music.

So...it works perfectly, drawing very little current overnight. (And, it would take A LOT to drain the battery, with the Giant having 1200mAh). And...it does NOT disconnect from the AirEnabler when it starts charging, as Qui (the AirEnabler seller) was concerned might happened. It constantly charges while the car is on.

No more 40 sec delay!!!...which sometimes seemed like an eternity.

Do you have to manually switch it to charge vs power the airport every time you get in and out of the car or does it switch between them automatically depending if the car is on/off?
I only have about a 20-25min commute to work. Is that enough time to fully recharge the battery after say 16hrs of idling or having sat idle over a weekend? I guess what I'm getting at is whether this is connect and forget about it; or will I have to take it out the car and charge it in the house because the battery could be depleted every couple days?

[Isaiah5411]

Originally Posted by Sample

Do you have to manually switch it to charge vs power the airport every time you get in and out of the car or does it switch between them automatically depending if the car is on/off?
I only have about a 20-25min commute to work. Is that enough time to fully recharge the battery after say 16hrs of idling or having sat idle over a weekend? I guess what I'm getting at is whether this is connect and forget about it; or will I have to take it out the car and charge it in the house because the battery could be depleted every couple days?

It is "connect and forget". Once installed, you hit the Power/Charge button once and it powers up the Airplay and starts charging automatically when the car is turned back on.

But...I'm thinkin' the AirEnabler has more of a power drain than previously described. It mows through the Jackery's battery pretty fast while the car sits over night. I end up taking the Jackery inside once or twice a week to let it fully charge overnight. So, this is not quite as great of a work-around as I had hoped. But, for a day of being in and out of the car a lot, it really helps.

Bottom line: The purchase was still worth it to me. It can also be used to give a quick charge to cell phones and Bluetooth headphones, of course.

[Isaiah5411]

Curiosity got the best of me and I ordered the Fiio E-17 Alpen portable DAC/head phone amplifier that was listed as an upgraded DAC by Qui on his site. It DID sound better than the Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Go!, but...it crapped out on me in less than a week (which a reviewer said was known to happen). It started distorting horribly. (I thought I had blown a speaker or something using the test tones on my Spectrum Analyzer app but when I hooked up the Sound Blaster, the distortion was gone. )

So...I am in the process of returning the Fiio unit. Meanwhile, because the sound was considerably better with the Fiio (more open, accurate), I ordered a Dragonfly v1.2 USB DAC, which is "self-contained" (like the Sound Blaster...no need for separate power) and got phenomenal reviews on audio sites. Will be here today. Will update later.

http://www.amazon.com/AUDIOQUEST-DRA...DMXWHQWBT0TE0J

Upgrading the DAC does help dramatically as another forum member suggested!

[khanh1289]

i wonder if coding could be done to eliminate the delayed start. :/

[Isaiah5411]

Don't you just learning stuff the hard way???

Turns out, the Fiio unit was not defective....just had the wrong signal/strength going to it.

I received the Audioquest Dragonfly v1.2 and was excited to hook it up, thinking that at DAC was a DAC and that since the Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-fi Go! worked well with the AirEnabler's (with the AE's volume set at 95% to balance source sounds) that any of these things would work the same way.

Well...the Dragonfly distorted even worse than the Fiio. So, I called Audioquest and talked to a nice guy there who jad never heard of the AirEnabler and basically said that the Dragonfly was not made for applications like this. I told him that I suspected that the signal was "too hot" from the volume being set too high in the AE (which was factory set at 60%) and that I was going to return it to the default volume of 60 and see what happens.

I did that and....the distortion went away and the Dragonfly sounded AWESOME...far better than the Sound Blaster and Fiio.

Well...the Dragonfly and Fiio are (headphone) AMPLIFIERS and the Sound Blaster is not. The guy at Audioquest reminded me that the instructions for use with a laptop (the Dragonfly's designed purpose) was to turn down the source volume (the laptop) and then turn up the volume of any external amplifier receiving the signal from the Dragonfly via the 3.5mm mini-stereo jack. Why wouldn't the AirEnabler be the same???

Right after talking with Audioquest, I contacted Qui at qnology (Note: He is great at returning Emails!) and told him about the situation. While waiting for his response, I went out to the car and made the volume adjustment...which worked.

AND, at 60% on the AE, the volume of the AUX input through the Logic 7 system using the Dragonfly matches that of the other sources (FM, CD, Sat). Using the Sound Blaster (SB), I had to crank the volume of the AE up to 95% to get that sound level match. Hello...no amplifier in the SB!

Last night, I received the return Email from Qui at qnology and he gave me some instructions for changing some other config settings on the AE. He had JUST received a Dragonfly himself after someone else reported this issue. He thinks these settings are the solution. I'll try these and report back.

In the meantime, the Dragonfly sounds incredible the way it is set now. I never knew the Logic 7 system could sound this good...especially with the new sub added. (http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1071029 )

[300e]

Got the AE for XMAS and this thing rocks. Total game changer in my '06. So stoked to have it. Thanks to all for their input here. I'll continue to follow the thread for everybody's ongoing tweaks.

[Isaiah5411]

The new settings for the AirEnabler to make the Dragonfly more compatible didn't work out...still getting a little distortion and could not level-match effectively with other sources (CD, SAT, FM).

So...I decided to give the Fiio E17 another try. I bumped the volume of the AirEnabler down to 85 (from 95, at level which I was getting distortion from the Fiio) and increased the volume on the Fiio to 58 (with 60 being max).

And, the sound is great...the best yet (especially after finer-tuning the new sub and redoing the Spectrum Analyzer and adjusting the L7s EQ). And, the levels of all sources are close. (No more swapping to SAT/FM and having to rush for the volume knob.)

So I'm sticking with the Fiio E17, at least until Qui has a chance to work on the programming of the AirEnabler a bit more to make the Dragonfly more compatible. The Dragonfly was also getting quite warm, which concerned me.

Anyway, those interested in upgrading the DAC cannot go wrong with the Fiio unit. Plus, it makes a great portable headphone amp.

[mchoy]

Originally Posted by urban335

Just wanted to say thanks for the tips and DIY OP! Great product that I didn't know existed. Nice bang-for-your-buck upgrade if you don't like having an aux cable lying around cluttering up your interior.

I paired this with the Kenu Airframe mount - recommended by another member here - and could not be happier!

http://www.amazon.com/Kenu-Airframe-...&keywords=kenu

Agree, have been using this for over a year now and love it!

Originally Posted by Isaiah5411

The new settings for the AirEnabler to make the Dragonfly more compatible didn't work out...still getting a little distortion and could not level-match effectively with other sources (CD, SAT, FM).

So...I decided to give the Fiio E17 another try. I bumped the volume of the AirEnabler down to 85 (from 95, at level which I was getting distortion from the Fiio) and increased the volume on the Fiio to 58 (with 60 being max).

And, the sound is great...the best yet (especially after finer-tuning the new sub and redoing the Spectrum Analyzer and adjusting the L7s EQ). And, the levels of all sources are close. (No more swapping to SAT/FM and having to rush for the volume knob.)

So I'm sticking with the Fiio E17, at least until Qui has a chance to work on the programming of the AirEnabler a bit more to make the Dragonfly more compatible. The Dragonfly was also getting quite warm, which concerned me.

Anyway, those interested in upgrading the DAC cannot go wrong with the Fiio unit. Plus, it makes a great portable headphone amp.

Thanks for the follow up on this. I'm about order an AirEnabler and DAC (thanks OP for this post!). I'm assuming you have the iPhone EQ set to off. Do you have the Logic 7 system? If so, would you recommend different EQ settings than what's been shared on this board with the addition of a DAC?

Will probably go with the X-Fi Go! instead of the Fiio E17 as my daily commute is short.

[Isaiah5411]

Originally Posted by mchoy

Thanks for the follow up on this. I'm about order an AirEnabler and DAC (thanks OP for this post!). I'm assuming you have the iPhone EQ set to off. Do you have the Logic 7 system? If so, would you recommend different EQ settings than what's been shared on this board with the addition of a DAC?

Will probably go with the X-Fi Go! instead of the Fiio E17 as my daily commute is short.

Yes, I have the iPhone EQ set to off. I then used the Onyx Spectrun Analyzer app to set the Logic 7s EQ. That really helped. I'll take a pic of my settings and post it, but...from memory:

100Hz -1
200Hz +3 (this was a surprise to me, but shouldn't have been with the 4" mids in the doors vs. 5.25s or 6s in other cars).
500Hz 0
1k 0
2k 0
5 +1
10 +2
Bass flat
Treble flat
Sub adjustable via LPL44 remote bass knob (using Phoenix Gold XS2500 amp for sub only)

I liked the Sound Blaster X-Fi Go! but the Fiio is incredible.

[300e]

I'm using the Xfi Soundblaster and after resetting the volume output via Telnet really like it. I've been fiddling with the EQ settings every time I'm in the car so I'll have to dial yours up to see how I like them.

[shutterbug67]

If I get an airenabler, I will need to get a DAC to make it sound really good. I have the Hi-Fi system in my 2006 e91 wagon. So... which one do you guys recommend? did not want to spend a ton of money on this upgrade

[Isaiah5411]

Originally Posted by 300e

I'm using the Xfi Soundblaster and after resetting the volume output via Telnet really like it. I've been fiddling with the EQ settings every time I'm in the car so I'll have to dial yours up to see how I like them.

Yes...I ended up setting the volume output of the AirEnabler) AE to 95% using the Sound Blaster. The X-fi Go! seemed to handle this level well and it matched the levels of the other music sources (CD, SAT, FM).

Again, that was the problem with both the Fiio E17 and the Audioquest Dragonfly...they couldn't handle that high of a volume from the AE. The Dragonfly sounded best at an an volume of 70% but...the overall volume level was way off from the other sources.

So...I decided to give the Fiio another chance, with the AE set at a lower volume (85%) and the Fiio's output volume at 58/60. This is definitely the best set up so far.

But remember on these EQ settings: I have a separately amp'd and EQ'd subwoofer. However, to my ears, the L7 sounds best at these settings without the sub except for the sub range. If you don't have a sub, you might wanna bump up the 100Hx to +1 and then play with the over all Bass setting til it sounds right to you.

Originally Posted by shutterbug67

If I get an airenabler, I will need to get a DAC to make it sound really good. I have the Hi-Fi system in my 2006 e91 wagon. So... which one do you guys recommend? did not want to spend a ton of money on this upgrade

You've probably gotten your answer from the posts above but I would either get the SoundBlaster on a budget or get the Fiio E17 if $150 doesn't break the bank 'cause it does sound considerably better.

The advantage of the Sound Blaster is that it requires no separate power other than what comes from the AE unit (in other words, it has no batter). So it's plug and play and leave. On the other hand, the Fiio HAS a lithium ion battery (thus being a portable headphone amp, which is nice to have), getting its power from the AE via the USB connection. The only potential problem is leaving the Fiio on too long without power to the AE (e.g. parked for an extended time).

I use a Jackery Giant external battery to power the whole thing while the car is off to keep everything hot during the day (to avoid the 40 sec delay). But, I do turn everything off at night to conserve the Jackery's power. The Fiio does have a sleep mode to conserve its power, which is cool.

[Sample]

For those with jailbroken iPhones, you can have your phone automatically connect to Airplay with two tweaks - Activator and AutoAirPlay. I've tested this with iOS 8.1.2

Setup:

Activator
1. Tap Anywhere
2. Tap More and choose Joined Wi-Fi Network. You then specify the wifi name of the network in your car.
3. Go back to the Anywhere section and scroll down for Joined xxxxxxnetworkname and tap it
4. Assign it to "Airplay Activator/AutoAirplay"

AutoAirplay
My settings are:
-11 Second Delay
-Retry count 30
-Enabled Prefer audio-only speakers
-Specify the Preferred speaker name. This seems to help with connecting issues

[armandoE90Post]

Just curious if the Airplay option is better than going the Dension 500s route?

[Isaiah5411]

Originally Posted by armandoE90Post

Just curious if the Airplay option is better than going the Dension 500s route?

I think the Airplay option is better because Airplay is lossless audio (vs Bluetooth), wireless (vs USB), and you gain the use of a DAC (e.g the Fiio E17), which provides a major improvement in sound. Plus, Airplay/Fiio is much cheaper and its installation is much less involved.

[Meeni]

The difference between lossless airplay and aptx bluetoots is not what it used to be*. I heard no compression artifacts, and the soundtrack remains clear and articulate, even in difficult to render symphonic pieces with a lot going on at the same time. Hard to make a difference when the car is at a standstill, impossible when in motion.

Beware, for Apt-x to work, you need a BT dongle that supports Apt-x, and a phone that supports Apt-x. Otherwise, you'll get poor quality BT2 audio. Notably, iPhones do not support Apt-X, unlike most Android devices.

*in the past BT audio was crap. The new version is a lot better, but still suffers from the bad reputation of the previous standard. You really want apt-x as a feature of your BT audio system. Some newer dongles even have aptx lossless (mine doesn't, still it works very well).

[Isaiah5411]

Originally Posted by Meeni

The difference between lossless airplay and aptx bluetoots is not what it used to be*. I heard no compression artifacts, and the soundtrack remains clear and articulate, even in difficult to render symphonic pieces with a lot going on at the same time. Hard to make a difference when the car is at a standstill, impossible when in motion.

*in the past BT audio was crap. The new version is a lot better, but still suffers from the bad reputation of the previous standard. You really want apt-x as a feature of your BT audio system. Some newer dongles even have aptX lossless (mine doesn't, still it works very well).

Good to know. My past experience with BT has been bad. Are the newer BMWs equipped with aptX BT or do you have to upgrade to something like the Dension to get that?

[3002 tii]

Just installed this on my 1-er and used a cheap Syba DAC. Didn't believe it at first but the sound quality is noticeably better over BT. The music sounds richer/deeper. I have HK with L7 fwiw.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Bootup time doesn't bother me, by the time I get my belts on and roll out of the garage, the unit is nearly up and running.