[HollowmanVIII]

Originally Posted by silver145

Hi Hollow, really appreciate the info you provided. Quick question for you: What is the audio quality like? Does this output the audio via the AUX connection? (as i believe thats a Lo-Fi source port really isnt it?) Hopefully you can clarify this for me as i am looking for an upgrade for the CCC and speakers, but dont want to get this if the sound quality is just as bad or worse going via the aux.

Thanks

I haven't got one yet. I am still undecided between the AVIN and a CIC. The avin is a lot less which is tempting.

A few other guys on the thread seem happy with their units and can probably answer your questions.

[Ash-335i]

Originally Posted by HollowmanVIII

Did you get your unit?

Sorry for the delay. Yeah it’s here, not got around to fitting it yet though. Good experience with aliexpress.

[HollowmanVIII]

Do the stock chime notifications i.e temp drop, fuel warning etc still appear on the avin screen when in the android side of things?

I'm still torn between this and a CIC

[e28bmw]

Originally Posted by HollowmanVIII

Do the stock chime notifications i.e temp drop, fuel warning etc still appear on the avin screen when in the android side of things?

I'm still torn between this and a CIC

No they don't, you're reliant on the dash for those when using the android side

[HollowmanVIII]

Originally Posted by e28bmw

No they don't, you're reliant on the dash for those when using the android side

Cool that's fine, just wanted to check.

In terms of wiring the aux, does it it need to be ran under the armrest area to the aux slot or not?

I'm just wondering what extras to order, I'd rather just get the OBD adapter to have the torque app working.

[e28bmw]

Originally Posted by HollowmanVIII

Cool that's fine, just wanted to check.

In terms of wiring the aux, does it it need to be ran under the armrest area to the aux slot or not?

I'm just wondering what extras to order, I'd rather just get the OBD adapter to have the torque app working.

No the aux is inline and included in the harness so you don't need to physically connect it to the aux port. I also would have thought that if you have a bluetooth obd dongle, that would connect to the android unit via bluetooth and work fine but i haven't tried it.

[HollowmanVIII]

Originally Posted by e28bmw

No the aux is inline and included in the harness so you don't need to physically connect it to the aux port. I also would have thought that if you have a bluetooth obd dongle, that would connect to the android unit via bluetooth and work fine but i haven't tried it.

I have the carly adapter so perhaps that will work.

[Yam_440i]

I'm buying one of these today, actually really looking forward to fitting it! Can't wait to watch movies or surf web in the car

Anyone else want to share any experience?

Is the sound quality same as aux input quality?

[e28bmw]

Originally Posted by Yam_335i

I'm buying one of these today, actually really looking forward to fitting it! Can't wait to watch movies or surf web in the car

Anyone else want to share any experience?

Is the sound quality same as aux input quality?

It's not really that convenient for surfing the web because when you leave the generic menu and load up an app (from the apps list, i'm not talking about the default music or video player) you need to control via the touch screen and not the idrive controls. Because of the position of the screen it's much more convenient to just use your phone (although you can mirror your phone to the screen and still use the screen whilst controlling from your phone if you wanted).
Audio quality i suppose will differ depending on what setup you have in the car to begin with. I have the base stereo which is rubbish anyway and can't say that i notice any degradation in audio quality but as its an android unit you can install something like poweramp to play your music which has a decent equaliser to play around with. Its never going to provide better audio quality than your headunit as its still using that to output the audio

[Yam_440i]

Thanks alot for the info.

Do you feel Android 4.4 system is adequate enough? Can it be updated?

[e28bmw]

Originally Posted by Yam_335i

Thanks alot for the info.

Do you feel Android 4.4 system is adequate enough? Can it be updated?

It does the job to be fair. It has frozen on me a couple of times but not often and doesn't freeze for long. I think it probably could be updated and there is a menu for this but its in chinese and needs to be updated from a sd card. I would have thought that it requires a packaged upgrade though due to the custom rom that gives you the bmw style menu but I haven't investigated this.

[Yam_440i]

Just an FYI for anyone who is looking to purchase in the future, there seems to be a newer version of the same unit out which has 2gb ram and Android 7.1.

https://m.aliexpress.com/item/328702...t.32870266267&

Also there is an in depth tech thread on the unit on this forum:

https://forum.xda-developers.com/and...eries-t3673558

And my gosh, there seems to be quite alot of software related issues with the Android 4.4 units but I'm glad majority of the people here haven't really had much issues.

[e28bmw]

Originally Posted by Yam_335i

Just an FYI for anyone who is looking to purchase in the future, there seems to be a newer version of the same unit out which has 2gb ram and Android 7.1.

https://m.aliexpress.com/item/328702...870266267&

Also there is an in depth tech thread on the unit on this forum:

https://forum.xda-developers.com/and...eries-t3673558

And my gosh, there seems to be quite alot of software related issues with the Android 4.4 units but I'm glad majority of the people here haven't really had much issues.

Interesting thread, thanks for that

[HollowmanVIII]

New specs sound good but comes at a price jump as well. I might just go for the original one that most have bought.

For those who have it, how often do you find yourself dipping back into the ccc menu?

[e28bmw]

Originally Posted by HollowmanVIII

New specs sound good but comes at a price jump as well. I might just go for the original one that most have bought.

For those who have it, how often do you find yourself dipping back into the ccc menu?

Only to check on service dates, check control messages and oil level

[Yam_440i]

I believe these Avin units and the Chinese ones people in this thread who have ordered on AliExpress is all the same but with different stickers.

Another thread trending in the ICE section of this forum of majority of people raising issues;

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1424151

Actually concerning the amount of issues people have pointed out to do with sound quality. I was very close to buying one but I will hold off for now.

Interestingly no one has flagged anything major here so it's making me question whether they are the same unit

[HollowmanVIII]

Originally Posted by Yam_335i

I believe these Avin units and the Chinese ones people in this thread who have ordered on AliExpress is all the same but with different stickers.

Another thread trending in the ICE section of this forum of majority of people raising issues;

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1424151

Actually concerning the amount of issues people have pointed out to do with sound quality. I was very close to buying one but I will hold off for now.

Interestingly no one has flagged anything major here so it's making me question whether they are the same unit

I think there has always been the issue that sound quality will probably suffer. It seems to be a lot of people in America having issues.

I did look at going CIC retrofit, but it's still at least £700 and even CIC is 10 years old now and feeling a little stale.

[Bmwguy82]

Originally Posted by HollowmanVIII

New specs sound good but comes at a price jump as well. I might just go for the original one that most have bought.

For those who have it, how often do you find yourself dipping back into the ccc menu?

I've had the Avin for last 5 months and haven't gone into the CCC menu unless I check for service etc..

Regarding the sound quality issues...

Originally I had the Hifi sound system (Amp with 10 speakers) and to be honest It didn't bother me as it wasn't the best to start with and it sounded alright.

Recently I did a full sound system upgrade and its very noticeable from Avin product compared to the headunit especially for bass. The sound is far from rubbish but most songs I play, the bass isn't as good compared to the headunit. When you turn up the bass settings in the audio section, It just muffles the sound or doesn't sound right.

Overall majority of people would be happy with this system and apart from the
minor sound quality issue, this is a great system!

Hope this helps

[HollowmanVIII]

Originally Posted by Bmwguy82

I've had the Avin for last 5 months and haven't gone into the CCC menu unless I check for service etc..

Regarding the sound quality issues...

Originally I had the Hifi sound system (Amp with 10 speakers) and to be honest It didn't bother me as it wasn't the best to start with and it sounded alright.

Recently I did a full sound system upgrade and its very noticeable from Avin product compared to the headunit especially for bass. The sound is far from rubbish but most songs I play, the bass isn't as good compared to the headunit. When you turn up the bass settings in the audio section, It just muffles the sound or doesn't sound right.

Overall majority of people would be happy with this system and apart from the
minor sound quality issue, this is a great system!

Hope this helps

Thanks mate, it's nice to get some good feedback from somebody who has used it for a decent length of time.

Have you used the bluetooth for calls at all, just wondered what the quality was like?

Also can you still have the older NBT "list" style menu as opposed to the icons? I actually prefer this for some reason.

For the price is seems like a no brainer compared with CIC, I'd budgeted for an upgrade but also wanted to get my performance exhaust. Going with avin I could stretch to both :d

[Bmwguy82]

Originally Posted by HollowmanVIII

Thanks mate, it's nice to get some good feedback from somebody who has used it for a decent length of time.

Have you used the bluetooth for calls at all, just wondered what the quality was like?

Also can you still have the older NBT "list" style menu as opposed to the icons? I actually prefer this for some reason.

For the price is seems like a no brainer compared with CIC, I'd budgeted for an upgrade but also wanted to get my performance exhaust. Going with avin I could stretch to both :d

Well at the beginning I didn't want to use it cause i thought the original one would be better but since i tried it. It's absolutely fine and other side can hear me well. Note that i'm not using the external mic provided and just utilising the built in one.

The only annoying thing about the Bluetooth calls is the ringtone.. Its an old Nokia tune

Yes you can but the unit that I got it just worked better with the newer style menu so I stuck to that.

If you have any more questions, please don't hesitate to ask

[HollowmanVIII]

Originally Posted by Bmwguy82

Well at the beginning I didn't want to use it cause i thought the original one would be better but since i tried it. It's absolutely fine and other side can hear me well. Note that i'm not using the external mic provided and just utilising the built in one.

The only annoying thing about the Bluetooth calls is the ringtone.. Its an old Nokia tune

Yes you can but the unit that I got it just worked better with the newer style menu so I stuck to that.

If you have any more questions, please don't hesitate to ask

Thanks, appreciate the info. The nokia tone sounds interesting ha!

I'm glad the system boots straight into the android side each time. I remember reading somebody say that if the car is shutdown for 20+ mins then it reverts back to the CCC menu upon startup which kind of put me off a bit.

Can you get live traffic info on the google maps app and also any offline maps to download to it? I like the interface of google maps so can see myself trying to use that most as my go to nav app.

[Bmwguy82]

Originally Posted by HollowmanVIII

Thanks, appreciate the info. The nokia tone sounds interesting ha!

I'm glad the system boots straight into the android side each time. I remember reading somebody say that if the car is shutdown for 20+ mins then it reverts back to the CCC menu upon startup which kind of put me off a bit.

Can you get live traffic info on the google maps app and also any offline maps to download to it? I like the interface of google maps so can see myself trying to use that most as my go to nav app.

Erm not sure about others but regardless how long my car has been off, the system always boots up on the android side.

Offline Maps are available although i'm always tethering. I always use google maps as I didn't like the interface of the navigation system built in.

Here is a link to when i posted the Google maps pictures:
https://www.e90post.com/forums/showp...7&postcount=27