[PaKii94]

Hey Folks,

I just my e90 and was looking to add bluetooth streaming capabilities. I ordered a tune2air module but from the reviews it looks like the tracklist doesn't display for android & the skipping function doesn't work for streaming sources. I was wondering if I could do this as an alternative to get full functionality:

1) wirelinq -> best quality audio through USB, all android functionality.
2) use type c female to type a female converter
3) usb a bluetooth receiver (with apt x)

Has anyone tried this/ do you guys think it'll work?

This way it enables aptx & steering wheel controls & tracklist.


My concern is if the adapter/converter from C to A will screw up the signal. AND finding a plug & play bluetooth receiver that functions with it.

TIA!

[Nickco43]

Originally Posted by PaKii94

Hey Folks,

I just my e90 and was looking to add bluetooth streaming capabilities. I ordered a tune2air module but from the reviews it looks like the tracklist doesn't display for android & the skipping function doesn't work for streaming sources. I was wondering if I could do this as an alternative to get full functionality:

1) wirelinq -> best quality audio through USB, all android functionality.
2) use type c female to type a female converter
3) usb a bluetooth receiver (with apt x)

Has anyone tried this/ do you guys think it'll work?

This way it enables aptx & steering wheel controls & tracklist.


My concern is if the adapter/converter from C to A will screw up the signal. AND finding a plug & play bluetooth receiver that functions with it.

TIA!

I would order the tune2air on amazon and see if it works. If not you can return it for free.

[PaKii94]

Originally Posted by Nickco43

I would order the tune2air on amazon and see if it works. If not you can return it for free.

Yeah I already have. Should arrive tomorrow. I'll report back

[Nickco43]

Originally Posted by PaKii94

Yeah I already have. Should arrive tomorrow. I'll report back

I am retrofitting USB to my car so please do. I don't want to spend $90 on a dongle but if it works well I may have to.

[PaKii94]

Originally Posted by Nickco43

I am retrofitting USB to my car so please do. I don't want to spend $90 on a dongle but if it works well I may have to.

Eh don't waste your time with it. It works but dis satisfactorily. It's not worth $90 for for adding only semi functioning with inferior audio quality.


I did expect a downgrade in audio quality but not this much.

Here are the cons:

-At high phone volumes the sound starts cracking up. (This was solved by moving it to 60-70% on phone).

-For android (or at the very least oneplus 5t phones) song info doesn't show up. It just says '123' as the title and artist. The elapsed time does show up

-The skipping feature is kind of irritating. You have to press it multiple times to skip. At that point, it's easier for me to reach less than 1 foot more over to my phone screen and just skip it from there.

If the audio quality was excellent, I would have considered it but seeing that it doesn't add any benefit besides 'bluetooth audio' there are a lot cheaper + higher audio quality bluetooth receivers out there to try out.

Hope that helps! Let me know how your retrofit goes. I saw your other thread, I am in the same boat.

[Nickco43]

Originally Posted by PaKii94

Eh don't waste your time with it. It works but dis satisfactorily. It's not worth $90 for for adding only semi functioning with inferior audio quality.


I did expect a downgrade in audio quality but not this much.

Here are the cons:

-At high phone volumes the sound starts cracking up. (This was solved by moving it to 60-70% on phone).

-For android (or at the very least oneplus 5t phones) song info doesn't show up. It just says '123' as the title and artist. The elapsed time does show up

-The skipping feature is kind of irritating. You have to press it multiple times to skip. At that point, it's easier for me to reach less than 1 foot more over to my phone screen and just skip it from there.

If the audio quality was excellent, I would have considered it but seeing that it doesn't add any benefit besides 'bluetooth audio' there are a lot cheaper + higher audio quality bluetooth receivers out there to try out.

Hope that helps! Let me know how your retrofit goes. I saw your other thread, I am in the same boat.

I don't think it is going to happen. The seller was supposed to hold the radio for me but he shipped it out. It is going to sit for 7 days at the pickup point and then get return to them. I may just install a grom box or bite the bullet and do a dynavin. They are $1200 with android auto. I really do want to spend that much money so I can use steering wheel controls. Even the grom is 3x what it should cost.

Update: I found these two boxes on ebay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-Bluetoo...JZT0p5&vxp=mtr

This one taps into the factory aux port but my aux port does not have the best sound quality.


https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bluetooth-A...NYyQ-s&vxp=mtr

This one plugs into the CD changer port using optical and you have to tap into power somewhere. I have an ebay box like this in my E36 and it works great with radio controls.

[PaKii94]

Originally Posted by Nickco43

I don't think it is going to happen. The seller was supposed to hold the radio for me but he shipped it out. It is going to sit for 7 days at the pickup point and then get return to them. I may just install a grom box or bite the bullet and do a dynavin. They are $1200 with android auto. I really do want to spend that much money so I can use steering wheel controls. Even the grom is 3x what it should cost.

Update: I found these two boxes on ebay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-Bluetoo...JZT0p5&vxp=mtr

This one taps into the factory aux port but my aux port does not have the best sound quality.


https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bluetooth-A...NYyQ-s&vxp=mtr

This one plugs into the CD changer port using optical and you have to tap into power somewhere. I have an ebay box like this in my E36 and it works great with radio controls.

Arg good bluetooth audio shouldn't be this frustrating...


I have an aux & usb port so the first link doesn't relly matter to me. The second one is intriguing but I believe I have the CIC HU and idt it works for me. Also it's only BT 2.0 A2DP


I am about to give up on the steering wheel controls and just go for the best quality BT adapter. I'm thinking of getting this:

https://www.amazon.com/EarStudio-ES1.../dp/B078H4YD2L


If you go with the grom cable, can you try putting a bluetooth receiver on it and seeing if it works?

[OTO335i]

Originally Posted by PaKii94

Arg good bluetooth audio shouldn't be this frustrating...


I have an aux & usb port so the first link doesn't relly matter to me. The second one is intriguing but I believe I have the CIC HU and idt it works for me. Also it's only BT 2.0 A2DP


I am about to give up on the steering wheel controls and just go for the best quality BT adapter. I'm thinking of getting this:

https://www.amazon.com/EarStudio-ES1.../dp/B078H4YD2L


If you go with the grom cable, can you try putting a bluetooth receiver on it and seeing if it works?

I've tried quite a few things and for us Android users there's almost nothing available in regards to a Bluetooth receiver that will work with track skipping and have good audio quality.. The only options that are available are to change your HU to an aftermarket or something like the Grom unit but expect to spend at least 400+ for anything like that... It really sucks there's nothing really out there even though technology advances so "quickly". If there was something that could fool our systems to think that our phones are Iphones that would be nice and we could get full functionality like they do.

[PaKii94]

Originally Posted by OTO335i

I've tried quite a few things and for us Android users there's almost nothing available in regards to a Bluetooth receiver that will work with track skipping and have good audio quality.. The only options that are available are to change your HU to an aftermarket or something like the Grom unit but expect to spend at least 400+ for anything like that... It really sucks there's nothing really out there even though technology advances so "quickly". If there was something that could fool our systems to think that our phones are Iphones that would be nice and we could get full functionality like they do.

The grom Wirelinq cable https://gromaudio.com/wirelinq/ apparently works in fooling the system but it is still a cable. I was thinking of hooking up a bluetooth receiver to it but idk how feasible that is. Also, since there is nothing (besides changing HU to after market) for both audio quality and steering controls, I have decided to focus on maximizing the audio quality.

[techwhiz]

Originally Posted by PaKii94

The grom Wirelinq cable https://gromaudio.com/wirelinq/ apparently works in fooling the system but it is still a cable. I was thinking of hooking up a bluetooth receiver to it but idk how feasible that is. Also, since there is nothing (besides changing HU to after market) for both audio quality and steering controls, I have decided to focus on maximizing the audio quality.

The Grom cable is not compatible on older E90 cars.
I have one and it just doesn't work on pre-LCI cars. YMMV; but pass.

[PaKii94]

Originally Posted by techwhiz

The Grom cable is not compatible on older E90 cars.
I have one and it just doesn't work on pre-LCI cars. YMMV; but pass.

Who cares about pre-LCI??? Jk. What does it show? or do you mean the phones aren't recognized at all?

[Nickco43]

Originally Posted by PaKii94

Arg good bluetooth audio shouldn't be this frustrating...


I have an aux & usb port so the first link doesn't relly matter to me. The second one is intriguing but I believe I have the CIC HU and idt it works for me. Also it's only BT 2.0 A2DP


I am about to give up on the steering wheel controls and just go for the best quality BT adapter. I'm thinking of getting this:

https://www.amazon.com/EarStudio-ES1.../dp/B078H4YD2L


If you go with the grom cable, can you try putting a bluetooth receiver on it and seeing if it works?

The problem is the built in aux port has poor audio quality to begin with. My 35$ Bluetooth adaptor and my phone wired into the aux port has the same poor audio quality.

I am going to see if I can return my head unit I bought in the UK and buy the second adaptor.

[jacie6056]

Originally Posted by Nickco43

I don't think it is going to happen. The seller was supposed to hold the radio for me but he shipped it out. It is going to sit for 7 days at the pickup point and then get return to them. I may just install a grom box or bite the bullet and do a dynavin. They are $1200 with android auto. I really do want to spend that much money so I can use steering wheel controls. Even the grom is 3x what it should cost.

Update: I found these two boxes on ebay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-Bluetoo...JZT0p5&vxp=mtr

This one taps into the factory aux port but my aux port does not have the best sound quality.


https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bluetooth-A...NYyQ-s&vxp=mtr

This one plugs into the CD changer port using optical and you have to tap into power somewhere. I have an ebay box like this in my E36 and it works great with radio controls.

I am very interested about the CD port optical adapter. Did you tried this CD quality unit yet?
How does it compare with OEM usb retrofit? 6FL I remember I saw you tried the usb retrofit for other post.
Does it really improve the quality? or another DAC to downgrade the quality.

[Nickco43]

Originally Posted by jacie6056

I am very interested about the CD port optical adapter. Did you tried this CD quality unit yet?
How does it compare with OEM usb retrofit? 6FL I remember I saw you tried the usb retrofit for other post.
Does it really improve the quality? or another DAC to downgrade the quality.

The guy in the UK shipped out the head unit too early and I missed the pickup window. Once I get my refund I am going to order that eBay box that taps into the CD changer. I will let everyone know if the box is junk.

[6ixSpd]

Tuneai Firefly off Amazon. Simply put, it's absolutely perfect for streaming audio via BT while retaining as much sound quality as possible. I noticed zero sound difference in playing music through this unit vs. my USB sticks and I have a Logic 7 setup, even at ear-splitting volumes. No track skip/rewind via steering wheel but I can live without that.

Best $30 I ever spent on this car.

[Nickco43]

Originally Posted by 6ixSpd

Tuneai Firefly off Amazon. Simply put, it's absolutely perfect for streaming audio via BT while retaining as much sound quality as possible. I noticed zero sound difference in playing music through this unit vs. my USB sticks and I have a Logic 7 setup, even at ear-splitting volumes. No track skip/rewind via steering wheel but I can live without that.

Best $30 I ever spent on this car.

I currently use the tuni and I do notice some sound quality issues. For the price it is a great unit but if the $130 cd changer tap can achieve better sound quality and steering wheel controls then it is worth the premium.

[6ixSpd]

My ears are fairly sensitive to SQ and there's a very marginal difference in SQ vs. USB - if any at all. It's far better than I ever expected such a streaming solution to be.

But yeah, I'm very curious to hear your experience with that new product.

[neopolymath]

Originally Posted by Nickco43

I currently use the tuni and I do notice some sound quality issues. For the price it is a great unit but if the $130 cd changer tap can achieve better sound quality and steering wheel controls then it is worth the premium.

I'm eagerly awaiting your review on that cd changer tap from ebay. I have a 2006 and if I can't get track info on my non-nav display I would at least like to have usb quality audio and steering wheel controls! I don't think I have ever seen a product similar to the one you linked mentioned in my extensive search for a solution to our abandoned 2006 cars.

Let us know if there are any flaws/disables anything. Thanks.

[ctuna]

Very interesting a cheap version of a Dension gateway 500s
at a reasonable price.
I wonder if it uses the cd menu like the Dension does.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bluetooth-A...NYyQ-s&vxp=mtr

[Nickco43]

Originally Posted by ctuna

Very interesting a cheap version of a Dension gateway 500s
at a reasonable price.
I wonder if it uses the cd menu like the Dension does.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bluetooth-A...NYyQ-s&vxp=mtr

I ordered it a few days ago, It should be here this week.

[ctuna]

Please give us a review.
Thanks.

[PaKii94]

Originally Posted by Nickco43

I ordered it a few days ago, It should be here this week.

Originally Posted by ctuna

Please give us a review.
Thanks.

I'm also interested in the review.


I am still dissatisfied with the tune2air so I did some research. There doesn't seem to be any sort of MOST direct connection that supports aptx so I went the other route and looked for the best value. After much searching, I narrowed it down to this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/273161931903

I just ordered it, I'll review when I receive it!

It supports aptx HD once I get an HD phone but it's backwards compatible for my aptx phone. The dac on it seemed to get good reviews. It is also in the much more expensive (and Audioengine B1 competitor) Arcam rblink & miniblink (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K6KIZC4) but this has the upgraded bluetooth.

I'll be mounting it in the center console if the quality is there and will probably get an NFC tag to make pairing easier.

Wish me luck!