Any thoughts experience of W212 and bluetooth music streaming from INVERY Airdual-300A ?

[MikeInWimbledon]

This product allegedly will enable me to stream Apple music (and podcasts) to my 2009 W212 using the MMI interface.

Anyone got any experience of using it? Good or bad ? I'm aware that it won't stream phone calls - that being done by the bluetooth already in the car.

Any thoughts appreciated.

 

[Tonye]

Sorry Mike, not on apple. Can you not just turn the radio on.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Sorry Mike, not on apple. Can you not just turn the radio on.

I would if I could, but my wife won’t let me sit in the car at the times that I need to.

 

[Tonye]

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Might be of use, just link your phone and tune the radio to it.

 

[Londonscottish]

This product allegedly will enable me to stream Apple music (and podcasts) to my 2009 W212 using the MMI interface.

Anyone got any experience of using it? Good or bad ? I'm aware that it won't stream phone calls - that being done by the bluetooth already in the car.

Any thoughts appreciated.

View attachment 128417

That's an interesting solution which I haven't seen before - it basically give the solution that I get in my wife's Fiat 500 and that seems to be the default for all the hire cars I was getting pre-pandemic.

I decided to go full Tonto on this and had Comandonline fit the Integrated Automotive system. It takes over the Comand screen so you get the full apps-in-the-dash experience; and that really makes the cabin seem much newer as a side effect. I now get and choose from Spotify music, Spotify podcasts, BBC Sounds, Pocketcast, TuneIn radio, Audible, etc whilst having Google Maps (yey!!) take me to my destination. Loads of other apps available and you can use Waze, of course, if you prefer.

It's very neatly integrated in the MB system and the Comand nudge wheel lets you spin through the menus. The only minor issue is that the connectivity drops occasionally and I have to clear the Android Auto cache on my phone - but it's very easy and doesn't apply to Apple.

This isn't my car but you get the idea. I'm really happy I did it as it does transform the whole in-car experience.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

http://[URL]https://www.ebay.co.uk/...6iVo8kOQb2&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

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Might be of use, just link your phone and tune the radio to it.

Fair point that Bluetooth 5 is a better quality standard than early Bluetooth, but I’m wondering if I can use the Qualcom chip in this to automate the whole process using the MMI channel built into the car, AND avoid that extra bit of FM signal corruption.

 

[Tonye]

I understand you Mike, can't help you out with this any further, I'm still on steam power in the old SL. Best of luck with it all.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

That's an interesting solution which I haven't seen before - it basically give the solution that I get in my wife's Fiat 500 and that seems to be the default for all the hire cars I was getting pre-pandemic.

I decided to go full Tonto on this and had Comandonline fit the Integrated Automotive system. It takes over the Comand screen so you get the full apps-in-the-dash experience; and that really makes the cabin seem much newer as a side effect. I now get and choose from Spotify music, Spotify podcasts, BBC Sounds, Pocketcast, TuneIn radio, Audible, etc whilst having Google Maps (yey!!) take me to my destination. Loads of other apps available and you can use Waze, of course, if you prefer.

It's very neatly integrated in the MB system and the Comand nudge wheel lets you spin through the menus. The only minor issue is that the connectivity drops occasionally and I have to clear the Android Auto cache on my phone - but it's very easy and doesn't apply to Apple.

This isn't my car but you get the idea. I'm really happy I did it as it does transform the whole in-car experience.

View attachment 128435

Yes, I’d seen, and liked, the Integrative Automotive solution, but hesitate to spend that much, which is why I’m playing with the £35 that this Qualcom chip would cost to attach to the MMI circuitry..

Other themes make me hesitate as well, build quality, originality and future proofing against software and App upgrades

It’s the HK circuitry and speakers on the car that make me look at this. That and the French ban on using Bluetooth headsets in the car, which is bound to reach the UK one day.

But I take on board your recommendation. What’s the cost from Comand? Around £800 fitted?

 

[Larkone]

Fair point that Bluetooth 5 is a better quality standard than early Bluetooth, but I’m wondering if I can use the Qualcom chip in this to automate the whole process using the MMI channel built into the car, AND avoid that extra bit of FM signal corruption.

Just be aware that bluetooth quality is limited by the lowest common denominator. That is it will never be better than the the device with the poorest quality codec. Bluetooth codecs require both the sending devices and the receiving device to match so you will not get AptX-HD with the Airdual-330A if your phone does not do AptX-HD. It will fallback to SBC - which is pretty poor and about all that Apple phones will support - they have Airplay for higher quality streaming.

 

[Londonscottish]

Yes, I’d seen, and liked, the Integrative Automotive solution, but hesitate to spend that much, which is why I’m playing with the £35 that this Qualcom chip would cost to attach to the MMI circuitry..

Other themes make me hesitate as well, build quality, originality and future proofing against software and App upgrades

It’s the HK circuitry and speakers on the car that make me look at this. That and the French ban on using Bluetooth headsets in the car, which is bound to reach the UK one day.

But I take on board your recommendation. What’s the cost from Comand? Around £800 fitted?

It really is very good. The unit is £475-ish after MBClub discount. Fitting is around £200. I just told the Mrs that it was "400 and something pounds".....

The functionality is priceless; I'm driving the family down to Bordeaux this summer and simply having Google Maps on the dash for that journey alone is absolutely massive. No more phone mounts, no more trailing changing cables and, most of all, no arguments between me & the mrs.

I find that when I'm driving I can't do anything with the phone. Once I've set the nav and the playlist that's it until the next stop. We get into traffic, the mrs wants to change route/switch to Waze but stubbornly refuses to reprogramme my phone for some reason.....And as for changing playlists, forget it on a phone screen. This would cue a series of irritable arguments. A thing of the past now!

A great bonus is that for the first time in my life I have voice activation that actually works. I've never managed to get anything working for me be it Linguatronic, Alexa, Google Dots, whatever. In this install, I assume it's a combo of quality mics in the cabin and modern speech recognition but so far it's worked 100% for me. I just select the Mic button on the screen and say "Navigate home", "Navigate Halfords Alperton", "Navigate Lawson's Timber Camden" or "Navigate Paint Chip Brent Cross" and it gets it right first time. Extremely handy, and another series of navigation arguments dodged.....

And I should also mention the audio quality - it's extremely good and would sound fabulous through your HK.

As you can tell I'm a big fan.

 

[angel306]

this is also what i was looking for to make my cell phone ringtone fast

 

[Londonscottish]

Just be aware that bluetooth quality is limited by the lowest common denominator. That is it will never be better than the the device with the poorest quality codec. Bluetooth codecs require both the sending devices and the receiving device to match so you will not get AptX-HD with the Airdual-330A if your phone does not do AptX-HD. It will fallback to SBC - which is pretty poor and about all that Apple phones will support - they have Airplay for higher quality streaming.

Interestingly, the IA system uses Bluetooth for the initial handshake but the audio stream is subsequently handled (seamlessly) by a wifi connection between the handset and the unit.

Presumably to get a much better resolution. I use a similar set up at home where I have a Google Chromecast plugged into the optical port of my amp; my phone talks to the dongle via wifi not (restrictive) bluetooth.

I've basically binned off Bluetooth at home and in the car and only really use it for the convenience of headphones. Even then, I switch to my wired ones when I really want to listen to detail. I've got a bunch of mates in the music industry and in the studio it's wired all the way.......

EDIT; from the IA website "The audio quality of the IMI-1000 is truly market leading, the IMI-1000 utilises a high quality DAC and output amplifier circuit as well as 5GHz WiFi to ensure the audio fidelity is optimised."

And I'd forgotten; you have the option to run it wired & charge your phone at the same time.

 

[richard]

a) We tend to recommend the Viseeo WMA3000A for adding audio-streaming to MMI - theres a couple of clones though, but Viseeo made it first
b) The IA CarPlay is excellent - we fit loads and support is great. The main issue with aftermarket CarPlay, is basically you need to listen to Audio source from the phone. This is because the head-unit is set to take it's audio from the CarPlay box, and if you change that to DAB or FM etc, then you don't here the audio from the CarPlay box (phone calls and nav instructions) - i.e there is no merging of sound that would happen with factory CarPlay or factory nav.

R

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Just be aware that bluetooth quality is limited by the lowest common denominator. That is it will never be better than the the device with the poorest quality codec. Bluetooth codecs require both the sending devices and the receiving device to match so you will not get AptX-HD with the Airdual-330A if your phone does not do AptX-HD. It will fallback to SBC - which is pretty poor and about all that Apple phones will support - they have Airplay for higher quality streaming.

Thanks ! Useful to know.

I’m on IPhone 12 Pro, so hopefully not too bad, but that does help build the case for Airplay / car play.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

It really is very good. The unit is £475-ish after MBClub discount. Fitting is around £200. I just told the Mrs that it was "400 and something pounds".....

The functionality is priceless; I'm driving the family down to Bordeaux this summer and simply having Google Maps on the dash for that journey alone is absolutely massive. No more phone mounts, no more trailing changing cables and, most of all, no arguments between me & the mrs.

I find that when I'm driving I can't do anything with the phone. Once I've set the nav and the playlist that's it until the next stop. We get into traffic, the mrs wants to change route/switch to Waze but stubbornly refuses to reprogramme my phone for some reason.....And as for changing playlists, forget it on a phone screen. This would cue a series of irritable arguments. A thing of the past now!

A great bonus is that for the first time in my life I have voice activation that actually works. I've never managed to get anything working for me be it Linguatronic, Alexa, Google Dots, whatever. In this install, I assume it's a combo of quality mics in the cabin and modern speech recognition but so far it's worked 100% for me. I just select the Mic button on the screen and say "Navigate home", "Navigate Halfords Alperton", "Navigate Lawson's Timber Camden" or "Navigate Paint Chip Brent Cross" and it gets it right first time. Extremely handy, and another series of navigation arguments dodged.....

And I should also mention the audio quality - it's extremely good and would sound fabulous through your HK.

As you can tell I'm a big fan.

I’m onboard with the general argument but I’m surprised you had problems with Siri. Using the phone cables or Bluetooth Ed to the CL or 3 series, it’s never really stumbled for me.

 

[Londonscottish]

I’m onboard with the general argument but I’m surprised you had problems with Siri. Using the phone cables or Bluetooth Ed to the CL or 3 series, it’s never really stumbled for me.

I've never really tried Siri - it's all Android here.

But I have tried asking those stupid speaker things for stuff and they seem pretty poor. Hey Google. Stop. Hey Google STOP. HEY GOOGLE STOP!!!!!. Much easier to push a button or hit pause on the phone. I think they have crap mics. And as for calling up a Spotify playlist on one of them, forget it.

I think the mics in the car help as does the simplicity of what I'm asking the google assistant-thing to do.

When one of my kids asked an Alexa to play The Worzels' Combine Harvester it played something from a Las Vegas thrash metal band called Five Finger Death Punch.

Great.

 

[angel306]

this is also what i was looking for to make my cell phone tonos de llamada fast

 

[Larkone]

Thanks ! Useful to know.

I’m on IPhone 12 Pro, so hopefully not too bad, but that does help build the case for Airplay / car play.

Because Apple has Airplay they only support the basic SBC bluetooth codec. This is the lowest grade of bluetooth that was designed for just making phone calls work, not really good enough for music. Apple have never seen bluetooth as music transfer method.

Apple iPhone 12 Pro Bluetooth Audio Codecs

Apple iPhone 12 Pro Bluetooth Audio Codecs

bluetoothcheck.com

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Because Apple has Airplay they only support the basic SBC bluetooth codec. This is the lowest grade of bluetooth that was designed for just making phone calls work, not really good enough for music. Apple have never seen bluetooth as music transfer method.

Apple iPhone 12 Pro Bluetooth Audio Codecs

Apple iPhone 12 Pro Bluetooth Audio Codecs

bluetoothcheck.com

Ah, OK, apologies for not getting that point properly before.

At this point i think I’ll punt £30 to experiment with the Bluetooth MMI adaptor, and then take it on from there, either through a wired connection or CarPlay.

Most of my listening is already just podcasts and streamed dreadful sound quality Spotify. With the HK circuitry and speakers I’ll have to see what path to take.

Mobile tech is clever, but we keep choosing convenience in preference to quality. Listening to Eric, Sting and Bach at home or out and about I’m always reminded that modern domestic audio is still worse than my Meridian set up of two decades ago

It’s curious, I still haven’t even tried out the CD deck on the new car as yet.

 

[Londonscottish]

Ah, OK, apologies for not getting that point properly before.

At this point i think I’ll punt £30 to experiment with the Bluetooth MMI adaptor, and then take it on from there, either through a wired connection or CarPlay.

Most of my listening is already just podcasts and streamed dreadful sound quality Spotify. With the HK circuitry and speakers I’ll have to see what path to take.

Mobile tech is clever, but we keep choosing convenience in preference to quality. Listening to Eric, Sting and Bach at home or out and about I’m always reminded that modern domestic audio is still worse than my Meridian set up of two decades ago

It’s curious, I still haven’t even tried out the CD deck on the new car as yet.

I've moved a few times in the last decade or so and each time I've made sure I've upgraded various bits of AV up as I've gone. I've made sure to get the wiring hidden and so have been able to keep and/or upgrade the amps and keep/upgrade the speakers. So the domestic stuff is better than ever (if not Meridian-level good, still very good).

Same goes for headphones. I've now got the best over-ear and in-ear phones I've ever had.

It's the car's that been letting me down a bit now I no longer have HK but I'm working on that.

FWIW, I always stream and store Spotify at the highest bit rate. I tried Tidal for a month and it was amazing on my home system and best headphones but wasted in the car (on the standard set up, anyway).