iPhone music in Car

[manicooller]

I've been trying to figure out which is the best way to link up my iPhone to my car for charging, music and receiving calls. I don't want to go the FM route (as the sound quality is terrible). I've been looking at the Dension 300 which links into the back of most car's stock CD players (mine is supported too - 2005 VW Polo). I've also been thinking of something like the TomTom car kit with connecting the phone to the in car audio via Bluetooth.

I'd like the solution to avoid cables and to have a mount. What's the best solution?

[fxit_man]

Just some advice:

Audio is not transmitted over bluetooth from the iPhone.

Music will only play once docked , and will play out of the docks built in speaker (no good for music).

Rather just get an AUX port installed in your car.

[Synaesthesia]

That's not true - the iPhone supports full A2DP bluetooth audio since OS 3

[fxit_man]

That's not true - the iPhone supports full A2DP bluetooth audio since OS 3

I was referring to the TomTom car kit.

[Gambit]

Ordered one of these today from Amazon today. Will report back once I receive it and have it installed.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001LF3X5C/ref=ox_ya_os_product

[manicooller]

I was looking at the Parrot devices. www.smac.co.za resells Dension/Parrot devices locally. How does that connect into your car's audio system?

[renierp]

@Gambit, have u received it yet??? I am burning to get one but want to make sure its as nice as it looks

@manic:
SMAC sells them, but at almost double the price, so amazon will be my answer too. The device loops through your car's radio, connecting with a 'loop' cable, so it gets power, works on ignition of car, and utilise you radio speakers etc. If your car doesn't have ISO cabling, you will need to get an adapter too (+- R300-400)

[ColinR]

A2DP enabled radio is the answer.

[renierp]

A2DP enabled radio is the answer.

Yes and no. Im not going to remove my radio that looks like this (http://www.fitaudio.com/?View=entry&EntryID=179) for a A2DP enabled radio, as it will not look good in my car. And my steering wheel controls will also not be non functional with another radio.

Then Parrot is the answer :)

[GrootBaas]

@Gambit - Let us know how the parrot is working out. I will definately consider it as a solution as well. Otherwise I might go for something like the Kensington LiquidAux (not delux) - I fortunately have an auxiliry input.

[Gambit]

Ordered the Parrot MKi9200 kit on Wednesday 24th March and it was delivered by UPS on Tuesday 30th of March. Cost was R2300 from Amazon and that included import tax and courier delivery service. Had the kit installed by a local Car sound place near me (found their contact details from http://www.parrotbluetooth.co.za) for R350. Took the guys about 1 and half hours to install into my old Audi A4. Because my factory head unit doesn't have a "line in" the parrot had to be installed in such a way that it powers the speakers with its own amp and the factory head unit is completely bypassed when the parrot kit is active (you can use the kit with the head unit being switched off). The sound quality is not bad but it is of poorer quality than my factory head unit. The Volume is sufficient. If you have a line in on your head unit then this is probably not a problem. When using hands free phone calling this kit works well. I have an iPhone 3G without voice dialing and the parrots voice dialing works a treat as it automatically syncs your phone book over bluetooth. It also works nicely if you have multiple numbers for a contact as it will ask which one you want to call giving you the options. I can hear people I've called clearly and they can hear me no problems. You can see your phone battery status and signal strength and who is calling (with pic) on the parrot LCD screen.

Streaming music from my iphone over bluetooth A2DP works but the steering wheel remote doesn't seem to be able to skip to next song (i think this might be an iphone problem but haven't spent much time playing around with this though). When plugging the parrot ipod dock connector into the iphone it works very well. You get full ipod functionlity including album art, id3 tags and being able to navigate artist, albums, songs and playlists on the LCD screen. Also your iphone/ipod will get recharged. I haven't tested playing music off a sd card, flash drive or line in yet. Will try get around to this some time and post an update.

The reason I bought this kit is I have an iPhone and an old car with descent sound but no mp3 or cd capability (just been using radio for years). I could have purchased a new head unit but the car being an audi doesn't have a standard din mount for head units which would would mean i would have also needed a bracket and facia to cover the big whole left by the factory system. Overall I'm quite impressed, it surpassed my expectations. I have since seen the kit in SA (parrot sa web site and the people who installed my kit) for over R4k, which is very expensive but i think it does include installation. I would have not even thought about buying it at this price, so I recommend Amazon as I haven't seen anything else that provides this functionality at this price (but i also didn't look very hard).

If your car comes with steering wheel controls then I would recommend you look at also getting the parrot UNIKA device that will allow you to connect the kit to your steering wheel controls because sometimes i push the buttons on steering wheel remote that comes with kit when driving and this normally changes the song which sucks. You can alternatively mount the steering wheel remote on your dash as they provide and mounting plate for the dash as well.

If your car doesn't have a standard iso connector then you will either need to buy an adapter harness or you can cut and splice wires. You can check the parrot web site by inputting you car details in and it will tell you if you need an adapter. Luckily my car used a standard iso connector.

edit (some more info):
kit takes about 23 seconds to boot and connect to phone when switching on the vehicle ignition.
LCD screen is clear and bright and is visible in bright daylight.

If you want any more details about stuff I have forgotten to write about then please ask.

[thed33p]

Streaming music from my iphone over bluetooth A2DP works but the steering wheel remote doesn't seem to be able to skip to next song (i think this might be an iphone problem but haven't spent much time playing around with this though).

I found the same with my A2DP headset....

[renierp]

Great Review, thanks Gambit! Now just to get 3K to cover all costs.... :D (unit, shipping, taxes, installation, ISO adapter etc....)

[Gambit]

I have since bought a new 8gig usb flash drive for R150 for my music so i don't have to keep plugging in my phone (or having to skip songs using the iphone screen when using bluetooth a2dp). It works very well, using an SD card will probably also work just as well but I haven't tried that yet. You get a similar ipod/iphone interface where you can navigate by artist/album/song/genre/playlists(m3u maybe others) with full id3 tag support and album art. You can also browse by folders and files. If you switch your car on the system will automatically continue playing from where it left off in a song without any interaction.

[eitai2001]

Old thread ... but how did you guys get your order from Amazon? I can't get them to delivery anything electronic ... the computer says no.

[PoiZoNouZ]

You can buy that kit locally, fully fitted with harnesses so you don't cut wires in the car. My dealers do it for R3500 all in. Includes guarantee which you don't get when importing.

[FNfal]

I have the sony it streams music from my sgs2 it says it can do that with the apple not tried that , it has every thing including hands free http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&partNumber=MEXBT3800U

[eitai2001]

You can buy that kit locally, fully fitted with harnesses so you don't cut wires in the car. My dealers do it for R3500 all in. Includes guarantee which you don't get when importing.

No offence to you as I know it is the price given by the distributors, but I think the SA pricing is overstated on these. Even on ebay, it is $250 with shipping on a new unit which works out to be under R2100, then fitment with the harness is R500 ... so total is R2600 ... a full R900 cheaper than the standard local price.

Then if I go second hand, can get one for R1400 with shipping from a reputable dealer, so could even afford 2 just in case :P

I have the sony it streams music from my sgs2 it says it can do that with the apple not tried that , it has every thing including hands free http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&partNumber=MEXBT3800U

Car has built in radio unit.

[Ipwn 4]

My girlfriend has a fiesta st with the standard radio replaced with a cheap import LCD DVD player and through its Bluetooth interface I was capable of skipping trough the songs without touching my phone.

Can't post links from my phone but is a very easy solution to the "iPhone in car" issue, buy a BMW...We are aloud to dream.

Didnt think so many people wouldn't be able to skip, but I can confirm iPhone does support the feature(iPhone 4, >4.3.3)