Apple CarPlay/Android Auto Retrofit

[Cyberdemon]

Originally Posted by Enzoloco

hm interesting. You have an amp that is going to be output from the ACP unit for better audio? How is the bass? I read reviews on Ali that the sound quality wasn't great over aux. User interface/software seems to be bug free?

On Nov 11th AliExpress is holding a sale that will bring the Carsara unit down to $206. At that price its hard to ignore. Although I dont have an issue forking out al little more ($233 on sale) for the Kramer unit if it does have better audio.

This also re-introduced the joyauto as an option. I saw a post about it utilizing aux behind the headunit instead of the armrest location which gives good audio.

gah. too many options.

I objectively couldn't find any issues with the sound if the internet hadn't said there was an issue. Bass and volume are fine, I can crank it up and blow my one good ear drum out. Needed to fine tune the levels a little bit to my liking but I tried a bunch of genres rock/jazz/EDM/hiphop and all of them sounded good to me.

I tried my amp theory but had the same result as cannyjock, it introduces a high pitched whine while charging and I honestly didn't notice an improvement in overall sound even when it wasn't plugged in. It drove more volume but the overall sound experience seemed the same.

I had planned on waiting for the Bimmertech sale because I was worried about the external mic and other stuff, and while the directions stink I was able to piece together enough notes from the collective forums to get the job done.

My only complaint with the software right now seems to be that the image for PDC is some 2 door convertible, so I'll have to live with that.

Other than that no complaints for <$300 including the backup cam.

[icanturn]

nice, good to hear. Have you thought of using a ground strap to cut down on the interference?

[Cyberdemon]

Originally Posted by Enzoloco

nice, good to hear. Have you thought of using a ground strap to cut down on the interference?

I just took it off. Honestly I can't see any reason to use it I don't notice an issue with the audio that the amp really seemed to improve. It made it louder but I couldn't notice a distinct response difference.

If there is some app that quantifies sound quality in a meaningful way I'd be happy to try it.

[icanturn]

Did you get an oem style backup camera? Are you using an emulator or is it plugged straight into the carsara?

[youbarajs]

Anyone facing Carplay problems post recent ios update 14.2. On my e90 with Iphone 11 pro and Joyeauto carplay, I can't select any menu using IDrive knob. With my Iphone 6 with IOS 12.4.9 and same setup everything works as expected.

[MJBO]

Originally Posted by youbarajs

Anyone facing Carplay problems post recent ios update 14.2. On my e90 with Iphone 11 pro and Joyeauto carplay, I can't select any menu using IDrive knob. With my Iphone 6 with IOS 12.4.9 and same setup everything works as expected.

Encountered this problem myself, it seems to be some bug with Assistive Touch.

Search in settings for Assistive Touch and turn it off. CarPlay will be back to normal. I don’t know why this was even turned on, but turning it off solved the problem.

[youbarajs]

Originally Posted by MJBO

Encountered this problem myself, it seems to be some bug with Assistive Touch.

Search in settings for Assistive Touch and turn it off. CarPlay will be back to normal. I don’t know why this was even turned on, but turning it off solved the problem.

This did the trick thank you. I had to turn on the Assistive Touch as my volume button is not working and Assistive Touch had to option to quickly toggle the volume up or down. Not sure if this is a bug from Carplay hardware or iOS itself!

[MJBO]

Definitely a bug with iOS. One day my CarPlay was fine, then next morning after the overnight update, no clicks. So random.

[Cyberdemon]

Originally Posted by Enzoloco

Did you get an oem style backup camera? Are you using an emulator or is it plugged straight into the carsara?

Cheapo Amazon one - I ordered it for less off Alibaba but it took too long.

It wires and powers directly from the Carsara box. No emulator or harnesses required.

I got one with a higher res 720p sensor but kind of pointless on a 480p screen. So the $25 one on Amazon is probably fine.

[vilord]

Does the Carsara unit have a built-in equalizer?
GPLink is the same as the Ksino V2, which has an EQ but apparently not awesome audio quality, so EQing is needed to get something decent out of it

The Kremersino V3 is a different chip, no EQ, but apparently slightly better sounding audio...

I'm pondering ordering a Carsara on the 11th sale.

I have a full NBT Evo retrofit setup but the install is rather extensive and I have had other house projects that've been a priority.

[Cyberdemon]

Originally Posted by vilord

Does the Carsara unit have a built-in equalizer?
GPLink is the same as the Ksino V2, which has an EQ but apparently not awesome audio quality, so EQing is needed to get something decent out of it

The Kremersino V3 is a different chip, no EQ, but apparently slightly better sounding audio...

I'm pondering ordering a Carsara on the 11th sale.

I have a full NBT Evo retrofit setup but the install is rather extensive and I have had other house projects that've been a priority.

Yes it has a built in EQ. I'm still fidgeting around. I tried playing the Sirius XM app through it today and that sounded pretty bad compared to the native XM in my X5, but my understanding is the app actually has better audio.

Spotify sounds fine to me.

If you have a combox and don't care about CarPlay or navigation audio it seems like you can still run music directly to the combox like you would without CarPlay and just use the CarPlay for the UI.

[Cyberdemon]

Realized that the Sirius app has a streaming quality setting that I didn't have maxed out. That seemed to improve things. I also think I'm having more issues since my phone has spotty coverage on some local roads and I'm not sure if streaming services ever reduce quality when they detect a bad connection. Will keep experimenting.

I tried blasting XM in my wife's G05 X5 with the base system and I'd say it sounded worse overall. Though I've never spent much time trying to EQ anything in her car since it spends more time playing Blippi than anything else.

[derbo]

Originally Posted by Cyberdemon

Realized that the Sirius app has a streaming quality setting that I didn't have maxed out. That seemed to improve things. I also think I'm having more issues since my phone has spotty coverage on some local roads and I'm not sure if streaming services ever reduce quality when they detect a bad connection. Will keep experimenting.

I tried blasting XM in my wife's G05 X5 with the base system and I'd say it sounded worse overall. Though I've never spent much time trying to EQ anything in her car since it spends more time playing Blippi than anything else.

In your wife's G05 X5, are you streaming XM through the actual SAT module? If it is indeed SAT radio, the coding and compression all have to go through about 7.5Mbit/sec of bandwidth. With the Mobile App, you are using a pure digital content stream that equates to similar to Spotify and other audio apps. It is a significant boost in audio quality if you have the setting set to high quality.

SiruisXM App is a lot more solid that actual SAT radio use and also isn't impeded by overhead blockages but IMO I prefer my Spotify/AppleMusic/Pandora over SiriusXM if I had to pay.

[Cyberdemon]

Originally Posted by derbo

In your wife's G05 X5, are you streaming XM through the actual SAT module? If it is indeed SAT radio, the coding and compression all have to go through about 7.5Mbit/sec of bandwidth. With the Mobile App, you are using a pure digital content stream that equates to similar to Spotify and other audio apps. It is a significant boost in audio quality if you have the setting set to high quality.

SiruisXM App is a lot more solid that actual SAT radio use and also isn't impeded by overhead blockages but IMO I prefer my Spotify/AppleMusic/Pandora over SiriusXM if I had to pay.

Yeah, I posted too fast. In her X5 I'm going through the actual sat radio module not the phone. I upped the mobile quality to maximum for streaming and it helped a lot.

Did a little bit more driving today and played a couple of playlists that were "regulars" for some of my older trips and I'm really not noticing any, or at least not a dramatic difference in sound quality. I tried playing with some settings but right now I have it setup as:

-CIC Aux Volume->Max
-CIC EQ has a little bit of bass/treble boost.
-Carsara Volume 13 (tried raising it, I seemed to get a little bit of distortion so put it back to default)
-Carsara EQ has a little bit of bass and treble boost again.

I feel like the best possible comparision to actually test this would be to try playing the same source over the iPod integration, but I don't have a lightning cable that supports the old iPod hookup (which runs over Aux anyways).

Either way I'm very happy with the unit. I'm just more disappointed in my local cell phone service - reception isn't great especially when the phone is down low in the wireless charger.

[derbo]

Originally Posted by Cyberdemon

Yeah, I posted too fast. In her X5 I'm going through the actual sat radio module not the phone. I upped the mobile quality to maximum for streaming and it helped a lot.

Did a little bit more driving today and played a couple of playlists that were "regulars" for some of my older trips and I'm really not noticing any, or at least not a dramatic difference in sound quality. I tried playing with some settings but right now I have it setup as:

-CIC Aux Volume->Max
-CIC EQ has a little bit of bass/treble boost.
-Carsara Volume 13 (tried raising it, I seemed to get a little bit of distortion so put it back to default)
-Carsara EQ has a little bit of bass and treble boost again.

I feel like the best possible comparision to actually test this would be to try playing the same source over the iPod integration, but I don't have a lightning cable that supports the old iPod hookup (which runs over Aux anyways).

Either way I'm very happy with the unit. I'm just more disappointed in my local cell phone service - reception isn't great especially when the phone is down low in the wireless charger.

Avoid AUX volume --> Max. This is purely increasing the GAIN on the input and it does you no good.


This is my personal attack of this:

1. Equalize the AUX volume to match other sources in CIC, like iPod. I assume your MP3 is at least 320kbps or higher to compare.
2. Once volume is equalized between sources, play the same song on both sources and compare the ACP EQ to the CIC source. Match them the best you can and be on your way.

I usually end up around 50-75% of the volume of the AUX gain.

[cannyjock]

I've given up on the amp idea, the variable amounts of buzzing/whistling were just too annoying. I do wish that I could get better sound quality than using the aux input under the armrest, but from reading this thread and others, the aux direct from the Carsara box to the headunit would need to be enabled by coding, and then I'll lost use of the both the under armrest aux (not an issue) and USB (bit more of an issue, but I'd rather keep it), but also possibly Bluetooth streaming? This seems to come from having the 6FL option with combox, which I have.

For now I'll keep tweaking the various EQ and volume to see if I can get it to an acceptable level of sound quality. Derbo thanks for the tips above.

[Cyberdemon]

Originally Posted by cannyjock

I've given up on the amp idea, the variable amounts of buzzing/whistling were just too annoying. I do wish that I could get better sound quality than using the aux input under the armrest, but from reading this thread and others, the aux direct from the Carsara box to the headunit would need to be enabled by coding, and then I'll lost use of the both the under armrest aux (not an issue) and USB (bit more of an issue, but I'd rather keep it), but also possibly Bluetooth streaming? This seems to come from having the 6FL option with combox, which I have.

For now I'll keep tweaking the various EQ and volume to see if I can get it to an acceptable level of sound quality. Derbo thanks for the tips above.

Is your audio noticeably bad compared to the Combox? I have no Combox to benchmark against, just the Tune2Air which runs over Aux anyways.

Are you able to just force it to use the Combox for audio so you get better music quality and only use the aux when you want to use navi or siri?

[motoridersd]

I've read through most of this thread and it sounds like it might be time to finally get one of these boxes for my E91. For the longest time I've had either an iPod touch or an old iPhone in the arm rest to drive BMW Apps, but it's so clunky and annoying.

I see most compare audio quality between Combox (BT streaming) and Aux and say they like Combox quality better. When using iOS to drive BMW Apps to use Spotify, I think quality is better through the USB interface vs Combox. I have never used Aux but I have also always assumed it would be kinda bad. Has anyone compared iPhone over USB to Combox to Aux quality with CarPlay/Android Auto? I might have to run some tests later.

From the latest posts it seems the Carsara unit is pretty solid? I want to use the factory microphone instead of external and it appears the latest Kremersino does not allow this?

And just to confirm, the interface of any of these units automatically comes up without having to do anything to the iDrive controller (hold menu button down) with CIC units? Even if it does take a few seconds until the phone connects, as long as it launches on its own, I'd be happy.

[cannyjock]

Originally Posted by Cyberdemon

Is your audio noticeably bad compared to the Combox? I have no Combox to benchmark against, just the Tune2Air which runs over Aux anyways.

Are you able to just force it to use the Combox for audio so you get better music quality and only use the aux when you want to use navi or siri?

It's definitely not as good as BT over the Combox. Also, I'm using Android which doesn't work over BT/Combox for audio at all.

[cannyjock]

Originally Posted by motoridersd

I've read through most of this thread and it sounds like it might be time to finally get one of these boxes for my E91. For the longest time I've had either an iPod touch or an old iPhone in the arm rest to drive BMW Apps, but it's so clunky and annoying.

I see most compare audio quality between Combox (BT streaming) and Aux and say they like Combox quality better. When using iOS to drive BMW Apps to use Spotify, I think quality is better through the USB interface vs Combox. I have never used Aux but I have also always assumed it would be kinda bad. Has anyone compared iPhone over USB to Combox to Aux quality with CarPlay/Android Auto? I might have to run some tests later.

From the latest posts it seems the Carsara unit is pretty solid? I want to use the factory microphone instead of external and it appears the latest Kremersino does not allow this?

And just to confirm, the interface of any of these units automatically comes up without having to do anything to the iDrive controller (hold menu button down) with CIC units? Even if it does take a few seconds until the phone connects, as long as it launches on its own, I'd be happy.

I did quite a lot of experimenting comparing an iPod touch over USB and MP3 files on the hard drive, they were similar quality. Aux doesn't sound as good.

I think with Apple Carplay it comes up straight away but I'm not sure? On my Carsara box using Android Auto, I have to hold menu for 3 seconds to get it to change from standard CIC to the new box, then click the controller once to connect to the Android phone (wirelessly).

[motoridersd]

Originally Posted by cannyjock

It's definitely not as good as BT over the Combox. Also, I'm using Android which doesn't work over BT/Combox for audio at all.

Ugh, that's a shame to get lower quality audio than Combox which uses a pretty lossy codec on Android already.

Which unit do you have?

[tdott]

Originally Posted by cannyjock

Also, I'm using Android which doesn't work over BT/Combox for audio at all.

My pixel 3xl can stream audio to my combox.