Apple CarPlay/Android Auto Retrofit

[Beemr]

Originally Posted by Beemr

Hello it was me who mentioned the uk distributor...I have now installed the mmi unit which I paid £435 for. Any questions just ask...just to note my car has Bluetooth music playback and I did use it for a while but Siri and Waze voice guidance was not working...so I switched to aux and used a rta analyser and sound by ear to tweak the equaliser on the unit and audio now sounds close to Bluetooth.

Originally Posted by Rusticm3

Hi,

Ok so I've just spent what feels like hours going through this thread and here's where I'm at;

Audio quality is important to me and from what I've read the boxes have slightly improved the aux over time but it's not perfect.

The Kremersino unit which seems to be talked about the most on here looks the better option as you can output the sound via Bluetooth through the cars combo box. The draw back is this unit is like twice the price of the others.

The cheapest option I can see is the Andream unit at £180 on AliExpress. I messaged them and they would only confirm that the unit outputs sound via aux.

Now here's the thing, despite what they say, my car came from factory with combo box and music via Bluetooth. So will that allow me to still have the option of playing music from they cheaper CarPlay box from Andream via Bluetooth or not?

Also someone mentioned they were also from the uk and had used a kremersino Uk distributor. I can't seem to find one, could you please link me?

Here's links to the two units im considering for a 2011 CIC E92 please let me know if I should be considering something else;

Kremersino;

￡384.47 | Mirror Wireless Apple CarPlay AndroidAuto Retrofit for BMW 1/2/3/4 Series for BMW Retrofit E87 E88 E90 E91 F22 F23 F30 F31 F45
https://a.aliexpress.com/_dS6ODZE

Andream;

￡221.81 50％ Off | Wireless Apple CarPlay Android Auto interface adapter BOX For BMW Series 1 2 3 4 5 7 mini X1 X3 X4 X5 X6 X7 CIC/NBT System
https://a.aliexpress.com/_BfAXr0O0

Originally Posted by Beemr

Hello it was me who mentioned the uk distributor...I have now installed the mmi unit which I paid £435 for. Any questions just ask...just to note my car has Bluetooth music playback and I did use it for a while but Siri and Waze voice guidance was not working...so I switched to aux and used a rta analyser and sound by ear to tweak the equaliser on the unit and audio now sounds close to Bluetooth.

Also just read through the updated thread..I did get the new still idrive connector and dual harness to tap into oem mic so the unit uses oem mic.

[brettcp]

Originally Posted by Beemr

Hello it was me who mentioned the uk distributor...I have now installed the mmi unit which I paid £435 for. Any questions just ask...just to note my car has Bluetooth music playback and I did use it for a while but Siri and Waze voice guidance was not working...so I switched to aux and used a rta analyser and sound by ear to tweak the equaliser on the unit and audio now sounds close to Bluetooth.

Could you please post your EQ settings (both the BMW factory system EQ if you have it, and the Carplay unit's specific EQ settings) ?

I switched from BT to AUX on my Kremersino unit the other day just to test it out, and the sound was much better than I had expected. I was thinking that with some EQ adjustments, it could be pretty close to BT quality.

[Beemr]

Originally Posted by brettcp

Could you please post your EQ settings (both the BMW factory system EQ if you have it, and the Carplay unit's specific EQ settings) ?

I switched from BT to AUX on my Kremersino unit the other day just to test it out, and the sound was much better than I had expected. I was thinking that with some EQ adjustments, it could be pretty close to BT quality.

Originally Posted by brettcp

Could you please post your EQ settings (both the BMW factory system EQ if you have it, and the Carplay unit's specific EQ settings) ?

I switched from BT to AUX on my Kremersino unit the other day just to test it out, and the sound was much better than I had expected. I was thinking that with some EQ adjustments, it could be pretty close to BT quality.

Hey can I ask what audio system you have as in basic, hifi or HK?

I have played around with all things and prefer the sound check option on my iPhone to be on in music settings

Aux volume is at 50%

Bass and treble in idrive are full

Have a look what images I have attached for all the things I have tweaked in idrive and the carplay unit.

Just for reference I have a e90 lci with hifi audio S676A.

Let us know how you get on.

[brettcp]

Originally Posted by Beemr

Hey can I ask what audio system you have as in basic, hifi or HK?

I have played around with all things and prefer the sound check option on my iPhone to be on in music settings

Aux volume is at 50%

Bass and treble in idrive are full

Have a look what images I have attached for all the things I have tweaked in idrive and the carplay unit.

Just for reference I have a e90 lci with hifi audio S676A.

Let us know how you get on.

I have EPS (S752) in my 2012 E93 M3, so I have EQ settings within iDrive. I just tried your Carplay EQ settings, definitely a bit better.. I set my iDrive EQ settings back to default (flat), but I think it could be better. What RTA did you use? Might have to pick one up for myself

[Beemr]

Originally Posted by brettcp

I have EPS (S752) in my 2012 E93 M3, so I have EQ settings within iDrive. I just tried your Carplay EQ settings, definitely a bit better.. I set my iDrive EQ settings back to default (flat), but I think it could be better. What RTA did you use? Might have to pick one up for myself

Originally Posted by brettcp

I have EPS (S752) in my 2012 E93 M3, so I have EQ settings within iDrive. I just tried your Carplay EQ settings, definitely a bit better.. I set my iDrive EQ settings back to default (flat), but I think it could be better. What RTA did you use? Might have to pick one up for myself

Did you set sound check on in iPhone music settings?

Rta wise I used one called mobile tools
You will need to phones to work with it, set the music volume you like listening to and use second phone as the analyser trying to get a flat response a possible, btw I found after that I had to tweak by ear to get it closer to Bluetooth quality

[brettcp]

Michael from Kremersino just told me that there will be a software update released "next week" for the unit I have (wireless carplay that works with Combox). We'll see.

[brettcp]

Originally Posted by Beemr

Did you set sound check on in iPhone music settings?

Rta wise I used one called mobile tools
You will need to phones to work with it, set the music volume you like listening to and use second phone as the analyser trying to get a flat response a possible, btw I found after that I had to tweak by ear to get it closer to Bluetooth quality

I spent about 45 minutes fine tuning the factory BMW EQ settings by ear.. at this point, it is VERY close to BT/Combox. I tested by setting button #5 as a shortcut to AUX in, then button #6 as a shortcut to BT audio, so that I could quickly switch back and forth to compare the sound quality as I made adjustments. This worked well.

I'll probably do a little more experimenting with it, but at this point I'm happy enough with it that I'm now using AUX in and no longer audio over the BMW factory bluetooth. In i-drive settings, I've actually disabled bluetooth audio streaming, but have left the telephone bluetooth connected. Audio switching from the "Carplay" (aux in) source to the telephone works as expected. I now get audio from waze, maps, etc.

Now if they could just get the mic/audio switching resolved for siri/messages (so that it uses the factory mic), all would be great. Micheal from Kremersino did tell me today that there will be another software update released next week.

[Beemr]

Originally Posted by brettcp

I spent about 45 minutes fine tuning the factory BMW EQ settings by ear.. at this point, it is VERY close to BT/Combox. I tested by setting button #5 as a shortcut to AUX in, then button #6 as a shortcut to BT audio, so that I could quickly switch back and forth to compare the sound quality as I made adjustments. This worked well.

I'll probably do a little more experimenting with it, but at this point I'm happy enough with it that I'm now using AUX in and no longer audio over the BMW factory bluetooth. In i-drive settings, I've actually disabled bluetooth audio streaming, but have left the telephone bluetooth connected. Audio switching from the "Carplay" (aux in) source to the telephone works as expected. I now get audio from waze, maps, etc.

Now if they could just get the mic/audio switching resolved for siri/messages (so that it uses the factory mic), all would be great. Micheal from Kremersino did tell me today that there will be another software update released next week.

Originally Posted by brettcp

I spent about 45 minutes fine tuning the factory BMW EQ settings by ear.. at this point, it is VERY close to BT/Combox. I tested by setting button #5 as a shortcut to AUX in, then button #6 as a shortcut to BT audio, so that I could quickly switch back and forth to compare the sound quality as I made adjustments. This worked well.

I'll probably do a little more experimenting with it, but at this point I'm happy enough with it that I'm now using AUX in and no longer audio over the BMW factory bluetooth. In i-drive settings, I've actually disabled bluetooth audio streaming, but have left the telephone bluetooth connected. Audio switching from the "Carplay" (aux in) source to the telephone works as expected. I now get audio from waze, maps, etc.

Now if they could just get the mic/audio switching resolved for siri/messages (so that it uses the factory mic), all would be great. Micheal from Kremersino did tell me today that there will be another software update released next week.

Mine already uses factory mic as I bough it from a reseller who is a engineer who manufactured his own design so no quad lock just tap into idrive controller and existing mic just one connection of lvds cable behind unit

[Iyzmi]

Originally Posted by brettcp

I spent about 45 minutes fine tuning the factory BMW EQ settings by ear.. at this point, it is VERY close to BT/Combox. I tested by setting button #5 as a shortcut to AUX in, then button #6 as a shortcut to BT audio, so that I could quickly switch back and forth to compare the sound quality as I made adjustments. This worked well.

I'll probably do a little more experimenting with it, but at this point I'm happy enough with it that I'm now using AUX in and no longer audio over the BMW factory bluetooth. In i-drive settings, I've actually disabled bluetooth audio streaming, but have left the telephone bluetooth connected. Audio switching from the "Carplay" (aux in) source to the telephone works as expected. I now get audio from waze, maps, etc.

Now if they could just get the mic/audio switching resolved for siri/messages (so that it uses the factory mic), all would be great. Micheal from Kremersino did tell me today that there will be another software update released next week.

Glad to hear you were able to get good audio quality over aux. Please post a pic of the EQ settings you came up with!

[brettcp]

Originally Posted by Iyzmi

Glad to hear you were able to get good audio quality over aux. Please post a pic of the EQ settings you came up with!

I spent about an hour in the car today, using carplay AUX in for music the entire time.. it is very close to the quality of BT audio.. keep in mind that I have (as of now) the latest gen kremersino unit, which has already resolved some of the low quality AUX issues others have reported with earlier units.

Somebody earlier in this thread suggested a ground loop isolator - I picked one up but don't notice any difference at all with it installed, so I removed it.

I'm going to tinker around with it just a bit more but will post photos of all of my settings in a few days. Between Beemr's carplay EQ settings he posted earlier and my tweaking the factory EQ settings (on my EPS audio), its pretty close to factory BT at this point. If the next software update resolves the BT audio switching issues with siri/messages, even better.. but for now I'm surprised to say I'm happy with the AUX input setup.

[brettcp]

Originally Posted by Beemr

Mine already uses factory mic as I bough it from a reseller who is a engineer who manufactured his own design so no quad lock just tap into idrive controller and existing mic just one connection of lvds cable behind unit

I'm curious to know more about this.. The Kremersino unit is designed to use the factory mic - it just has issues switching over to the factory mic when it needs to (for example, when you trigger siri, it should enable the factory mic - sometimes it does, but usually it does not - this is a bug.. hopefully fixed in the software update Michael said would be released next week).

With the first software version, there was a bug where the kremersino unit would not always switch over to the factory mic for telephone calls, but this was fixed with a software update. Now, every time I receive or place a telephone call, the Kremersino unit auto switches over to the factory mic - this now works well.

How is the one you have different than this? You mentioned you bought it from somebody who has their own design (I'm assuming a different cable based on your description), do you have any photos of this setup? I'm curious to know what is unique about your installation. Thanks!

[derbo]

Originally Posted by brettcp

I spent about an hour in the car today, using carplay AUX in for music the entire time.. it is very close to the quality of BT audio.. keep in mind that I have (as of now) the latest gen kremersino unit, which has already resolved some of the low quality AUX issues others have reported with earlier units.

Somebody earlier in this thread suggested a ground loop isolator - I picked one up but don't notice any difference at all with it installed, so I removed it.

I'm going to tinker around with it just a bit more but will post photos of all of my settings in a few days. Between Beemr's carplay EQ settings he posted earlier and my tweaking the factory EQ settings (on my EPS audio), its pretty close to factory BT at this point. If the next software update resolves the BT audio switching issues with siri/messages, even better.. but for now I'm surprised to say I'm happy with the AUX input setup.

If the new update next week doesn't solve this, I'm going to have to follow your lead and go to AUX and external mic too. I don't have EPS so I guess I only have so much to work with. But I rather have working Waze and Siri since in reality my exhaust will be muffling the audio quality.. lol.

[Beemr]

Originally Posted by brettcp

I'm curious to know more about this.. The Kremersino unit is designed to use the factory mic - it just has issues switching over to the factory mic when it needs to (for example, when you trigger siri, it should enable the factory mic - sometimes it does, but usually it does not - this is a bug.. hopefully fixed in the software update Michael said would be released next week).

With the first software version, there was a bug where the kremersino unit would not always switch over to the factory mic for telephone calls, but this was fixed with a software update. Now, every time I receive or place a telephone call, the Kremersino unit auto switches over to the factory mic - this now works well.

How is the one you have different than this? You mentioned you bought it from somebody who has their own design (I'm assuming a different cable based on your description), do you have any photos of this setup? I'm curious to know what is unique about your installation. Thanks!

Originally Posted by brettcp

I'm curious to know more about this.. The Kremersino unit is designed to use the factory mic - it just has issues switching over to the factory mic when it needs to (for example, when you trigger siri, it should enable the factory mic - sometimes it does, but usually it does not - this is a bug.. hopefully fixed in the software update Michael said would be released next week).

With the first software version, there was a bug where the kremersino unit would not always switch over to the factory mic for telephone calls, but this was fixed with a software update. Now, every time I receive or place a telephone call, the Kremersino unit auto switches over to the factory mic - this now works well.

How is the one you have different than this? You mentioned you bought it from somebody who has their own design (I'm assuming a different cable based on your description), do you have any photos of this setup? I'm curious to know what is unique about your installation. Thanks!

The unit is the latest kremersino one and does have Bluetooth oem mic but I found it does not work correctly also Siri is broken in Bluetooth mode...the wiring is straight forward, no quad lock just a harness to tap into idrive controller and oem mic all plug and play. Makes installing much easier I think...everything works as it should in aux mode...one thing I have noticed is Siri can be activated a number of ways some which are stupid like holding idrive controller down on the forward button to skip some of a song it activates Siri...also when scrolling through music you don't get the alphabet big letters like a car with carplay installed from factory does.

[brettcp]

Originally Posted by Beemr

The unit is the latest kremersino one and does have Bluetooth oem mic but I found it does not work correctly also Siri is broken in Bluetooth mode...the wiring is straight forward, no quad lock just a harness to tap into idrive controller and oem mic all plug and play. Makes installing much easier I think...everything works as it should in aux mode...one thing I have noticed is Siri can be activated a number of ways some which are stupid like holding idrive controller down on the forward button to skip some of a song it activates Siri...also when scrolling through music you don't get the alphabet big letters like a car with carplay installed from factory does.

Do you have a link to the site where you purchased yours? It sounds like your reseller made a different cable so the OEM mic connects to the carplay unit (instead of the factory BMW mic input)? Would like to see photos of the cables if possible.. or maybe order one of this reseller's connection kits to test out myself.

[Beemr]

Originally Posted by brettcp

Do you have a link to the site where you purchased yours? It sounds like your reseller made a different cable so the OEM mic connects to the carplay unit (instead of the factory BMW mic input)? Would like to see photos of the cables if possible.. or maybe order one of this reseller's connection kits to test out myself.

Originally Posted by brettcp

Do you have a link to the site where you purchased yours? It sounds like your reseller made a different cable so the OEM mic connects to the carplay unit (instead of the factory BMW mic input)? Would like to see photos of the cables if possible.. or maybe order one of this reseller's connection kits to test out myself.

Don't have any pictures of wiring but the company is the the uk

Integrated automotive uk

[Brasilcat]

Does anyone have any feedback on the ETRONS system available on Amazon?

[CaptainPunPants]

Originally Posted by smass

Regarding your controller, some CIC retrofits had issues with the older controller working with the CIC. To solve the issue, they downgraded the ZBE firmware. Perhaps this may solve your carplay box issue. CIC does not support haptic feedback found in ZBE High.

I just did my 3rd CIC retrofit and was surprised at the cost of the controller and trim. That is the only retrofit component that has not gone down in cost over time.

That is good news that it does not use the quadlock. I always have trouble fitting the extra quadlock behind the CIC.

I actually DID have to reflash the silly thing in WinKFP. That fixed the scrolling issue when I did the CIC retrofit.
That was done before the Kremersino unit arrived.

I just got a junkyard CIC iDrive controller off ebay and tested it:
Pulled the T30/T31/KCAN_H/KCAN_L pins from the 8-pin connector on the car, slipped them into a 4-pin housing, plugged it into the iDrive controller.
(1,2,4,5 on old connector ---> 1,2,3,4 on new connector).
Everything worked.

Plugged the Kremersino in between the iDrive controller and the car. Everything worked like a charm. That also confirms I didn't screw up the pin mapping when testing the old one (didn't do any rewiring on the Kremersino harness since messing with it earlier).

There's definitely a difference between the controllers. The CIC controller works, the CCC controller does not.

I suspect BMW made the CIC compatible in order to work with the REALLY small niche of cars that had the CIC-style iDrive controller with the CCC computer.


Regarding the Kremersino functionality: the android auto WORKS! Plugged the phone into USB2, as it wouldn't recognize android on USB1.

Better yet, the Android Auto Wireless works! I have a Samsung Galaxy S9, which was one of the first to get compatibility outside of Google's native phones.

It was a little counter-intuitive, and I found it by accident; once you're connected via USB, there's a red android auto icon on the top left corner of the screen. Click it, and it will switch to wireless. I unplugged the phone, and the android auto interface still worked.

It was late, so I haven't done any testing beyond that. I'll take some pictures when I have more time in the car.

Can't comment on audio quality yet; the car interior is torn apart, and I'm running a shielded 4-conductor wire back to the combox to get aux in working again. Also have to finish cutting the console to get the storage cubby USB/Aux fitted and the new iDrive controller.

You're right about the center console costs; I think this CIC retrofit (plus Combox) has cost me <$500 thanks to some good junkyard deals. I also like the buttons/ash tray from the pre-LCI car, so I'm going to cut my console and use the 6-series controller trim (that has an overhang on top to hide the cuts) and modify everything to fit the CIC controller and storage Aux/USB ports.

[washere]

Originally Posted by brettcp

Michael from Kremersino just told me that there will be a software update released "next week" for the unit I have (wireless carplay that works with Combox). We'll see.

I'm still begging him for the last one which he never sends me.

[Jonzny]

So if anyone is looking, I used this box. Works flawlessly. For audio i am still utilizing my tune2air.

https://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/...=4001039723032

[LT2424E90M3]

broken link, what is it suppose to lead to?

[Jonzny]

Originally Posted by LT2424E90M3

broken link, what is it suppose to lead to?

Sorry, maybe this works. Just the carplay box i used, seems cheaper than the ones others are linking works exactly the same

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001...archweb201603_

[Danny271]

I ordered a unit from Kremersino on 6/29, shipped on 7/4 and it arrived on 7/7. How can I check which software is pre-loaded and who has the best install video currently available?

I’ve followed this thread for a year and am very excited to hear how the audio quality is through my individual audio!