Bluetooth streaming......

[vestax32]

Was wondering if anyone knows a way to make the factory bluetooth handsfree stream music?! Or if not is there a way of doing it and retaining the factory bluetooth?

[MB2]

AFAIK the OEM BT adaptor is designed for mono use only.

[vestax32]

Any way to swap OEM bluetooth adaptor for one that will do both?!

[stu]

Good timing! I'm sorting this out this afternoon.

I like the phone call bluetooth setup, so I'm having an aux-in and a 12V socket installed in the glove box. Into the 12V cigar socket will go a blueooth stereo receiver. Search bluetooth stereo receiver on Amazon for options: I bought a Belkin one. Then I can stream tunes from my iPhone or android. Virtually all of my listening is done on Spotify these days so I'm looking forward to it! No more SD card filling for me...

Your iPhone will be able to automatically pause the tunes and use the car's mono-BT setup when a call comes in, then jump back onto the stereo bluetooth receiver when the call's done. I am confident of this as I played around in my old Z4. iPhone 3GS can juggle multiple bluetooth devices. My current 4S will be able to do the same I'm sure.

I didn't have an aux-in, but I bought one off Kufatec. Hopefully it's the right one! I got the RNS-E coded to turn on the aux-in a while back in anticipation.

A2DP/stereo bluetooth isn't great to be honest - I've trialled it on my kitchen table with some separate speakers. It sounds a bit flat, which I reckon won't be noticed in a moving car, but if you're a wannabe audiophile it might not be good enough for you [EDIT 17/8/12: FLAT SOUND PROBLEM FIXED]. but the great thing about getting an aux-in and a 12V power source into the glove box is you can do what you like after that. Reasons:

- the BOSE sound system and RNS-E is pretty good. You get to keep it, and everything continues to look OEM;
- there's a choice of bluetooth receivers. I went for Belkin. Logitech does one too. Some will be better than others as there are slightly better bluetooth stereo codecs out now. Your phone probably has them. I can't find a receiver that is updatable to these latest versions which should be clearer.
- you can try other audio sources. HTC will have an AirPlay-like audio receiver out soon;
- you could customise an Apple Airport Express to work off the 12V. Then you'd have (pretty much lossless) Airplay audio from your iPhone/iPad
- ...and lots of other ideas I haven't thought of.

I'll let you know how it goes.

[stu]

Any way to swap OEM bluetooth adaptor for one that will do both?!

Nope. Hence my cunning plan.

[stu]

Does anyone know for sure what how many amps the current cigar lighter can output? The glove box one will probably be attached to that one.

If anyone has any wireless audio receiver ideas I'd love to hear them. Anyone got a stereo bluetooth receiver they've tried and liked at home or in the car? It doesn't have to be a car-specific one: I fully expect to be able to get most things working off the 12V or a 5V USB adapter.

I'll proabably be sticking a 3 12V socket exptender in the glove box so I can stow and charge my Nexus 7 (via a USB adapter) in there when not in use. Can't decide whether to have the 12V source always-on or on/off with ignition.

[vestax32]

Good timing! I'm sorting this out this afternoon.

I like the phone call bluetooth setup, so I'm having an aux-in and a 12V socket installed in the glove box. Into the 12V cigar socket will go a blueooth stereo receiver. Search bluetooth stereo receiver on Amazon for options: I bought a Belkin one. Then I can stream tunes from my iPhone or android. Virtually all of my listening is done on Spotify these days so I'm looking forward to it! No more SD card filling for me...

Your iPhone will be able to automatically pause the tunes and use the car's mono-BT setup when a call comes in, then jump back onto the stereo bluetooth receiver when the call's done. I am confident of this as I played around in my old Z4. iPhone 3GS can juggle multiple bluetooth devices. My current 4S will be able to do the same I'm sure.

I didn't have an aux-in, but I bought one off Kufatec. Hopefully it's the right one! I got the RNS-E coded to turn on the aux-in a while back in anticipation.

A2DP/stereo bluetooth isn't great to be honest - I've trialled it on my kitchen table with some separate speakers. It sounds a bit flat, which I reckon won't be noticed in a moving car, but if you're a wannabe audiophile it might not be good enough for you. but the great thing about getting an aux-in and a 12V power source into the glove box is you can do what you like after that. Reasons:

- the BOSE sound system and RNS-E is pretty good. You get to keep it, and everything continues to look OEM;
- there's a choice of bluetooth receivers. I went for Belkin. Logitech does one too. Some will be better than others as there are slightly better bluetooth stereo codecs out now. Your phone probably has them. I can't find a receiver that is updatable to these latest versions which should be clearer.
- you can try other audio sources. HTC will have an AirPlay-like audio receiver out soon;
- you could customise an Apple Airport Express to work off the 12V. Then you'd have (pretty much lossless) Airplay audio from your iPhone/iPad
- ...and lots of other ideas I haven't thought of.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Stu, this sounds like a good plan. I had sort of thought about this, but thought that there would be a problem with connecting to 2 bluetooth devices at the same time, i.e. factory bluetooth handsfree & bluetooth stereo receiver. I also have iphone 4. Please let me know how you get on with this as I will almost certainly be doing the same thing if it works well!

[Timster]

A2DP is (as you've noted) pretty sh!t.
Why not just fit either an iPhone adapter or a Kufatec version (rather than the Aux-in)?

Not done it myself I must add, but pretty sure Kufatec do a whole range of options (often based on the Parrot system).

I have an iPod interface but never use it. Would have been far better to have a massive HDD in the glove-box imho.

[stu]

A2DP is (as you've noted) pretty sh!t.

I agree, but having said that I bought a JamBox a few months back and I've been very impressed. Bluetooth stereo is getting better. Sadly most manufacturers won't pay for the newer licences for better compression codecs but I'll find a receiver I'll be happy with eventually. Bluetooth is getting better. And viable Airplay options aren't too far away. The Apple Airplay standard works over wifi which might interfere with my wifi tethering of iPhone to other devices but we'll see how that pans out.

Why not just fit either an iPhone adapter or a Kufatec version (rather than the Aux-in)?

There isn't a bluetooth stereo module for our car's RNS-E. I don't think there is one for the 2012 RNS-E that folks on here have mentioned.

Good question about the iphone adapter. I didn't feel it would be a solution for me:
- the music is coming from my iPhone, sitting in the OEM cradle just to the left of the RNS-E unit. It's the only cradle that I can bear - I've yet to find an aftermarket one that spoils the interior less than the OEM one. If I did then happy days, I could have lovely high fidelity wired sound from phone to RNE-E.
- the music is from Spotify, and that only works on phones. My favourite stuff is already downloaded onto the iPhone's Spotify app, but more often that not I'm listening to new artists/albums that pop into my head or I've head on the radio. It's a relatively minor point, but I'm not sure if the iPhone adapters play nice with anything other than music in the iPod/iTunes part of the phone. If anyone's seen a good cradle please let me know! I'm not too confident Audi will keep making new adapters for new phones.

Not done it myself I must add, but pretty sure Kufatec do a whole range of options (often based on the Parrot system).

Yup, all mono unfortunelty.

I have an iPod interface but never use it. Would have been far better to have a massive HDD in the glove-box imho.

Any amount of in-car storage is not as good as Spotify for me. For reasons above. The front end of the iPod interface is ok, but the ability to control playlists, search for new albums and play/pause straight from the very pretty iPhone screen while your elbow leans lazily on the armrest is, for me at least, is infinitely better.

Bottom line is: get an aux-in, get a power supply and you can do what you like in that little glove box. Then use the RNS-E as an amplifier only.

[stu]

Stu, this sounds like a good plan. I had sort of thought about this, but thought that there would be a problem with connecting to 2 bluetooth devices at the same time, i.e. factory bluetooth handsfree & bluetooth stereo receiver. I also have iphone 4. Please let me know how you get on with this as I will almost certainly be doing the same thing if it works well!

The aux-in and 12V source is in now: very tidy job. I cheated slightly and got Autosounds in Newcastle to do it - I don't mind mucking around with gadgets but I go faint at the idea of potentially butchering my pride and joy

I didn't buy the Belkin receiver with the 12V plug. I rather stupidly bought a domestic one with a 240V mains adapter. Twenty quid off Amazon but I don't waste it. Good news is the adapter's output is 5V and a little under 500mA so I just need to cut the power cable and quickly learn to solder a USB plug into place. Then it'll run off a generic USB car charger.

I think the phone will handle multiple bluetooth connections just fine. Not sure when my next opportunity to play with solder will be. I will keep you posted!

[Pyrotechnic]

This might be a stupid question, but, why are you using a bluetooth receiver to aux-in? Why not just plug your iPhone/Pod straight into the Aux-in...?

[stu]

This might be a stupid question, but, why are you using a bluetooth receiver to aux-in? Why not just plug your iPhone/Pod straight into the Aux-in...?

Purely aesthetic reasons! That, and the ability to continue to use the OEM cradle.

[Pyrotechnic]

This might be a stupid question, but, why are you using a bluetooth receiver to aux-in? Why not just plug your iPhone/Pod straight into the Aux-in...?

Purely aesthetic reasons! That, and the ability to continue to use the OEM cradle.

Sound reasoning to me.

[stu]

The Bluetooth receiver is now in place. In short: it's brilliant. And cheap as chips to set up.

I can confirm that the iPhone 4S juggles the two Bluetooth connections perfectly:
- the call flashes up on the iPhone screen
- the music rapidly fades
- the ringer rings in exactly the same way as before on the iPhone speaker and on the car's built in Bluetooth hands free
- at the end the music resumes with a fade up.

Some things I learned:

The sound quality through the AUX-IN is superb. I can't tell the difference between it and using the RNS-E's SD card
It was nice to find out that the retrofit connection is not going to be the weak link.

3.5mm audio cables can be hit and miss
Try a few different cables form sound source to the aux in socket. I lost loads of bass with the first one I tried, either a bad connection with the aux-in socket or crappy quality wire. The same wire works fine with other devices so it really threw me. I'm glad I didn't blame the Kufatec kit! With the right audio cable I think the range and noise is equivelent playing off the RNS-E SD slots. I was confident that the setup was good, and the weak link was definitely going to be the Bluetooth streaming.

Choose your USB adapters carefully!
All the blueooth receivers I looked at only need the most basic of USB power outputs (5V/500mA) so no problems there. I'm just going to keep mine turned on all the time day/night for handiness as I can't see 2.5 Watts draining the car battery easily. If you want to charge your iPad or other biggish devices in the glove box you're gonna need more power: all there chargers output 5V/2amps. Big stuff will still charge if plugged into 500mA or 1A USB sockets but at a trickle. The device won't always say tell you that it's charging if connected to low power sources but check the battery percentages and you'll see them go up very slowly.

Different phones/tablets/laptops/recievers have different Bluetooth Audio Codecs/Licences
Some have good bluetooth stereo capabilities and some have bad and you won't know until you try. Newer devices should have better codecs that have better compression algorithms and just sound better but it's so hard to research. If you're streaming your music from a android device there's a chance your (new) android supports APT-X codec. APT-X is generally considered to be near CD quality (don't quote me: I'm not audio expert). It might be worth your while investing in an APT-X reciever.
As far as I know the iPhone doesn't have APT-X but does have a good quality A2DP stack so the quality can be very good - I know this as I get superb sound from my JamBox. The Belkin Bluetooth receiver definitely doesn't use APT-X but I find the quality to be very satisfactory. I bought the fifteen quid mains-operated one and fashioned my own USB power cable. At fifteen quid it's almost disposable if/when I find a better one.

Kutfatec item 37898: AUX IN retrofit kit Audi RNS-E is what you need
http://www.kufatec.de/shop/index.php?pa ... &info=1312
Does exactly what it says on the tin. You will have to have your RNS-E coded with a VCDS to turn on AUX

I increased the usefulness of my glovebox with a three way 12V socket extender
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008PMIBGK
Sits very nicely up in the hole where the owners manual is supposed to be. I used Velcro to stop it moving.

The Griffin PowerJolt 2 Amp USB adapter is a good quality adapter
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003LGT4WU
I bought two just so I can charge a few things at the same time on road trips. My Nexus 7, her phone etc.

The Belkin Bluetooth Music Receiver is cheap as chips and works very well
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0037LHUSE
I'm not saying this is the best. It's cheap but it required me to make up a USB cable to power it and there is a very quiet background hiss which is noticable if you turn the volume up very high or have your engine off. At this price I won't feel to bad trying a few others to see which is best. The only suitable APT-X receiver I found was a QED U-Play and at seventy quid wasn't my first choice. Now that I know the aux-in is capable of pretty impressive audio I might try one some time.
The Belkin doesn't automatically connect to the iPhone sadly. You have to go into Settings>General>Bluetooth and tap the Belkin at the start of every journey. There may be an SBSettings shortcut installable if you've jailbroken your phone.

It feels great to finally have Spotify in my car. So long SD cards...!

I hope that helps. Apologies for the rambling but it's Friday and I'm multitasking on beers.

[andy]

This is brilliant work Stu, thanks for sharing When I had my B7 I often wished there was a way of getting music from my iPhone whilst in the cradle on the dash and it really bugged me that this didn't figure in Audi's thinking. Now I have C6 it's gone even further back as it doesn't even have a cradle so I just bought an iPod classic, put all my music on and leave it connected in the glovebox. Works but as you say it's not a great interface and using an app like spotify would be far better. Might have to think about this for the big 6, hmmm.