Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   In-Car Entertainment (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/car-entertainment/)

-   -   Car Audio Advice from the Audio Gurus: Use "Search thread" before posting a new Q! (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/car-entertainment/6427-car-audio-advice-audio-gurus-use-search-thread-before-posting-new-q-928.html)

If you are looking to get decent audio quality from your phone when connected to the car, then wireless car play is not a good idea. There is a HUGE difference when music is played off BT and wired Car Play.

Since Wireless Car Play is still relatively new and uses a mix of WIFI and Bluetooth, Head units are still awfully expensive.

You can get the Pioneer Z9190BT with Wireless carplay here in India for Rs 42,321 on Amazon (MRP Rs 50,050/- as per the Pioneer website)

Hi,
I've recently got the Blaupunkt New York 750 that has wireless Apple Car Play, but wired Android Auto. Cost me Rs. 18,000/- from a local dealer. Serves my purpose well.
Regards,

Ah, I hadn't thought of this, so thanks for bringing this up. For city rides, I prefer the convenience of not having to tether my phone to the USB port since I sit in the back seat (have a driver for city commute). Are there any places in Bangalore where we can audition the head unit?

Also, would love to get an opinion of a few other units that popped up during my research:

Blaupunkt New York 750
KW-M950BWM

There is always Sony XAV-AX5000, but it's wired only.

How is the wireless Carplay connection? Is it rock solid, as in, do you see any flakiness/disconnects, etc? Have you tried both wired and wireless Carplay? Also, since we use both Android and iOS in our family, would be great to hear your thoughts on Android Auto connectivity too. I am assuming the steering wheel controls work and so does the reverse camera, right?

In that case it makes sense to go for a simple bluetooth HU and buy a good pair of headphones instead, with the money saved. Android Auto or Car Play displays incoming messages and calls on the HU, so not ideal with a driver or others in the car.

If you have to go the AA or CP way, better to save money and get any unit with wired option as you may use it mostly on long drives when its better to charge your phone while streaming music, navigation etc.

Fair point - while it's true that it does show incoming messages or calls, I am not too concerned about it since it is in English, but what matters more to me is the ability to have Google Maps on the HU so that my driver knows the fastest route to take rather than me having to run Google maps on my phone and keep directing him. Also, if I am not mistaken, the HU's I referenced earlier have the ability to do both wired and wireless Carplay, which should solve for the sound quality issue (on longer drives, I will just wire it in).

Also, I see that you are in Bangalore. If you don't mind, can you PM me a few dealers/installers that offer a competitive price (I moved back to Bangalore recently, so don't have references for good dealers/installers).

That's something I never thought of. If that's the case, I think wireless units make more sense. In India, except Blaupunkt no other company offers wireless connectivity option yet. I expect some launches around the year-end with insane pricing.

If you can get someone to carry a Pioneer unit from the US it would be ideal, the 4400 nex makes sense though its a little pricey.

Blaupunkt can be bought off of Amazon and for installation you can try Top gear (Anwar) in Koramangala or High Deinition cars in Jayanagar.

Hi,
Wireless connection in the Blaupunkt New York 750 is rock solid. There are no disturbance/ disconnects and it just connects as soon as you are within range.

Haven’t used Android Auto as i do not own any Android phones, so cannot provide feedback on that.

Steering control works out of the box, plain & simple. You can program your steering wheel control to perform the functions that you’d want from the settings. Reverse camera is also functioning normally without any issues till date.

As for availability, i think it is available at motorogue.in at a cheaper rate than Amazon, although i have bought it from a local retailer. I showed the local retailer the online price & demanded the unit at the same price, to which he agreed. (* I’m not affiliated to either motorogue.in /Amazon and have no commercial interest)

Hope the above info helps. :)

Regards,

You either have incredibly golden ears, or are basing your statement off experience with an older (BT 2.0) based interface.

I use bluetooth with my main home stereo with decent hifi speakers, and I find it hard to tell the difference with a wifi audio streamer unless I am trying really hard to look for differences.

Exactly my thoughts too. Also, wireless car play uses wifi direct which has a very high transfer rate. Bluetooth is only used for initial pairing, and post that, any data transfer happens on wifi direct. Wifi direct has data transfer speeds of 250 Mbps which is 10 times that of Bluetooth, and which I suppose should be sufficient for most cases. Gurus must be having a better understanding of the same and can correct me if I'm wrong.

Regards,
Bineet

Did you try any other after-market HU ? I've been told that Sony/Pio offer better output as compared to a Blaupunkt even if the speakers are driven through an amp. I wonder if this is really true, since once the amp is present, it does all the sound processing and HU just acts as a interface.

I'd love to hear its untrue!

True sir. If aftermarket HU is used, better the sound quality.

If the source unit (read as OEM HU) itself isn't clean (in terms of sounds quality) what would the amplifier do! With a not-so-great HU, the amplifier will make it even more evident.

Hence an aftermarket HU is first option to be tried else retain the OEM HU and add a DSP in between the HU and amplifier so all settings can be done in the DSP and those signals shall be amplified and sent to the speakers.

Yes, I don't want to retain OEM HU for precisely that reason-crap output.

However, my question was will say a Sony/Pio sound better than a Blaupunkt with all else (amp,speakers,wiring etc) remaining the same. My installer is very confident that Pioneer is the best in terms of sound quality followed by Sony and Blaupunkt. I'm keen on a getting a not so expensive HU (read 15-20k tops so I can get better speakers with the money saved.

Yes sir. Pioneer may be better than Blaupunkt but could be equal to Sony in terms of overall sound quality.

A buddy of mine has agreed to bring along the W4500NEX from the US. What other installation kits would I need to ensure that the steering wheel controls work and my reverse camera works too?

I was reading around and got the sense that I would need a Maestro kit, etc, but before I end up buying those items, I wanted to confirm what exactly I would need for my Honda Jazz 2017 privilege edition that comes with a 7" digipad 1.0 system.

Also, if the installers in Bangalore have the necessary kits at a competitive price, I would rather just buy them here.

That's one of the newer one's I guess, I couldn't find many reviews on amazon so do check online. When I was looking for a HU, only thought this might be necessary for the backup camera, not sure about maestro kit, but it looks like something the local installer would have.

https://www.amazon.com/MicroBypass-A...VYPZHYWCJRC440


Also, do you absolutely need wireless android (as of now,only Pixel phones support wireless AA) ? If not, i'd just buy the Pioneer 9190BT locally since it comes with both wireless Carplay and wired Android Auto, but gets a capacitive touchscreen, which is far better than the resisitive type offered on 4400/4500 nex. I think if you buy it locally should cost aprx the same as 4500 nex from US. Do look it up before you finalize.