[ajaypjayaraj]

Dynavin N6-VW Review

This is the first impression and initial review of the aftermarket HU Dynavin N6-VW recently launched worldwide. Being the first customer of Dynavin India officially, I thought of putting up my review for the benefit of VAG car owners in and out of this community. Please note I have spent only about a day with the unit after its installation in my Skoda Yeti and these are my first impressions. I might have missed out on some details. Kindly feel free to ask if there is anything more you would like to know.

Dynavin has spent about 2 years in developing their latest N6 platform on which DynOS runs. This has been developed exclusively for mobile environment for ease of use and performance. Along with it Dynavin has taken care of the hardware part too. Basically they have given it a faster processor and high end DSP components. That is what is wrong with all other aftermarket VAG HUs these days. I've purchased, used and learnt this the hard way. All of them have poor processing power which slows down the system causing hang up issues and the DSP capabilities are pretty poor too if you want pure listening pleasure, but all these HUs are right up there as far as the price goes. When I say poor DSP it means, HU may produce loud noises and deep/heavy lows and shrill highs but would not sound clean and crisp through out the frequency range, as in, mids would be missing at low volumes and overall listening experience is nothing an audiophile would enjoy. This is where Dynavin proves its worth.


Pros
- Good processor, fast performance.
- User friendly UI, smooth operation.
- Touch screen is the best seen as yet on a HU, good touch sensitivity.
- Audio quality is top notch, enough settings to satisfy an audiophile listener.
- Good BT functionality and performance.
- Built quality to match the car interior, also buttons have a firm but soft press feel and not clicky.

Cons
- Radio bug which causes radio frequencies to get stuck between 2 preset stations some times, but not always. Software bug which needs a firmware update.
- Zone time setting sorely misses out increments and decrements other than whole hour leaving us Indians and people from countries having such zone times no choice but wait for the firmware update to get the exact time displayed.
- Subwoofer level difference not very noticeable through out the control range. Again a software bug which must be included in the next firmware update.

DSP and audio quality.
Dynavin comes with 24bit burr brown D/A converters, time alignment, 5 band graphic EQ with additional Bass/Mid./Treble/Sub.W level settings, Dyna-bass and loudness settings, 4V preamp outs, etc. All this means you get a complete sound reproduction like high end audio systems. For layman to understand, imagine playing music on a Bose audio system. Those mid ranges which are usually not noticed in usual systems suddenly becomes more audible which gives that complete listening experience right? It's somewhat similar experience once you set up the Dynavin DSP.

You notice that the speakers are of much better quality than you thought it was, because now you have a high end DSP at work feeding those speakers to give their best output. At lower volumes itself you don't miss out on the mid range frequencies and as you pump up the volume, it still gives out clean lows and enjoyable mids and highs. That's what you get from a high end sound system. Feels like finally those days are back when I could enjoy music and not just listen to 'em in my car. That is my first impression of Dynavin audio quality.

You get to switch between the OE amp and Dynavin amp within the sound settings menu. This is a very cool feature and shows how good it integrates with the OE setup. It also helps you understand the difference between the OE sound reproduction and that of Dynavin DSP.


UI and performance.
Remember those days when we were bugged by the hanging up of Symbian OS and other smart phones? And when you finally used an iPhone for the first time, it was such a relief that finally things don't get stuck while you scroll and you can keep swiping it back and forth without getting the screen shaky? That is how the UI feels. You can swipe the touchscreen and the gestures work much better than other HU touchscreens as you can see in the video. Not as great as an iPhone touch screen but better than what other HUs offer. And to make it better, the DynOS kinda looks like Windows 8 with all those colored tiles. The resolution is 800x480. It looks and performs good.


BT connectivity.
It comes with BT from parrot built it. I have used both low line and premium OE BT kits in my Skoda and also built-in BT on aftermarket HUs (including parrot built in BT unit of Blaupunkt Philadelphia 835). None of it comes up to this performance. It's very fast. Connects as well as transfers call lists and contacts pretty quick at impressive speeds. I have wired the external mic that came along with the HU in the OE mic position and tried out hands free
call. Both the persons I talked to could not make out the difference between hands free mode and iPhone mode. It is clear.


Radio.
Radio reception is better than other aftermarket HUs. All the features you would expect in a radio reciever today is available. Since the touch screen experience is pretty seamless, it's nice to manually swipe through the radio frequencies bar. It works pretty smooth and accurate. But radio unit has a small glitch. Sometimes after playing a few other sources and you switch back to radio, the preset channels seem confused. If you select the first radio station, it plays. If you select the next radio station, even if it gets selected, some times it still plays the other station frequency. I've tried switching between radio frequencies fast one after the other and it works perfectly fine at times as you can see in the video below and some times it behaves funny like mentioned above. This is basically a software bug which needs an update. Dynavin has already been notified and this must be overcome in the next software update. A cool feature is that you can add radio station icons of your choice as seen in the pic!


Navigation.
I am using iGo Primo India maps for navigation as of now. I have used the same in my other HUs. The faster loading time and performance is evident in Dynavin. Obviously with a faster processor, all these will perform much better and more smoothly. A new feature is the media contents overlay on the Navigation screen so that you are aware of what is playing even when you are on the Navigation screen. This small window can be minimized to a small box on the Nav screen. Touching it opens the mini window overlay again.


Multimedia.
You can hook up an iPod, connect a USB drive or use micro SD card for playing multimedia apart from DVDs and CDs. There is also a built in HDD with just about 4GB capacity. Again, the loading time is very fast comparatively. It hardly takes any time for reading the card before displaying its contents. Just like how quickly BT connects, Your digital media contents are read and displayed almost instantly. Opened/played music, videos, pics without hick ups. You can set any pic as the welcome pic to be shown at start up of the unit.


OBD and CAN compatibility.
Displays HVAC info when you change any AC settings. Has an interesting PDC display if only PDC is selected in settings. Will put up a video of the PDC only screen. But the PDC + Camera display, I did not like as much as it showed in the Audiosources HU. OBD info shown on the "OBC" screen is not as elaborate as Audiosources or Kenwood which shows even the quantity of fuel in Ltrs. This one shows Engine Oil temperature, Coolant temperature, Battery voltage and Outside ambient temperature. However the engine oil temp. is not applicable for most of the models. I think it could work on the L&K models. Fully compatible with MFSW. Audio and BT info showed on MFD as displayed when using Bolero or Columbus radio.


Now the bugs that were found in the system, elaborated:
- Time setting. You dont have to set the time as it takes UTC from GPS time. You only have to set the zone time which is standard in Navigation HUs these days. Dynavin does not have a zone setting for +5:30 hrs! Surprisingly they missed out on our time zone! It has only Zone time adjustments with increments or decrements of 1. Any country having any zone time difference other than a whole hour can't set their correct time!
- Radio bug! as mentioned above. Frequencies get stuck between 2 preset stations. This happens sometimes and not evident always as you can see in the video.
- Subwoofer level control has a range from 0 - 7. But through that range, there is hardly any noticeable change. But the good thing is, you get clean comfortable lows from the woofers of your speaker and you can tweak your amp to feed your subwoofers to a comfortable level and leave it at that. This works good. Anyways now I have set the subs to a lower level as the overall sound output in the car has matured with the installation of Dynavin.
These 3 issues are firmware bugs as mentioned above and already been reported to Dynavin which they would take care in their coming up firmware update hopefully. So it is just a matter of time that this cons list will disappear.


What I was looking for was some unit developed with a strong foundation. ie, good processor as well as good DSP. Once these are provided and if the UI is good, rest can be taken care of like these silly software bugs. The bottom line is, this aftermarket HU is the best I have come across as yet among the ones available for VW, Skoda cars and this is the final upgrade for a complete HU in my Skoda.

The unboxing pics have been posted in the following thread - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifi...om-mods-6.html


For complete specs, features and price details, kindly click on the following links:
Dynavin India website - http://dynavin.in/
Dynavin India alternate source - http://www.vagtune.com/secure/car-ty...n-vw-n6-detail
Dynavin Global website - http://www.dynavin.com/index.php
Contact person - Mr.Sugesh +91 9895330033

Now let the pics do the talking...



Home screen Pg 1, This is where SRC button takes you


Home screen Pg 2


Home screen Pg 3


Radio screen


Navigation loading


Navigation with media screen overlay


Navigation with media screen overlay minimised, notice the small black box on the left towards the bottom


DSP settings menu


Fader/Balance/Time alignment


Bass/Mid/Treble & Subwoofer level controls


Graphic EQ settings


Source level Adjustments


DSP settings continued. Loud/Dyna-bass/OE DSP amp activation menus


PDC ON, Reverse gear not engaged, Steering wheel at center


PDC ON, Reverse gear not engaged, Steering wheel turned to right


PDC ON, Reverse gear engaged, Steering wheel at center


PDC ON, Reverse gear engaged, Steering wheel turned to left


PDC + CAM ON


HVAC display


System settings menu



Screen brightness settings


OBC screen


SD card


A2DP BT streaming


Handsfree call in progress


Hidden switch for switching between Red and Green Key Illumination



Videos explain better

Touch screen - Home menu and Radio screen

http://youtu.be/8eHM-k5gUvU

PDC with dynamic trajectory lines. Focus shifts to rear sensors when reverse gear is engaged.

http://youtu.be/QCQ3l5JoJcY

Dynavin does make custom retrofit HUs for Bimmers, Mercs, Audis, etc. Next, will check out the Dynavin unit for my F30. Hope this review helps. Thanks for reading guys.

[ajmat]

Moving out online. Thank you very much for sharing!

[dkaile]

Nice install. What was the total cost of this install?

[ajaypjayaraj]

Originally Posted by dkaile

Nice install. What was the total cost of this install?

Thanks dkaile. The unit Costed 55K INR and was shipped to me. Installation was DIY, so no further expenses. Even if you get it installed from else where, it is plug and play which would not take more than an hour including wiring the hands-free mic to the OE location. I know you have been waiting for a good ICE replacement for your Superb. This one is worth the wait.

Check out the following link: http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PU...vers/DEH-80PRS
That is Pioneer reference series Audiophile grade HU. If you read the literature below, it says that the HU has 24 bit burr brown DACs. It is the same DACs in Dynavin HU too. That says it all.

[drpudhi]

One thing i badly want in a HU is its ability to display the name of contacts on incoming call. My RCD 320 is a pain in that regard. How many contacts can this HU store. Also, in my RCD 320 i cannot pair more than one device at the same time. How many does this support?

[shefiu]

Nice round-up Ajay.

Couple of questions:

1. How long does the unit take to boot?
2. Does the bluetooth stay on when the unit itself is off? For example if I get a call while the unit is off, can I answer it through the unit?
3. You mentioned that you're using iGO Primo maps for navigation for now. This could be the weak point at the moment. Is it possible to change the maps to some other? Best case - could we hack it to use Google Maps?
4. How have you installed the GPS kit? is it possible to wire it to the antenna and have a replacement sharkfin antenna that handles both radio and GPS?
5. Where is the unit manufactured?


Seems like Vagtune has become their dealer and their Indian website has a similar layout to Vagtune's (with their contact info at the bottom).

Your review has come at an opportune time. For now, the dynavin seems to be leading the race by good margin for those seeking OEM looks.

[ajaypjayaraj]

Originally Posted by drpudhi

One thing i badly want in a HU is its ability to display the name of contacts on incoming call. My RCD 320 is a pain in that regard. How many contacts can this HU store. Also, in my RCD 320 i cannot pair more than one device at the same time. How many does this support?

It can connect only 1 phone at a time and sync 1000 contacts from the connected phone. But that one phone which connects works like a charm. Even the premium OE BT kit which I had used with my RCD 510 (which BTW offers very smooth connectivity and performance) does not reach upto this level of perfection.

Originally Posted by shefiu

Nice round-up Ajay.
Couple of questions:
1. How long does the unit take to boot?
2. Does the bluetooth stay on when the unit itself is off? For example if I get a call while the unit is off, can I answer it through the unit?
3. You mentioned that you're using iGO Primo maps for navigation for now. This could be the weak point at the moment. Is it possible to change the maps to some other? Best case - could we hack it to use Google Maps?
4. How have you installed the GPS kit? is it possible to wire it to the antenna and have a replacement sharkfin antenna that handles both radio and GPS?
5. Where is the unit manufactured?
Seems like Vagtune has become their dealer and their Indian website has a similar layout to Vagtune's (with their contact info at the bottom).
Your review has come at an opportune time. For now, the dynavin seems to be leading the race by good margin for those seeking OEM looks.

Thanks shefiu!

1. The initial booting time is claimed to be somewhere around 15-20 secs. I measured it to be around 14 secs when I booted it first time. I'm not sure about the exact figure as per specs but I never had to worry about it because Dynavin has been very thoughtful to not let this initial boot up time be a problem to the user. What they have done is, the system boot up is initiated when you unlock the doors. So by the time you step in, and turn the key the system is already booted up and in stand by mode. Same way while you turn off the car, system goes to sleep mode and shuts down only after 20 mins. So it does not have to boot multiple times in a short span. These are very thoughtful features like the auto lock/unlock of these cars.

2. The power button of the unit can only put the system to sleep. Even if it is in sleep mode your phone will pair and responds to calls when your car is not turned off. Same way the PDC screen also comes up when you trigger it by engaging reverse gear or Parking button regardless of whether your HU is in sleep mode or not. You cannot power off the unit completely, as in shut down, even by long pressing the power button. You can only sleep or wake the unit. Power management is taken care of by itself like the CECM of the car which decides when to turn off which modules after the car has been turned off completely.

3. Yep, agreed. Especially the iGo Primo maps I use are form the Audiosources HU which I removed and it is not the latest version too. The latest version which I ordered from gpsmapstore.com did not reach me. I rec'd only an open envelope with the micro SD card missing. My guess is, Customs could be the culprit. I will be upgrading to latest mapmyindia maps soon in Dynavin.

4. I have wired it to the shark-fin antenna for GPS and radio reception. Even my previous HU was hooked up the same way. Radio reception is via the second OE antenna also. Dynavin makes use of both OE radio antennae providing good radio reception.

5. Dynavin Gmbh was found in Karlsruhe, Germay. They have their R&D division there and concentrate on OE integration of after market Nav. HUs for German cars. I think their production facility is at Shenzhen and gets shipped worldwide from Hong Kong if I'm not mistaken.

Yeah, Vagtune has been appointed as their Distributor for India.

[blr]

Thanks ajaypjayaraj!

You got me also tempted to take this route! I will wait to hear from you on how your mapmyindia upgrade goes.

Also, I am trying to find if it is possible to firmware upgrade an older version claim to be supporting 2005 - 2011 VW with the firmware for the latest model available in market claiming to support 2004 - 2014. The older model is about $200 cheaper.

PS: It appears that the MFSW control is not CAN-BUS based; says it is "Universal Analog steering wheel control". Not sure if the Polo MFSW control is CAN-BUS or the analog type. Did you use any adapters for this?

[ajaypjayaraj]

Originally Posted by blr

Thanks ajaypjayaraj!

You got me also tempted to take this route! I will wait to hear from you on how your mapmyindia upgrade goes.

Also, I am trying to find if it is possible to firmware upgrade an older version claim to be supporting 2005 - 2011 VW with the firmware for the latest model available in market claiming to support 2004 - 2014. The older model is about $200 cheaper.

PS: It appears that the MFSW control is not CAN-BUS based; says it is "Universal Analog steering wheel control". Not sure if the Polo MFSW control is CAN-BUS or the analog type. Did you use any adapters for this?

Anytime blr! Dynavin will take care of the CAN BUS and non CAN BUS integration. You don't have to worry about it. It has been developed in Germany solely for OE integration with German cars, so has the capability to self integrate. But once you install it in a non CAN BUS polo and later if you have to shift it to a CAN BUS car, there is some tool with which it can be re-initiated and adapted to the CAN BUS car. First time when you install, it takes care of this by itself by detecting the kind of car you plugged it into.

[blr]

Originally Posted by ajaypjayaraj

Anytime blr! Dynavin will take care of the CAN BUS and non CAN BUS integration. You don't have to worry about it. It has been developed in Germany solely for OE integration with German cars, so has the capability to self integrate. But once you install it in a non CAN BUS polo and later if you have to shift it to a CAN BUS car, there is some tool with which it can be re-initiated and adapted to the CAN BUS car. First time when you install, it takes care of this by itself by detecting the kind of car you plugged it into.

Wow! Thanks for the nitty-gritty details.

I will be installing it on my (yet to be taken delivery of) Polo TSI, so it is mostly CAN-BUS. The only part that threw me up is a statement they had somewhere in the specs that MFSW integration will be through analog interface (whatever that means)

I will be placing an order for this unit soon for US$649, with iGo US maps which will be useless for me. I am not sure what my map options are for India. Hope I will be able to install a decent map from one of the vendors. The manual says the Nav (or map) program and the map data must be on the SD card; and it further states that any WinCE compatible Nav program can be used. So, it should go fine. If all else fail, then there is the option to convert the Garmin map data to iGo format. So, eagerly waiting to hear the result of your map upgrade to MMI.

Thanks!

[k_ajay]

Ajaypjayaraj, thanks for your info and detailed review. Very useful info for VW/Skoda car owners.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dynavin, I am guessing, is brought to India by the owner(s) of Vagtune (www.vagtune.in). Seeing Dynavin India website, I was almost convinced the website looked like a mirror copy of Vagtune.in's website. But their 'contact us' page sealed my guess.



Not sure if Dynavin's (parent company) website isn't updated or if Dynavin India is an authorised distributor.. No mention on Dynavin's website yet.

[ajaypjayaraj]

Originally Posted by k_ajay

Ajaypjayaraj, thanks for your info and detailed review. Very useful info for VW/Skoda car owners.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Dynavin, I am guessing, is brought to India by the owner(s) of Vagtune (www.vagtune.in). Seeing Dynavin India website, I was almost convinced the website looked like a mirror copy of Vagtune.in's website. But their 'contact us' page sealed my guess.



Attachment 1282072



Not sure if Dynavin's (parent company) website isn't updated or if Dynavin India is an authorised distributor.. No mention on Dynavin's website yet.



Attachment 1282073

I had raised the same concern with Vagtune. It seems they take months to update their global site after appointing a new Distributor. It won't reflect in their global site very soon. Also, a new global site is in the making. However, Dynavin has started shipping units to India and started sales in India.

[k_ajay]

Originally Posted by ajaypjayaraj

I had raised the same concern with Vagtune. It seems they take months to update their global site after appointing a new Distributor. It won't reflect in their global site very soon. Also, a new global site is in the making. However, Dynavin has started shipping units to India and started sales in India.

Thanks for that AjayPjayaraj. One query for you after i completely read your thread. Do you have any comments/feedback on the quality of audio from Dynavin, compared to Kenwood DNX535VBT?

[ajaypjayaraj]

Originally Posted by k_ajay

Thanks for that AjayPjayaraj. One query for you after i completely read your thread. Do you have any comments/feedback on the quality of audio from Dynavin, compared to Kenwood DNX535VBT?

I have not listened enough to do an extensive comparison with that model but I have listened to it a couple of times. From whatever little I have heard on other HUs, audio quality is on par with parallel models from Pioneer, Kenwood and Alpine which are specifically built for VW, Skoda cars as a RCD/RNS series replacement. While the other 3 has more features, Dynavin seems to have limited the no. of features comparatively but without compromising on overall audio quality and performance. Kind of like Android vs iOS devices when it comes to ease of use (personal choice is iOS) and like an iPod which does not give you too many audio options but does not fail to impress when it comes to audio quality.

Why I prefer this head unit over those is because this one is developed in Germany for proper integration with German cars. Like I have mentioned above, the components used in Dynavin are high grade like burr brown DAC, MOSFET circuit, NEC chipset, etc. Like a BMW which technically has a lot more stuff in it than being ever advertised, this one is much more than what the spec sheet says. Less of marketing and more of real stuff. I'm a fan of such products.

[StarScream]

Originally Posted by k_ajay

Thanks for that AjayPjayaraj. One query for you after i completely read your thread. Do you have any comments/feedback on the quality of audio from Dynavin, compared to Kenwood DNX535VBT?

k_ajay its a moot point because the DNX535VBT is not available in India. I just called up the company to inquire about it and they told me they've never imported it because there is no demand. I told them how wrong they were and that they've gifted the entire market to Blaupunkt. They weren't even aware that the Vento Konekt is now coming factory-fitted with the Philadelphia 835. Hopefully my efforts lead to them rethinking their stand.