[jsingh91]

Originally Posted by ooshnoo

No. It's not. It's crappy AUX audio. This has already been established earlier in this thread.

Do any of the other retrofit options provide better audio?

[ooshnoo]

Originally Posted by jsingh91

Do any of the other retrofit options provide better audio?

No

[andino]

Originally Posted by jsingh91

Do any of the other retrofit options provide better audio?

Only one (potentially) would be an OEM retrofit to a newer NBT EVO2 unit that supports carplay

[andino]

Not super happy with my MMI unit so far. Bimmertech's return policy is pretty vague. Anyone have to process a return with them before. I think I'd rather just live with my phone on my mount with audio via USB/BT because the interface with android auto and carplay is clunky af.

[cityhunter07]

I manage to install the unit on the weekend, the overall experience of the MMI plus is pretty good, my summary as below.

- Works seamlessly with the OEM rear camera
- No problem with screen resolution
- The audio quality is not as good as bluetooth or USB, but wasn't as bad as I would have thought.
- no instruction manual was included in the package makes it very hard to understand the dip switches and cable connectors

Issues:
- Not sure if this is a problem for my unit, the call button on the steer wheel actually hang up incoming calls in Carplay which I find it bizzard. Hope this gets updated via a software patch
- GPS on Carplay sometime gets very bad signal and jump all over the play, this is the same for all maps, disconnecting from Carplay and run it on my mobile only dont get the same problem at all. Just wondering if Carplay gets GPS signal from the phone or from the car builtin GPS?

looping in Patrys@BimmerTech to provide comments

[andino]

Originally Posted by cityhunter07

I manage to install the unit on the weekend, the overall experience of the MMI plus is pretty good, my summary as below.

- Works seamlessly with the OEM rear camera
- No problem with screen resolution
- The audio quality is not as good as bluetooth or USB, but wasn't as bad as I would have thought.
- no instruction manual was included in the package makes it very hard to understand the dip switches and cable connectors

Issues:
- Not sure if this is a problem for my unit, the call button on the steer wheel actually hang up incoming calls in Carplay which I find it bizzard. Hope this gets updated via a software patch
- GPS on Carplay sometime gets very bad signal and jump all over the play, this is the same for all maps, disconnecting from Carplay and run it on my mobile only dont get the same problem at all. Just wondering if Carplay gets GPS signal from the phone or from the car builtin GPS?

looping in Patrys@BimmerTech to provide comments

I had the same issue with GPS signal when I was testing carplay with my work phone. I suspect that the MMI isn't using anything of the car's built in sensors and everything is being run from the phone.

Did you see if your maps changed with your headlights? Mine didn't take any input from my lights which is pretty annoying when driving at night.

[jsingh91]

Does anyone know if it's possible for your iphone to be connected to iDrive via bluetooth and play music through there, while being connected to the MMI via USB? I don't mind not having sound through CarPlay - because my primary motive is to be able to show Google Maps on my screen. And in the event I really want the Google Maps voice guidance or music, I'd be able to.

Appreciate any insight!

[ooshnoo]

Originally Posted by jsingh91

Does anyone know if it's possible for your iphone to be connected to iDrive via bluetooth and play music through there, while being connected to the MMI via USB? I don't mind not having sound through CarPlay - because my primary motive is to be able to show Google Maps on my screen. And in the event I really want the Google Maps voice guidance or music, I'd be able to.

Appreciate any insight!

Yes. Output your music through whatever interface you want.

[Kraftwerk]

I ended up going with Unique due to the wireless option. For audio, I'm connecting directly to BMW Bluetooth and using CarPlay only as an interface to circumvent AUX quality issues.

[theblues]

Originally Posted by Kraftwerk

I ended up going with Unique due to the wireless option. For audio, I'm connecting directly to BMW Bluetooth and using CarPlay only as an interface to circumvent AUX quality issues.

Isn't iDrive USB much better quality compared to Bluetooth?

Bimmertech uses wire to launch Carplay. Unique wireless makes it possible to use iDrive USB despite the idea to connect wirelessly.

[Kraftwerk]

Originally Posted by theblues

Isn't iDrive USB much better quality compared to Bluetooth?

Bimmertech uses wire to launch Carplay. Unique wireless makes it possible to use iDrive USB despite the idea to connect wirelessly.

Doesn't BimmerTech box still connect through AUX even though you connect to USB? Yes you can use USB to connect with Unique but all audio goes through AUX which still lowers the quality. If I'm wrong I'll start using a wired connection instead.

[theblues]

Originally Posted by Kraftwerk

Doesn't BimmerTech box still connect through AUX even though you connect to USB? Yes you can use USB to connect with Unique but all audio goes through AUX which still lowers the quality. If I'm wrong I'll start using a wired connection instead.

What I meant is to connect the phone to the OEM USB port. Not the MMI's

The audio quality in comparison to Bluetooth is much better.

[D3LM3L]

Originally Posted by andino

I had the same issue with GPS signal when I was testing carplay with my work phone. I suspect that the MMI isn't using anything of the car's built in sensors and everything is being run from the phone.

Did you see if your maps changed with your headlights? Mine didn't take any input from my lights which is pretty annoying when driving at night.

I also am having the GPS signal issue on my 2016 M3 (NBT Evo / ID4). Navigation apps are unusable because they never know where I'm located. Waiting for a response from Bimmer Tech on any other steps to take--this is the case with any device I've connected, whether iPhone or Android.

[andino]

Originally Posted by D3LM3L

I also am having the GPS signal issue on my 2016 M3 (NBT Evo / ID4). Navigation apps are unusable because they never know where I'm located. Waiting for a response from Bimmer Tech on any other steps to take--this is the case with any device I've connected, whether iPhone or Android.

Seems like they didn't do much testing of this device before releasing it. Guess us early adopters are beta testing them in the wild for them

[Kraftwerk]

Originally Posted by theblues

What I meant is to connect the phone to the OEM USB port. Not the MMI's

The audio quality in comparison to Bluetooth is much better.

I see what you mean. I will try it out later. Although I kind of like going wireless.

[theblues]

Originally Posted by Kraftwerk

I see what you mean. I will try it out later. Although I kind of like going wireless.

Totally I understand. Connecting the phone wired eliminates wireless benefits.

It is just the audio converters they implemented in these MMIs is just, bad.

[Kraftwerk]

Originally Posted by theblues

Totally I understand. Connecting the phone wired eliminates wireless benefits.

It is just the audio converters they implemented in these MMIs is just, bad.

That's the crazy thing. They know audio is a key element to CarPlay yet they give us crap quality. I'm going to give wired a try. I can suck it up if the quality is significantly better.

[dianebrat]

Originally Posted by Kraftwerk

That's the crazy thing. They know audio is a key element to CarPlay yet they give us crap quality.

I'd be willing to challenge that they know audio is key, if audio were key you don't need Carplay or Android Auto, you use something else. They're about giving you the Carplay apps and access to them, that's the primary difference between having a Carplay enabled system and just plugging or streaming your phone to the car audio.

Also worth noting that the market for these products has always been a bit fast and loose, they need to get them to work without a large R&D staff, in fact that's why they're using Android as the OS, it's quick and dirty to build the surrounding apps with a toolkit, as people have seen the units from various manufacturers are frequently the same under the skin.

[Kraftwerk]

Originally Posted by dianebrat

I'd be willing to challenge that they know audio is key, if audio were key you don't need Carplay or Android Auto, you use something else. They're about giving you the Carplay apps and access to them, that's the primary difference between having a Carplay enabled system and just plugging or streaming your phone to the car audio.

Also worth noting that the market for these products has always been a bit fast and loose, they need to get them to work without a large R&D staff, in fact that's why they're using Android as the OS, it's quick and dirty to build the surrounding apps with a toolkit, as people have seen the units from various manufacturers are frequently the same under the skin.

Your point is taken. Although I still assert audio being a key component. A significant number of the apps in CarPlay are audio focused. Apple Music, Amazon Music, Spotify, iheartradio, Google Play Music, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, etc.

I agree with you that people do get CarPlay for the apps. I think a majority of them use music related apps. Thus I would find it strange that the manufacturers aren't aware of music quality being a key component. Unless we assume that people are just okay with listening to paid quality music, which I do t think is the case for most.

Certainly getting a product to market is challenging but I would have paid extra for better quality. This is easily and option that manufacturers could offer to audiophiles.

[ooshnoo]

See my thread here on making the AUX audio sound much better

https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...&postcount=203

[Kraftwerk]

Originally Posted by ooshnoo

See my thread here on making the AUX audio sound much better

https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...&postcount=203

Thank you for this. I saw this pop up in my notifications earlier and I think I will give it a shot.

[Pierrerre]

I’ve just installed the MMI plus and I’m having the same GPS issues as the ones described above. Position is not very accurate and gps fix very long to acquire. This is with an up to date iPhone (tried with 2 different ones)