Accessories Which Bluetooth Car Head Unit?

[400ixl]

Looking at getting a new Head Unit that is able to do hands free calls and streaming from the HTC Desire, but also connect up an Ipod discretely (ideally through a rear usb port). I would much rather it had a wired remote microphone rather than one in the head unit itself.

So, what have found to work with the Desire. Any info greatly appreciated.

I am currently looking at the following units if anyone has one:

Kenwood KDC-BT60U
Pioneer DEH-P7100BT
Pioneer DEH-600BT
Sony MEX-BT5700U
JVC KD-R901

 

[Si Pie]

Not quite the same, but I have the Sony MEX-BT4700U and it is actually a really good head unit. Unfortunately with Android I can't do hands free voice dial anymore.

The mic quality (I'm told by others) is ok, sometimes a but tinny but they can hear me ok in general. You can fit an external mic to it too.

Ipod control works really well, just bear in mind that if you have a passenger who wants to select tracks directly from the ipod, you can't do this with ipod video or touch models. I originally bought the unit to stream music from a SE C905, but with the amount of driving I was doing and lack of time to keep swapping music around on the 8gb capacity, I had to buy an ipod. The front USB is probably the only negative I have with the head unit, that and the fact it doesn't grab my contacts from the phone (which I think the 5700 does).

I'm really impressed with the sound quality, I've just kept my speakers stock but it powers them well. I can't tell any difference in the car between cd and ipod, bluetooth has a hint of hiss with audio playback (certainly much clearer than an FM transmitter by a mile mind!), though I haven't tried it with the desire. Just bear in mind you can skip tracks and adj volume through the head unit, but it won't display song info when in bluetooth mode.

 

[Squash_man]

I have a Alpine IDA-X100 (superceded with the DA-X305), with the bluetooth module (can think of the model name).

I've never streamed bluetooth music, so can't comment on that.
Phone calls are fine, not perfect, but fine. Calls can sound echoey to the other caller because of the sound coming from the speakers back into the mic. I don't have a clue if voice dialing works (because I don't know how to do it on the phone!).
Dedicated ipod player is it's partypiece. Very good (although I use a usb stick).
Phone book is ok, but noticed a person was missing of it today (perviously had a blackberry and that phonebook didn't work at all!!!!).

 

[Si Pie]

Forgot to mention, zapping feature of the Sony which is really clever. You press the 'zapping' button and it plays a short clip of a song. If you don't like it then it skips to the next one. When you do like a song you press the same button again and it will play the entire song.

Useful for shuffle play with a load of tracks. I have steering wheel controls which means it's easier for me to skip tracks myself than reach to the head unit. Add

 

[Si Pie]

Right, I've finally got round to having a play.

Basically it sounds exactly the same as my old Sony C905 - near CD quality with an audible hiss at quieter points in songs when the volume is turned up. Not half as bad as an FM transmitter and no other interference. No idea how this would fair on other head units. I would suggest taking your phone to shop and trying a few of them out if possible.

Still, it made me realise that whilst the technology is a good idea, the results vs an mp3 physically hooked up are incomparable.

 

[400ixl]

Thanks for that.

It is mainly podcasts or audiobooks that I would be looking to stream so quality isn't such a big issue.

Sounds like the Sony is an option.

Unfortunately for some reason very few Audio shops around here and they have very few Head Units in stock to try out, mainly have to order them in for you.

Alpine HU's are the exception of which they tend to have plenty. Unfortunately the Alpines don't do streaming as that would have been my first choice as i have an Alpine at the moment.

Would be great to hear if anyone else has one of the others and has tried it with the Desire.

 

[lekky]

I have plantronics backbeat 903's, great headset, and calls sound good too.

Oh and Si Pie, voice dialling works perfect for me with this headset.

 

[400ixl]

Looking for Head Units rather than headsets Lekky.

Got my Ericsson headphones for bluetooth on the go. This is for in the car.

 

[lekky]

Oh, forgive me, having just google'd "head unit" I now understand :/ Sorry!

 

[400ixl]

No worries, I can see where the confusion comes from. Very similar terms.

 

[enebesniak]

I have a Alpine IDA-X100 (superceded with the DA-X305), with the bluetooth module (can think of the model name).

I've never streamed bluetooth music, so can't comment on that.
Phone calls are fine, not perfect, but fine. Calls can sound echoey to the other caller because of the sound coming from the speakers back into the mic. I don't have a clue if voice dialing works (because I don't know how to do it on the phone!).
Dedicated ipod player is it's partypiece. Very good (although I use a usb stick).
Phone book is ok, but noticed a person was missing of it today (perviously had a blackberry and that phonebook didn't work at all!!!!).

Do you have a Desire working on that setup? I have the same, I connect and pair the desire and it works fine, but it doens't automatucally connect the next time i'm in the car. I have to connect and pair everytime. Never had this problem with my other phones.

 

[enebesniak]

Sorted, had to remove the phone from the unit, re-paired and it seemed to work.

 

[geerten]

Hi,
I have recently bought the Kenwood HDC-BT60U. It did pair well with my HTC Desire. Phone calls works fine, streaming audio through bluetooth works, but sound quality sucks. Much better to connect the phone with a 3.5 mm mini jack cable to the aux input.
However, syncing the contacts from the HTC into the head unit doesn't work. On the display it remains "Downloading" infinitely, and no contacts appear in the head unit.

 

[Squash_man]

Sorted, had to remove the phone from the unit, re-paired and it seemed to work.

Glad you're sorted. FWIW, I've no problem with my Desire connecting automatically

 

[seven1317]

Hi,
I have recently bought the Kenwood HDC-BT60U. It did pair well with my HTC Desire. Phone calls works fine, streaming audio through bluetooth works, but sound quality sucks. Much better to connect the phone with a 3.5 mm mini jack cable to the aux input.
However, syncing the contacts from the HTC into the head unit doesn't work. On the display it remains "Downloading" infinitely, and no contacts appear in the head unit.

I've just finished installing a Parrot MKi9000 system with my pioneer deck (about 4 years old). It works fantastic with my old Nokia 6110 Navigator, streaming is great quality, playback controls work fine. But with my Desire, the streaming is shocking quality. Is this an Android thing or is it a handset thing and should I return it? If it's an Android thing, that's pretty disappointing on behalf of Google. If my 5 year old Nokia can stream flawlessly, why can't my brand new $800 Desire? I bought this Parrot system for streaming audio, to find that my 5 year old phone works better than my brand new one?!

 

[Good Old Bakes]

I've been using one of those Venturi Mini devices in the car for the last 2 years, previously with my Nokia N95 and now with the Desire. Personally I think the music quality is better all round on the HTC, although there's not a lot in it. I've never had an issue with the streaming quality of the Desire through my Venturi but I'm much happier now that I can download my contacts to the device.

 

[mikem2te]

I just got a JVC KD-R811 and from my experience so far it works great with the Desire. The contacts have come through fine as well, although it can take a while to find the one I need when dialling as I have a loads of contacts (I must delete some of the old ones I guess).

Voice quality is good too, not as good as a dedicated parrot kit but not far off. A dedicated wired mic is included in the box for hands free use while the Kenwood I was looking at only had a mic built into the head unit itself; can't be good for the voice quality. I think it is possible to buy a mic for the Kenwood but it costs around

 

[Morat]

I was in a similar situation and got a Blaupunkt, seems OK so far but the car isn't on the road at the moment to test!

 

[Uncle Tupelo]

I've just finished installing a Parrot MKi9000 system with my pioneer deck (about 4 years old). It works fantastic with my old Nokia 6110 Navigator, streaming is great quality, playback controls work fine. But with my Desire, the streaming is shocking quality. Is this an Android thing or is it a handset thing and should I return it? If it's an Android thing, that's pretty disappointing on behalf of Google. If my 5 year old Nokia can stream flawlessly, why can't my brand new $800 Desire? I bought this Parrot system for streaming audio, to find that my 5 year old phone works better than my brand new one?!

I don't think it's an Android thing or a Desire thing. I stream audio over Bluetooth to my Jabra headset adaptor and it sounds pretty reasonable through my Ultimate Ears earphones. Perhaps a compatibility issue or a faulty phone?

 

[Morat]

Quality over my Sony BT headphones is excellent, certainly as good as my HTC Touch HD so it's definitely not an Android thing.

 

[400ixl]

I just got a JVC KD-R811 and from my experience so far it works great with the Desire. The contacts have come through fine as well, although it can take a while to find the one I need when dialling as I have a loads of contacts (I must delete some of the old ones I guess).

What steps did you do to get the contacts through?

I have bought the KD-R901 and the Desire. When I try to sync it asks for the code which I leave as 0000 but it then drops the bluetooth connection between the HU and the phone. Cancel the sync and it reconnects the bluetooth.

Anyone have any ideas what could be causing this?

 

[bigr1979]

I use the Pioneer DEH-600BT. It does a great job, only problem is that for some reason when I call out, switches to phone mode fine and does the call, then back to music after, but doesnt seem to switch over to phone mode on an incoming which means I always have to call people back which is irritating.

Also I had a Sony BT head unit, the internal mics on these and this Pioneer are shockingly crap but you can buy an "addon" external mic to plug in

 

[400ixl]

Success!

I have managed to get the phone book transferred, be it as a manual transfer for the moment.

Here is what I did.

Using GMail contacts I selected all and exported as a VCF file. This created a single file onto the computer. I transferred this via dropbox to the root of the SD card on the phone.
Next I installed BlueX (Bluetooth file share) app onto the phone. I put the JVC Stereo into manual phonepook transfer mode and then initiated the transfer.
On the phone I ran BlueX and selected the VCF file with a long press and selected send via bluetooth. The next screen showed the stereo as JVC Unit (unclassified) and once selected the phonebook transferred in a matter of seconds.

I can now seen the listing in the phone. The only downside is new entries will need to be done manually, but given the whole phonebook can be exported and uploaded in about 5 minutes I am not too worried about that.

Hopefully this may be of use to others.

 

[Tangolima600]

Buuuuump

Are there any head units that allow you to control your phone's music libary like when you connect an Ipod? or is the bluetooth profile limited only to simple functions like pause play and seek? Fyi I'm using a Droid Bionic so I'm not sure if the limitation is the phone or the head unit. Thanks!