Connecting Evo to car stereo

sitlet said:

As others have said, using an FM transmitter should be your LAST resort, as the sound quality of those tiny transmitters is usually HORRIBLE. As far as the link posted above, I would stay away from that. Not only is it an fm transmitter, it gets its feed from bluetooth, which itself is not very good for transmitting audio. So you've got quality loss from the bluetooth, plus quality loss from the fm, so it will sound very bad.

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At the point where one is using an FM transmitter to get audio to their stereo, they've made a decision of function over form. The quality bottleneck is definitely the FM transmission.

Personal opinion, I don't think the end result is going to differ much whether the source audio comes from an A2DP or wired connection. This assumes there's no interference between BT and FM frequencies.

The primary goal behind the suggestion was to simultaneously charge the phone while being able to feed audio to a stereo that has no other options of input -- all using a single cigarette lighter, and preferably one cable connection to the phone. This is about the best and least intrusive configuration I could find.

For me...I have several goals for my car stereo/ power hookup with the EVO. Minimal cord visibility, direct sound connection (no FM & no bluetooth), minimal set-up. I have navigation system built into my car, but I think I'm going to switch to the EVO for my navigation needs. Finally, I've had connections to my steering wheel-CD player controls for my Ipod in the past. I've hated them all...really did not like them...seething dislike. So I want to control the playlist from the Evo's screen. Got all that...

Right now, I'm looking into a system like this (there are many more manufacturers with similar models, Denison comes to mind):

Toyota / Scion / Lexus GROM USB/iPod car interface adapter

Pros:
USB connection allows for 1A 5V charging.
I can install this behind my stereo with a direct connection. I can then snake the USB to the location of my car dock...and wah lah. Not quite.

Cons:
Again, I think the CD playback options of these types of systems make listening to music a pain, especially if your music is as disorganize and eclectic as mine. They do not allow for direct playback controls from the EVO because they are only seeing the EVO as a external harddrive.
So...I'm going to have to use the auxillary jack for the music connection if I want Evo playback. I'm now using two cords, but with a good rigged car dock and cable wiring it will be good enough for me.

Flame away...and offer better suggestions please...like how am I supposed to actually use the phone (doh!). Maybe bluetooth is the way to go.

I've been using A2DP Bluetooth for a few years now with my smart phones, sure it clips the highs and lows in music, but unless you're a total audio snob it's not going to bother you that much. The convenience out weights the tiny lost of audio quality imo. Nothing beats having GPS verbal turn-by-turn instructions clearly pumping out of your car speakers and the only wire on your dash is the phone charger.

beoti said:

Right now, I'm looking into a system like this (there are many more manufacturers with similar models, Denison comes to mind):

Toyota / Scion / Lexus GROM USB/iPod car interface adapter

Pros:
USB connection allows for 1A 5V charging.
I can install this behind my stereo with a direct connection. I can then snake the USB to the location of my car dock.

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I spoke with a technician at Grom radio in regards to controlling playback directly from Android device while only attaching the USB...the short and simple is they will have this functionality in the near future. Direct quote is at the end. I will say I have this set-up for my ipod touch right now and I love it. Cable is snaked through glove box and provides charging and direct input into stereo. Highly recommend this set-up. I will advise when they confirm this functionality. Believe it will only require a firmware update to hardware (my opinion!).

Quote from Grom:

"We are currently in development of configuration file that should help for most users with Android phones to be able to listen, control and view track information from compatible radios. Preliminary testing looks positive for this capability in the real near future. The phone will give a prompt option at the time of connection to the USB port of the GROM unit. Manual mode from the phone may not be possible at the current time due to the phone restricting access to the sd card when connected using the USB cable. The phone will need to be placed in Disk Drive mode. The GROM USB unit is capable of 1amp @ 5 volts."

FM transmitters run into issues because of the fact that they are battery powered. Most that I've seen have an AC input and what I've done with them is invest in an AC power supply and an inverter that plugs into a car cigarette lighter. Now my car has a pair of AC outlets and the with the power supply plugged into the transmitter you get a much higher quality sound and of course you have to make sure you're tuned into a frequency that's strong enough and vacant enough to get a good sound.

wjrandon said:

I've been using A2DP Bluetooth for a few years now with my smart phones, sure it clips the highs and lows in music, but unless you're a total audio snob it's not going to bother you that much. The convenience out weights the tiny lost of audio quality imo. Nothing beats having GPS verbal turn-by-turn instructions clearly pumping out of your car speakers and the only wire on your dash is the phone charger.

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I've been using A2DP Bluetooth on my Touch Pro, ever since I found out about it last summer! So glad I found information about that for WinMo. Do you or anybody else know if they have A2DP for Android?

drexappeal said:

I've been using A2DP Bluetooth on my Touch Pro, ever since I found out about it last summer! So glad I found information about that for WinMo. Do you or anybody else know if they have A2DP for Android?

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I think this wiki page answers your question:

• Android: Supported in version 1.5

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I had just assumed it was there, thanks for reminding me to look it up. I won't buy anything that doesn't support a proper bluetooth stack. It's just too useful.

ekt8750 said:

FM transmitters run into issues because of the fact that they are battery powered. Most that I've seen have an AC input and what I've done with them is invest in an AC power supply and an inverter that plugs into a car cigarette lighter. Now my car has a pair of AC outlets and the with the power supply plugged into the transmitter you get a much higher quality sound and of course you have to make sure you're tuned into a frequency that's strong enough and vacant enough to get a good sound.

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But, running an inverter to change DC power to AC means the AC power is not true AC, so I don't know how that makes it sound any better.

I received a reply from GROM audio technical support about the development of android hard drive playback through factory controls and they confirmed once it is launched in the very near future you will just need to do a firmware update on their USB2 device so you will have charging capability and audio control of your music. It will act very similar to the ipod connection only through usb. In the meantime you can use the 3.5mm jack to connect and control through the Sprint EVO