AnandS8

Hi guys. I'm considering installing this device in my 2006 S8. This is one upgrade that really would complete this car. I don't like having to leave my phone in the glove compartment connected to the ipod doc when I want to access all of my music.

How is the installation for the device? Can you by any chance post a picture of the device?

This is an inspiring thread.

Thanks

Anand

Brozee

Very easy, buy the dongle, it comes with a usb flash drive that installs the software, and that is all. Very simple process. I would consider just buying a spare ipod classic or even a large flash drive that you just leave in your car. I was contemplating buying this as well, but I look at it with two advantages, 1. I can leave it in the car and it's always there and 2. It is a super battery saver not streaming over bluetooth. It is a large expense just for a bluetooth adapter that also doesn't provide the best audio quality.

MP4.2+6.0

the bluetooth concept is nice and I found it so on the D4 loaner I had, but in practice old iPods, iTouches (what I use) and even older iPhones now are all around, cheap or in friends' and families' old hardware drawers. Thus I use the phone as a phone (still w/ music on it too), and just use my first gen. iTouch as my dedicated slave AMI player. Then my phone stays w/ me in my pocket. I also found in the D4 w/ bluetooth it wasn't nearly as easy to get around between albums, see more detailed info, etc. as it is w/ the plugged in unit. Not sure if the D3 retrofit unit is similar that way.

kgd_007

I did add this to my 2008 S8. The first unit was dead and I spent a lot of time trouble shooting. The vendor sent me a replacement unit that solved the problem. Installation is about a 10 minute process when everything is in working order.

I have found the sound quality to be excellent. The only issue I have found is an occasional second or so drop of the signal similar to what you might experience with Sat radio. Overall I really like it and haven't noticed any additional battery usage on my iPhone. I also had to reboot the MMI once to get the phone to connect. I really like being able to use voice commands with the iPhone for iPod functions. So much easier than using the menus in the MMI for the iPod.

I have had no issues with the phone after adding this. Phone works just as it did before. After a call the music starts back up. I bought my unit from Genuine Audi Parts dot com. They were great in handling the replacement of the dead unit.

ModestW12

Months after my last post above, I tested iPhone bluetooth streaming to the AMI dongle back to back against an audio CD of several different types of tracks (source tracks were encoded in Apple lossless).

The car was turned off with no ambient noise around me and my W12 had the B&O system. I honestly could not tell the difference switching between the same tracks playing from CD and from AMI bluetooth. I'm 36 and have always worked in a office environment so besides an occasional concert or dance club I've been gentle on my ears. My last checkup showed healthy frequency perception across the board.

That being said, I've watched audiophile documentaries and I'm aware of other audiophile grade digital disk formats that are supposed to be far superior to the standard Audio CD. Some audio experts are very critical of the standard Audio CD format and say that the format can be quite lossy depending on what is being mastered to it. Plus not all CD's (from which the above mentioned lossless tracks were created) are mastered equally so it is possible that the tracks I chose were not pushing the potential of the audio CD format. Still I was surprised at how equal the music sounded over bluetooth dongle.

I don't disagree with MP4.2+6.0 about the dedicated iPod or iPhone. Having one allows MMI navigation via artist, album, genre, song, etc., things you loose with bluetooth dongle (you can only skip and scan queued tracks, no library navigation), and if your library is bigger than 64 GB, you can have your entire library with you.

But if you often listen to steaming sources or love the voice navigation, you really can't go wrong with the bluetooth dongle. It does hiccup occasionally (usually upon reentering the car) but once you reset things, it's quite solid.

Brozee

Remember now. If you use Bluetooth streaming you cannot simultaneously use it with the Bluetooth hands free. It's connected to one or the other...

ModestW12

at least on the iPhone. Each is a different pairing instance to the phone.

But if you mean the music has to stop when the phone is answered, then you are correct.

When a call comes in, MMI pauses the bluetooth A2DP music stream and the bluetooth telephony pairing takes over. When the call concludes, MMI automatically switches back the bluetooth A2DP music paring and the stream resumes seamlessly.

Brozee

Did not know that. Good to know; thanks! I would definitely buy it then, but still has the downside of scrolling. I mainly use a playlist, but when I want to scroll through artists, etc that is the deal breaker.

kgd_007

If you have the iPhone 3GS or newer it has voice commands for iPod functions. You can just hold down the home button for a few seconds then just say "Play songs by Rush" and Rush will start playing through the MMI. For me to find this artist using the MMI scroll function takes a bit of work. Voice commands will also work for Playlists or Songs. That is the primary reason I got the Bluetooth Adapter. The artist info is the only thing I miss with the Bluetooth Adapter.