[BroDoze]

Originally Posted by AdonisP91

You have no real center channel. AlphaOne chopped it out. The MatchUp 10 DSP only has 8 channel input. Audiotec Fischer recommends installing the MEC Analog In extension card and their wiring harness to add the 9th channel, the center channel, into that Analog In card.

BimmerTech didn’t want to add that extension card. So they cut out the Center channel and recreated a simulation, sending 50% front left 50% front right to that speaker. Who knows what impact that has on voice calls, system sounds, etc. Hopefully there is no loss and BimmerTech was right the Analog In extension card is unnecessary.

You’re right, and I knew this already. Ugh. I tested a hand-free call and it worked, of course. I also tested my rear surrounds for their parameter bongs. I’ve got em cranked down -3.0db, but I can still hear them fine. I’d prefer them louder but not at the expense of hearing those rear surrounds while playing music.

So with a fresh set of ears this morning, the car sounds pretty good to me. Sometimes you’ve gotta sleep on it.
I still need to dial in a custom house curve and re-EQ everything.

[BMW DIY Guy]

Originally Posted by BroDoze

You’re right, and I knew this already. Ugh. I tested a hand-free call and it worked, of course. I also tested my rear surrounds for their parameter bongs. I’ve got em cranked down -3.0db, but I can still hear them fine. I’d prefer them louder but not at the expense of hearing those rear surrounds while playing music.

So with a fresh set of ears this morning, the car sounds pretty good to me. Sometimes you’ve gotta sleep on it.
I still need to dial in a custom house curve and re-EQ everything.

Really looking forward to the results and how that can apply to our cars. I use Tidal through Android Auto 99.9% of the time

[BroDoze]

Ok, just had an interesting convo with Nick at Resonix, concerning the BMW Digital pre-amp interfaces he USED TO SELL.

He sold off all of his stock to RDVFL:
https://rdvfl.com/products/ar1-bmw-e...e02a4215&_ss=r

Nick wasn't moving his stock and he had too many hit/miss issues with the boxes, particularly in Volvo and Land Rover installs. Nick personally never did a BMW install.

I spoke to Rich (Nick's referral) at RDVFL who was very helpful/knowledgeable on the stock BMW audio setup and how to get this interface set up successfully.

I ordered the pre-amp interface because he honored Nick's old pricing - not happy about dropping $900, but what the heck. I have too much invested now for the 80% I'm hearing. Should ship today.

I will obviously be letting you all know how this expensive rabbit-hole turns out, step by step.

It will be interesting getting all of the routing properly set up, based off the Toslink input.

He said he thinks running the under-seat woofer's lo-pass up to the midrange hi-pass point sounded like a great idea to play with, given the lack of real mid-bass drivers in the car.

Assuming I can get it all working, it is very exciting having an insanely clean digital signal direct to the UP10. Note the "Cons" on the ADVFN website link I posted - because of a different internal audio path, in the stock head-unit, low-end signal is hampered on AM/FM radio and a few other inputs. I think, for me, I'm willing to deal with this. I only use AM for talk radio and never use FM in the car.

[///MoT]

Holy cow for $900, that thing betta give me a reach-around while also delivering pristine audio.

[BMW DIY Guy]

In an entirely different thread I ran across this another G87 owner with upgraded audio and this really awesome 10 inch JL sub in his trunk. While I really hadn't thought about doing that (for a bunch of reasons), the clean install of the enclosure has me really tempted to look into it.

Of course that probably means retuning again.. *shrug* Either way it won't be for some time. Budget doesn't allow this right now, and then from reading enclosure builders info, he has about a 6 month wait time on new orders.

[///MoT]

Originally Posted by BMW DIY Guy

Really looking forward to the results and how that can apply to our cars. I use Tidal through Android Auto 99.9% of the time

Might want to give this video a view:

Also, pay attention to the pinned comments from RAW-CAt, from the Android Auto developer that suggests a tweaked setting to get the best audio quality out of Android Auto.


-Tom

[kenkamm]

What's the difference, I wonder, between the $300 one and the $900 RDVFL one?

I mean, I'm just comparing pictures and general website notes, but they appear identical.

[BMW DIY Guy]

Originally Posted by ///MoT

Might want to give this video a view:

Also, pay attention to the pinned comments from RAW-CAt, from the Android Auto developer that suggests a tweaked setting to get the best audio quality out of Android Auto.


-Tom

I will check that right now!

[BroDoze]

Originally Posted by kenkamm

What's the difference, I wonder, between the $300 one and the $900 RDVFL one?

I mean, I'm just comparing pictures and general website notes, but they appear identical.

Probably nothing.

It was an impulse purchase, and you have to buy a minimum of 3 of the $300 ones. I didn’t want to wait! Y’all can do a group buy once I verify the thing’s gtg.

[BroDoze]

Originally Posted by ///MoT

Holy cow for $900, that thing betta give me a reach-around while also delivering pristine audio.

I hear ya!
Well, think of it this way. That is what a decent aftermarket head-unit costs. Knowing we cannot swap head-units, it’s how I justified the cost. I’ll get aftermarket head-unit performance out of my stock head-unit, using this device.
I have successfully explained away yet one more poor financial decision!
I can sleep well tonight, lol.

[BroDoze]

Originally Posted by BMW DIY Guy

In an entirely different thread I ran across this another G87 owner with upgraded audio and this really awesome 10 inch JL sub in his trunk. While I really hadn't thought about doing that (for a bunch of reasons), the clean install of the enclosure has me really tempted to look into it.

Of course that probably means retuning again.. *shrug* Either way it won't be for some time. Budget doesn't allow this right now, and then from reading enclosure builders info, he has about a 6 month wait time on new orders.

You’ve gotta get a trunk sub. I have aftermarket subs in every single vehicle I own. I cannot do without them. They transform any system.

[///MoT]

Originally Posted by BroDoze

I hear ya!
Well, think of it this way. That is what a decent aftermarket head-unit costs. Knowing we cannot swap head-units, it’s how I justified the cost. I’ll get aftermarket head-unit performance out of my stock head-unit, using this device.
I have successfully explained away yet one more poor financial decision!
I can sleep well tonight, lol.

So what you're saying is... no reach-around?

[BroDoze]

Originally Posted by ///MoT

So what you're saying is... no reach-around?

[AdonisP91]

Originally Posted by BMW DIY Guy

In an entirely different thread I ran across this another G87 owner with upgraded audio and this really awesome 10 inch JL sub in his trunk. While I really hadn't thought about doing that (for a bunch of reasons), the clean install of the enclosure has me really tempted to look into it.

Of course that probably means retuning again.. *shrug* Either way it won't be for some time. Budget doesn't allow this right now, and then from reading enclosure builders info, he has about a 6 month wait time on new orders.

Similar concept and design, I just ordered one of these for my trunk sub. I was quoted an estimate of 6-8 weeks.

10” and 12” custom trunk stealth sub enclosure

[AdonisP91]

Originally Posted by ///MoT

Might want to give this video a view:

Also, pay attention to the pinned comments from RAW-CAt, from the Android Auto developer that suggests a tweaked setting to get the best audio quality out of Android Auto.


-Tom

I’m not sure if Raw Cat mentioned it, but Android Auto and Apple CarPlay both use 16 bit 44khz and 256kb/s bitrate compressed using AAC codec. Not ideal at all. Interestingly enough the Tidal app in idrive might be lossless.

One more thing: here is a cool chart I made for purists:


Using an iPhone plugged in through a USB to Optical adapter we can achieve the third row and max out the potential of our Match UP10 DSP’s.

ETA: Same for using USB thumb drive that will also give us DVD quality, even if the files are hi-res lossless since the bottle neck would be the Match UP10, unless one wants to splurge for the Brax. I think anything above CD that is lossless is probably good enough.

[BMW DIY Guy]

Originally Posted by AdonisP91

Similar concept and design, I just ordered one of these for my trunk sub. I was quoted an estimate of 6-8 weeks.

10” and 12” custom trunk stealth sub enclosure

YUP! Same guy for the enclosure!

[AdonisP91]

Originally Posted by kenkamm

What's the difference, I wonder, between the $300 one and the $900 RDVFL one?

I mean, I'm just comparing pictures and general website notes, but they appear identical.

Rebranded, marked up, but likely offer customer support vs figure it out on your own.

[BMW DIY Guy]

Originally Posted by ///MoT

Might want to give this video a view:

Also, pay attention to the pinned comments from RAW-CAt, from the Android Auto developer that suggests a tweaked setting to get the best audio quality out of Android Auto.


-Tom

Uhg.. short version: Android Auto, wired or wireless SUCKS for sound quality.

[IanH]

Originally Posted by BMW DIY Guy

Uhg.. short version: Android Auto, wired or wireless SUCKS for sound quality.

Uh, no. Using PCM there the audio signal is complete digital bit perfect.

[AdonisP91]

Originally Posted by BMW DIY Guy

Uhg.. short version: Android Auto, wired or wireless SUCKS for sound quality.

The pinned comment though explains using developer mode you can unlock PCM mode and play up to CD quality lossless if your head unit allows it. We would need to test idrive 8 and idrive 8.5. However, apparently Google has set a hard limit to 16 bit depth, even though the PCM mode in developer settings could theoretically allow up to DVD quality: 24 bit, 48khz. Regardless CD quality is very good. Anything lossless is good, the compression codec like AAC just all suck.

[BMW DIY Guy]

Originally Posted by AdonisP91

The pinned comment though explains using developer mode you can unlock PCM mode and play up to CD quality lossless if your head unit allows it. We would need to test idrive 8 and idrive 8.5. However, apparently Google has set a hard limit to 16 bit depth, even though the PCM mode in developer settings could theoretically allow up to DVD quality: 24 bit, 48khz. Regardless CD quality is very good. Anything lossless is good, the compression codec like AAC just all suck.

Looked through all the dev settings, not seeing something that matches up, at least perfectly, with that info.

What should I be looking for?

[AdonisP91]

Originally Posted by BMW DIY Guy

Looked through all the dev settings, not seeing something that matches up, at least perfectly, with that info.

What should I be looking for?

Wish I could help but I don’t own an Android device so beats me. Nothing in the posted comments under the YouTube video? I’m sure if you mentioned it there someone will chime in.