DAB Transmitter, is there such a thing?

[rory_pamphilon]

Hi,


I'm trying to work out what options I have available to be able to play music in my 2007 A8 from Spotify on my phone. I have no AMI & no TV tuner.

I have heard FM transmitter is the only way to go, which got my thinking, is there such a thing as a DAB transmitter? My issue with FM transmitter is obviously the drop in sound quality you get. If you google DAB transmitter there are plenty of hits but they all seem to be for people wanting to add DAB (i already have it) and stream it to their head unit via FM. I want to stream via bluetooth to a transmitter that then transmits it to the car via DAB to my DAB MMI. This way I think there would be less signal loss, if any, due to it all being digital.

Also on a slightly different note, does the 6 disc autochanger in the glovebox support mp3 cd's or just plain audio cd's?

Thanks

[steamship]

I don't play music from my mobile to the car, so can't answer your query, but you might be surprised by the audio 'quality' of DAB. If you check out the following page, you'll notice that the bit rate for DAB radio stations in the UK are on a level of 'Acceptable, worse than FM 128-160 kbps', with only one exception, and surprisingly, about half of them are broadcast in Mono.

https://www.astra2sat.com/radio/uk-d...adio-bitrates/

[moltuae]

I use an Xcarlink device to play music from my phone via Bluetooth, which works well. My car is a D2 of course but presumably they make a compatible D3 device: http://www.xcarlink.co.uk/

[HPsauce]

Same here, XCarLink in a D2.

[rory_pamphilon]

Originally Posted by steamship

I don't play music from my mobile to the car, so can't answer your query, but you might be surprised by the audio 'quality' of DAB. If you check out the following page, you'll notice that the bit rate for DAB radio stations in the UK are on a level of 'Acceptable, worse than FM 128-160 kbps', with only one exception, and surprisingly, about half of them are broadcast in Mono.

https://www.astra2sat.com/radio/uk-d...adio-bitrates/

That's interesting, I mainly listen to BBC DAB and have been generally impressed with the quality so far but as you can see from your list they are mostly leading the pack in terms of bit rates/quality.

I wonder if the whole variable bit rate/codec question is why DAB transmitters aren't a 'thing' yet, perhaps it would require too much processing power to create a bit stream on the fly from a bluetooth input for a small 12v socket device.

Those of you that have installed the Xcarlink, how much work was it to install?

I may just try a decent FM transmitter in the meantime, they are incredibly cheap compared to other options.

[moltuae]

Originally Posted by rory_pamphilon

Those of you that have installed the Xcarlink, how much work was it to install?

The D3 unit may be different but, if I recall correctly, on the D2 it's a simple matter of pulling the head unit out, unplugging the main connector and plugging the Xcarlink harness in-between. The most time consuming part (for me) was installing the microphone (and running the cable for it), which is optional and only required if you also want to use the device to make hands-free calls.

[J i m s t e r]

Difficult in the D3 due to the Optical links and component protection. You could add AMI and then attach a Bluetooth module to that but it's costly.

I've come to the conclusion that being stuck with the entry-level stereo renders it all moot for me and I am honestly going to have to change the car to something with an acceptable system in it.

The car has otherwise been good but I'll never bond with it.

[rory_pamphilon]

Whats the thoughts on the denison units? it looks to be over £300 for the bluetooth version, those that have them, would you recommend them? are they a straight forward install?