Dedicated Android SatNav from Icebox Audio

[MikkiJayne]

I'm interested in what the sound quality is like, especially since it seems to support FLAC. I wouldn't expect audiophile quality for something of that price, but if its got pre-outs and the reproduction is at least reasonable it could be a good solution for a daily driver

[pete-p]

That looks interesting.

[David's8]

Looking at the spec it does take a reversing camera feed and also can be upgraded (£39 optional extra) to DAB.
Very interesting esp as it seems to come with the double Din surround to fit A/S8. Other things I've been contemplating need a separate trim component which doesn't appear to exist.

[Davey Blueeyes]

Originally Posted by David's8

Looking at the spec it does take a reversing camera feed and also can be upgraded (£39 optional extra) to DAB.
Very interesting esp as it seems to come with the double Din surround to fit A/S8. Other things I've been contemplating need a separate trim component which doesn't appear to exist.

That's interesting. I wonder where you could attach the antenna, I'm assuming it's not magnetic if it's supposed to attach to an aluminium car??

[moltuae]

There's a (Russian) YouTube video of the unit here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2Am4ozFUPg

[David's8]

Originally Posted by Davey Blueeyes

That's interesting. I wonder where you could attach the antenna, I'm assuming it's not magnetic if it's supposed to attach to an aluminium car??

The SATNAV/DAB unit i fitted to my motorhome used a self adhesive DAB aerial on the windscreen. Reasonably discrete and I ran the cable up the pillar. Only trouble with A8/S8 heated windscreens (where fitted) is that they effectively screen the aerial. A standalone satnav just wont pick up the (weak) GPS signal inside the car but DAB signal strength may be sufficient. I might try out a portable dab radio in the car to see if it works.

[Ronin]

OK so I ordered it from icebox on 04/01/2020 and received it today. I didn't get a tracking number until day before the arrival which is odd, its probably drop shipped or something.

Upon opening the box I've noticed that the silica gel bag has opened in transit and lots of tiny balls fell inside the unit itself:





I probably could have gotten this RMA'd but it would take ages so i just took them all out myself.

I've reported this to Rob from Icebox who allowed me to open up the unit to get rid of all the silica balls from inside so I thought I may as well take a look at whats inside the unit in general.

It was a tough job getting it all out:


A lot of them fell inside the dvd drive gears etc:





The bag of cables has everything needed to get it to work and Bose system is also supported.


Components wise:

All caps are cheap Chenxing capacitors

Amplification:
No-name TDA738 Amplifier - On the icebox website it says its a Toshiba 7851 which now we know it isn't

I/O:
Geniune Realtek RTL8188ETV is the WLAN/USB comms chip

Audio:
ROHM BD37033FV-M DAC:
Current upon no signal: 31mA
Total harmonic distortion: 0.002%
Maximum input voltage: 2.1Vrms
Cross-talk between selectors: 100dB
Ripple rejection -65dB
Output noise voltage: 5.5µVrms
Residual output noise voltage: 3.5µVrms
Operating Range of Temperature: -40 to +85

A few pics from inside:
Decent amount of lube on DVD drive:



Inside the box itself, it looks good compared to other Android systems I've opened





Amp section:



Next will be installing this in the car which i don't have access to until late next week as its getting its timing belt done and a few other things.

[MikkiJayne]

Thanks for going in to that much detail Kinda handy you had to open it up really!

The DAC specs seem pretty good which bodes well for sound quality and if you've got Bose then the built in amp IC doesn't really matter.

I wonder how noisy that fan will be - not much in there to cool really, but cheap chinese fans never seem to last very long. That might be something to upgrade later on. I keep wondering about taking a cold air feed from the hvac to cool the stereo down. B5 Passats actually had a pipe from after the evaporator which fed cold air in to the glovebox which was a great idea. Never seen it on anything else though.

Its a shame they put the optical drive in there really - it could have been 2" deep without it, instead of a big empty box.

[Ronin]

The fan itself does seem cheap but its standard size and can be easily replaced with a quality fan if needed. I will probably make a video showing how loud the fan is with volume off.

Looking at the way the box is built they have one "can" andnjust screw on the required fascias as needed.

I agree about the dvd drive but i guess they have to cater to all age groups and most A8 owners are from the CD-era so to speak so it won't hurt having it there.

Once i get this installed I'll take apart my rns-d and at least compare its DAC to the Android one on paper

[PsYcHe]

There's quite a wide range of boxes appearing with OEM style fascias on them. Looked at a few for SWMBO's X5, but also considering an android auto/carplay unit as it's a bit more future proofed and the youngest gets discount at halfrauds