Wireless Charging And Carplay

[Absolut5]

hmmm .. interesting issues im wondering how many of these problems will also be happening with the much more expensive dnx 9190 ?? i guess the "chinbar" issue will be resolved due to the adjustable angle of the screen on the 9190 but the siri issue.... the trim panel not fitting perfectly and the finger marks bother me..

the car play wireless not sounding as good as when wired and eating up battery life is very odd.... i can't really think of any reason as to why it actually sounds worse than wired.. but if so thats got to be effecting all car play wireless systems I guess and not specific to the Kenwood unit.
aargghh shame that at these prices there are still so many issues damn it...

You got to remember aftermarket headunits are designed to fit 90% of the vehicles on the rd, the chin bar really isn’t a issue as very few have these crazy high angle dash boards, but the 9190dab’s front panel does drop on ignition once setup from new so this deals with that

When using maps etc on wireless it will eat the phone battery, data transfer, no fault of the head unit but typical phone battery isssues,

Wired is always best, you are relying on Bluetooth to transfer audio, data etc

 

[osman]

yes ok I've been using my iPhone wirelessly via Bluetooth with the standard head unit (composition Colour) up till now so the battery usage with maps and sound quality will be normal to me I guess

 

[andys]

hmmm .. interesting issues im wondering how many of these problems will also be happening with the much more expensive dnx 9190 ?? i guess the "chinbar" issue will be resolved due to the adjustable angle of the screen on the 9190 but the siri issue.... the trim panel not fitting perfectly and the finger marks bother me..

the car play wireless not sounding as good as when wired and eating up battery life is very odd.... i can't really think of any reason as to why it actually sounds worse than wired.. but if so thats got to be effecting all car play wireless systems I guess and not specific to the Kenwood unit.
aargghh shame that at these prices there are still so many issues damn it...

No real mystery to the wireless issues, both Bluetooth audio and Airplay suffered from the same type of dropouts in the early iterations, stick them in an auto environment with all its possibilities of interference and that’s what happens. As in the past, it’ll be improved in future updates. The battery issue is equally straightforward, streaming audio (or anything really) constantly over wireless, whether Bluetooth, or Wi-Fi as in CarPlay, uses a lot more power. The same happens if you stream to an AirPlay device, it uses up battery fast.
As long as you have the phone charging in the vehicle, either wired or wirelessly, it’s not a problem.

 

[osman]

hmm very interesting i just tested to see if my current head unit the standard t6 composition colour would actually do anything other than charge my phone.. and sure enough thats all it will do with the usb socket nothing but charge the phone it insists that all audio is transferred by Bluetooth no choice no setting will alter that fact.. thats a pretty major dumb situation is it not ?
if audio is better transferred by the USB and it plugged in why not let that happen...
im just trying to fully understand the thinking behind all this stuff .. of course the phone itself needs to use bluetooth as a phone BUT when using at as a "media" device it seems to insist on still using blue tooth this also has a side issue of rendering maps audio notifications useless unless music is actually playing at the same time!! as the head unit presumes that if no constant audio is coming from the iphone it is not being listened to..

all very frustrating and im hoping... no praying that an upgrade to the head unit just sorts all this total bollocks out.. its all stupidly frustrating

 

[andys]

hmm very interesting i just tested to see if my current head unit the standard t6 composition colour would actually do anything other than charge my phone.. and sure enough thats all it will do with the usb socket nothing but charge the phone it insists that all audio is transferred by Bluetooth no choice no setting will alter that fact.. thats a pretty major dumb situation is it not ?
if audio is better transferred by the USB and it plugged in why not let that happen...
im just trying to fully understand the thinking behind all this stuff .. of course the phone itself needs to use bluetooth as a phone BUT when using at as a "media" device it seems to insist on still using blue tooth this also has a side issue of rendering maps audio notifications useless unless music is actually playing at the same time!! as the head unit presumes that if no constant audio is coming from the iphone it is not being listened to..

all very frustrating and im hoping... no praying that an upgrade to the head unit just sorts all this total bollocks out.. its all stupidly frustrating

Are you sure that's not just a setting? Even the base, bottom-of-the-heap headunit my van came with used USB for the audio unless you configured it to use BT audio

 

[osman]

replied

 

[osman]

Are you sure that's not just a setting? Even the base, bottom-of-the-heap headunit my van came with used USB for the audio unless you configured it to use BT audio

yes positive as soon as I switch off blue tooth I get no sound except for on my phone and when I go to USB media is says device not compatible.. its an iphone xs max.. pretty much the latest

 

[osman]

Are you sure that's not just a setting? Even the base, bottom-of-the-heap head unit my van came with used USB for the audio unless you configured it to use BT audio

I will go out and try again and check the blue tooth settings.. but it should in theory, if I switch blue tooth off on my phone , just see the phone as a media device. and therefore play audio over the usb connection

 

[osman]

ok 400% positive now it will only function via Bluetooth. The usb refuses to act as anything other than a power source to the iPhone max.. it shows it as an unsupported device if i try and use it as a usb media source. If i go into the bluetooth settings on the head unit and switch off Bluetooth audio but leave the phone as a connected blue tooth device.. the phone is still seen but yet again i get no audio transferred at all.. despite the usb is connected.. so yes totally positive it only functions as a bluetooth device.. to be fair when i do use it like this wirelessly almost 90% of the way it works is great ! .. the biggest problem is that if no music is playing and im using maps.. all audio notifications are silenced !! ... so as long as i dont mind constantly streaming some audio and I mean constantly without any moment with the play button needing to be pressed ( such as the end of a playlist) maps notifications work fine....
so to wrap this up its all works .. OK ish . but i cant decide to use usb for my audio even if i want to.. so therefore im kind of stuck with using bluetooth and using the usb cable to charge it.. thats ok i suppose... anyway I've got no intention of staying with this head unit.. im just giving one last test to see what it actually does and does not do with my iphone x.. bearing in my mind this phone is pretty much state of the art tech..
so these are issues im looking to have resolved with an upgraded unit as well as a shiny new screen in the middle of my dashboard

 

[osman]

Are you sure that's not just a setting? Even the base, bottom-of-the-heap headunit my van came with used USB for the audio unless you configured it to use BT audio

Just to make sure I'm being clear.. im sure that the usb can be used for audio.. however with the current range of iPhones.. for whatever reason the composition colour VW head unit sees them as incompatible devices and only lets audio through via Bluetooth..
could be something to do with apple car play and that lack of Compatability ... whatever it is.. when strapped to the USB port.. it only allows them to be charged.. they don't pass through audio..

 

[Nigel W]

Just to make sure I'm being clear.. im sure that the usb can be used for audio.. however with the current range of iPhones.. for whatever reason the composition colour VW head unit sees them as incompatible devices and only lets audio through via Bluetooth..
could be something to do with apple car play and that lack of Compatability ... whatever it is.. when strapped to the USB port.. it only allows them to be charged.. they don't pass through audio..

Just a thought - they can be very fussy over the connecting cable and sometimes will only work with a genuine Apple one, worth a try?

 

[andys]

Just a thought - they can be very fussy over the connecting cable and sometimes will only work with a genuine Apple one, worth a try?

This is a great call, it never occurred to me to mention that! Some usb cables are 2 wire charging only, make sure the one you’re using is a 4 wire one @osman
Mine was apparently the Composition Media and worked fine over usb so it would be odd if a higher spec one didn’t.
I reckon you’ve nailed it.

 

[osman]

Just a thought - they can be very fussy over the connecting cable and sometimes will only work with a genuine Apple one, worth a try?

Nice try ! And very logical but no that’s not what’s happening .. I’m using an Apple cable

 

[andys]

Nice try ! And very logical but no that’s not what’s happening .. I’m using an Apple cable

Could still be faulty, I’d try another one

 

[osman]

This is a great call, it never occurred to me to mention that! Some usb cables are 2 wire charging only, make sure the one you’re using is a 4 wire one @osman
Mine was apparently the Composition Media and worked fine over usb so it would be odd if a higher spec one didn’t.
I reckon you’ve nailed it.

I could try a different cable I guess but all my usb to lightening cables are genuine Apple and work as expected with every other device ... so don’t think this is the problem

 

[osman]

Could still be faulty, I’d try another one

will do but it’s a genuine Apple cable and it’s mint

 

[Nigel W]

will do but it’s a genuine Apple cable and it’s mint

Another thought - use a wooden cocktail stick (or similar) and clean out the port on your phone - could be a bit of fluff in there stopping a clean connection.

 

[osman]

Another thought - use a wooden cocktail stick (or similar) and clean out the port on your phone - could be a bit of fluff in there stopping a clean connection.

Well I do understand and appreciate these ideas but the phone is mint very clean and works fine with everything else plus the cable is also in perfect condition and genuine Apple .. it’s the head unit guys .. anyone else got an iPhone X and a 4 year old composition colour head unit who can clarify this ?

 

[Tellmewhatsnew]

I have Composite Media and Iphone 11. Mine transfers audio through usb so it does work. It also did with my old iPhone 6 as I used to turn BT off most days to help improve battery life and never remembered to turn it on when I got back into the van. I also use an Anker cable rather than Apple but I know some third party cables will not work

 

[andys]

Well I do understand and appreciate these ideas but the phone is mint very clean and works fine with everything else plus the cable is also in perfect condition and genuine Apple .. it’s the head unit guys .. anyone else got an iPhone X and a 4 year old composition colour head unit who can clarify this ?

If you’ve eliminated everything else then yes it looks like you have a faulty head unit. But does it matter if you’re looking at changing it anyway?