Digital iPod output in BMW
10-23-2010, 10:39 AM
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I have the BMW Dirac Individual audio system. CD's play great, even 200-320kbps MP3s burned on CDs sound very good.
But CDs are not convenient and aux-in is a very low quality input. However you connect your iPod or any other portable music player via aux-in (or via Gateway 500 or any other aftermarket set on the market), it's still connected via analog line. Even if you use the 30 pin dock connector. iPod/iPhone has it's own Cirrus or Wolfson DAC which are weak for a good speaker set. Same applies to any other portable player.
With iPod, 6FL option sends data commands (Next/Prev. etc.) through USB and receives audio through 3,5mm analog jack, processed by internal iPod/iPhone low-grade DAC. Sound quality is terrible. Over-trebled, distorted, weak and flat bass.
There are a few options for those who have or don't have 6FL option or Gateway 500 and demand digital sound input:
1) Use USB flash stick only or USB portable HDD with your files on it. Files are processed digitally and converted to analog speaker output via internal BMW DAC. As long as there is no problem or lag in the data transfer, files should play the same digital quality as when played from a CD.
2) Use a jailbroken iPhone/iPod touch with "USB Overdrive" from Cydia, which creates a mass-storage FAT32 partition on your iPhone. You can still sync such iPhone with iTunes, but you then have to drag all songs from it (via iTunes drag & drop) to the FAT32 partition (duplicate content).
3) Use Wadia i170 dock or Onkyo Digital Media Transport ND-S1 which bypass internal iPod/iPhone DAC. For licensing reasons, only these two devices are approved by Apple to use an authentication which bypasses internal DAC. Then connect these digitally via S/PDIF somehow to iDrive.
4) Use one of the fugly 3rd party car stereo's which bypasses iPod's DAC.
To sum this up, there is no way to have the convenience of having a device which syncs with iTunes AND can be connected digitally bypassing the internal DAC of the player to your iDrive AND use wheel buttons to control the iPod. Apple is the primary problem here, since licensing fees for authentication and skipping internal DAC are probably very high. 4th option is a
for most BMW owners.
We better stick with the USB sticks which are painful to sync comfortably.
There's hope: In 2011, BMW is going to launch the "iPod out" support introduced in iOS 4.0. No word yet if this connection bypasses internal DAC and whether it's going to be retrofittable with CIC iDrives.
But CDs are not convenient and aux-in is a very low quality input. However you connect your iPod or any other portable music player via aux-in (or via Gateway 500 or any other aftermarket set on the market), it's still connected via analog line. Even if you use the 30 pin dock connector. iPod/iPhone has it's own Cirrus or Wolfson DAC which are weak for a good speaker set. Same applies to any other portable player.
With iPod, 6FL option sends data commands (Next/Prev. etc.) through USB and receives audio through 3,5mm analog jack, processed by internal iPod/iPhone low-grade DAC. Sound quality is terrible. Over-trebled, distorted, weak and flat bass.
There are a few options for those who have or don't have 6FL option or Gateway 500 and demand digital sound input:
1) Use USB flash stick only or USB portable HDD with your files on it. Files are processed digitally and converted to analog speaker output via internal BMW DAC. As long as there is no problem or lag in the data transfer, files should play the same digital quality as when played from a CD.
2) Use a jailbroken iPhone/iPod touch with "USB Overdrive" from Cydia, which creates a mass-storage FAT32 partition on your iPhone. You can still sync such iPhone with iTunes, but you then have to drag all songs from it (via iTunes drag & drop) to the FAT32 partition (duplicate content).
3) Use Wadia i170 dock or Onkyo Digital Media Transport ND-S1 which bypass internal iPod/iPhone DAC. For licensing reasons, only these two devices are approved by Apple to use an authentication which bypasses internal DAC. Then connect these digitally via S/PDIF somehow to iDrive.
4) Use one of the fugly 3rd party car stereo's which bypasses iPod's DAC.
To sum this up, there is no way to have the convenience of having a device which syncs with iTunes AND can be connected digitally bypassing the internal DAC of the player to your iDrive AND use wheel buttons to control the iPod. Apple is the primary problem here, since licensing fees for authentication and skipping internal DAC are probably very high. 4th option is a
for most BMW owners.We better stick with the USB sticks which are painful to sync comfortably.
There's hope: In 2011, BMW is going to launch the "iPod out" support introduced in iOS 4.0. No word yet if this connection bypasses internal DAC and whether it's going to be retrofittable with CIC iDrives.
10-24-2010, 02:50 AM
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True. The only reason to use an iPod is that if you have an iTunes library on your computer, it's much more comfortable and easier to manage and sync your actual/new music and playlists. Not so convenient on the USB stick creating and browsing folders.
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