you will still need a AUX port, without that you will not be able to perform this method for bluetooth streaming. with out the AUX port, your options are slimmed to pretty much only expensive alternatives. If I'm not mistaking, I'm pretty sure you can have the aux port retrofitted to your car.

 

I also have an '06 E60 with no Aux port.Trying to find the best/cheapest solution......

 

I was charged less than $150 to have an Aux port installed in my 06 e60, including parts, by my local indy shop. That's a relatively inexpensive addition.

 

The blackberry gateway isn't commonly available, so I tried this and it works.

And it can be plugged into a cigarette lighter>usb adapter/charger which will power on and off with the car each time and pair up etc. I have it placed in the glove-box and connected it to the passenger footwell socket and to my home-made aux cable connector which is dangling in inside the glovebox (hey, it only cost me $2.99 to make the aux cable as opposed to the $80 for the BMW cable). The sound quality via this bluetooth setup is a small, but noticeable step down from having my phone connected directly the aux cable, but since I use it mostly for audio books, not an issue. Bass is similar, but the mid/highs are more degraded via this bluetooth setup.

As some of the posters had clarified, the phone can be paired up simultaneously with both the car bluetooth system for phone calls, and to this device for music and it works seamlessly. Phone calls get sent to the car and is no different than before, and music etc, gets sent to this device/aux input. If I am listening to music and a phone call comes in, it switches seamlessly.

Also, I have tested this setup out with both a blackberry phone and with an iphone and it works fine with both.

 

And on my 07 E60 which has an aux-port at the back, and has close-by 12v lighter socket, I use the Belkin bluetooth receiver which has a nice round ring that shows a blue color when connected and orange otherwise. .
works great, as others have described. Once paired, on your phone, select this bluetooth device for A2DP audio streaming only. Then, phone knows to ring from car's bluetooth for phone calls, and connect to the belkin for audio streaming. My phone is a Galaxy S3 and works great. Most times, the Belkin will not auto-connect to my phone. I just press the round dial when it shows orange glow, and it connects right after. PRess the round dial again, and it plays from where it stopped last time and toggles between pause and play with subsequent button presses. I am cool with this.

 

My experience has been the opposite. I just discovered there IS a remarkable difference between the Sirius sound and the sound I'm getting through Bluetooth on Pandora on my L7 system.

My Sirius subscription lapsed, so I started using the Griffin BlueTrip Aux device with my Android and I noticed the stereo separation right away. Because of the compression needed to broadcast music via satellite, I would say that there HAS to be some loss of quality.

 

I have ordered a $5 USB Bluetooth receiver with 3.5mm cord - should fit perfect in center console of our 2008 535xi with USB/Ipod port. Will keep you posted...

Bought on Amazon:
BestDealUSA USB Bluetooth 3.5mm Stereo Audio Music Receiver Adapter for Speaker iPhone Mp3

by BestDealUSA

2.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews) | Like 1362160896 false 1 0 0 0 (0)


Price:$6.95Deal Price:
Only 2 left in stock.
Ships from and sold by New Harbor.
2 new from $6.95

 

That couldn't be further from the truth. XM radio is notoriously low quality.

 

Installed USB Bluetooth receiver - works fine, very easy install and setup.

It does seem that my Iphone (4s) does NOT auto-connect to this bluetooth device (though it does autoconnect with the 2008 535Xi's phone bluetooth). So far I have to go into settings/bluetooth and touch the device to get the bluetooth connection going each time I get into/start the car.

Any help on this one - o/w is a great option for the price.

 

The issue might be that once the BT connection is broken and the receiver shuts off, it will not power up again until you power up the BT receiver manually. The blackberry receiver the OP suggested (which is now harder to find) and the Miccus mini-jack RX I got, connect to a switched power-supply (cigarette lighter) and will power on and off with the car. The Blackberry Bold I used to have, and my current iPhone 5 connect seamlessly when I enter the car with to both the car BT and the BT receiver without me having to do anything. As long as I have the idrive source set to 'aux' - that's it.

I have the Miccus receiver in the glove compartment connected to the aux input and the passenger foot-well lighter socket and the entire setup looks 100% stock with no visible wires etc.

Hope this helps.