oldnickers

Hi, I have a 530i MSport (June 05) with latest software (no eyebrows). Car is in for some work this week and I've asked for iPod interface to be fitted...but just realised from this site that the CD Changer will be lost. So my question is would it be better to go for aux input retrofit? What are the pros and cons of this and the iPod interface?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Nick

ImolaRedM

No question... the MOST bus interface. Sound is better than the AUX and you can control your ipod from idrive keeping your ipod hidden. You'll still be able to play CDs in the single disk player.

dlevi67

The other side of the coin:

I have a large collection of CDs, and my MP3 player - which is not an iPod - is used when I fly (which for me means ~twice a week) and kept in the "flying bag". I'd rather keep the CD changer, purely for convenience

Much of the "poor quality" sound on the aux input is due to a low-pass filter that BMW has seen fit to introduce between the jack and the amplifier. There is a thread on this forum with instructions as to how to remove it, IIRC.

oldnickers

Thanks for the advice. I use my car for short trips to the station with 2/3 long trips per month. I could live without the CD changer on the station trips so I suppose that makes the iPod connection more viable. But I worry about it failing, or getting lost, and just being tied to iPod too! It also grates that the CD changer has just been replaced under warranty!

Any more thoughts much appreciated, particularly how the bad the aux input quality really is.

Nick

dlevi67

Take a look here

andy545

I was going in today for a aux in retrofit, but decided at the last moment to revert to the ipod interface. I would have bought THIS
and
THIS
which i consider basically necessary, but which would have pushed up the total cost of this option.

So,
1. price difference reduced between the two
2. better sound quality
3. easier/safer manipulation

were the defining factors for me.

oldnickers

Thanks for your help guys, really useful. Having read the link on dlevi67's post, it makes me wonder whether to do it at all. Once again, thanks a lot.

Nick

subterFUSE

Actually, I believe I have shown that the sound quality is rather unaffected by the resistors in the AUX line.... and that the true sound quality problems arise from the poor grounding of the BMW electrical system (alternator noise) and from the iPod itself bleeding some sort of mechanical noise into the system (I believe it is from the hard drive).

dlevi67

That is possible. I bow to your greater experience. What I have seen is a BMW schematic that incorporates capacitors, as well as resistors, though, and the cut-off frequency of the above was somewhere around 8 kHz, which would possibly help with some of the noise injection at the expense of clarity.

"Poor grounding" in BMW is not in my experience true, although it would explain the choice of optic fibres for the MOST interface.

subterFUSE

Try listening to an iPod plugged into the cigarette charger, and you'll understand. The alternator noise is horrible.