Bluetooth streaming on 2011 LR4?

[montyaloofah]

Has anyone figured out a way to use the bluetooth connection to stream audio from your phone/mobile device? My car satellite radio subscription ended and i don't want to pay for another year. I can already listen to Sirius on my phone and would rather stream that to the car. I know i can use the AUX port, but the sound quality is not that great? Any other ideas? I have a Galaxy S3 btw.

 

[goblue95]

I don't think there is a way. Only option is to plug an ipod or iphone into the port using the proprietary LR cable.

 

[Surfrider77]

It's strange you say the Aux port sound quality is not great. That is a direct analogue connection. Any distortion would be coming form the source (Sirius). Bluetooth should theoretically be worse, as the Bluetooth stream is compressed for transmission.

For what it is worth, Sirius (any sat radio) is already a compressed audio format and gets quite a lot of complaints in the audio community. You can do a simple Google search on "Sirius compression" to see what I am talking about.

My bet is: it's the source, not your Aux input and Bluetooth wouldn't make it any better.

 

[Hoyas06]

I may be mistaken, but I don't think Bluetooth was available until the 2012 model...?

 

[umbertob]

Bluetooth audio streaming profile was introduced on the MY2012+ MOST 2.1 system, on prior model years only hands-free phone and phonebook transfer profiles were available. Audio quality is entirely dependent on the compression ratio of the original source. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at the Bluetooth streaming audio quality on my 2013, but there are occasional hiccups and "stuttering" issues that arise every now and then, especially when streaming music from the clouds rather than stuff stored on the phone itself. If given a choice however, a hardwired device (via digital or analog cable, proprietary or not) normally provides better sound quality for the same source material than Bluetooth.

Sirius XM is the lowest common denominator as far as sound quality is concerned, they compress everything to smithereens so they can offer 3000 channels of crap and 2 or 3 of decent programming people actually listen to. It's convenient because it works just about everywhere, but that's about the only good thing about sat radio.

 

[elrocko]

has anyone used something like this with any success?

http://www.amazon.com/Patuoxun-Blue...qid=1414510932&sr=8-11&keywords=bluetooth+usb

I also would like the ability to stream wirelessly on my 2010.

 

[umbertob]

Lots of MY2010-11 owners have purchased this, and they are very happy with the results. It's more expensive, but a better solution since it interfaces with the proprietary iPod input already in our cars, and therefore allows use of steering wheel controls to navigate the connected device, track names show on the touchscreen display (for iPhones/iPods anyway, not sure about Android), etc.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B52LLJ6/ref=cm_cr_ryp_prd_img_sol_0?tag=viglink21775-20

There is a lengthy discussion about the WMA1000 on a RRS forum I moderate: http://www.rangerovers.net/forum/9-...dio-success-audio-steering-wheel-control.html

 

[cperez]

Monty, search the LR4 and LR3 forums here for "Kinivo". The Kinivo BTC450 is a $35 device that interfaces with your LR's audio system via the AUX port and streams music and handles phone calls/Siri/turn-by-turn nav, etc., via Bluetooth. I have been using one for months in my MY11 HSE and it's a pretty affordable and user-friendly solution. Happy to share other insights with you about this device if interested.