Bluetooth to FM Transmitter

[Witterings]

Thinking about getting a BT to FM Transmitter both to play music on my phone but also to insert a SD card with the music I've ripped from CD's on it.

Does anyone have any experience with them and recommendations and know if the more expensive ones produce better quality sound than the cheaper e-bay alternatives and if any are WiFi as opposed to bluetooth?

I'd also be really interested if there are any that have a display that would show a music library similar to how a mobile phone does in a media app listing artists / songs etc.? so you can scroll through and pick what album or track you wanted ... most of them just seem to have a skip track or previous track so you've no idea what's coming up next / can't select songs.

Any help appreciated!

[zax]

I had one on a previous vehicle, not an expensive item but not the cheapest either. Given the same choice again I would have taken the dash apart and fitted an aux cable. Sound quality was average at best. Sub actual FM radio quality for the most part. I didn't realise how much I'd adapted to the sound quality until I changed the car and had a proper bluetooth stereo connection! Also crowded frequencies meant retuning regularly on longer trips as local radio stations popped up then disappeared.

The car (Honda Accord) had the antenna embedded in the rear screen, results may have been better with another type of antenna. That's the main issue affecting sound quallity, not the mode of connection from the device to phone (BT, wifi).

[Mr E]

They work. They’re a bit st.

[Frenchda]

Mr E said:

They work. They’re a bit st.

Mr E said:

They work. They’re a bit st.

This sums it up!

I had one in the MX5 and it was a pain at times.

If you can get an aux out and fit a Chinese blue tooth receiver to it and a decent phone mount, then run your choice of music player through your phone. This works well with reasonably good quality output.

Alternatively fit a double din modern stereo - fitting kits about for most cars - this is obviously more expensive.

[Scrump]

I have tried a few and found the Anker Roav Smartcharge to be the best of the bunch. The cheaper ones are not good.
I found Anker Roav one to be okay and have put a similar one in my father’s car - he also finds it okay.


The bad news is that Anker no longer sell these. I had a look to see if they were on sale, couldn’t see any on Amazon etc. but did see some on eBay, but at stupid prices.

[33q]

I have a fairly cheap Aux to BT in my MX5. Works ok.

Oddly my car has BT phone but not BT audio.

[joropug]

Kinivo 3.5mm aux input device was good for me , stream Bluetooth to it but do need a 3.5mm.

I’ve seen some devices advertised that look interesting - kinda like a sat nav stick on device that has apple car play which is great for selecting your music / apps / sat nav. Could be coupled to whatever solution you find.

In fact… this one has FM output. Could be perfect if budget allows.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/125162331270?mkcid=16&a...

[Witterings]

Cheers for everyone's input, it sounds like the limitation of quality though is the FM signal

@zax ... I'll see if I can find out if there's anyway I can get an Aux input as it sounds like that would be a much better option, even if hat was then BT receiver with a 3.5mm jack cutting ut the FM part.

[griffin dai]

Having AUX fitted will make things miles easier.

I use an Alexa Auto in the saab, old system (it’s crap) but has Aux fitted so pretty easy to connect a BT adapter but still no way to control anything without using the phone.

With the Alexa Auto it’s all hands free/voice control so really handy, it does lose connection now and again though. Connects to the phone via BT but the Alexa needs the Aux connected to work (on my car anyway)

Echo Auto | Add Alexa to your car https://amzn.eu/d/etit5i3

Sound quality’s pretty decent, basically CD quality, miles better than using the Aux cable on its own. Works great with Amazon music/Waze.

[Witterings]

Looks like I may have found a coupel of options, I can switch the CD Changer input to Aux and thenm need a connector / lead that fits.

I can either go this route, my concern is it's a cheap unit and wonder if the BT may be pretty low level / older version, I also wonder if I could use the 3.5mm input plugged into the phone giving me the option of higher quality if I feel like it but if it's just for a quick journey down the road it'd automatically pick up the phones BT.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/402578983548?_trkparms=...

The other alternative is one of these and just use the 3.5mm jack

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153448518367?hash=item2...

[griffin dai]

Any short journeys I just use the Alexa, takes seconds to connect to BT & load up and the SQ’s ok. It’s CD quality (max) plus it’s easy to swap between tracks/albums/playlists make/answer calls with the voice control.

Long journeys I connect my Dragonfly DAC to the iPhone (needs the camera adapter) plug this into Aux and use Siri to do the above. Gives much better sound quality (Amazon Music HD) so all 44khz (CD quality) and above, most are higher res 24BIT 96 or 192khz tracks so you definitely get much better sound quality vs using Bluetooth.

The Dragonfly Black I’ve got maxes out at 96khz though, if you want better quality it’s either the Red or Cobalt versions. A nice cheap DAC I use for commuting is the Hidizs S9 Pro, gives up to 32Bit 768Khz so waaay more than I need but for the price £100 it’s just as good as the dragonfly cobalt which is around £350.

If your after better sound quality it’s worth looking at the paid for streaming services vs the free ones, Amazon Music HD, Tidal & Qobuz are worth a look, I’ve tried all 3 all sound pretty much the same to my ears, I preferred the Amazon’s interface though plus it’s around half the price.

[griffin dai]

https://www.hidizs.net/products/hidizs-s9-pro-bala...