Database Develop

Audio anyone? Bluetooth, USB...

Running CM7 in EMMC nightly 177, all is well. Had the nook about a month. Amazed at what a cool little tablet this is after reflashing. My only lament is I wish the audio out the headset jack was at least decent. I do understand, this was built to be a reader, not an audio-anything. And I'm thinking more and more that's just how it is, forget Pandora, etc.
But I still have scant hopes of alternatives. I've read about host mode in Nook Tweaks, and that folks have at least powered or maybe recognized a FiiO E7 headphone amp/DAC, but I doubt that I can use any app to play high quality audio thru the usb....yet.
What about Bluetooth? Does the Audio sound any better?
First post, hope it gets some interest!

I can never get the audio out via bluetooth.
I've tried 3 different bluetooth headsets.
All have a common issue "paired but not connected"
There were a few threads about it, but I couldn't just get it through.
Some other members do have no problem though.

votinh said:
I can never get the audio out via bluetooth.
I've tried 3 different bluetooth headsets.
All have a common issue "paired but not connected"
There were a few threads about it, but I couldn't just get it through.
Some other members do have no problem though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I paired a Samsung HM3500 ($6 after rebate) which is an bluetooth
earpiece with a usb connection to stereo in-ear phones with a microphone.
Worked great until the battery went low, then the CM7 nook started
freezing the audio as the connection was lost and remade. This is on
a Color Nook booting CM7 nightly 177 off a SanDisk 4Gb class 4 uSD disk.

I have a generic bestbuy BT headset and the sound is great out of it! Not sure why I was able to get the sound, it's been working for me since nightly 38 or so, but I have NOT tried any of the recent nightlies or the RC for 7.1. As for the volume level, after I got Volume++ I thought it got pretty good sound. Of course other devices sound better, but like you said it' kind of a built in problem with the nook.
I did buy a Plantronics BT headset yesterday and haven't tried it with the nook. I'll try it later and post here if it works,

For some reason, I thought it's brand-dependent.
Pls try your Plantronics and let me know how it goes.
I just tried the Plantronics Voyager 520 2 days ago, didn't work

22jjones said:
Running CM7 in EMMC nightly 177, all is well. Had the nook about a month. Amazed at what a cool little tablet this is after reflashing. My only lament is I wish the audio out the headset jack was at least decent. I do understand, this was built to be a reader, not an audio-anything. And I'm thinking more and more that's just how it is, forget Pandora, etc.
But I still have scant hopes of alternatives. I've read about host mode in Nook Tweaks, and that folks have at least powered or maybe recognized a FiiO E7 headphone amp/DAC, but I doubt that I can use any app to play high quality audio thru the usb....yet.
What about Bluetooth? Does the Audio sound any better?
First post, hope it gets some interest!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm the one that connected the Fiio E7+L7 and another home dac
I tested the E7+L7 in my car and in first impression it sounded almost as good as my E-MU 0404 PCI card I have on my CAR-PC ( will do extensive testing when I'll install the nook )
You want better quality? get a better DAC
I don't see why BT will give better SQ , I think it will be way worse
As far as apps , PowerAmp seems to be doing it's job and playing FLAC's without any issues so I don't see the problem here

It's hard to even talk about audio quality (or video quality, food quality, film quality, book quality) without getting a baseline for what a person considers satisfactory, unsatisfactory, great or awful. Some people--possibly most people--are all but oblivious to most of their senses, but then there are some few aficionados of anything and everything under the sun.
I'm not much of an audiophile--Apple stock earbuds do not meet my standards, but most $20 in-ear phones (Skull Candy, Sony, loving my JVC Air Cushions) + iPod + mp3s do meet my standards. From that perspective, I find that adjusting DAC and headphone gain in Nook Tweaks brings the NC up to satisfactory performance for headphones (I can get reasonable fidelity at minor-hearing-damage volume levles), but still weak for line-out.
I've really used the NC a lot less for music than audiobooks, though, where sound quality is less of a concern.

Plantronics 320 does not connect.

Thanks for replies! I'm going to try PowerAmp and flacs. I guess one of my let downs was streaming Pandora or Naptser, but I realize now that even with wifi these are lower bit rate than from a PC. However, with Nook Tweaks and DSP Manager, I can get to a point that is ok.

You might want to stick to just Nook Tweaks for boosting gain. DSP Manager is still useful for equalizing, but layering PowerAmp's boost on top of DSP's boost on top of Nook Tweaks' boost may not be a good idea.

@Taosaur, I tried PowerAmp with flac and ape files last night, and ended up doing exactly as you recommended. DSP ended up turned off. This was my first look at PowerAmp, pretty sweet app. So I had just a little dac and headset gain increase on nook tweaks, and pretty high pre-amp along with eq in PowerAmp. Using a decent set of noise-cancelling buds from Audio Technica. Result is pretty nice! I was looping one song for about an hour while I tried different settings, Pink Floyd - Brain Damage. Now I can't get it out of my head. Not such a bad thing..

**New Info*** I went ahead and bought a refurb FiiO E7 for 69 bux. Charged it up and plugged it in the Nook usb and Viola! Pretty sweet improvement over headphone jack. So, yes, you get a USB DAC, plug it in, and usb audio out comes to life. The FiiO E7 is ideal for this because it is a DAC and Amp in one small package. So virtually no annoying hiss, plenty of gain without distortion, much fuller overall sound, and way more total volume than you can handle. Only prob is at times the audio gets little skips/clicks when the Nook display is busy, I think. Either that or my sd card reading is causing it. I'm on a 16GB class 10, and I read somewhere the higher class cards can be troublesome compared to class 4's.
To recap setup, CM7 recent nightly+Nook Tweaks USB Host Mode.

I'm guessing you need to route that through a powered hub, right? Does it work if the hub is not plugged into the wall?
If you haven't moved any apps to SD and aren't running your OS from SD, I'd be surprised if it's causing you any problems.

No hub! The E7 has it's own battery power, lasts forever. Just a cable with an adapter. I'm running in emmc, build 206. I'll check sdcard, i think i may have put an app on it at one point.

usb "sound cards"
There are a whole raft of cheap usb sound interfaces - equivalent to a sound card on a desktop machine. I got one on ebay for 7$, stereo headphone output is pretty good with the nook. There are 5.1 and 7.1 devices advertised too.
Unfortunately, the sample rate used for the mic differs from that used for playback, so whatever I record via mic plays back in very slo-mo.
I understand that somebody has found a device whose mic input works with the nook, but I had no luck finding exactly what he described.
I'm very interested in the voice input side, both for speech-to-text and for comms, especially skype. Anybody have any new info?

Is there a way to use the Fiio e7 and continue to power the Nook using the stock USB cable?
I am using the NC as a headunit in my car and i would love to have the e7 as my DAC, but I would need to have continuous power for the NC.
Any Ideas?

I can only suggest you plug the NC in when you park the car. I'd say an hour or two per day would be MORE than sufficient to run off the battery the rest of the time. Inconvenient yes but I think all tablets will suffer from this problem (sucky internal codecs and only one power connection which is also shared with any usb host).

22jjones said:
No hub! The E7 has it's own battery power, lasts forever. Just a cable with an adapter. I'm running in emmc, build 206. I'll check sdcard, i think i may have put an app on it at one point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excuse my ignorance...what kind of adapter do you need for this?
Thanks!

Double C said:
Excuse my ignorance...what kind of adapter do you need for this?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Either microUSB male to full USB female to plug straight into the NC, or full USB female-to-female to put on the end of the cord.

Double C said:
Excuse my ignorance...what kind of adapter do you need for this?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my case, the FiiO has a mini usb port, and i use adapter on the FiiO. So I have FiiO > mini usb to full usb female adapter > full male to micro usb cable > Nook.

[Q] USB Audio Stream Pops & Clicks

Hi All,
I have an AT&T Nexus 6 and I am trying to stream USB audio out to my car stereo. When doing so I am hearing clicking and popping in the audio. I thought it was possibly a ROM/kernel issue but I am fully back to stock & locked and the problem still exists. Audio via mini stereo jack (aux) works fine of course, as does sound coming out of the phone's speakers, headphones, etc. I have tested 2 other android devices (Nexus 4 and Samsung Nexus 10) and USB audio is working perfectly fine in my car.
If anyone has any guidance on how to troubleshoot this it would be great. This is strange to me as USB audio out was added as a software update, so I find it very odd that it works on my older devices and but not the N6. If I can't get this figured out I will have to schedule an appointment at an AT&T warranty center to likely exchange my 35-day-old phone for a fecking refurb
Thanks for any help guys, cheers!

I RMA'd my Nexus 6 and the replacement behaves the exact same way. Other non-Nexus 6 devices tested work just fine.
Has anyone actually used streaming USB audio other than me?

rbross3030 said:
I RMA'd my Nexus 6 and the replacement behaves the exact same way. Other non-Nexus 6 devices tested work just fine.
Has anyone actually used streaming USB audio other than me?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What app are you using to stream? I tried, but do t know if my radio wont accept it or not. I know I can't read movies from my phone or flash drive.
Sent from my Nexus 6

Casper34 said:
What app are you using to stream? I tried, but do t know if my radio wont accept it or not. I know I can't read movies from my phone or flash drive.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The idea behind USB audio streaming is that you don't need to use an app. The device streams any and all audio out of the phone via USB rather than out of the speakers. This means that you can use Spotify, Youtube, Pandora, PlayerPro, etc. while connected to your car stereo via USB and have the audio in your phone played through your car speakers in lossless digital. This is a feature that was introduced in Android 4.4 but seemingly is saught out by nobody but me.
Prior to USB audio out, these were common options/solutions, all with drawbacks:
1. Plug into the headphone jack which is an analog signal prone to noise, interference, and muddy EQ.
2. Plug into USB and Android will automatically mount your phones sdcard partition the same way as USB thumb drive. This only works for playing media files that are saved directly to the phone. All other sounds/apps do not work through as the phone's audio hardware is not being used. This means no Pandora, Spotify, etc. and no controlling music from the phone. Casper, your radio is probably trying to mount your N6 this way – most car stereos do and are not expecting have a device connected that is outputting its own hardware-driven digital audio stream.
3. Bluetooth. This was the best solution as it uses the phones audio hardware and thus all audio is output the same way as the new USB out feature. The drawback to this is that bluetooth uses lossy-compression and so is lower fidelity than option #2, though A2DP has made quality far better than it once was.
If you can't already tell, I'm sort of a fidelity nazi and this is why I'm so desperate to find a solution to this issue at hand with the Nexus 6 USB audio out that noone seems to know exists.

Any update on this? I just got my Project Fi Nexus 6 and I am regretting not doing more research on the USB streaming in the car. The iPhone 6 worked flawlessly and I could change songs with my car (I just lacked good service). The car usb won't even recognize my google play albums downloaded to my phone BUT it will pull up my zedge ringtones. Every time I try to fool around with it, it just keeps looping my Mario ringtone through my car speakers lol. But seriously, any suggestions. I am so desperate.

ericajm85 said:
Any update on this? I just got my Project Fi Nexus 6 and I am regretting not doing more research on the USB streaming in the car. The iPhone 6 worked flawlessly and I could change songs with my car (I just lacked good service). The car usb won't even recognize my google play albums downloaded to my phone BUT it will pull up my zedge ringtones. Every time I try to fool around with it, it just keeps looping my Mario ringtone through my car speakers lol. But seriously, any suggestions. I am so desperate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I gave up and went with using bluetooth. Cost me another $120 in bull**** hardware that Grom Audio sells to make this "upgrade" possible. Quality is **** compared to what it could've been as well... sigh... first world problems

I have a Grom USB2 and a Galaxy S4 that I just upgraded from 4.4.1 to 5.0.1 (Goldeneye ROM). I successfully streamed USB with KitKat (Grom has a configure file that enables their unit to do this) but have been unable to do the same thing with Lollipop. I did the *#0808# thing and tried several settings but nothing has worked. Any ideas?

Kenwood DDX9902S Ordered

I ordered the Kenwood DDX9902S the other day, should arrived on the 28th and I will install on the weekend.
Going to install in my 2014 Mazda CX-5 Touring with Bose system.
I chose the DDX9902S over the DDX9702S because it's only $50 more and has 2 more bands of EQ and 2 years of warranty vs 1, and some other stuff.
I chose it over the Pioneer AVIC-4100NEX because it can do the screen mirroring and control the Phone from the touchscreen. (Though the damn Nexus 6 doesn't support video out damn it).
It is too bad the Kenwood only has 1 USB input though, and the Pioneer has TWO and also has an SD card slot. Does a USB hub work?
I'll have to do some creative wiring so I can swap out cables for card reader/etc if I want to view movies and such. The Kenwood can playback mkv files, didn't look up if the Pioneer can.
Ordered it from Crutchfield, $749 + $79 for the steering wheel control/wiring harness, free antenna and dash kit. Since it's so new, it's the same price elsewhere on the internet.
The Crutchfield Mastersheet is stupid. It only shows you how to take out factory audio unit and speakers, nothing about wiring at all. If buying stuff is cheaper elsewhere, do it.
Going to wire up my factory rear view camera to the Kenwood, from the Mazda forums, someone detailed how to do it. Got the items today and will get it prepared for next weekend to install by myself. I'll report back, I might also do a YouTube video since this unit is so new and no one has it.

What phone are u currently using???

cerobles1 said:
What phone are u currently using???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nexus 6

nxt said:
it can do the screen mirroring and control the Phone from the touchscreen. (Though the damn Nexus 6 doesn't support video out damn it).
It is too bad the Kenwood only has 1 USB input though, and the Pioneer has TWO and also has an SD card slot. Does a USB hub work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you expect to mirror, instead of running Android Auto ?
Pioneer is limited in what it can do on each port. I think iPhone/iPod goes to port 2 while firmware updates and Android Auto are port 1.
In theory, anywhere a phone works, a phone plugged into a USB hub should work. But don't underestimate the need to get a quality hub and cables for reliable connections.
I have no idea if the Kenwood supports flash or other USB stuff besides a phone, and at the same time a phone is connected.

mikereidis said:
So you expect to mirror, instead of running Android Auto ?
Pioneer is limited in what it can do on each port. I think iPhone/iPod goes to port 2 while firmware updates and Android Auto are port 1.
In theory, anywhere a phone works, a phone plugged into a USB hub should work. But don't underestimate the need to get a quality hub and cables for reliable connections.
I have no idea if the Kenwood supports flash or other USB stuff besides a phone, and at the same time a phone is connected.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I will use Android Auto but would like to check out the screen mirroring too, for apps that don't support Auto / 'appradio' yet.
I've downloaded the manual and the Kenwood does support movies and music on a USB flash drive, but no mention of hubs or simultaneously connected to phone.

I just installed the DDX9702s over the weekend. It's a pretty good unit, Android Auto works flawlessly with my Sony Z3, and the external GPS makes it super accurate. Kenwood's interface is so freaking ugly though
Android Auto is also incredibly finicky on my wife's OnePlus with CyanogenMod. I flashed to 12.1 nightlies hoping to resolve some of the issues but it's no better.
The iDatalink Maestro was also fun to install, it requires taping some wires on your ODBII port. My tip there is grab a right-angle generic ODBII to Serial cable on Amazon/Ebay for $10 then cut it up and splice it into the iDatalink Meastro harness. That way you can just plug it in rather than t-taping or hard-wiring the maestro cable to your car. You can also re-pin the ODBII port as well, but splicing an extra ODBII cable seemed like the best option if I ever want to go back to stock.

jonowar said:
Android Auto is also incredibly finicky on my wife's OnePlus with CyanogenMod. I flashed to 12.1 nightlies hoping to resolve some of the issues but it's no better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesn't start or what ? Sometimes enabling/disabling USB debugging can help with getting a phone connected.
I saw the news about 1+2 not having NFC. It appears NFC is required to trigger Android Auto over Wifi connections, so that could be an issue for the new 1+2.

mikereidis said:
Doesn't start or what ? Sometimes enabling/disabling USB debugging can help with getting a phone connected.
I saw the news about 1+2 not having NFC. It appears NFC is required to trigger Android Auto over Wifi connections, so that could be an issue for the new 1+2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, it won't start unless I "forget all cars" and go through the acceptance dance again then most of the time it freezes or just shows a blank black screen. I can't believe how much difference the Sony Z3 is, it works flawlessly every time.

jonowar said:
Yea, it won't start unless I "forget all cars" and go through the acceptance dance again then most of the time it freezes or just shows a blank black screen. I can't believe how much difference the Sony Z3 is, it works flawlessly every time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It MIGHT be due to bad USB connections; maybe the USB port isn't tight.
Android Auto tends to freak out if USB isn't a perfect connection.

mikereidis said:
It MIGHT be due to bad USB connections; maybe the USB port isn't tight.
Android Auto tends to freak out if USB isn't a perfect connection.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using the same cable for my Sony though, which means it's the port on the OPO which is only a few months old
I'll give it a shot with the official OPO cable just to make sure.
I guess it's time for USB C.

jonowar said:
I'm using the same cable for my Sony though, which means it's the port on the OPO which is only a few months old
I'll give it a shot with the official OPO cable just to make sure.
I guess it's time for USB C.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not saying that it IS the port, just that it's a possibility.
I have about 15 test devices and I don't think any ports are bad, even after years of use.
I DO have cheap USB cables that are pretty bad though.
Trying other cables is the best idea I have, besides wiggling the cable a bit to see if Android Auto stops.

mikereidis said:
I'm not saying that it IS the port, just that it's a possibility.
I have about 15 test devices and I don't think any ports are bad, even after years of use.
I DO have cheap USB cables that are pretty bad though.
Trying other cables is the best idea I have, besides wiggling the cable a bit to see if Android Auto stops.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, you were right! The OPO cable works perfectly! Thanks for the tip.

Have the same unit... Love it, look on the Kenwood website, there is a firmware upgrade for our units

Frankenberrie said:
Have the same unit... Love it, look on the Kenwood website, there is a firmware upgrade for our units
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome! thanks for the heads up, 100mb.
It says to do a reset after, is that necessary, kenwood has a ton of settings.

nxt, been eagerly waiting for your DDX9902S in depth review. Did I miss it? If so, please point me in the right direction. If not, I'd love to hear your thoughts now that you've been using it for a few months, especially if you've had a chance to compare it to the 4100NEX and from an Android perspective (mirroring vs Auto). Thanks

Frankenberrie said:
Have the same unit... Love it, look on the Kenwood website, there is a firmware upgrade for our units
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
senseimike said:
nxt, been eagerly waiting for your DDX9902S in depth review. Did I miss it? If so, please point me in the right direction. If not, I'd love to hear your thoughts now that you've been using it for a few months, especially if you've had a chance to compare it to the 4100NEX and from an Android perspective (mirroring vs Auto). Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wrote a pretty long review on Crutchfield but ran out of space. I ended up not making a video review because... it's not that great.
Just like any head unit, the regular UI for radio/settings/menus/audio/etc is ugly.
Anyways, here's some info going from the HU itself then Android Auto.
The Kenwood only has 1 USB. It charges your phone very very slowly, but it can charge it to 100% if you keep it connected long enough even while using Android Auto. (I do 6-7hour drives every other weekend).
1 USB, so 1 USB device connected and that's it. The Pioneers have a dedicated SD card slot, you can store music on it and leave it in there forever.
Putting about 64GB of music on a USB 3.0 Flash drive, the Kenwood took a very long time to get complete ID3 tags. So I'm forced to listen to Adele when it starts up, or manually choosing another folder before I can shuffle ALL songs.
The Kenwood supports various file formats, it can even play video files! Too bad all the .MKV files I have, no audio is decoded.
Bluetooth audio. Very little lag, steering wheel control to skip tracks almost instantly changes the tracks. My stock HU there was 2-3 second delay. ID3 tags show up properly. I primarily use Google Play Music app. I mostly use Android Auto mode when using to music though.
Bluetooth Phone. Works fine, I have a 2014 Mazda CX-5, I put the microphone where the stock microphone was. People can hear me perfectly. Android Auto voice commands have no issues hearing me either.
I have a Nexus 6 and when it was on 5.x.x, the Bluetooth Phonebook on the headunit would be SCREWED UP. No names, and just a ton of phone numbers. I installed Android 6.0 that was released a few days ago and Contacts information show up perfectly.
The Kenwood's backup camera input works really well. I can turn on the car and as the Kenwood is still booting up, if I put the car in reverse, the backup camera would be displayed! I'm pretty surprised with this and love it. The Kenwood takes a while to boot up.
The Kenwood, like most high end HUs have a TON of audio settings. I'm no car stereo buff so I mostly leave everything at default since I don't know half of what the settings mean. Each audio input has it's own audio setting which is great. My car has the factory Bose system and it sounds even better with the Kenwood.
The Kenwood has built in iHeartRadio/Pandora/Aupeo! "apps" that's supposed to work with your phone. It's junk, I've given up trying to make that work and just do regular Bluetooth Streaming.
Kenwood also has a SmartPhone control mode where if you can get your phone to video output into the Kenwood's HDMI or AV input, you can load the Kenwood App, and control your phone from the Kenwood's touchscreen, so you can use Waze or other apps directly. The app sucks and doesn't get my touches correctly. Don't rely on it, it's not reliable.
So yeah it has 1 HDMI input you can use with your iPhone using video adapter, or Android or whatever else.
It has DVD slot for movies/audio cds, I've never used it.
HD Radio. The radio interface really sucks, but it works. The way to change an HD station from HD1 to HD2 is really dumb and annoying. it has 3 different "seek" modes when you press the >> or << button. Seek1 auto scans to the next station that it can grab. Seek2 is manual seek. Then there's Auto where it changes to your next Preset.
Then there's the CHup and CHdown buttons. So if you're locked into an HD station and you want to change to HD2 you press the CHup or CHdown button, but that only works if you're in Seek2 (or maybe Seek1, I forgot), if you're not, all it does is the same as >> or <<. It makes no sense because CHup and CHdown acts EXACTLY like the >> and << buttons.
I have a ZuneHD with a special car aux box for it, I use it in AV1, works and sounds fine but when I put it into video mode I get a lot of interference. Not sure if it's the Kenwood or my aux box for it.
The Kenwood's video controls suck too. It's just hard to adjust and get proper color/brightness/etc.
At night, it's too bright, and lowering Brightness and "Blackness" levels, it gets hard to see/read the screen. So to make things clearly readable, screen has to be a little bright. There is a way to set holding Menu button and the screen will turn off until you press screen or a button.
OK Android Auto, I won't talk about Android Auto itself, there's many reviews and videos about it. I'll talk about how well it works with the Kenwood.
When it works it's great, but it's a coin toss if it'll work great on this drive, or the next.
Plug in USB cable to the phone and you're prompted to press OK on a warning screen on the Kenwood. The Apps icon turns into Android Auto.
Again, when it works, it works. Here's when it doesn't:
On my road trips, I would get into car, search the destination, and start navigation.
About 5 minutes later, Android Auto on the Kenwood would shut off and you're taken back to the main menu and the Apps icon return. Phone's Android Auto app is shutdown. There's no way to relaunch Android Auto without unplugging the USB and plugging it back in. On my last road trip, I did this about 4-5 times, then I decided to start Play Music while navigating, then it worked and had no issues. On my drive home, I started music right away with navigation and it still shutdown every few minutes. Unplugging and plugging back a few more times then it worked with no issues. It's completely random.
On my drive to work and back home, I drive through some low cell signal areas. When my phone looses signal and then catches signal back, Android Auto's screen would BLINK. Navigation wouldn't stop, music wouldn't stop, the screen would just BLINK. It's distracting.
Phone calls go through Bluetooth still, but it works well from the Android Auto screen. I'm sort of impressed how it works.
It's possible to listen to another audio source (HD Radio, CD, etc) while in Android Auto navigation, just press menu button, pick your source, then go back to Android Auto.
Android Auto I believe needs a lot of work. It's still in its infancy and the missing features and odd limitations Google has with it frustrates and confuses me.
Kenwood released a firmware update 9/17/2015.
Changelog is: Changed the specification of Volume function. Improved stability.
I hadn't noticed any improved stability.
That's all for now. Ask your questions and I'll try to answer them.

About Mirroring vs. Android Auto.
My Nexus 6 unfortunately does not support video out. I'm pretty pissed. The new Nexus 6P won't either, damn it Google!
So what I did to test was to hook up a Chromecast to the Kenwood's HDMI input.
Then I would set up my phone to be a hotspot, the Chromecast would connect to it, then I was Cast my Phone's screen to the Chromecast. Totally going in a circle LOL. (This will eat up your cell data FYI).
But it does work and my screen shows up on the Kenwood's screen.
The issue is the Kenwood's SmartPhone Control app like I mentioned in the above post.
It does not sync up properly so my touches on the Kenwood's screen, does not touch the right area of my Phone's screen.

I've never used the Pioneer 4100 so unfortunately I can't compare.
I believe that having TWO USB ports on the Pioneer and a dedicated SD card slot is BIG!
It's so annoying swapping out my Phone with a USB Flash drive.
If I were to do it again, I would probably get the Pioneer because of the TWO USB and SD card slot.
I chose the Kenwood because of the higher audio capability (EQ) and the App Mirroring (which sucks now that I've tried it), also it was cheaper than the comparable Pioneer high end model.

Hello, I ordered a DDX9702S and installed it in my '09 Civic Si. I've got a Nexus 6P and have been experiencing odd audio glitches, and I was wondering if you could test something for me.
When I play music, everything is fine until I get an audible notification or use the Voice Search. After that there is an audible buzzing/frying noise in the tweeters of my stereo when a bassy note hits. Once the noise starts, it doesn't stop until I reboot my head unit. Could you see if you have the same problem? I don't know whether it's Android Auto in general, my Kenwood stereo, or what. I've also reproduced the issue with 2 other Nexus 6P's and a Nexus 5, so I know it's not just my phone or model. I know yours is a different model, but it's worth a try to see if it's just me.
Steps to reproduce:
App to use:
Either Google Play Music All Access or Spotify
Song to use:
Rearrange by Vérité - the beginning of the song is quiet with a bassy beat, making it easy to spot the distortion / static.
Steps:
Turn on the head unit and plug in your phone (I used a Nexus 6P and a Nexus 5)
Once Android Auto is running, go to your music app and play Rearrange by Vérité. I find its easier to play the song if you add it to a playlist titled "1" (without the quotes) first, so it's at the top of your playlists.
You'll notice that the beginning of the song is quiet with a bassy beat. After about 10 seconds, hit the microphone in the top right of the screen to activate the Google Now Voice feature. Once it gives an audible beep, hit the microphone button again to cancel.
Hit back on the screen to start the song over. At this point, on my stereo, every bassy beat is accompanied by a static in the tweeters of my stereo. This happens on every song I play, even the radio, but it's much easier to hear on quiet songs like the one I gave as a suggestion to test with.
The static continues even if you disconnect/reconnect the phone. The only think that stops it is restarting the head unit by turning it off and back on. If you use Google Now again or a notification comes in and makes an audible sound, the static will come back. It seems, to me, that any notifications or audio playback from an Android device will cause the head unit to distort the sound until the head unit is rebooted. If nothing happens to cause the distortion, sound quality is stellar.
Hope you're able to test this, and thanks in advance!

DDX9702S
Sent from my Nexus 6P using XDA-Developers mobile app

Looking for a Good Android Auto Head Unit

Hey Everyone!
I'm looking for a good, reasonably priced, double-din head unit that supports Android Auto for my 1995 Volvo 850 Turbo and am looking for some advice/suggestions.
All the car audio sites (Crutchfield, etc.) show that you can't install a double-din in the 850, but that's only due to two small plastic lips in the console from the original stereo that can easily be removed with a dremel.
I was looking at the JBL CP100, but that still isn't available yet (for who knows how long). I would like to get something with a reasonably modern feature-set and UI, and I've generally had good experiences with standard Kenwood receivers (I currently have a KDC-BT562U installed), but I'm not particularly picky.
I have an Xperia Z5 so Android Auto is a must (obviously), but also having Apple CarPlay functionality could be useful as I sometimes share the car with iPhone users, as long as it doesn't add on to the cost. Also, having a good standard Bluetooth connection option for relatively short drives that wouldn't require the full AA experience, but having the ability to just listen to music and make/receive phone calls is important.
I'm looking for something below around $450, but if that's not possible, I would like the get the least-expensive product that's not too much of a compromise.
Any input would be appreciated as I (obviously) have pretty much zero understanding of car-related things.
Thanks-in-advance!
Cheers,
4Strings

I was planning on installing an Android tablet, like the Nexus 7, as a car headunit. But the major issue for me is the sound. The sound from the headphone jack isn't the clearest. USB audio has its draw backs, mainly when you have a lot of apps open and memory usage is high, the sound gets choppy. I have been looking at these android car radios but I have not been able to find anything with a more elaborate sound processing section. I'm talking about filtering such as low and high pass capability, bass filtering, loudness levels, etc. A lot of them has the EQ app but that doesn't do any frequency filtering. You can buy a separate active crossover unit, but that's not plug and play, and you still have to somehow figure out how to connect one with RCA inputs to the tablet which probably needs some other kind of interface, more stuff to buy. So for now, I'm staying with a real car headunit until I find one that will suit my needs.

You can find the Pioneer 4100NXT for around 450-500. I think it is first rate and does both CarPlay and Android Auto from two different USB ports. It also has an optical drive and SD card slot so there is plenty of room for media if you set it up for both Android Auto and CarPlay. I don't think any of the other third party units are this versatile (the JBL CLEARLY isn't).
I am very happy with the audio from this. Independent adjustable crossover points for both front and rear, phase control for each speaker, and two custom presets on the EQ, in addition to three or four best seat in the house (vehicle) settings. Honestly, the only thing that is missing is what's missing in Android Auto (Waze, Dash, etc.).

4Strings said:
Hey Everyone!
I'm looking for a good, reasonably priced, double-din head unit that supports Android Auto for my 1995 Volvo 850 Turbo and am looking for some advice/suggestions.
All the car audio sites (Crutchfield, etc.) show that you can't install a double-din in the 850, but that's only due to two small plastic lips in the console from the original stereo that can easily be removed with a dremel.
I was looking at the JBL CP100, but that still isn't available yet (for who knows how long). I would like to get something with a reasonably modern feature-set and UI, and I've generally had good experiences with standard Kenwood receivers (I currently have a KDC-BT562U installed), but I'm not particularly picky.
I have an Xperia Z5 so Android Auto is a must (obviously), but also having Apple CarPlay functionality could be useful as I sometimes share the car with iPhone users, as long as it doesn't add on to the cost. Also, having a good standard Bluetooth connection option for relatively short drives that wouldn't require the full AA experience, but having the ability to just listen to music and make/receive phone calls is important.
I'm looking for something below around $450, but if that's not possible, I would like the get the least-expensive product that's not too much of a compromise.
Any input would be appreciated as I (obviously) have pretty much zero understanding of car-related things.
Thanks-in-advance!
Cheers,
4Strings
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you like Android and want the ability to mod your device, you could look at numerous number of double din android units for China. I purchase a unit from Erisin that was specifically design for my car but they also sell standard double din units. They are expandable so you can add dab, dvr, mic, etc and can mirror a connected android / apple phone. Also support Bluetooth. Worth a look

I am actually looking at that right now. Thanks for the suggestion. Looks like these Android car radios still have ways to go when it comes to audio options. I am very particular about how my system sounds and an EQ alone is not enough to clean up audio sound for me. Thanks again.
Solutions Etcetera said:
You can find the Pioneer 4100NXT for around 450-500. I think it is first rate and does both CarPlay and Android Auto from two different USB ports. It also has an optical drive and SD card slot so there is plenty of room for media if you set it up for both Android Auto and CarPlay. I don't think any of the other third party units are this versatile (the JBL CLEARLY isn't).
I am very happy with the audio from this. Independent adjustable crossover points for both front and rear, phase control for each speaker, and two custom presets on the EQ, in addition to three or four best seat in the house (vehicle) settings. Honestly, the only thing that is missing is what's missing in Android Auto (Waze, Dash, etc.).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

dricacho said:
Looks like these Android car radios still have ways to go when it comes to audio options
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not sure what other options you're looking for. The crossovers have adjustable frequency and slope on both sides of the crossover point, preamp outs for all 5 channels, and manual or automatically measured (kinda pointless in most cars though) set points for time alignment.

If you've had a Pioneer headunit, you'll know what I'm talking about. All these Android radios have an EQ section but doesn't have high pass filter for the front and rear speakers and doesn't have low pass for subs. So you got low frequencies going to the midrange and tweeters which will distort the sound. These options are built in to most Pioneer headunits.
Solutions Etcetera said:
I am not sure what other options you're looking for. The crossovers have adjustable frequency and slope on both sides of the crossover point, preamp outs for all 5 channels, and manual or automatically measured (kinda pointless in most cars though) set points for time alignment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I give up. What part of "crossovers have adjustable frequency and slope on both sides of the crossover point" did you not understand?
https://goo.gl/photos/nDNAk846BefCEd756

Nevermind...
Solutions Etcetera said:
I give up. What part of "crossovers have adjustable frequency and slope on both sides of the crossover point" did you not understand?
https://goo.gl/photos/nDNAk846BefCEd756
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Dual BT Question

Which is your favorite color phone case?
After watching a few YouTube videos I now understand that the dual feature of the Note 8 Bluetooth has nothing to do with Bluetooth 5.
From what I've learned, Bluetooth 5 is simply a combination of Classic Bluetooth (2 & 3) coupled with Extended Bluetooth (high range with lesser throughput), which does NOT mean you can expect to crash n your speaker in the house from the garden.
In other words, for the DUAL Bluetooth feature on the Note 8, it would appear that there are in fact two separate BT reciever / transmitters.
Can anyone verify this?
Also, if this is true, how likely will it be that either a software update or an app will be able to take advantage of this, and split stereo channels to two separate Bluetooth speakers, thus giving true stereo sound in the home?

AddictedToGlass said:
Which is your favorite color phone case?
After watching a few YouTube videos I now understand that the dual feature of the Note 8 Bluetooth has nothing to do with Bluetooth 5.
From what I've learned, Bluetooth 5 is simply a combination of Classic Bluetooth (2 & 3) coupled with Extended Bluetooth (high range with lesser throughput), which does NOT mean you can expect to crash n your speaker in the house from the garden.
In other words, for the DUAL Bluetooth feature on the Note 8, it would appear that there are in fact two separate BT reciever / transmitters.
Can anyone verify this?
Also, if this is true, how likely will it be that either a software update or an app will be able to take advantage of this, and split stereo channels to two separate Bluetooth speakers, thus giving true stereo sound in the home?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why I dunno, ATG! That's a pretty good friggin' question about a thousand dollars phone to ask here, on what's arguably the largest collection of handset-technology educated folks on the Internet.
Ohmagosh, let's see what they say...!

AddictedToGlass said:
Why I dunno, ATG! That's a pretty good friggin' question about a thousand dollars phone to ask here, on what's arguably the largest collection of handset-technology educated folks on the Internet.
Ohmagosh, let's see what they say...!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why I don't know, maybe it does have two BT chips in it. I'm going to guess it does. The delay sucks though for sure.

Meh... I'll take any answer I can get at this point just get the discussion going. Can't believe this hasn't been a major discussion topic yet, and I can't find anything about what I'm asking on the web.
The delay can be remedied by changing placement of the phone between the devices. In other words, from what I've read / heard, no matter how different the two speakers are, there's a theoretical distance between each one that is the ideal placement for the phone where they'll be no lag between the two. I've done this in my own house. I relocated a small table in the foyer to get optimum placement between the dining room and living room speakers.
I have yet to try this with identical speakers to check if midway between them is ideal placement for the phone.

AddictedToGlass said:
Meh... I'll take any answer I can get at this point just get the discussion going. Can't believe this hasn't been a major discussion topic yet, and I can't find anything about what I'm asking on the web.
The delay can be remedied by changing placement of the phone between the devices. In other words, from what I've read / heard, no matter how different the two speakers are, there's a theoretical distance between each one that is the ideal placement for the phone where they'll be no lag between the two. I've done this in my own house. I relocated a small table in the foyer to get optimum placement between the dining room and living room speakers.
I have yet to try this with identical speakers to check if midway between them is ideal placement for the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My problem isn't the latency it's the dang volumes. Even with the setting. Can't think of it as I haven't tried in a while. But one of my speakers are as quiet as can be the other is blazing loud. I could never get them to even nearly match...
Surely it's only got one Bluetooth chip just allows more than 1 connection.
No different than having your speakers and a watch connected at the same time 2.
Just 2 audio streams at once
What hasn't Bluetooth allowed more than once bt device gonna had before as long as they used different profiles

I have several speakers, and also two of the same model by the same brand, and until now, I could never get then to play at the same time.
Maybe I should just bitter the bullet and buy a system that splits the stereo channel between two speakers after.

Dual Bluetooth feature means that you can connect with two Bluetooth audio devices at same time and music on the phone will be played simultaneously on the both devices. Left audio channel on the first connected, Right audio channel on second connected.
Switch "Dual audio" via 3dots Bluetooth menu.
Only first device can control (pause/play/next/previos) phone's player.
There is no need both devices to be same brand/model.
Bluetooth version of devices is also not important.
All version are backwards compatible with previous versions. So if your phone is v5, first speaker v4, second v2, so all communications will be on v2.
Even v1 Bluetooth support up to 8 devices multiple (serial) connections. One phone connected to 7 others and gaming multiplayer (Nokia N-gage) . But just now manufacturer deside to make two (audio channels) connection.

ChoSmile, I'm failing to understand...
Are you saying they are already separated into left and right audio channels??

dual Bluetooth has nothing to do with channel separation; all it does is allow 2 devices to be connected to your phone via Bluetooth at the same time, listening to the same exact audio stream

Jammol said:
Why I don't know, maybe it does have two BT chips in it. I'm going to guess it does. The delay sucks though for sure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AddictedToGlass said:
Meh... I'll take any answer I can get at this point just get the discussion going. Can't believe this hasn't been a major discussion topic yet, and I can't find anything about what I'm asking on the web.
The delay can be remedied by changing placement of the phone between the devices. In other words, from what I've read / heard, no matter how different the two speakers are, there's a theoretical distance between each one that is the ideal placement for the phone where they'll be no lag between the two. I've done this in my own house. I relocated a small table in the foyer to get optimum placement between the dining room and living room speakers.
I have yet to try this with identical speakers to check if midway between them is ideal placement for the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I play music through poweramp to 2 phillips bt speakers that can connect together anyways. But it's a pain to connect them like that so I just connect them with the dual bt the phone uses. I know what your talking about with the delay so right away I figured out that after they are paired and music starts playing (delayed of course) I simply force close poweramp, go back in and hit play and..... No delay

I'm using 2x Sony Srs-XB10s which natively support stereo pairing themselves, and I dual audio to a Marley with a cheap iPod dock, bluetooth adapter.
There's a ~1s delay from the Sony's when they're in native-stereo mode.
There's ~0.3s delay when they're attached singularly over Bluetooth. This fluctuates, but usually grows to ~0.8s over 2 minutes, then resets.
It's upsetting the audio can't be delayed per-device manually.
I love the technology though and it excited me I could in theory have 5.1 with this solution (Marley is almost a 2.1) but alas it's not mature enough.
Keenly interested in the progress of this feature! Saves the manufacturer having to implement it, though Sony's, despite the bigger delay, is very very simple and obviously there's no delay between their own 2 speakers.