Has anyone ever used a bluetooth device that plugs into the AUX, basically letting u just jumping into your jeep and playing the music from your smart phone without having to plug it in? My jeep stereo sounds great so I rather not buy some fancy stereo (and worry about it getting stolen). I love that I can connect devices via AUX jack, but wish I could eliminate some wire clutter. I've heard that I could already do this (if I purchase some uconnect add-on) but what's the price on those things?
Any input will help in making my choice. Which product do u have, how do u like it and how much was it?

 

I use this thing called a go groove x2. I think it $20 at target. It plugs in to the cigarette outlet, can charge my phone, ( charging in pic ) and has bluetooth with a built in mic for phone calls. The signal can be sent through a built in fm modulator ( operating like this in picture ) but its a little staticy at high volume. Or you can run a cord ( like the one in the picture in the aux ) from it to your auxillary input. ( which makes a very clear signal ) You could use it completely wirelessly. I don't know what the buttons do. I think I read once the u-connect kit is something ridiculous like $300-$400.

 

The MyGig RHR allows you to stream music to it via Bluetooth without an additional UConnect Module.

Also, Bluetooth audio quality sucks. Yes, it's convenient not having to pull your phone out of your pocket, but streaming music via bluetooth tends to drain your phone battery rather quickly, so you end up having to plug it into a cable to charge it anyways.

I prefer just connecting my iPhone to the USB port of the MyGig RHR where I have the better quality audio and also charge the phone at the same time with a single USB cable connection.

 

How do you get it to work? My iPhone charges but I can't control it via USB on the radio.

 

I must say I really like the Bluetooth audio streaming in my 2012 with the 730N. I've seen some complaints about the quality, but I think these might have been due to older software or hardware modules. I must say that I can't really tell a difference between the USB, headphone-to-aux-jack, or Bluetooth connections. I am picky enough about my music that I can't hardly listen to mp3s that are sampled below 256 kbps (generally speaking). I even find the satellite radio to be messy compared to the digital perfection they claim it to be.

Anyways, I really, really like the lack of clutter with the uConnect system. I use the Bluetooth for all the shorter around-town stuff and will use USB when I need to charge. I have dabbled with some Bluetooth audio devices over the years but was blown away at what I heard via Bluetooth in my new Jeep. In fact, I never used my phones for music until now. I've used my old gen iPod because of the much higher storage capacity. The clarity and convenience actually made the hassle of managing my music on the phone worthwhile.

Good luck with your choice!

 

You need the RHR MyGig which added iPod/iPhone USB playback capability, as well as bluetooth streaming audio. See my RHR write up in my signature for more info.

If you have a MyGig, you probably have a MyGig REN, RER, RBZ or RHB. The REN and RER did not have iPod playback capability via USB and the RBZ and RHB units require an external Uconnect module for bluetooth streaming audio, but that does not make the USB on the front of the radio support iPod playback through the USB connector on the radio.

All these things are built into the RHR Mygig, where it does not require an external Uconnect module.

 

The sound of BTA is not bad and it's definitely better than Sat radio. That's because Sat Radio is mostly 64Kbs mono audio...yes, Sat radio is "digital" but that does not mean it's full bandwidth digital.

The problem with BTA is that it almost always gets re-encoded when it is transmitted. The requirements for BT audio is that all devices must support what is called an "SBC" codec and all other codecs like MP3,WMA,AAC codec support are optional from device to device. Since it's optional devices tend to support the lowest common denominator. In other words, it does very little good for a portable BT device to develop MP3 codec support for bluetooth streaming if the radio does not also require it to be supported and vise versa. Additionally the bit rate can vary from device to device. For stereo audio the available bit rates defined in the bluetooth specification for the SBC encoder are 229kbs,237 kbs, 328kbs, and 345kbs. So it's up to the device to decide which of those bit rates it would like to support in the encoder. So what that all means is that even if you have 320kbs MP3 files on your device, they can be converted down to 229kbs through the SBC codec encoder when it's streamed via BT. In any case, they ALWAYS go through a conversion since there is not a 1to1 kbs stream rate since there is not a 320kbs bit rate or 256Kbs as you mentioned for the SBC encoder. The sound quality can vary from device to device and it will also depend on your sound system if you can hear these conversions and artifacts. So while you say you can't hear the difference with your phone, that does not mean everyone will have the same experience with their phone on their audio system. That's why you are hearing conflicting information in regards to BT Audio quality. With my iPhone 3GS and listening to it on my high end system, I can definitely hear the difference and it is definitely not as good as the USB connection.

From the actual Bluetooth Audio Distribution specification:
So in other words the bluetooth spec does have the ability to support direct MP3 playback between devices.....but it is not a requirement. It is also not a requirement as to what the lowest bitrate that a device needs to support, just that it has to support at least one. Therefore audio quality can differ from device to device when streaming audio via bluetooth.

It also should be noted that with 99% of the bluetooth devices out today, you can't "browse" through your device from your radio, like you can through the USB connection. Which means, you need to pull your phone out of your pocket anyways, if you want to look through all the songs, and select one on your phone. For an iPhone, you will need to wait for iOS 6.0 for that.....and have a 4S or higher.

 

I use this one hxxp://www.brookstone.com/bluetooth-home-audio-stereo-adapter , it's AC but I have the AC outlet in my 2011 anyway. Works good indoors or in the JK.

Jeff

 

For a home setup that device probably makes sense so you can have devices in other rooms and still stream music from them to your home system. In a vehicle however?? What's the benefit? You still need to run a wire to the aux input of the radio and you still need to run an additional charging connection to keep that external BT device charged.

So you're really not losing the wires and in the end you're adding an additional device to make even more mess. Just connecting your phone's headphone jack to the Aux in, gives you the same thing but without the audio quality loss of using BT audio.

If having the ability to not have to pull your phone out of your pocket is the goal, then I guess that's the only real benefit I can see .....which is what the OP was looking for I guess.

 

Scosche iPod bluetooth kit, picked it up on clearance years back.
Came with a transmitter for the iPod, receiver for the radio.
I put the receiver inside the dash. Lord only knows what happened to the transmitter.
Wire exits dash between radio faceplate and bezel, can unplug jack as desired.
Used it a few times, but not much of an MP3 guy, unless to cram more songs on one CD/DVD than the original CDs.
Also, Bluetooth eats my phone's battery like a fat chick at a Chinese buffet.

It's discoverable the first 30 seconds or so after the key is turned on and paired painlessly.


(the smaller box is the receiver)