da_hool

I've been trying to find out some more information on the functionality of the XCarLink with Bluetooth module without much luck except for a few people claiming it works well here. My biggest beef with using the XCarLink with USB/SD/IPOD interface is the limitation of having to use folders CD01-CD06 with only 99 tracks per folder (correct me if I'm wrong here).

http://www.vimeo.com/2093242

In the Vimeo video above, it appears that he has full control with steering wheel and head unit with the bluetooth connection. But when he uses his cell phone to change tracks, it appears as though the Mazda display freezes and loses track of where it is. My question is, what happens when you press next track after doing this? Hopefully it will go to the next track in the actual playlist/folder that you are in. What happens if you press next disc too?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1KZaJoVaQg

In the Youtube video, it appears that he is in EX: 11 but I can't reallly tell because it's blurry.

Can someone shed some light on this? Thanks!

czar

iTrader: (3)

i had a older version of the thing when it was called something else and didnt support folders or know what track it was on.

the unit acts like a cd changer for the usb drive. on the old unit if u pluged something into the aux jack, it took over and mp3s stoped period, i think he just has it set so it treats the bluetooth as a headphone unit.

sorry for not being a help but i was planing on getting one eventually

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

I am looking into this as well so any input would be great.

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

Bump.

da_hool

bump

da_hool

bump

RX8jtm

bump

FritsVerschoor

I Just received my XCarLink today (with the A2DP module)!

The manual states that you can have > 99 songs per folder, but only the last 2 digits will be shown on the display. (Probably due to CD limitations).

I will give it a test when I installed it to confirm.

Btw, I have the 2009 model.

=== Zonnepanelen, Kastelen ===

robrecht

That would be great if true, but the US vendor recently confirmed this limitation for me so please let us know if that's not the case. No way I would consider anything with this 6x99 limitation.

Daisun

I have the xCarlink and use the bluetooth A2DP. If you plan on using bluetooth to stream music from your phone to the car the folder limits do not affect you. The folder limit only applies to usb flash drives which you can plug into the xCarlink unit.

Personally I have never tried the usb. I've only ever used the line-in, which works just like any aux audio input, and the bluetooth audio streaming / calls.

Here are some answers to several FAQ's regarding bluetooth audio streaming (A2DP):

Do steering wheel controls work?

No, you cannot change tracks using the steering controls. The only thing you can do from the car to interact with the phone is the '6' button on the stereo. Pressing this will pause and play the current track. A long press will put the bluetooth module into pairing mode. Volume controls work to control the volume of the speakers.

What happens when I get a call?

The xCarlink unit w/ bluetooth comes with a microphone which can be routed to where you want. When you get a call your music will be paused and a ringtone will be heard (standard phone ringing noise). You can answer the call by hitting the '6' button on the stereo. Pressing '6' again will end the call.

What is displayed on the car stereo display?

You can basically forget what it shows besides 'EX 1' all the numbers after that is just jibberish, well as far as I can tell anyways. EX 1 is useful in that it tells you your currently receiving audio from the xCarlink device.

Thats all the Q's I can think of at the moment. Please feel free to post any questions you may have. I'll be happy to answer if I can.

FritsVerschoor

I have installed my module. I can confirm that >99 songs per folder are allowed. The display will even show the full track number initially.

As Daisun states, the display is not very useful for aux-in or A2DP mode. However, when you play of your SD-card, the display will read:
EX <CD number>:Song number.

Say you're playing song 3 of CD 1, the display will read EX 1: 3. In case you play song 154 of CD 5, the display will read (alternating)
EX 5: 1
and
EX 5:54
Showing it's track 154.

The SD sound quality is quite good. But to be honest I'm not that impressed with the A2DP sound quality. It's more like radio quality.

@ Daisun, I'm having problems that the volume level of my microphone is not loud enough. (Other people do not hear me well when making calls). Do you know of a way to modify this?

I'll try and make a short YouTube move of how the over 99 tracks work on the display.

Again, just to repeat, I have the 2009 model of the XCarLink, the manufacturer seems to have upgraded the capabilities of the device over the years.

=== Zonnepanelen, Kastelen ===

robrecht

Bedankt, Frits!

Just so we understand, are you saying (like Daisan) more than 6x99 only when using BT, or also with SD? My experience with BT headphones makes me not so enthusiastic about BT.

heyarnold69

iTrader: (1)

either way its got to be better than the oem! I hate it!

robrecht

misschien. It may depend on the quality of the BT on your phone. Even if you have all your tunes, but there's lots of crackling and cutting out, I bet you won't want to use it.

FritsVerschoor

Here is my YouTube video showing over 200 tracks in a folder on my XCarLink.
[EMBED]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7088u4DZWK4[/EMBED]

robrecht

Are those saved on an SD card or is that via Bluetooth?

FritsVerschoor

Yes, I'm playing from my SD-card (as indicated in the movie )

robrecht

Oh, I missed that. Cool. I gotta show this thread to the US vendor (Revolution Performance Motorsports). So you have the V version?

FritsVerschoor

It looks like the V model yes. The manual is (c) 2009

Daisun

I've only ever played music from my phone, via the xcarlink adapter, to the car stereo using Aux-In and Bluetooth. I cannot distinguish any audio quality difference between the two. They both sound excellent, cd quality to me.

My phone is a Nexus one, but I also used the same xcarlink with my old w910i and there is no quality difference, the nexus is a bit louder.

I have noticed one bug with the xcarlink. The very first time I connected my phone to the xcarlink via bluetooth audio quality was excellent. I then shut off the car power (turn key all the way so that radio is off) then turned it back on (turned radio on) and tried to connect it again, this time audio quality was extremely poor and full of noise/static. Only way to get rid of this static/noise is to start the engine. Since then if I only turn radio on and connect phone and play music the audio is full of noise and static. But, as soon as I start engine and connect phone the sound is back to normal.

I hope you understand what I'm trying to say above. Its not a big problem because when I connect my phone to listen to music I'm generally gonna start the engine and drive somewhere.

Anyone else experience this? Maybe mine is faulty but, i can live with it.