Has anyone bought this Apple CarPlay box?

[motex]

Originally Posted by CatalinP

It does charge, but not sufficient to keep up with the energy consuption of the phone with the screen on and active navigation... It's just a standard USB port, with 0.5Amps... The phone needs a 2.1Amps charger when used this way...

But, anyway, the whole point of this CarPlay box was to use the Navi Screen for Waze, not the phone... What are you up to?

Thanks for clearing that up, the only app I use is Waze, I don't use Spotify and the phone interface of my iDrive is much better than CarPlay's

I have seen the charging icon appear on the right side of the battery icon when is plugged, so its just a lack of power....

[anki]

My CarPlay is up for grabs if anyone is interested

https://f15.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1690465

[Mo_far]

I'm looking in to buying one of these.
So far all the options discussed, route the audio via AUX. my questions are:

- Are there any solutions that pass on the digital signal to HK unit?

- If not, the feedback around audio seems to be fine, do we know what DAC chip is used and which unit has better sound quality?

- I see other units on Aliexpress like this one, which doesn't come with Aux cable, do we know if newer units have the capability to pass on the digital signal?

[Jedi767]

I have one for sale:
https://f15.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1824317

[f4r0kh]

Hi folks, here to share my experience. I have a 2016 X5 (F15), so I’ve missed carplay by a year and decided to buy the MMI box to enable it. Bought one off eBay which looked exactly like the one from Bimmer, but was half the price. Installation was a bit tricky because of very little space behind the OEM radio unit, sweat dropping as I was trying to wiggle it into place and make the radio fit back, but everything works like a charm. Here’s a link to the one I bought in case you are looking to buy one that is verified: LINK

Because I have an iPhone I didn’t even have to plug in the USB cable and make it stick out under the dashboard, everything works fine wireless, I can use both the iDrive controller and the little scrolling thingy on the steering wheel to control it and FINALLY I have a full advanced equalizer (I have the basic BMW audio system and had only controls for bass and trebble), so the music sounds waaay better now. I’ll try to upload some photos from the process.

[tlow98]

Originally Posted by f4r0kh

Hi folks, here to share my experience. I have a 2016 X5 (F15), so I’ve missed carplay by a year and decided to buy the MMI box to enable it. Bought one off eBay which looked exactly like the one from Bimmer, but was half the price. Installation was a bit tricky because of very little space behind the OEM radio unit, sweat dropping as I was trying to wiggle it into place and make the radio fit back, but everything works like a charm. Here’s a link to the one I bought in case you are looking to buy one that is verified: LINK

Because I have an iPhone I didn’t even have to plug in the USB cable and make it stick out under the dashboard, everything works fine wireless, I can use both the iDrive controller and the little scrolling thingy on the steering wheel to control it and FINALLY I have a full advanced equalizer (I have the basic BMW audio system and had only controls for bass and trebble), so the music sounds waaay better now. I’ll try to upload some photos from the process.

Thanks for posting. How do you find the smoothness, etc? Does it feel like something that came from the factory? Considering this but if it requires too much ‘extra’ knowledge or interaction it may be a hindrance to my wife…

Looks good tho!

[f4r0kh]

Originally Posted by tlow98

Thanks for posting. How do you find the smoothness, etc? Does it feel like something that came from the factory? Considering this but if it requires too much ‘extra’ knowledge or interaction it may be a hindrance to my wife…

Looks good tho!

I’ve tried the original carplay on a 2021 X6 and apart from not having a touchscreen this feels absolutely the same. No lags, no problem with connection. After I start my car it connects by itself in a few seconds. The first connection is almost the same as on the factory carplay, the only difference is that you have to unpair the previous bluetooth connection with the car and delete the saved BMW bluetooth item in your iPhone plus delete the saved iPhone in your car. Then switch car audio source to AUX and that’s it. Siri works much better, sound quality is better and even when you make a phone call it sounds better. I was reaaaaally nervous while having the dashboard completely dismounted and when I struggled to fit the MMi box behind the radio and at the same time get the radio back in place, but it’s absolutely worth the struggle.

P.S.: if your wife decides not to use it, you can only pair it to your phone and she can keep using the OEM iDrive system. The audio source settings are saved to your driver profile, so you can set hers to bluetooth and yours to AUX. But I bet she’ll want it too

[tlow98]

Originally Posted by f4r0kh

I’ve tried the original carplay on a 2021 X6 and apart from not having a touchscreen this feels absolutely the same. No lags, no problem with connection. After I start my car it connects by itself in a few seconds. The first connection is almost the same as on the factory carplay, the only difference is that you have to unpair the previous bluetooth connection with the car and delete the saved BMW bluetooth item in your iPhone plus delete the saved iPhone in your car. Then switch car audio source to AUX and that’s it. Siri works much better, sound quality is better and even when you make a phone call it sounds better. I was reaaaaally nervous while having the dashboard completely dismounted and when I struggled to fit the MMi box behind the radio and at the same time get the radio back in place, but it’s absolutely worth the struggle.

P.S.: if your wife decides not to use it, you can only pair it to your phone and she can keep using the OEM iDrive system. The audio source settings are saved to your driver profile, so you can set hers to bluetooth and yours to AUX. But I bet she’ll want it too

This is awesome information. Thank you!

[Fazerace]

Looks awesome interesting option

[Xolinlevh]

Has anyone used a DAC in their setup to try to maintain good audio quality through the AUX wiring? If so...how'd you set it up?