What CarPlay device to go for.......

[Cakesbaby]

Hi

With soooooo many CarPlay devices on the market for our cars I was wondering what would be the best one to go for? Having just purchased a newish head unit due to the previous one giving up the ghost on it's output for the rear speakers (676A) and subs (I've checked the unit and no actual output for these channels plus the new unit has DAB which mine does not) I'd thought I'd upgrade the functionality at the same time.

I know Mr 12Volt seems to feature heavily in posts but there does seem alot of devices from the far east for our cars. Unsure which direction to spend my hard earned pennies !!!!

 

[AnubisZed]

Yes you can go for one of the multitude of Chinese MMI boxes, Aliexpress is your best bet there.
I did a video on these...
https://youtu.be/jY-pSPUz0IU?si=3Ng--YzOzsr6RBys

Now all of these boxes connect via the AUX 3.5mm socket in the centre console giving you an analogue signal. As long as it's not got any Verdigris on the socket contact (green rust!) then the connection will be fine and all will be perfectly OK

Now with the Mr12volt box you don't have this AUX connection, instead it connects into the MOST fibre optic and gives you a digital signal. Now the only downside to this is that you need to have the CDC option from the factory, otherwise it need coding.
And I just happen to have a brand new video on the latest connection type...
https://youtu.be/bwR3WHSBVXw?si=kGDSWmlAGfYdBOvY

Now you can find that the Aliexpress boxes are cheap, but you'd be very lucky for any aftersales service from these sellers.
You could go for a European or even UK supplied box. These will be exactly the same boxes as the Chinese ones but at 3 times the price (I've seen most around the £500 mark!), but at least you'd have some back-up from the sellers.
Now the Mr12volt box, isn't overly expensive (about £350) but there is a very good back up service with years of experience (over 13 years), and updates to the box from time to time.

 

[B21]

Mr 12 Volt is the best by reason it’s the only one to use the car’s fibre optic network to connect the audio..which is mathematically and technically the best possible signal source…

The rest mostly use the AUX connection which is intrinsically lower quality and in some cars is very poor..and the odd one uses Bluetooth..which is better ..

It’s proven with good support and service ..

There are cheaper solutions always :tumbleweed:

Overtaken by events :rofl:

 

[flybobbie]

I have ztuzauto. Can't fault it. Around £130 mark.
Response to the knob is instant.
Using with Android phone.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006967927417.html?spm=a2g0o.detail.pcDetailTopMoreOtherSeller.1.35efaoQpaoQp3l&gps-id=pcDetailTopMoreOtherSeller&scm=1007.40050.354490.0&scm_id=1007.40050.354490.0&scm-url=1007.40050.354490.0&pvid=0f6c4a20-b4fc-4ee3-a062-47bc20e53c89&_t=gps-idcDetailTopMoreOtherSeller,scm-url:1007.40050.354490.0,pvid:0f6c4a20-b4fc-4ee3-a062-47bc20e53c89,tpp_buckets:668%232846%238107%231934&pdp_ext_f=%7B%22order%22%3A%2233%22%2C%22eval%22%3A%221%22%2C%22sceneId%22%3A%2230050%22%7D&pdp_npi=4%40dis%21GBP%21278.92%21105.99%21%21%212472.70%21939.63%21%40%2112000039150961109%21rec%21UK%212215704532%21X&utparam-url=scene%3ApcDetailTopMoreOtherSeller%7Cquery_from%3A
Someone on the forum pointed out it could be fitted behind the aircon controls, space behind there.
Sure enough it fits in there perfect, almost made for it.
Connect either bluetooth, the 3.5 socket and from usb stick to a usb port on a lead. Got 30gb Sandisk stick, don't know if it takes higher.
Tried a Integral 120gb stick, wouldn't read it, but was cheap, so might be knock off.
Quality seems fine. Phone works hands free and there is text to speech.
Wouldn't play lossless or very high hd video from usb stick, but what to expect for £130.