[snovvman]

Originally Posted by RobbW

Hi all -

This is probably a newb question, but has been on my mind recently.

I use my 335i's built in BT to link to my Diamond for phone calls and it works flawlessly. However, I would be in a "perfect world" if there was a way to also send streaming audio via BT to my car speakers.

Imagine being able to listen to your favorite internet radio stations (I use Kinoma Play, in concert with VTuner.com's WWW to fill in anyKinoma blanks and it works great), and playing back streams, podcasts, MP3's, etc. while driving, but also having the benefit of being able to listen to it in high fidelity, vs. the phone's internal speaker.

If this doesn't work, I'm presuming I can use the headphone jack dongle to connect to my Aux In, but a wireless solution, if possible, would be the ultimate.

Is this even possible? If not, is a workaround possible? (i.e. If the car is only capable of "hands free" BT (not sure if this is even true), can a hack be utilized that filters streaming audio to hands free?)

Thanks,

RobbW

As you implied, BMW's BT is hands-free only, not A2DP. There have been discussions in BMW forums about finding an OE A2DP solution, but it doesn't look good. I've used a third-party software to stream to my 750iL with a Palm Centro, but the result is mixed. The bottom line is, you wouldn't want to stream through hands-free anyhow because the bandwidth is simply not there.

My solution is connecting a BT A2DP device into the car's OE aux, hardwire power so it is always "charging" so there is no need to keep turning it on. Three possible options:

http://www.plantronics.com/north_america/en_US/products/mobile/bluetooth-headsets/pulsar260

http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-Bluetooth-Stereo-S705-SoundPilot/dp/B000NK9HKQ

http://www.jabra.com/Sites/Jabra/NA-US/Headsets/Pages/JabraBT3030.aspx


I bought all three and found that the Plantronics unit was best in terms of pairing reliability and sound quality.

Note that the Motorola is a Class 1 device.

I have another one hanging off of my home stereo so I can stream whenever I want. Keep in mind though, if you are a true audiophile, the (lack of) quality of A2DP may hurt your ears if you wish to do any critical listening.

For me, feeding Martin Logan, VTL, and Carver with A2DP is sort of like sipping Louis XIII out of a plastic cup.

YMMV