Hi folks,

My car stereo has phone BT connectivity but it only works for phone calls, not playing music from the phone. It does however have a USB port that I can use for playing music via a flash drive but the shuffle functionality isn’t that great – i.e. it will only shuffle 1 album not the whole library, so I’m looking to possibly use my phone via a BT adaptor like this one plugged into the USB port.

Has anyone tried this? I’ve never used at BT adaptor before so not sure if I’d need to install drivers, in which case I think it’d be a no-go.

The stereo is a Kenwood DNX5260BT and has Apple connectivity for music playback & control via USB but not Android.

Cheers.

Or if not that is there another way I could do it using the USB?

Chances of that USB bluetooth dongle working are slim I’d say – they’re meant for Windows PC’s, not a car stereo.

You could go down the bluetooth FM transmitter route, had one in my old car as it didn’t do Audio over BT.

I had a £18 one which worked perfectly.

I used to use a 30-pin (iPod) bluetooth adaptor when I had a BMW that wouldn’t do bluetooth streaming. Stereo thinks it’s an iPod, phone thinks it’s a bluetooth speaker.

Like this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/392976776838

If you have an Aux port then get a bluetooth receiver to fit that. Look for one with a built in amp and suppressor.

I think there’s a line-input (?), so you can hook that up to either a physical cable or a bluetooth receiver.

I have been using a Parrot kit – mki9100 iirc – in my car(s) for years. Connects into the stereo’s aux-in. Bit of a faff to install but works really well for everything I need.

I used to run an echo auto in the car – had a nice array of mics which meant the voice recognition was good, and could usefully understand ‘play xxx on spotify’. Hooked into the stereo via line in

I’ve got a Bluetooth FM transmitter from eBay, cost about £13. Works every time and sounds great. You’d only know it wasn’t wired in when you drive somewhere where the local radio clashes with whatever frequency you’ve picked.

I think there’s a line-input (?), so you can hook that up to either a physical cable or a bluetooth receiver.

Yes there’s a line in but the volume level on it is terrible, really quiet, and I’m hoping to keep the clutter to a minimum, don’t really want cables all over the dash/console, hence the hope of using the dongle.

I’ll have a look as the FM transmitter option. I was hoping that if I could use the dongle I could still use the steering wheel controls for skipping/restarting tracks but I’m assuming that wouldn’t be possible with the FM transmitter.

Yeah, I know, moon on a stick….

The transmitter I have has forward, back, pause and volume controls on it. Not quite on the steering wheel, but less faff than the phone or Android auto.

The other option would be to just replace the stereo. 2nd hand car stereos are basicly worthless on eBay, and Bluetooth has been arround long enough that most 2nd hand ones have it.

Cheers TINAS. Can’t really afford to splash out on a new to me replacement as the current one has all the satnav stuff built-in and would want one to replace that as well.

Think I’ll have to go the transmitter route.

Chances of that USB bluetooth dongle working are slim I’d say – they’re meant for Windows PC’s, not a car stereo.

Agreed. For exactly the reason the OP suggests – what’s the first thing that happens when you plug such a thing into a PC? It installs drivers for the new hardware. Where’s a stereo going to get those from?

The only way I can see it working is if the car manufacture has provisioned for this scenario, in which case it’s likely to only support their own (vastly overpriced) upgrade options. And it as it already has Bluetooth functionality only without the A2DP profile or similar then I highly doubt that such a thing exists.

I had exactly this when I had a Mondeo. The facelift model supported audio streaming but mine was just hands-free phone. You could convert it but it lacked a lot of the back-end gubbins so it was a) really complicated and b) prohibitively expensive. I lived without it in the end.

I used to use a 30-pin (iPod) bluetooth adaptor when I had a BMW that wouldn’t do bluetooth streaming.

This might be viable, I did the same with a portable DAB radio that had an iPhone dock. Little thing about the size of a matchbox, came from a supermarket for like five quid.

This is the FM transmitter I used, has the skip forward/back buttons on it, just needed to reach down 6 inches below the stereo to press the buttons.

Something similar from a decent manufacturer would do the job

Yes there’s a line in but the volume level on it is terrible, really quiet

I’m sorry if this is stating the blindingly obvious but I have to ask, did you try turning up the volume on the phone? You’re not providing a Line level source (which would be fixed), you’re providing one intended for headphones.

I was hoping that if I could use the dongle I could still use the steering wheel controls for skipping/restarting tracks but I’m assuming that wouldn’t be possible with the FM transmitter.

This is the same problem as previously. The stereo would have to support the profile that provided this (AVRCP this time, unless it’s been superseded by something else since I last looked). Bluetooth is kinda complicated. It isn’t ‘just’ Bluetooth but a suite of optional profiles that provide different functionality, there’s dozens of them. It should be kind of self-evident as to why really, it’d be a nonsense to have a printing protocol connected to a headset.

When pairing a phone to a car, you might see this in action on either the phone or the dashboard. Hands-free and Headset are two separate profiles, the former takes care of phone stuff like dialling, the latter carries the voice.

Which is a point, actually. It’s possible to set up a Bluetooth pairing and fail to allow all offered profiles. It’s a hail mary for sure, but it might be worth deleting the pairing – at both ends – and re-pairing it. You never know.

You want a mini Jack to Bluetooth receiver adapter if you have a jack aux input. This is what I use in my car. Works great and charge lasts a long time

Thanks for all the suggestions folks, especially Cougar.
Think I’ve having a bit of a play around on phone and stereo again tomorrow.

Re the volume, good point but yes, volume on the phone was as high as it’ll go. A friend also tried his with the same limited affect.

Cheers all,

Pinky