Your specialist subject: life and times of Android display screen as part of or in place of BMW CIC

[B21]

Background

I’ve looked at these alternative screens to the normal idrive display..there are two key versions..some are Linux based and the majority Android based.

The Linux ones offer little extra functionality but improve the quality of the display.

The Android units are self contained fully functional units.

My arguments against them were:

Ruins the charm of the flip up screen

Very poor audio quality

I can do most things with CIC and a MMI box doing CarPlay.

However…

Now I’ve recovered the dash the little idrive unit looks a bit out of place /tired..I could maybe get it recovered to match..

The new ID4Motion screen and graphics makes the idrive look dull and a bit chunky…it looked great with the standard cluster ..a bit steam punk ish..!

The sound issue really was my big issue….all the units only (on E89s) output sound via Android on board sound via 3.5mm plug to the BMW aux in socket..with its own acoustic limitations..having spent £3k getting pretty close to audio perfection and unacceptable compromise..

I thought I had solved this as being Android based I could get it to Bluetooth out to an optional Audiotec Fischer Match Bluetooth HD card that could be added to my Match 10 DSP/amp…

Sadly it turns out that the Bluetooth out chip set is missing on these designs..you can Bluetooth in so you can play your phone into the head unit but not send Bluetooth audio out.

So I cancelled my order.

However..a bit more research showed that all Android units after V8 support USB sound out.

Reading the very sad bunnies on the F30 forums who had gone to extraordinary lengths to play with these units it transpired that several folks had plugged a DAC into one of the head units USB socket and got high quality audio to come out ..into the DAC and then via a 3.5mm plug into the BMW sound system via aux.

This still has the crappy BMW aux issue…but..in my case I have my beloved and expensive Match 10 DSP/amp.

I’m not using the ‘normal’ analogue inputs as my car is a 677 with the digital fibre optic MOST bus so my audio is routed via a MOST adapter to the TOS optical input in the amp.

The voltage levels from the DAC..I had an AudioQuest DragonFly Black lying around ..were maybe not perfect..some people feeding it into the BMW aux complained about noise..but I thought since I can adjust input gain maybe I can get it to work.

Then I realised that the harness pre-made for the 677 amp was going to need some re-pinning ..

However the AF products all support one or in some cases two additional interface cards.

They do a high quality aux card at the spot on voltage levels..so getting closer.

Then the epiphany…the AF guys do a USB card as well..this talks to an android device as a pseudo speaker..and voila..

We can go pure digital direct from the Android display unit to the DSP / amp..all at ridiculously good data rates and bit depths.

So I’ve reordered the unit..will ger at a Match MEC USB interface card and a long (4m) usb cable ..it should work!

There are dozens of Chinese suppliers and UK shops offering them..there are probably about 10 real manufacturers which all look similar but when you start to dig then differences appear.

These guys have offered good technical support, product quality seems good, they make their own version..

What could possibly go wrong?

It’s probably a winter project to get it fully workimg..may be able to Jerry rig it to act just an idrive display sooner.

https://hifimaxnavi.com/products/12-3-u ... -2009-2015

https://youtu.be/Sk6xMdryXHc?si=0Ga2zT-g1-bRyofm

https://www.audiotec-fischer.de/en/matc ... s/up-10dsp

https://www.audiotec-fischer.de/en/matc ... -interface

https://www.audioquest.com/dacs/dragonf ... fly-cobalt