I was wondering if anyone here on the forums has experience with android head units for the e39?
(Pic below if you're unfamiliar)
Was debating on buying one in the future as opposed to an OE widescreen nav unit, as the whole interface is kind of appealing, but I've heard mixed reviews about them.
What is everyone's thoughts on these?
2002 M3 Journal
Hi,
Look over all the various BMW forums for all the posts about cheap chinese head units. You'll quickly see that most owners have found issues/problems with them either upon arrival or soon after installation and also some months after installation. There's only a relative 'handful' of purchasers whose units worked properly right out of the box and crucially remained fully working longer term.
In short, it's up to you if you wish to take the 'gamble' on one. You 'might' get a fully working unit that keeps working longer term or, you 'most likely' will get a unit with issues/problems.
The picture of the one you've posted is for the E53 X5 as it has the more pronounced curved fascia so looks out of place in an E39.
If you want the 'best' of the chinese units, then the only solution for you as you are in the USA is the Dynavin N6 which you should only purchase from Jeff at J&T distributing, Fresno California. He is the only US vendor that offers 'proper' after sales care and support. If your unit gets an issue, he will also help you. Some have purchased and had issues and Jeff has replaced the units within the guarantee period (sometimes upto 3 times) to ensure customers get a working unit.
If you do want high quality in every aspect; build, sound and performance, reliability, consistency of operation, internal components & electronics, full proper after sales care and support/guarantee, then it's a head unit from the likes of Pioneer, Alpine, Kenwood, Parrot, JVC, Clarion that you'll need.
Cheers, Dennis!
I have a Windows CE Version and it's working great! (I've had it for 2 weeks so far). @dwin helped with the install. Here r pics.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Oh shoot you're right, hadn't noticed it was for an x5. Just looked up e39 android on eBay and grabbed the first pic I saw for an example.
Admittedly I haven't looked into these much, and as I mentioned, I've seen mixed reviews. Being that they're from eBay, I don't know why I expected too much. I have heard a lot of good about Dynavin, so I may put some more consideration into them. The fact that this Jeff you speak of is local to me is a definite plus, along with his customer service.
Thanks for your input!
2002 M3 Journal
Yeah, come by and see me some time!
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It's 2020! I searched the forums a bit and this is the latest discussion I can find on Android radio/cd for an E39.
Vehicle: 2002 525i US with the 'Business' CD hidden behind the wood-trim flap and head unit just below. The amp is in the trunk on the left side. I've had enough bad experiences with the cheaper Android tablets. Is there a current opinion of the best unit from the tons that I see out there. I want the one that looks like OEM BMW with the orange backlit buttons on both sides. Of course, want Radio, CD, Bluetooth, GPS and WiFi. I'd also like the minimal wire-harness rework. Plug-n-Play would be great. Yeah, I want it all and I want it now!
Any opinions as of 2020?
Hi Toyotanext.
It's the same as previously. There's no real quality improvements in terms of reliability, sound quality, build quality, physical fitment and so on. It's basically a gamble so how lucky are you feeling?
If you want some good support and after sales care then as per above, buy the Dynavin N7 from Jeff in Fresno CA.
If you want a high quality, excellent SQ, properly designed and engineered head unit, get a Alpine, Sony, Kenwood, JVC. Since the last post above, there is an OEM looking fascia/fitting kit to securely mount a premium brand double DIN and it looks like this
Good luck whichever way you go !
Cheers, Dennis!
Great guidelines for my selection. Thank you!
Hi All. Sorry to come late to this conversation. I've also been wondering about audio upgrades for my E39. I recently aquired a 97 540i with the DSP audio option. I beleive this means that all the speakers are driven buy an amp set up in the trunk. I'm assuming the best way to upgrade the sound in this car is to eliminate the DSP setup altogether. I've somehow gotten into storing music on a USB flashdrive, and would ultimately like a setup that could play music directly of USB. Any advise/experience would be greatly appreciated. Thanks everybody.
New Here. First Post. #Newb.
Hi @540E39,
There's various routes you could take when it comes to the audio in your car /E39's. It comes down to the points raised above - how well do you like your music reproduced in the car? what performance & sound quality increases do you want to gain? do you want a reliable level of performance/operation? what's your budget anticipation to get what you'd like ideally? and so forth.
Most head units will accept a USB stick input source, so that's covered really. In addition, you can use a MicroSD card in a USB holder, connect and control an ipod, stream via Bluetooth from your phone as well, so however you have your music, it'll be covered functionality wise.
This specific thread is about the clone type chinese replacement units you'll see awash all over ebay/amazon. These are low quality and low reliability units, some have purchased and got units that work well and for longer term, the majority who've bought haven't been as lucky. I'd not recommend one.
Jeff over in Fresno Cali, sells and crucially, supports the Dynavin chinese made option so if/when you do get issues you have a respected and reputable point of contact to help and support you. The pricing of the N7 unit is on his website. If you intend to go the Chinese unit route, this is the ONLY one I'd recommend you go.
The other option is to go with an established, reputable and high quality, recognised brand head unit where everything about the unit's are excellent quality with local installers/dealers. As you can see above, there's now an option to have very close to OEM looks and have the high quality head unit in your dash.
If you want to keep the DSP amp and speakers, then choose the Dynavin N7 which connects to the DSP amp. The high quality brand units don't connect to the DSP amp, but then if you remove that and the oem speakers and replace with great/excellent quality amplifiers and speakers, you get the potential to have a vastly superior sounding setup without having to spend too much and which could be installed over time as funds allow.
My preference is the latter option which gives the best blend of all the aspects you'll be considering and mentioned above, but as I say, it comes down to what you'd like to have/upgrade to
Cheers, Dennis!
Thank you for the information. I'm sorry for the late reply. This are a little crazy these days. After doing some thinking, I think the correct route for me is going to be a Alpine screen headunit, and building on the system piece by piece from there. If I'm correct about the DSP system, this means that all the speakers are run off an amp in the truck area. So going with a headunit like this would mean I would have to re-wire all the speakers to run toward the headunit, and not the trunk. This would be time consuming, but nevertheless. I would like to know more about the headunit surround that is pictured above to make the Alpine headunit look stock. Would Jeff have those aswell? And should I be cautious of what headunits they are compatible with?
Thanks as always.
Hi @540E39,
Things are indeed serious and unprecedented across the globe, stay safe!
If you put in a high quality head unit, you'd not be able to run the speaker wires from each DSP speaker to the dash location as such a head unit only has 4 channels of full range speaker level outputs. Currently, all the speaker wires run to the trunk area and connect to the OEM DSP amp, which internally has a crossover and connects each DSP speaker to the correct crossed over frequency 'band'. If you really *want* to retain the old, mediocre at best (when new!) DSP speakers and use a high quality head unit, then you could use an 8+ channel amplifier with DSP and crossovers built in to drive each speaker. It'd be bit of a waste to have excellent quality head unit/amplifier with DSP capabilities built in and use the old DSP speakers. Better would be below,
If you do remove the DSP amp/speakers, then you'd be able to choose from a wide range of component 5.25 or 6.5 inch 2 way speakers with the conventional 4ohm impedance which would match the output from a high quality brand head unit. For the 'front', I'd suggest you spend as much as you can on a set of components as these will provide the 'quality' that a high quality head unit is capable of providing. Go for the entry to mid level choices from the dedicated car speaker brands here would be my recommendation, so brands like Hertz, Hybrid Audio Technologies (HAT), DLS, Gladen, JL Audio, Focal etc. Ensure you also change from the oem plastic pods enclosure and use the 12V electronics MDF/Birch Ply baffles so the new speakers can play from as solid a baffle as possible -
https://store.12velectronics.com/pro...er-Mounts.html - HAT is also available from them too !
Over time/funds allocation, you can add and improve the setup as mentioned previously.
No, the OEM look fascia & fitting kit pictured above is only available direct from the manufacturer Ideally, you'd use a shallow depth double DIN head unit, like Alpine iLX-W650 pictured above as you'd not have to worry about cutting the airbox to make space/room. Drop me a PM if you like and I can point you in the right direction for it
Cheers, Dennis!
Last edited by DennisCooper; 04-17-2020 at 12:40 PM.
Has anybody bought one of these Android units for an E39?
https://www.android-car-dvd.com/prod...32544706691208
Price is very inexpensive
****SINCE NOBODY RESPONDED, I JUST BOUGHT ONE*****
I'll let you guys know how it is...
Last edited by rickadootrd; 06-12-2020 at 04:02 AM.
Hi Rickadootrd,
You only asked a few hours ago !
Looks like you've bought an X5 shaped unit, so it'll look wrong in an E39 dash. Good luck with it, it's just another low quality clone unit you've purchased.
Cheers, Dennis!
Well dang.. I'm trying to cancel it now. Paypal is a nightmare per usual
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