In car DAB that streams TO hands free

Luke

Luke

Luke

Soldato
Joined
19 Jul 2005
Posts
7,069
Location
S. Yorkshire
Prior to changing car I had replaced my head unit with a DAB unit. Unfortunately the new car has a very complex wiring loom that means a head unit swap isn't possible.
I have a hands free kit in the car which receives bluetooth and plays via the car audio, I currently use this to stream from my phone.

Is there a standalone DAB tuner that outputs to bluetooth. Most that I have seen accept bluetooth streams from devices, not transmit to a bluetooth receiver.

Can anyone suggest something I can use for this? The car has no aux input and I'm not looking for an FM tuner solution.

Cheers
 
You just want a radio app that will play via Bluetooth? What's the phone? My z3 compact (and I'm pretty sure any android phone I've had recently) will send any audio you want via Bluetooth including maps etc once it's paired
 
So I don't think the app will work like DAB since if there's no internet coverage the there'll be no radio.

Best I can think of is that you may find a DAB receiver with a 3.5mm output (used traditionally to go into an aux input on a car stereo) and plug this into a battery powered USB bluetooth transmitter which I can't link to because they're sold by competitors. Another bonus is the battery powered transmitter is charged ia USB which means you could rig it up to the lighter socket.

If you're happy going in via FM then the Alpine EZi-DAB splices into your car aerial to send the signal to your car's existing radio.
 
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I use an app on my phone. Since I've been with 3 (3 years), I can count on one hand the times when I've had inadequate coverage for streaming audio.

Contrary, when I've had DAB, I've found the signal degrades into a garbled mess quite often. Both rely on OTA transmission of data so of course it'll work in the same way - if you don't have a DAB/3G signal, you can't listen to DAB radio/Internet radio (delete as appropriate

The beauty of doing it on the phone is that you can use spotify, podcasts... Whatever you like! My phone has become the only source of audio in my car in recent years. I did used to use an iPod loads because of the amount of music it could store, but it doesn't come close to what you can get on spotify. 6 music plays music which isn't as terrible as the FM stations and podcasts are so much more informative and entertaining than talk radio. It's the future.
 
I guess the only argument that stacks up in **** favour then is that you don't have to pay a subscription to receive the signal unlike mobile internet.
 
I'm really confused about what got starred out there!

In my case I'm on an unlimited data plan anyway so it makes no odds. YMMV
 
I specifically need a DAB receiver. I'm already streaming on my phone. I want something independent of the phone.
Also the car has no 3.5mm input.

The DAB receiver connected to a bluetooth sender may do it, albeit in a clunky kind of way. I was really hoping for an all in one solution here.
 
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