[ctemkin]

My new 2018 M240i does not have an AUX input (if it does, I could not find it, and the idrive list of choices does not include a reference to AUX). I love the car anyway. I am, however, interested in connecting a portable player.

I have an old classic ipod--of course it is old, they don't make them anymore--and hooked it up to the USB input. The car recognized it, and the BMW interface lets me choose music through the idrive. Also, it seems to me that the sound quality is a little better than what I got trying out the CD player or Sirius XM. I am guessing it may be using the ipod's DAC. All this is pretty hard to judge, because the HK system in the car seems mediocre. I have ordered the Bavsound stage 1 speakers and the Bimmertech/Bavsound amp to replace the HK, but I still have to deal with having a decent music source.

I think that the ipod may be nearing the end of its useful life. Does anyone have experience with using the USB input with other portable devices?

[scottyn]

I just use a USB flash drive...cheap and works great. Also, the AUX port in my car is inside the center console right next to the USB port. I hadn't heard of that feature being removed, but I wouldn't know where else to look.

[AndyX5d]

The audio system has a built in hard drive / media server. All you need to do is put all your music on a USB stick and put it in the input in the console and then you can down load all the music into the system. Way more convenient than having to store a separate player.

You can also stream from a phone via the USB or bluetooth.

[cxp213]

+1 on using a USB flash drive. Much easier to transfer music files, too, when necessary. I like the really tiny ones from Sandisk or Samsung to minimize protrusion in the center console where USB port is.

[JohnnyCanuck]

Originally Posted by AndyX5d

The audio system has a built in hard drive / media server. All you need to do is put all your music on a USB stick and put it in the input in the console and then you can down load all the music into the system. Way more convenient than having to store a separate player.

You can also stream from a phone via the USB or bluetooth.

Be aware that the internal HDD transcodes your music files down to 256kbps. Better off just to play off the USB stick.

[ctemkin]

Thanks for the responses.

The center console has only the USB connection. I looked about 100 times.

[omera60]

The new BMW’s like the 4 Series LCI or the new 5 series also don’t have the AUX port. Remember, also on the 4 LCI CD player is now an option. Not many people use these any more so BMW started to remove them as cost cutting measures. If you want it, you’r gonna have to pay for it. USB is much more convenient for the general public as it charges and integrates your phone to the car from just 1 socket at the same time.

[Viffermike]

Originally Posted by omera60

The new BMW’s like the 4 Series LCI or the new 5 series also don’t have the AUX port. Remember, also on the 4 LCI CD player is now an option. Not many people use these any more so BMW started to remove them as cost cutting measures. If you want it, you’r gonna have to pay for it. USB is much more convenient for the general public as it charges and integrates your phone to the car from just 1 socket at the same time.

It's not cost-cutting: it's much more involved than that.

The simple explanation: If phones are ditching the headphone jack (which, for some, is also an output jack) and dedicated DMPs are being used less and less, why should a car have an analog Aux In anymore?

The (slightly) more involved explanation: Sources that plug into an Aux In jack will, almost invariably, reveal how bad an OEM sound system actually is. Remember this golden rule: Your system will only sound as good as the programming you feed it. If someone cares about high-quality programming, they will use a DMP with high-res files at least part of the time, even over a CD player. Remove that option by removing the Aux In jack, and that person will have to go to Plan B -- which the manufacturer is loathe to supply since everything mass marketed about most OEM sound systems is based around digital files 256Kbps and below. Satellite radio, HD radio, Internet radio, on-board HDDs, smartphones, streaming services, iTunes/Amazon Music, etc. all default to bitrates below this threshold -- and OEM systems are designed to make that crap sound as good as possible.

One exception (thankfully) is Porsche, which included two SD card slots in its OEM sound systems (beginning with the 2017 model year) that can handle almost all types of high-resolution files, including Tidal and DSD. Thing is, your 2018 BMW 2 Series can handle many popular high-resolution file types, too -- on a thumb drive. Does BMW want to advertise that? Nope. Why? Because it will sound like crap because the OEM systems are crap.

[ctemkin]

Viffermike,

Sorry for newbie-type questions, but I don't have a lot of experience with music files. In my home system I listen to CDs and SACDs.

For my ipod classic I ripped files in Apple lossless. My 240i can play the material on the ipod (although the idrive's list of the material does not include by album); I don't know whether the car is using the ipod's dac or is using the ipod's files and the car's own dac.

What kinds of music files can the car handle? If I copied the iTunes library from my laptop to a USB drive, could the car play that?

What do you recommend as a source?

Any information would be appreciated.

[Viffermike]

Originally Posted by ctemkin

Viffermike,

Sorry for newbie-type questions, but I don't have a lot of experience with music files. In my home system I listen to CDs and SACDs.

For my ipod classic I ripped files in Apple lossless. My 240i can play the material on the ipod (although the idrive's list of the material does not include by album); I don't know whether the car is using the ipod's dac or is using the ipod's files and the car's own dac.

What kinds of music files can the car handle? If I copied the iTunes library from my laptop to a USB drive, could the car play that?

What do you recommend as a source?

Any information would be appreciated.

No worries! Happy to help.

First: Which Apple lossless format did you use, ALAC or AIFF? The 2 Series can read AIFF files; not sure about ALAC.

Basically, if you are feeding the music digitally via a USB connection, the car's DAC is being used -- and the car's DAC is definitely not as good as an iPod's (it's likely software-based) and is handcuffed by the built-in digital signal processing (DSP) of the OEM system. USB is an all-digital serial bus -- it cannot transmit analog signals.

If you do not have an Aux In on your car, the only way to upgrade the quality of the programming going into it is to either add an analog input (probably possible) or add an aftermarket DSP or amp/DSP unit with an Aux In feature. (Or: use the CD player ... ;-/ )

Also: I would strongly recommend that you retire the iPod Classic and upgrade to something with a Lightning connection. All iPods with the old 30-pin connector are now not supported by Apple, and that usually means software for iPods in second-party devices (i.e., iDrive) will no longer support those iPods, too. I would recommend an iPod Touch, 5th Gen or newer.

Hope this helps!

[ctemkin]

Viffermike,

Your reply helped me to understand the situation better, but it still seems challenging.

I don't think that the files are AIFF, because in the listing of options for ripping CDs, itunes lists Apple lossless and AIFF separately.

I have already ordered and within a week should have installed Bavsound speakers and the Bavsound/Bimmertech amp. I am hoping that this will provide a significant improvement in the sound. Unfortunately, the amp does not have an AUX input.

I tried using the CD player, but I thought that it sounded terrible. Perhaps with the new speakers and amp it will be better. My quick impression, based upon not much listening, was that the sound from my old ipod and the USB input was better. I agree that this should not be the case; perhaps the particular CD player in the car is just a POS. Anyway, I think it would be burdensome to carry around a bunch of CDs, and it is distracting to load and play them, so I am hoping that I find a better option.

Unless I can figure out an alternative, I appear to be left with using the USB port as the input, which is certainly not optimal, but perhaps will be acceptable. I am going to have to explore what I can achieve with a thumb drive, a new ipod, or whatever. I hope this works.

[BEM-S4]

Originally Posted by ctemkin

Unless I can figure out an alternative, I appear to be left with using the USB port as the input, which is certainly not optimal, but perhaps will be acceptable. I am going to have to explore what I can achieve with a thumb drive, a new ipod, or whatever. I hope this works.

I have Bavsound Speakers and Ghost Subs in both my HK 235 and dad's HiFi 328. Those systems stock are roughly equivalent. The DMP I run in my 235 via Aux-in is best but the USB thumb drive in his car still sounds pretty damn good.

Viffermike can confirm but I don't THINK you will have any benefit using an iPhone or iPod through USB versus just going with a thumb drive. The D>A conversion will still be done by the car. The thumb drive is nice because it's cheap, you can add album art, control through car, etc. Dad has the USB since it's much easier for him to use than another device, even though he has aux-in we made that compromise to make his life easier.

[ctemkin]

BEM-S4,

Thanks to you as well.

I will certainly try the USB route.

I tried the CD player again with another CD, and this time the results were OK, so I don't know what happened before. For convenience and to avoid distractions, I would still prefer to be able to use the USB.

[BEM-S4]

Originally Posted by ctemkin

BEM-S4,

Thanks to you as well.

I will certainly try the USB route.

I tried the CD player again with another CD, and this time the results were OK, so I don't know what happened before. For convenience and to avoid distractions, I would still prefer to be able to use the USB.

Do some searching but there's a way to set up the folder structure to fall nicely into playlists. I never investigated since it didn't concern me. Otherwise if you want to go with the fewest distractions and easiest to use solution that still provides decent audio quality lossless on USB is tough to beat.

[Viffermike]

Originally Posted by BEM-S4

Viffermike can confirm but I don't THINK you will have any benefit using an iPhone or iPod through USB versus just going with a thumb drive. The D>A conversion will still be done by the car. The thumb drive is nice because it's cheap, you can add album art, control through car, etc. Dad has the USB since it's much easier for him to use than another device, even though he has aux-in we made that compromise to make his life easier.

ctemkin If you feed the car a digital signal (i.e., anything through USB), the car's DAC will be used. There's no way to override this, unfortunately, without grafting some sort of analog input into the system.

That said, the car will play most widely used hi-res file types, including those stored on an iPod or iPhone -- or on an Android device, though you won't have the level of control through iDrive that you would with an Apple device.

That's the benefit of using an Apple device through USB: iDrive control. (Sonically, there is no benefit.) The disadvantage of using an Apple device: iTunes does not play FLAC files, which is generally the best widely used hi-res format today. Sticking with AIFF or ALAC files on iTunes should work fine, though -- and all three (and a few others) will work via a thumb drive.

At that stage, your best bet to improve the sound is to replace the speakers, then add an amplifier. One thing at a time, though, right?

[ctemkin]

An interim update.

Monday I was scheduled to have all the speakers (except the subwoofers) swapped for Bavsound speakers and also to have the OEM amp replaced by a Bavsound/Bimmertech amp. The place I took the car to, Aktiv Automotive in Gaithersburg, started by switching the amp, but then discovered that Bavsound had sent them the wrong size speakers (the speakers themselves were correct, but the brackets were the wrong size). We expect the correct speakers to arrive today.

Having been driving around for several days with just the new amp, I have been impressed at how much better the sound quality is. This was without any particular tuning of the DSP or any other adjustments, since the plan was to install new speakers. With the OEM amp, music was recognizable, but you could not hear the timbres of different instruments and in fact all instruments tended to be mushed together. Bass was particularly indistinct. Overall, I seemed to be focusing less on the music and more on how crappy it sounded. Now, however, the system has much more resolution, and it is pleasant to listen to it. I am still really looking forward to the new speakers, but at least the sound is acceptable.

Aktiv has been working with Nelson at Bimmertech to figure out how to add an AUX input into the system. They may be able to wire one into where the USB jack is, in effect duplicating what the BMWs had before BMW decided to get rid of the AUX input. I assume that there may also have to be some coding-type change so that iDrive recognizes the input.

I should also point out that Aktiv has been great so far.

[BEM-S4]

Originally Posted by ctemkin

Aktiv has been working with Nelson at Bimmertech to figure out how to add an AUX input into the system. They may be able to wire one into where the USB jack is, in effect duplicating what the BMWs had before BMW decided to get rid of the AUX input. I assume that there may also have to be some coding-type change so that iDrive recognizes the input.

I believe all you really need to sort out his how to switch, at the amp, from car to aux in. In essence by going with aux-in you'd be bypassing the car system entirely. Your two inputs to the amp would essentially be "car" and "aux" then car would cover literally everything beyond the DMP you plug into Aux.

[Viffermike]

Originally Posted by BEM-S4

I believe all you really need to sort out his how to switch, at the amp, from car to aux in. In essence by going with aux-in you'd be bypassing the car system entirely. Your two inputs to the amp would essentially be "car" and "aux" then car would cover literally everything beyond the DMP you plug into Aux.

ctemkin : See Post #6 in this thread. The Bimmertech amp already has an Aux In for both an analog and a digital input!

What you need to figure out now is, as BEM-S4 notes, how to switch from iDrive to whatever is plugged into the Aux In at the amp.

Your Bimmertech amp is actually manufactured by Match, a German company owned by Audiotec-Fischer. (Model name: PP82DSP). This is the remote controller for the PP series (and every other Audiotec-Fischer amp with DSP); it's called the Director. It is not cheap: $440.

[BEM-S4]

What would be REALLY nice (granted no idea how to make this work) would be if amp defaulted to car but went aux in when it detected a signal coming. My subwoofer amp at home, for instance, has a smart on/off so it turns itself on when my home theater receiver wakes it up and tells it to get busy.

[ctemkin]

BEM-S4,

That may be the solution. I am pretty sure, though, that I was informed at one point that the amp does not have an auxiliary input (I freely admit that I may have that totally wrong). If it does have the input, then, as you point out, switching would be an issue, especially in getting access to the switch from the passenger compartment. Also, I would not want to lose the present ability of the car's navigation system to mute the music and give me voice directions, and I so I would not want the switch to have the effect of bypassing that input.

I have zero expertise on setting up car audio. I am posting just because I think that any information I discover during the process of trying to get this taken care of may be useful to the owners of other new BMWs that have been improved by the removal of the AUX input.

[BEM-S4]

Originally Posted by ctemkin

Also, I would not want to lose the present ability of the car's navigation system to mute the music and give me voice directions, and I so I would not want the switch to have the effect of bypassing that input.

Ah - and there is the wrinkle. Figure out if head unit itself is different than previous version. If it is the same, you might be able to add aux in armrest by swapping out the USB only connector and running a cable. Otherwise what you're attempting to do is not going to work. You'll have to default to USB input for music and just live with it to preserve that functionality.

[Viffermike]

Originally Posted by BEM-S4

Ah - and there is the wrinkle. Figure out if head unit itself is different than previous version. If it is the same, you might be able to add aux in armrest by swapping out the USB only connector and running a cable. Otherwise what you're attempting to do is not going to work. You'll have to default to USB input for music and just live with it to preserve that functionality.

ctemkin
Good lord. This is why I detest Bimmertech:

So the original Bimmertech amp was the Match PP82DSP, which has both analog and digital inputs at the amp. This is plainly visible on this image of the amp here (link is to Bavsound's website, which sells the amp kit).

However, it appears now that Bimmertech is now using the PP86DSP, which only has a digital input. Here's an equivalent image of that model. (link is from Bimmertech's website).

The kicker is that the only image that Bimmertech has switched out on its product page is the one I linked to. All other images are of the PP82DSP. This is plainly to represent the deficiency of the new model being used, which is the loss of the analog input (what you gain: six assignable channel inputs instead of just two: hence the '82' vs the '86' in the model name).

Bimmertech has a history of misrepresenting its products. Sorry to see it still hasn't learned its lesson.

OP, I'd check to see which model of Bimmertech amp you have installed: PP82DSP or PP86DSP.