Does anyone have any experience comparing the sound quality between streaming to the stereo using bluetooth vs. using the dedicated ipod jack in the glovebox, or even the AUX jack. I have been using the BT and it sounds pretty good, but was wondering if the $299 Toyota wants for its dedicated ipod adapter would provide any significant improvement other than ipod control through the steering wheel/face unit.
Thanks,
-Getz

I can tell you there is a difference. I can hear the difference in higher frequencies especially. I think the BT has some noise interference in it. Best thing I can tell you is to test this yourself. Go to a dealer and test it in a vehicle that has one.

The USB port is basically that $300 ipod adapter. Don't waste your money. I have my doubts it would even work anyway.

I use the bluetooth so I don't have to plug anything in and I like controlling my iphone that way. The sound quality is surely better through the USB port*, but the interface isn't quite as nice. I've used my Aux like 2x ever and that is because we wanted to listen to music on my wife's ipod while my iphone was charging in the USB port. I don't really notice much difference between the USB and bluetooth, though.

Nashman - what phone do you have? I have the iphone 4 and the sound quality is pretty damn good over the bluetooth.

* I don't know if this is true anymore, but the sound through the dock connector is equalized differently than the headphone jack. There was a very clear difference between my old 4th gen when plugged through the headphone jack versus using my belkin car kit w/ the pre-amp and dock connector.

This is still true and will probably always be true. The reason is very simple (actually when I found out it was kind of a "yeah should have thought of that moment")

The headphone jack uses the internal amp as it normally would be connected to head-phones. That amp is very weak.

When you use the jack at the bottom of the ipod then it uses the amp of the radio which is much stronger than the internal amp of the ipod

I use the bluetooth with my iphone and think it sounds great, shuffle all my songs and go. Whats even nicer is no wires haning around. I use the AUX jack to play my sons movies from the dvd headrests and that cranks too.

Thanks for the replies. I really like streaming Pandora, but I don't know if I can justify close to 300 bucks for a little bit better sound qualtiy. That being said it may continue to nag the back of my mind, and I will probably end up purchasing the stupid device.
-Getz

It won't improve the quality at all. It will sound exactly the same as if you used a normal ipod USB cable. In fact, I doubt it is even compatible with your radio. I would imagine that only works w/ the base non-ipod, non-bluetooth streaming stereos. Basically, it is an ipod integration option for those that don't spring for the nicer radio.

I have a iphone 3g...It could be the phone...I guess I should have been more specific on that. I haven't tested other devices yet and I should not draw hard conclusions on my one device. So let me restate my conclusion. I was using an iPhone 3g white 16G streaming my ipod library and also Pandora and I found that the quality was better than FM and lower than CD. I can't be more specific than that without more tests.

can someone give me some pointer here on connecting my Iphone so I could use the bit streaming I have tried but no luck I dont have the new Iphone4 I have the last model.
Thanks Guys

I have the upgraded JBL/Nav package in my limited, but per the manual you need that $300 cable to run your ipod/MP3 player through the JBL system (what a racket). I hear the point on using the JBL amp to run the music through the ipod rather than the tiny built in ipod amp, which could make a huge difference. Does anyone know if the bluetooth stream runs through the JBL amp?
-Getz

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIDB__E1MQs

That is for the SR5 w/ the upgraded stereo and my iphone 4. The key is to select the off-hook switch, set it up as a phone first, and when asked to use the internal audio player, say yes.

If you've got the JBL/Nav then you don't need a $300 cable. You can either attach it through the USB in the glove compartment or pair it with the bluetooth in the headunit. All of these methods are laid out in the manual but there are several threads here about the bluetooth also.

I have the Limited with the JBL Nav system

Per the dealership, even with the upgraded system, you need the accessory adapter shown below. Are you using the connector that came with the device?



-Getz

Or plug it into the USB port. Why spend $300 on a cable you don't need?