Good OEM Bluetooth integration kit?

[bawachhe]

Ok.

Without going into too much detail, there's a small epidemic going on between me and bluetooth integration kits for my car's "factory" (Scion T1808) stereo.

I have a T1808 (still fixing a thing or two, but focus is on the bluetooth here). I also have a Scosche BlueFusion BFTAK, which is a bluetooth kit that completely integrates into the HU/steering wheel controls.. it's all quite nice, with a couple exceptions:
-the streaming/music/audio quality (calls aside) is annoyingly just a little on the side of terrible. My music gets bitcrushed before it goes to the HU (and I tested the T1808 with a CD to make sure that was good, and I tested my phone in a friend's Kia Forte for sound quality, and that also was good). The low end of the sound spectrum sounds fine, but the high end gets staticky and generally sounds bad
-this morning, as I was attempting to figure out how to fix it, the bluefusion basically reset itself at 3 second intervals, which made it very annoying and difficult to connect to.

I noticed that the BFTAK shows up on my laptop as a bluetooth wireless in-ear headset, which, if it's sending that kind of digital signature, makes the crappy streaming quality understandable..

So my question is this: does anyone have a good alternate solution for completely integrated bluetooth kit that has high streaming audio quality? I don't want to buy another stereo (the T1808 is nice, and looks OEM), and I'd like to be able to use steering wheel controls.

I've looked around a bit and hear semi-good things about Rostra and GROM, but I think only the GROM is fully integrated (i.e. steering wheel controls)?
I'm still looking around myself, but I'd like to hear others' feedback on these or other units, or suggestions for other units.

 

[bawachhe]

Alright, I've heard good ish things about GROM, so I'm going with GROM.

I didn't skimp to a $25 unit this time (cough Scosche BLUEFUSION BFTAK), but ended up paying $215 through the nose, but straight to GROM themselves, for this:

GROM-USB2P-TOY + bluetooth dongle/mic add-on.

Somebody get this before? I'd like to hear what you think about it if you did, so I can possibly know whether it's worth it or worth the return before I try it myself.

Or, if anyone cares, I'll post results here.

 

[88mustanggt]

all I can say is I have one in my Lexus but without Bluetooth but overall I like it. it does have a few quirks every once in a while but sound quality is good threw the mark levinson system

 

[Buckles]

You could upgrade to the T1819 and get the factory bluetooth kit. Ive been running that setup in mine for a while without any problems. Connects to my iphone and does everything from streaming music to answering calls.

 

[bawachhe]

88mustanggt: what sort of quirks?.. I'm slightly concerned.

Buckles: seems like a waste given that I've already gotten the T1808 and got it installed. Plus I updated the LEDs in it to white instead of that wonky tangerine color. Although I have to fix that because I need to use smaller LEDs.. Although if I hadn't already bought and setup the GROM, it might have still been worth it as I bet the T1819 is cheaper. Haha.
My last gripe about getting a T1819 is that I think they're pretty ugly, and at any rate do not look even slightly like they fit in the 4runner.. that's all my very subjective opinion though so don't mind me if yours differs.

Thanks for your input though, for reals. It's the first input I've had so far in this entire bluetooth kit project and it's refreshing.

Anyway: I got it and installed it yesterday and so far it works without a hitch, epic sound quality to my audiophile ears.

End result for the moment: don't buy a BLUEFUSION from Scosche if you want very HQ sound, but barring that it was pretty good for $25. Otherwise, GROM-USB2P with Bluetooth addon is the way to go.

 

[bawachhe]

Finale!

Looks like GROM is the way to go. High-quality audio and evidently hit/miss microphones, but also amazing support which sends new microphones for free (they better after the initial expense). The second microphone I received with the RMA picks up normally as you might expect, rather than weak like the first one.

So, my final recommendations for bluetooth kits that integrate with OEM stereos including the steeringwheel buttons: if you just want bluetooth and some nice music functionality to boot, I still recommend the Scosche Bluefusion BFTAK (which is the plug-n-play toyota-specific model), since you can find it new online in a few places for less than $70. Or, if you're an audiophile like me and can't stand the bitcrushing/bitrate downscaling that the BFTAK does, then get a GROM (and the bluetooth attachment, which is separate).

I hope this benefits someone someday :]

 

[dgwood12]

How is the quality compared to the aux jack?

 

[dgwood12]

Finale!

Looks like GROM is the way to go. High-quality audio and evidently hit/miss microphones, but also amazing support which sends new microphones for free (they better after the initial expense). The second microphone I received with the RMA picks up normally as you might expect, rather than weak like the first one.

So, my final recommendations for bluetooth kits that integrate with OEM stereos including the steeringwheel buttons: if you just want bluetooth and some nice music functionality to boot, I still recommend the Scosche Bluefusion BFTAK (which is the plug-n-play toyota-specific model), since you can find it new online in a few places for less than $70. Or, if you're an audiophile like me and can't stand the bitcrushing/bitrate downscaling that the BFTAK does, then get a GROM (and the bluetooth attachment, which is separate).

I hope this benefits someone someday :]

Is the audio comparable to the aux jack or a cd?

 

[88mustanggt]

my quarks were 2 audio sources playing at the same time like ipod and radio the fix is to just cycle threw the sources. sometimes needs power cycled to work right.

sound quality threw ipod is better than aux and just as good as cd.

 

[dgwood12]

my quarks were 2 audio sources playing at the same time like ipod and radio the fix is to just cycle threw the sources. sometimes needs power cycled to work right.

sound quality threw ipod is better than aux and just as good as cd.

Sorry, I should have clarified...how is the bluetooth audio quality compared to aux jack or cd. Do you have this addon?

 

[bawachhe]

Sorry, I should have clarified...how is the bluetooth audio quality compared to aux jack or cd. Do you have this addon?

I sent you a message, but to repeat here for people's general benefit, yeah the audio quality is like an aux jack. I'd hesitate on CD quality, because we all know that's absurdly high (like 14.1 mbps or ~14100 kbps compared to mp3's high standard of 320 kbps). I think the limitation is actually the music rather than the bluetooth kit, because I feel like the only reason an iPod would sound better due to the usb plug is because its songs are at a much higher bitrate than 320. And I think that bluetooth might (just shooting in the dark here) achieve the same if you stored your songs at such a bitrate. Anyway I know that it allows for android and ipod/iphone connectivity via usb, as well as usb flash drives or hard drives (so long as they can withstand the car bumps), which transmit, as 88mustanggt said/implied, at a very high quality; but looking at the way the GROM is set up (bluetooth and mic wire comes separately, mic wire connects directly to bluetooth antenna and then both to GROM, rather than separate plugs on the GROM unit for both), I think that only bluetooth connections will get you phone audio functionality in general.

And remember, make sure your stereo can do SAT/XM modes, or you'll be sitting there like me with your dash disassembled and the kit plugged into the stereo wondering how to get to the bluetooth kit before you call fujitsu (makers of non-JBL factory HUs) and they tell you that model doesn't have that functionality, even though it has the plug for it on the back...lame.

Also 88mustanggt, I haven't had issues with two modes playing at once, how strange. Maybe it's due to some atmospheric conditions or interesting parts about your setup? I live in SoCal, so the weather here goes down to an absolutely frigid 45 F and up to a blistering 100 F (sarcasm, I know it's much colder/hotter in other states ). And my Scion T1808 headunit has not had any particular issues with the kit aside from being a little odd about displaying text ONLY for the GROM audio mode (not sure whether that's the T1808, GROM, or my phone causing that problem).