BRZ Navigation Audio Run Through
 

Went to the dealership to check out what the Nav/Audio System would be like in the BRZ. I focused more on audio portion since I prefer navigating using my phone rather than a typical satnav.




Overall the system works pretty well, is generally responsive, has good iPod integration, and features some more advanced settings like time correction and 7-band EQ. The speakers sound good too, but I suspect the Impreza has more deadening than the BRZ will. Navigation worked well enough.

Some things I did not like was
-the low resolution of the display,
-Couldn't return to the current playlist to select a different song.
-To select a song at the end of a playlist, you had scroll down through the list using the down arrow on the vertical slider. It's a fairly small button to keep pressing and you couldn't press up to jump to the end. It goes down 5 songs at a time.
-Doesn't seem like you can touch drag to move through a playlist.

I apologize in advance for the shakiness of the video. Despite my username I did not have a tripod in my pocket, hah

Thanks for the post! :thanks:

You just need to paste the YouTube link without anything after the video id

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6hAn6Ru590"]Subaru Impreza Navigation iPod Test.mp4 - YouTube[/ame]

so... does it not play videos?

Now we know where you live!!!!

Muahahahahahha

Thanks for this video. Now I know for certain I won't be getting this system :-)

The manual said it can but I did not have any Divx media on hand. With the low resolution, low contrast screen I do not have high hopes for video

lol... Zelda song while looking up directions is pretty epic.

which dealership was this at?

God that's what I hated about my last touchscreen headunit. Having to constantly tap the down arrow 5 songs at a time and not being able to slide/scroll with your finger. Just look at what apple did with their touchscreen ipod/iphone... Can you control the songs being played with the iPod if you wanted? It really would of been something special if you could use the screen as an external monitor for the ipod to play videos and such.

Warning, this turned into a rant in the middle of writing this:

It's my belief that the good programmers do the obvious and go to companies that develop computer software. So head unit interfaces tend to get designed by engineers and programmers that didn't make the cut. It's the only explanation I can come up with why head units are so unintuitive and user-unfriendly. Especially these days with hardware that's really cheap and really powerful.

Aha and Bespoke are Licensed Technologies! They aren't even all that spectacular, yet Car Audio companies need to go out of house to get something that's only a marginal improvement. It boggles my mind that companies like Pioneer and Alpine and Clarion don't think the interface between their product and their customer is important enough to develop.

Hell, the Clarion unit in my STI requires me to hold a button in for THREE SECONDS just to read the next chunk of a track title. And I don't have an option to make it auto scroll. What person thought it was a good idea for the driver to hold a button down for three seconds while driving just to read a few more characters??

And I still can't figure out why these companies aren't just throwing Android on the head units. Seems like a no-brainer to me. Honestly, the phones in people's pockets make most automotive head units look down right pitiful.

Think about it. Take your favorite head unit and imagine it's controls and interface as the audio app on your smartphone or iPod. Tell me you wouldn't immediately go searching for a better audio app.

I have always been disappointed by the lack of intuitive programming in car head units, and my disappointment only grows as technology increases but the car audio companies keep their heads in the sand.

My ideal head unit?

Full size Double-Din touch screen with Android that uses bluetooth, wifi, and/or a custom app to connect wirelessly with my phone and use it's on-board songs and internet connection. Give me google Maps and Pandora in my car. Literally make the screen in my car into another screen for my phone that happens to have an amp, speakers, and FM antenna connected to it. It shouldn't be difficult.

Sorry, this kind of got away from me.

Don't be sorry, you're spot on. The UI design of car audio systems is beyond retarded measured against today's possibilities. I can't wait for Apple or any of the Android tablet builders to release a 7" with a matching double din docking. Massive new business, waiting to be picked up.

Thanks for sharing this.

For some reason I thought this would have some kind of streaming audio like Pandora or Iheartradio.

Does anyone know if its easy enough for a vendor to feed a video input from an obd2 scan gauge onto the screen? Something like the Nissan GTR but not as fancy.

I was surprised the nav was so laggy but playing Zelda was awesome.

Thanks for sharing.

I have to say.. after watching your walk-through.. I'm pretty dissapointed about the functionality of the touch-screen. It had a terrible time registering your touches. It was very slow!

What a bummer!

Maybe I can take it out and sell it to someone else and get a pioneer unit that actually works

Agreed on all accounts. Android has been barred from cars for far too long.

I am pretty disappointed by this video. Kinda looked like a turd. Very similar to my coworker's new Kia Optima navi which definitely didn't seem terribly great. His old accord's navi had a pretty decent ui it seemed once you learned it, it was quick to use.

We need something like this: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/15/a...ands-on-video/ (Skip to 1:10 for the video, because a touch screen display in your rear view is silly) The Clarion Mirage is said to be released this year as what I think will be the first production android head unit.

Gotta admit I don't like playing for in car navi knowing I am probably going to spring for the first decent in dash android unit. If only the FR-S had more preferable headlights.

Gillman Subaru Southwest. I sat in an Impreza limited while filming this.

The iPhone did it's standard "Accessory Connected" and wouldn't let me control music through the iPod. If I wanted to use the iPhone music app I would connect it to the aux jack via 3.5mm cable, but I'd lose seeing song details/album art on screen.

I agree; I think I'm going to redo the audio in the car right when I get it, warranty be damned.

All: Glad I could contribute, didn't know Zelda would be such a hit

You should be able to stream to it via Bluetooth from an iPhone or later iTouch. Then you should be able to control from the iPod/iPhone itself. That's what I plan to do. I'll have a dock but only for charging. I don't want to even have to take my phone out of my pocket.

Too much mainstream music (whack, imo) :thumbdown:
Zelda orchestra theme music (win):thumbsup:

You think playing through bluetooth would diminish the sound quality at all? I feel like hard wiring through the 3.5 jack or USB would provide the optimal quality sound and allow you to not have to worry about lapse in connection where the music cuts in and out.

If you're an audiophile you might notice the difference, but I stream though Bluetooth all the time and think it works just fine. It's not like using the phone though Bluetooth. The EDR profile used for streaming music provides higher data rate and it's a two way connection so it shouldn't cut in and out. The only time I have a problem with cutting in and out is using turn by turn navigation from the phone. That that's probably because it's a Parrot after market system that works inline between the head unit and the speakers.

Bluetooth is probably better than a the headphone jack since the DAC in the car is likely better than the one in your phone. Unless there is some compression involved in bluetooth. Personally I plan to get a right angle usb cable and just keep my decommissioned iPhone dual locked on the underside of that cubby hole.

Should be pretty discreet. It's that or try to do an internal wiring scheme to completely hide the fact there might be a device wired up.

I used to have an old 2nd gen iPod. My friends would sometimes comment they thought it was funny I hid it when I parked as if I was worried about someone stealing it. They seemed to completely forget about the whole replacing your window thing.

There is. SQ wise Bluetooth is the worst option.

That may be objectively true, but I doubt many of us could tell the difference.

Especially given road/engine noise.

I can't hear any artifacts on my wife's bluetooth stream and personally I think it sounds great.

More to the OP, the Nav looks really slow and clunky. It's a good thing I don't mind the FRS's stereo looks, because all I want is bluetooth and a decent sounding system.

I hope thats your 12 year old daughters Ipod.
Sorry for hatin', but come on!

Who makes the navigation unit for Subaru? Is it still Fujitsu?

I'm pretty sure the unit in the BRZ is a Pioneer.

After watching the video it does look like Pioneer like menus. Interesting. I sure hope the lag isn't as bad is it makes out in the video.

The 2013 Genesis Coupe I test drove has a WAY better touchscreen. It was easy to use, responsive and the sound quality is significantly improved over the 2012 model.

If you read my inadvertent rant, you'll know I don't expect much from head units. For me, once I get the system set up in an acceptable way, my interaction with the head unit is usually reduced to just the volume control and track skip. :P

I can pretty much guarantee you the software for these was written by programmers working in India or China for .10/hour. The profit margins on consumer electronic hardware is not as great as you might think so they will put the bare minimum level of software functionality in that they can get away with. All those things you ask for are available, you just have to pay more for them.

Car audio has a MASSIVE markup compared to other electronics. When I was younger I worked at Best Buy when the employee discount was still 5% above cost. All of the car audio stuff was nearly half off with the discount.

These companies could do better, but they don't.

Its not just the mark-up, its also the volume that has to be considered. Car audio (particularly individual models) doesn't sell in near the number of other tech mentioned.

Also, its not the programmers that designed all the interfaces everyone loves, that was the human factors folks. The programmers just implement what they are given in those cases. HF requires a LOT of investment to get right. Way outside what a car audio system probably justifies.

That's Best Buy's profit, not the electronics makers. And even with those insane markups Worst Buy is still going under. Smart phones are the one exception right now, even HDTVs which used to be a cash cow has completely crashed. To make it worse new car profits are weak right now too, especially with the Yen being strong vs the dollar, so they are definitely pinching pennies wherever possible. Just look at the Navs they offer in Japan, there's no Pioneer bargain bin units over there.

I don't think they do any HF research at all, to be honest.

As far as volume goes, these companies often have OEM contracts, so they can move plenty of units.

Yes, that's their profits, but if the unit retails for X and BBY is paying 1/2X, then the manufacturer has to be making plenty on each unit. Otherwise, they'd sell at a higher cost and BBY would have less Margin. As you've said, other electronics have a very poor margin due to manufacturer costs vs market price.

All of you discussing Bluetooth audio should review the thread I posted today:
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5871

APT-X is high-definition lossless bluetooth audio codec that is being adopted by all the new Android phones and has been in the marketplace for two years. For those of you not familiar with APT-X, it utilizes the same A2DP protocol used for bluetooth communication but features a lossless audio codec called APT-X instead of the piece of shit SBC codec (Sub-band Codec). The difference between lossless audio and heavily compressed SBC is definitely noticeable. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apt-X

Note, Bluetooth audio is pretty mature now, I have multiple devices (Some with APT-X) some without and none loose audio connection but the APT-X ones definitely sound better as long as you use FLAC. I love Android.

The standard bluetooth audio used in 100% of car audio utilizes the SBC codec which is lossy and poorly designed. Having a APT-X compatable bluetooth bridge will give you better quality audio but the only way to get that is to buy an Aux to Bluetooth (APT-X) adapter which is linked in the thread above. I'll probably buy it once I get a Galaxy S III.

Regarding the headphone jack, AUX is a very mixed bag. A Galaxy S with Voodoo sound will blow pretty much any car stereo DAC out of the water because it utilizes the Wolfson WM1811. Widely considered the best DAC on the market.

Iphones/Ipods also provide solid audio quality but don't match the original Galaxy S. The Yamaha DAC in my Galaxy S II is a total piece of shit compared to my old S1 or Iphone/Ipod Classic 2G.

Here's my solution.. http://www.lcdgps.com/7-inch-motoriz...tor-amfm-radio

Get a touch screen monitor, put a mini pc in the glove box, attach your phone and 500g HD to the PC and call it a day.