Is there a difference in the quality of the bluetooth in the after-market head units, such as Pioneer, Kenwood, Sony, etc.?

Is there any way to tell from the specs?

I was just wondering if the bluetooth technology was the same across all after-market head units and whether one would be better at streaming than the other.

 

Units will either have Bluetooth for telephone use, or Bluetooth for music streaming (A2DP). AFAIK there aren't any different streaming protocols in use by the manufacturers. That's a shame because there is a lossless audio protocol that was released a few years ago, but no one has integrated it for car use.

 

Having trouble understanding previous post. It's one or the other? Most of the people seem to be able to do both with their units.

 

Sorry - let me clarify.

There is a bluetooth standard for phone transmission. Every deck which lists "Bluetooth" will have this.

There is a separate Bluetooth standard for music streaming called A2DP. Some decks include this, others don't.

So it's important to ensure that when you're looking at a deck which lists "Bluetooth", you check for both phone integration and music streaming if you want both.

For instance - the stock GM radios offer Bluetooth, but it's phone integration only.

 

I got it. Tx. In fact, I believe that is one complaint of some of the early GM bluetooth installs on some of the Vettes.

The only reason I ask this question is because when I read review on Crutchfield or Sonic, they say something like "Bluetooth was fantastic" or "Bluetooth sucked." Wasn't sure if they were talking about mic placement, quality of the phone calls, quality of the music or video stream, etc.

Since I am looking to buy a Non-Nav 2-din head unit for my son with a budget of about $350, the iPhone integration and Bluetooth integration is very important. I was looking at the Sony XAV-62, which got horrible reviews for iPhone functionality, but if he is streaming through Bluetooth, what does it matter? I looked at this unit side by side with a similarly-priced Pioneer and Kenwood (2400BT and DDX 418 or 419) units and believe it or not, the Sony unit sounded better. Also, the Sony had a signficantly higher screen resolution, which gave you clearer graphics, although you are limited on the graphics Sony will display. On the other hand, people raved about the Kenwood and Pioneer's iPhone integration, which apparently gives you a lot better control over playlists, etc., than the Sony.

However, most of the audio guys on here really prefer the Kenwoods and Pioneers and you gotta figure they know a lot about it.

 

I have two late model Pioneer units. One in the Vette and one in the truck. BT phone performance is superior. Have not tried BT audio streaming.

 

Also keep in mind the device transmitting the bluetooth signal. For some reason, some devices will sync better than others.