4x4 Shop Canada's 10.25" Android Head Unit

[pearlpower]

Originally Posted by NYBulldog

Thanks for the information. Looks like I need that DAC. I am about to buy this same kit for an X1. I am wondering you think 8.1 is the right choice over the 9.0 and if you would have waited for the newer Qualcomm version. I just want a nice screen that has CarPlay and could be confused as stock. Also since my car came with a non-Nav regular radio I wonder if I could use an OEM iDrive controller instead of the one they provide. Could you also post some pictures of your screen without any protector on it? You chose the Anti-Glare monitor?

I have an anti-glare screen protector - Avin version, which I place on my AliBaba 8.1 unit. It works fine, nothing to notice with a photo. I can say the iDrive controller only works for a few features on the screen, not everything. And it does have a bit of lag at times. I look forward to their next upgraded unit as the jump from 7.1 to 8.1 was a waste of time and money.

[Mozdaman]

Hi,

I am brand new to this forum.....this is my first post so.....please be gentil. I bought a 10.25” Android replacement for my 2013 X5. It came with a separate electronics box that is placed somewhere in the dash.......like there is all this room back there. Along with it being a bear to find a place to put the box, there was not one piece of paper that come with the unit.....no manual, no wiring diagram, no......nothing. I struggled with it for 3 weeks now with very little gains and now I am sending it back for a (Hopefully) refund. I still can not get my original BMW car mode to pop up. Now I am looking for a new one and wanted to check to see how you like the one from 4X4.

[9vapors]

While mine has that same box, I was able to get it tucked behind enough and get it fit in there. It took some moving it around and reseating everything a few times. Add in some cursing and swearing and it was in. What does the screen your seeing look like? Why can't you get to the OEM screen?

[import_junkie]

I love this post as it has provided valuable information for upgrades. I am looking to upgrade my system in a few months as I am away and not I can't wait to get back.

[Mozdaman]

Where did you get your unit ? Are you happy with it ? After many hours.....and I mean many hours, I gave up.......I dis-assembled the glove box and......viola.....plenty of room for the box....LOL. Do these units for the BMWÂ’s all have that extra electronics box ?

Everything is connected and I don’t have any of my camera views (I have cameras on the sides of the front bumper, and the back up camera) my I drive control knob works but, not when I spin it (it only works when I push the dial up,down, left and right). The main menu screen of the “car” side pops up but, I can not select anything.

I am considering removing the entire thing and getting one that someone has had good luck with.

[Mozdaman]

Hi to all you BimmerWorld enthusiasts.......I bought my first BMW in December 2018. It is a 2013 X5 35i with the Premium package and I am loving BMW !!!. The problem is, I can’t stop upgrading and replacing things on it......it is so much fun but, I am spending a lot of money.

My car had the logic 7 surround system, I added a module and a subwoofer and it sound absolutely amazing. I was very hesitant to change the monitor out to the 10.25” Android because I didn’t want to jeopardize the sound quality but, I hated that stock monitor. I still don’t know weather or not the sound quality will be effected as I can not get the sound to work yet. I really would like someone to suggest a unit to go with, take this one out, send it back and start fresh with another unit.

So, can anyone chime in.........PLEASE . ��

[pjfox23]

Originally Posted by sunny_j

I returned the Dragonfly Red DAC. Turns out at high volumes it produces a hiss which is almost louder than the music. At low volumes it isn't an issue... I also got around to installing the soundkey DAC and wow. At high volume there's no hiss or anything. And it's only $100 compared to the Dragonfly

It should be noted that the Soundkey requires an additional camera cable to work with iPhone/Apple products. See attached. With my Avin Unit, I can see no way to hook all these things together yet, especially with the Apple CarPlay adapter. I will report back if I figure something out.

[Mozdaman]

Thanks for the post on then “Soundkey” DAC. I actually read your post last week and proactively ordered it off of Amazon for $60. I have used it with my headphones and it sounds great. I have to wait to hook it up in my car because I don’t have then install of my “Chinese” unit figured out yet. Like I mentioned earlier, I bought a no name unit off of the web fro m China. It didn’t come with any install paperwork and the only support has been via “WhatsApp”. I unplugged the (2) plugs from my old monitor and only plugged the one “coax” looking one in to the new monitor. They said that the other connector was not used. I connected the massive wiring harness that came with the new unit to the separate box that came with the new unit and ran one end to the new monitor and the other ones were the large square plugs that joined inlin with the factory harness. I did have to move the Fibre optic over also. Right now, the monitor works and all of the Android apps work with the touch screen but, I do not have any of my original car functions. The round “Idrive” knob on the center console, does absolutely nothing. So, right now, besides having none of my old car information (I really miss my camera views) I have no sound. The only thing I can get out of my speakers is the last station that I had on before I removed the old monitor.......Good thing it is a good station....

I am shouting out to anybody that might possibly help to figure out what I am missing to get my car original car information and sound. Thanks in advance !!!

[pjfox23]

Did you plug in the aux from the Avin unit to car aux?

[DakarX5]

Doing a little research it seems this system looks to be the best. Any other 10" systems out there that are not from China?

[pearlpower]

Originally Posted by DakarX5

Doing a little research it seems this system looks to be the best. Any other 10" systems out there that are not from China?

They are all from China, and all are the same unit. Just different re-sellers and versions.

[geniel]

Did you have any problem on AC System and some errors on Telescope and 4X4 warning sign after installation?

I had really weird and bad experience on such retrofit, so I had to restore to original unit with reprograming cost.

I will post the story and seek the help on problems separately.

[sunny_j]

I'm sure I got a couple codes but they went away after I cleared them

[Dvdman]

I have decide to get one of these. I love the sound quality right now. Will this change it? I am a samsung guy. Do I need to get the soundkey?

[Misterman]

Originally Posted by Mozdaman

Thanks for the post on then “Soundkey” DAC. I actually read your post last week and proactively ordered it off of Amazon for $60. I have used it with my headphones and it sounds great. I have to wait to hook it up in my car because I don’t have then install of my “Chinese” unit figured out yet. Like I mentioned earlier, I bought a no name unit off of the web fro m China. It didn’t come with any install paperwork and the only support has been via “WhatsApp”. I unplugged the (2) plugs from my old monitor and only plugged the one “coax” looking one in to the new monitor. They said that the other connector was not used. I connected the massive wiring harness that came with the new unit to the separate box that came with the new unit and ran one end to the new monitor and the other ones were the large square plugs that joined inlin with the factory harness. I did have to move the Fibre optic over also. Right now, the monitor works and all of the Android apps work with the touch screen but, I do not have any of my original car functions. The round “Idrive” knob on the center console, does absolutely nothing. So, right now, besides having none of my old car information (I really miss my camera views) I have no sound. The only thing I can get out of my speakers is the last station that I had on before I removed the old monitor.......Good thing it is a good station....

I am shouting out to anybody that might possibly help to figure out what I am missing to get my car original car information and sound. Thanks in advance !!!

Not sure if maybe you're the same person? But someone on the FB coding groups said something about this same issue as you. Sounds like there is a change on the 2013 E70's, they upgraded the electronics to the F series electronics prior to the full body change to F series in 2014. So the E70 unit doesn't work on 2013MY.

[burton123]

Hi Folks, Greetings from beautiful pasific northwest. First post here.
I bought a 2012 x5 35D and did alphabet delete, dudmd stage2, xhp stage2 and now it is time for head unit update. I installed android headunit to my old Touareg and i couldnt be happier and i want to go with the same route. I researched a little bit and leaning towards the 4x4Shop according to the reviews.
I have a couple of questions for you sunny_j:

*Do you have premium sound package? If yes, with Premium Audio package, is unit still plug and play? (in my touareg, i had to replace the digital amp with an analog one)

* For DAC, do you need to do anything special or is it just plug and play? (USB to MicroUSB from Headunit to DAC and Aux to Aux for DAC to aux input for speakers)

* Does the head unit pick any speakers whine sound from alternator?

*Did you get the new screen? 1920x 720 one?

*Looks like from their website the unit comes with 2 USB out, one for DAC and 1 for Android Auto and apple car play so pretty much no USB output left right?

[Mozdaman]

Greetings......It has been a while and I have had some resolutions to some of my issues so, I thought I would post this update in regards to my new Android unit. The Chinese company that I bought my unit from ended up sending me a replacement “box” for my unit. For those of you who are not aware, evidentially, some of these “Android” units come with an external box that needs to be installed with supplied harnesses along with the monitor. I had a heck of a time finding a place for it but finally remover the glove box liner and wedging it in there.......I will worry about putting the liner in at a later date.

Anyways, I removed the “box” that came with my Android unit and installed the replacement “box” that they sent me and......viola.....everything works !!! i had to go into the settings and adjust the aspect ratio and them my “old car view” looked much better.....at least everything fit on the screen. I will have to admit, I was very hesitant to do this conversion because I added a subwoofer to the old system and I absolutely loved the sound quality that I was getting out of it and I heard a lot of bad stories that changing to the Android unit would ruin the sound quality.

Now, here is the interesting part.......I did NOT have to run a cable from the “box” to the AUX jack in the center console like others have reported. Misterman had mentioned that there was a change on the 2013 E70 electronics....I am not sure if that has any correlation or not........All I can say right now is, I have a 2013 E70 with the Premium package that has the Logic 7 system in it and I did NOT have to run any AUX. cable (as a matter of fact, I unplugged it from the “box”) and my sound is perfect, identical to what I had before the Android conversion. I am so freaking happy 😆

If someone that knows why I didnÂ’t need to run an AUX cable to get the sound could respond, it may help others in the future. Like I said, Misterman said that BMW made a change in 2013.....Maybe that had something to do with it.

Thanks YÂ’all and Peace

[HedMan]

Originally Posted by Mozdaman

If someone that knows why I didnÂ’t need to run an AUX cable to get the sound could respond, it may help others in the future. Like I said, Misterman said that BMW made a change in 2013.....Maybe that had something to do with it.

I have a 2011 and didn't need to use the Aux and the sound quality is the same as before.

The sound from the Android side is on "Aux Rear" on the BMW side of the display, and the normal Aux in the center console shows as "Aux Front".

I think it's the Rear Seat DVD that gives the "Aux Rear"...

[sunny_j]

Originally Posted by burton123

Hi Folks, Greetings from beautiful pasific northwest. First post here.
I bought a 2012 x5 35D and did alphabet delete, dudmd stage2, xhp stage2 and now it is time for head unit update. I installed android headunit to my old Touareg and i couldnt be happier and i want to go with the same route. I researched a little bit and leaning towards the 4x4Shop according to the reviews.
I have a couple of questions for you sunny_j:

*Do you have premium sound package? If yes, with Premium Audio package, is unit still plug and play? (in my touareg, i had to replace the digital amp with an analog one)

* For DAC, do you need to do anything special or is it just plug and play? (USB to MicroUSB from Headunit to DAC and Aux to Aux for DAC to aux input for speakers)

* Does the head unit pick any speakers whine sound from alternator?

*Did you get the new screen? 1920x 720 one?

*Looks like from their website the unit comes with 2 USB out, one for DAC and 1 for Android Auto and apple car play so pretty much no USB output left right?

I have premium sound package and everything was plug and play

The AHU should pickup the DAC. I mostly use poweramp and Spotify here and there with no issues

No sound whine

I went with the px6 8.1 screen. Resolution is fine for my needs and I'd only get the 720 screen if I were to watch videos

I'm using 1 USB for a 64gb USB stick which has all my music and the other for the DAC. maybe one day I'll try installing an USB hub to see if it works

[burton123]

Thank you for the update.

[burton123]

BTW one more question.
How long does it take for head unit to boot up and become ready?

[pearlpower]

Originally Posted by burton123

BTW one more question.
How long does it take for head unit to boot up and become ready?

If your on the OEM side of things, no delay beyond the standard boot-up. It just serves as a screen. If you want to access the Android side, 15 seconds or so beyond the OEM boot-up. Then a few seconds more to connect to hotspot. At least mine on 8.1, same as my 7.1 I had prior.