Hi

The CD disc player in the trunk of my 2.8 1999.5 A4 B5 (purchased from new in 1999) is giving me more and more no disc errors etc and is in need of retirement

The car was being used by my wife for the last 5 to 6 years and she didn't use it very often - I am now using it as a daily driver now she has a new A5 (yeah - you know how that goes)

Anyway ..... I have been researching all the different options for mp3 music players, Dice, Yatour, Dension, Blitzsafe, Grom etc for over a week now.

My first thought was that all I wanted was a simple box that would plug into the 13 pin connector in the trunk (unplug the Disc Unit) and provide me with selection on the DISC1 through DISC6 on the Concert One head unit of MP3 files in 6 Fat32 folders on a USB memory stick.

Well of course this seems to be the only option that is not out there!

The Yatour USB seems to be the nearest but plugs into the back of the Concert radio (as most of the others do) .......
the Blitzsafe does plug into the 13 pin in the trunk BUT then requires a 3.5mm input jack cable to be run back to the front of the car so that the ipod can be used to select tracks etc .... it is really just a remote AUX socket.

I like the sound of the latest Dension Gateway Lite 3 ..... GLW3AU2 is the model for Audi A4 1998-2006 with Concert 1 radio. BUT they have a strange way of organizing the music without using all 6 disc buttons - I believe some are used to call up an ipod if connected. Probably a good thing to have the extra option of using an ipod or a USB stick?

The Yatour is much cheaper and just uses 6 folders on the memory stick for DISC1 through DISC6 ..... but is it any good? (made in China)

I know that this subject keeps cropping up - but the units specifications change so quickly it is difficult to keep up on what adaptors are working well and which ones to avoid

Any thoughts, comments or experiences you guys could share would be great.

Please don't suggest that I just buy a used Phatbox on ebay

 

When I first purchased my car, I was in the same dilemma and after some searching and research, I ended up buying a virtual digital CD player. Here is the link and a picture.

Charmlink Ipod interface,Ipod integration,USB/SD Interface,Digital Music Changer



It works in the structure of a 6 CD changer with 99 songs per cd/directory via a usb stick or sd card. You can fast forward and skip ahead using the OEM head unit. Mind you mine is a Symphony and I don't know if the Concert has the same functions. You will have to figure that out. The only function that I wish it had was Shuffle which doesn't seem to work. This is all done through the CD port in the back of the head unit. It also has a 1/8 inch input that you can hook your MP3 player too if need be but controls are through the MP3 player itself and not through the head unit. This is essentially the same thing as the Yatour that you have posted above. Mine has been working great for the past 4 years. Hope that helps.

Doug

 

Thanks Doug

I had found that picture on on older post on one of the Audi forums BUT I could not find anything at the website for a 1999 A4 with Concert radio.

If I click on your link to the CHARMLINK website and plug in Audi - A4 - 1999 it returns "no content"

I did find this on ebay .... sold from the UK - anyone tried it?

Audi A2 A3 A4 A6 A8 TT USB Adapter Interface CTAVAGUSB001 CTAVAGUSB003 Car MP3 | eBay

 

If you click on VW, it lists Audi compatibility there. I would chat with them when they are on-line and they can help you out there. That's what I did before I purchased.

The unit you listed is essentially the same thing but it looks like it has random and is cheaper than the unit I bought. Trust me with 99 songs in a directory with no way of sorting, random is nice to have.

Doug

 

Thanks again Doug

I didn't notice the random option the first time I looked at the Incarconnections unit ..... I have emailed them to confirm if it works with the Concert One radio RAND button - I will post their reply for reference).

I was always disappointed that the RAND button did not play from all 6 discs and only played random from the disc currently selected (probably because there would have been long delays while the unit loaded and unloaded the discs to play the next track) ..... BUT if you have 99 mp3 tracks in one of the USB stick folders random play for that would be very useful.

By the way - if anyone is interested in a more expensive full function changer unit with USB stick, ipod, aux-in and bluetooth, Dension has just updated their Audi compatibility chart - find it here

http://www.dension.com/sites/default...12_07_2012.pdf

For the Audi A4 B5 with Concert, Chorus and Symphony radios the latest Dension Gateway Lite 3 models are GBL3AU2 (bluetooth version) GWL3AU2 (non bluetooth version)

But just remember that with the Dension units , iPod Cable Not Included, Aux Cable not included - must be purchased separately adding to the cost.

 

Jason from In Car Connections contacted me to confirm that their USB unit will shuffle mp3 files by pressing the RAND button on the Concert radio.

Details can be found on their website

In Car Connections - In car AUX adapters iPod interfaces Car speakers Car radio stereo - In Car Connections

The USB changer units are listed here

USB Adapter Interfaces for factory fitted car radios - In Car Connections



Please note that this unit does not provide a 3.5mm aux in

 

If you're going that direction, why not just go full-out integration like I did. I hooked up the Motorola T605 bluetooth adapter to the 25-pin parallel "printer port" connector. I also used a Blitzsafe (or something like it, I don't remember the brand at the moment) and connected the other end of the T605 to that. So when a phone call comes in, the stereo mutes and I can take a call using the already built-in speaker in the door (not sure if the 99 has this, my 01 has it). When I'm done, the stereo resumes. I can control my Android phone to skip songs with the Google Music app (or whatever your default is). It's a pretty decent setup. I don't notice a any diminished sound quality by transferring music over bluetooth. I keep the T605 in a little crevice behind the glove-box (take off the panel on the passenger side opposite of the fuse box) and it works fine.

Here's the DIY I followed:
DIY for Integrated Bluetooth in B5 Audi S4

 

Update

I decided to go with the Dension Lite 3 GWL3AU2 from Gold Star Audio in California - they were very helpful when I called and had the best price I could find in the US.

Dension GBL3AU2 iPod / Aux / Bluetooth - Gold Star Audio

The only thing that I don't like about this one is that you cannot have the ipod interface cable and the 3.5mm aux line plugged in at the same time because they use the same output socket on the adapter.

This should not be a problem if the harness provided is long enough to place the adapter in the glove box. I will then have the option to play music from a USB stick, ipod or use the aux in (by keeping both cables available in the glove box)

It also has the bonus of bluetooth.

I will report back after the install.

 

The Dension Gateway Lite BT arrived today - very fast shipping to Michigan from Gold Star Audio in California via USPS Priority Mail (free shipping option)

I already had the radio removal keys (I got those many years ago when a cassette tape got stuck in the slot and needed a little persuasion to pop out) so I went out to the car with the install guide in hand to see what was involved to get this thing up and running.

First job was to solder a ring on to the loose black wire on the Desion harness - this needs to be firmly grounded to the back of the Concert radio on the A4 B5 models. Once this was done I decided to go ahead and hook it up to test operation (final wiring and microphone placement will be done later)

The the basic procedure is:

1 pull out the radio

2 attach the Dension harness black ground wire to back of radio

3 slip plastic cover off the connector on the loose brown wire on the Dension harness and feed it into the number 2 pin receptical in the GALA connector block (this mutes the radio when a call is received via bluetooth)

4 pull out the black 20 pin connector (CD changer block) from the back of the radio and plug it into the red female connector on the Dension harness

5 plug the corresponding red male 20 pin connector on the Dension harness into the back of the radio

6 plug the 12 pin connector on the Dension harness into the Dension USB / ipod / bluetooth unit.

7 plug the microphone into the Dension unit

That's about it for installation - there is plenty of length on the wires that run from the back of the radio to the 12 pin connector on the Dension adaptor so I will put the unit in the glove box, making it easy to hook up the ipod or plug in the USB memory stick.

So with the radio still out (just in case the connections need to be worked on again) I turned on the radio and started checking out the functionality, including pairing my iphone to the bluetooth function of the Dension Gateway.

Everything is working as expected - I will experiment with the microphone placement, it is working Ok clipped to the sun visor but I have not tried it while driving yet.

MP3 files work great from the USB stick as well as from my ipod Nano 8GB 6th gen.

The sound from fairly low bitrate files is better than I was expecting, high bitrate and VBR files sound great ..... and YES the RAND button will shuffle the tracks from the selected folder or playlist.

I pushed the radio back into position and played a few more tunes from the USB stick ..... All good !

Of course what I should have done BEFORE any of this was ejected the 6 disc magazine from the changer and pulled out my CDs the disc player is now disabled ......

So I will need to hook up changer again if I want to get my discs out

I am very please with this purchase - I will probably use the USB memory stick most of the time, but it is great to have the option of ipod or aux in and the added bonus of bluetooth hands free operation for my iphone.

 

Nice, never heard of that one before. How's the hands-free calling work?