Hi guys. Been out for a while. Prostate surgery. Bought 3 cars. Not me. I only bought one. Kathy bought two. Still love my 2008 Mazda 3 hatchback but they're doing some nasty things to the new cars and it's going to get worse so, after researching the lesser of the evils and getting sick in my stomach, I got a 2019 Mazda 3. Not quite as much fun as the 08 (which I just can't make myself sell) but I was told that I really needed a grown-up's car. Ok, so I'm 67 but I really don't see why. The new one really is a very nice car and most of the stupidity can be turned off. The handling is really something special even though I like it better when the car leaves more of the job to the driver. But there's a problem. No aux. input! If I can't play analog in it, I will sell it. There are plenty of used 2008's and 2009's out there. Found one for sale with 293,000 miles on it. And mine only has 150,000 and zero mechanical issues. But I'm going to try to be serious and make this work. The Walkman control cable terminates with a female output for a 3mm pin. There are cables that will make the jump from that to USB but I'm pretty sure it's pointless unless the input device is a computer. So are there maybe Bluetooth sending units that I can plug in to the 3mm female output and send to the car's receiver? I never thought I'd ever hear myself asking for Bluetooth. If so, does anybody know if they halfway work? Need separate power or batteries? Just when I had it figured out for the old car! At least this car still has a standard cigarette lighter type power output in the console. If not I would have had to go back to using batteries in the Walkman. Any ideas? Thanks. Don
Myguess: wrong crowd here for the Question As someone who does not give a rat's a$$ about cars, I got lucky in buying Saab when i had enough cash to buy one: Saab aficionados post step-by-step instructions on how to add ANYTHING to Saab radio... I just followed the instructions and have my iPod/iPhone hardwired Bluetooth? CRAP!!! How do we know that Bluetooth is CRAP? As always, thanks to the companies which offer something better (what do WE know?!!!)
I think Jorge is right that we aren't the best people to ask. I do think that Bluetooth is the best solution to look at. The sound quality isn't the greatest but in a car with road noise etc you probably won't notice. Anyway I believe it has improved with the newer revisions. You could get something self contained with a built in battery like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bluetooth-...jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ== That was the one that appeared first in an Amazon search, and appears to have fairly good reviews. Your other comments amused me. I doubt whether it will ever happen but for years I have had the ambition when I retire and are doing less miles, to get a Mitsubishi EVO and then drive it at 20MPH like a pensioner to annoy people . As for milages I kept joking that my previous (GM) car would get to 100,000 and then fall apart like a clowns car. As it was it got to 99,400 and something went wrong in the engine so it was clunking away on three cylinders. It was worth so little I didn't even bother getting a quote for repair and took the £170 trade in offered against a VW Golf. The Golf is over 75,000 miles now. When I can't extend the warranty I intend swap it for something newer. Happy Holidays by the way.
The device in Longman's link is what I envisioned. Will investigate. I have already checked the Mazda forums and can only guess that the Saab people must be a different breed. All I could find was instructions for how to glue stupid sh!t to the side of your car or add extra tailpipe extensions so it will look like it has more exhausts than it has cylinders. The two most important attributes that a car can have simultaneously are paid for and running. After that comes "Can I stand driving it?" I would have no problem going back to driving my old car. But after 200,000 miles it gets dicey. I don't like what's going into the new cars and even less what's coming down the road. It was simply time to buy one before it gets too bad. Not to mention the trouble I've had figuring out how to work the damn thing. I understand that things have to change. But when you change from something that works to something that does not work.......? If it was a radio or an amplifier I needed to modify, I would have added an imput already. I don't need any help with that. But it's not. It's a computer. And if it were a desktop I would had added a sound card with the input I need. Not going to happen here. Jorge, I missed your point in the last line about the companies that offer something better. I hate Bluetooth too. Is there anything else? Don
as you do have a standard cigarette lighter 12v, why don‘t you just buy one of those fm-transmitter with line in, the web is full off‘em and when you read the tests, there‘s some tested very good and price-wise it‘s an overviewable investment ? anyway, i think it‘s time again for the good old thread „what cars do you guys drive“, or are we all to old for that now ?
FM transmitter sound quality is worse than Bluetooth Get a 2014-2018 Mazda 3, they still have Aux in.
Hello Redfish, hope all is well over the holidays, those Europeans don't understand our car culture and the need for premium sound, this should be the perfect place to ask since your working with portables. I'm with you on new cars, too much stuff, I still wrench on my vehicles and the more sensors and less space up front doesn't make me happy. The good news is I've never owned a front wheel drive car. I was a very early adapter trying to mate my cassettes and mp3s with a car and it isn't easy to get good sound. My vehicles are old, there might be bluetooth in the fleet but I haven't configured it yet, I'm still burning mix CDs. For the cars with a cassette deck or just a radio I've used two methods, the cassette with headphone jack cord and the FM transmitter. There is a significant reduction in sound quality and volume which is really annoying, I bought a pretty expensive FM transmitter from Walmart (on a road trip in the middle of the UP) and it stinks, very low volume. The cassette tape to MP3 player can be better but only if your car deck is in good shape, otherwise you'll have annoying dropouts. I do have one of those little bluetooth dongles, I think that's your best bet and they're only a few dollars. You may also want to try Best Buy or a local car audio shop, believe it or not, they're still around, they might be able to hook up an interface so you can go directly to the stereo. It's not like the old days, my advice would be to get a vintage full size van and a vintage 70's-80's car stereo, that would be cool.
Maybe a what cars did you drive thread. For many of us practicality now over-rides any concerns about image. I doubt whether any Page 3 girls to be would be impressed by a guy driving a Golf Estate, something that did happen when I had a Ford Capri (although being 35 years younger might have helped as well). Something I found out in Christmas news is that a former colleague who had a Capri as a teenager has bought himself a replacement. Most of us only have room to do that with Cassette Recorders.
Get a 2014-2018 Mazda 3, they still have Aux in. I almost did. There were still a few 2018's out there when I bought this car. But I got talked into buying the 2019 by my resident computer expert based on a promise that she would be able to connect my walkman to it. The woman can make a computer do anything whether it wants to or not. Well, I don't think she really thought this one through. She may surprise me yet. We'll see. Both my 08 Mazda 3 and the new one have the "Bose Stereo". That's not meant to impress as I have never been remotely impressed by anything Bose and this is probably Bose in name only anyway. But it is the upgrade in a Mazda. The 08 also has a 6 CD changer in the head unit. Not especially impressed by that either except for the convenience. But the day I plugged the Walkman into the aux input that stereo came alive. First thing I heard on it was Court and Spark by Joni Mitchell on a metal tape made from a half-speed mastered LP and I could barely believe I was sitting in my car. The new car has the same stereo 11 years later. No CD player. No aux input. I've already contacted Mazda and they assured me that I would void my warranty if I tried to add an input. If it were just a radio or an amp, I would already have one in it. But what's in there is way too complicated for me. The most promising thing I've seen is the Inatech BR 1006 which supports AAC and all 3 levels of Apt-X(including high def). But it does not appear that they sell it in the U.S. Probably would have to come from European Amazon. And what format it defaults to depends on what's in the car's receiver. ?? But no matter what I do, I'll lose some sound quality. I know. It's a car. It's not going to be great no matter what. But I think I should at least be able to have it as good as it is in my 11 year old version of the same car. Progress?? I don't thinks so. Time to send another complaint to Mazda. No, they don't care. But it makes me feel better that they have to read it. And I know they have to read it because, when I was still working and abusing my car, I sent them an e-mail every time I had a flat tire and had to put that P.O.S. spare time on my car and got their shoulder shrug responses to them. BTW, I have no particular attachment to Mazda 3's. Had a 94 F-150 before the first Mazda and an 81 Datsun FWD truck before that. I researched everything out there that I could afford and some that I couldn't. The ratio of things I wanted (there is no replacement for displacement) to things I could not accept (CVT's, tiny turbos's, having to push/pull a little switch in the console to change gears, some of the worst instrument panels I've ever seen, cars that break) led me to this car. I would have no problem doing the same thing I did in 2010 when my first 2008 Mazda 3 was totaled. Get online and find another 08 or 09 with low miles and good care. When you get it right the first time, you don't switch. But It's almost 2020 now and the years are harder on them than the miles. Thanks for listening. Oh, just to keep this from being completely OT, I love my Walkman. Don
Wish this was true! At the time when I "cared" and also had some extra $$ for such activities, Aston Martin Vanquish was on my "to-buy" list because of its Linn stereo. Nowadays my all-time favorite Naim Audio has a line "Naim for Bentley" and when in Beverly Hills I have a pleasure listening to some finely reproduced Rap blasting off Bentley convertibles. I am a Stereophile subscriber since 1997: Mike Fremer was mightily impressed by Mark Levinson amplification in a Lexus two-seater. From that same source there was a mention of Dynaudio speakers in VW Passats... Bose and B&O in the cars sounds as generic as I can imagine... GM promised "surround-sound" off SACDs/DVD-A when it was relevant, THAT was a great idea which never materialized Anyway, here is my Saab Aero fix: Line- or headphone-out into 3.5mm jack, then press the Green Button and Saab stereo gets a signal from whatever I have My idea was to make it look as if it is still a "stock" radio
Check the latest offering from HiFiMan - their latest DAP has some “next-gen” Bluetooth... And Thank You @Mystic Traveller for this tip!
