DJPlayedYA wrote:To this day, is the USA Spec PA-INFI still the best option to go with if you want iPhone/iPod capabilities in your 06-07 M? Thanks in advance.
I'm not sure whom, if anyone, said that the USA Spec PA-INFI was the best option to go with if you want iPhone/iPod capabilities in your 06-07 M. The reason why I say this, is that none of us can say which system is better unless we have installed different integration systems in our cars and could hear differences (flatter/broader, less/more bass, less/more treble, overall 'quality' of sound, etc.) I remember reading on the forum that the Grom integration kit wasn't that great though. There might be a new integration kit that is out today that might be better than the USA Spec, or my Dice/Audiovox MediaBridge integration kit, but nobody would know unless you installed and tested them all out. And who knows, the USA Spec's updated firmware might be better (overall 'quality' of sound is better) than my Dice/Audiovox's factory firmware, and vice versa. Also, what I like my system to sound like may not be at all what the next person likes. So, instead of saying what's the best, I'll tell you my experience with my system, full name: Dice MBR-1502-NIS Nissan/Infiniti MediaBridge Multimedia Integration Kit with Bluetooth (20-Pin Power Connector), and you can choose the system that seems like it would be the best for your needs.
All of this is driven from my iPhone 5.
First the cons:
- Track information on the screen is hit or miss, meaning, it will show you the track information when you press the STATUS button, but if you set the system to 'scroll', it will sometimes not scroll, and it will sometimes show the last part of the track (scrolled already without scrolling first). If I want to really look at the track info, I just look on the iPhone 5. So basically, if you MUST have track information on the screen, with scrolling working 100%, this will not be the system for you.
- You can access the iPhone's music through different playlists/settings to access the album, artist, etc. on the radio, but this is very cumbersome and you have to delay each button press to register correctly. Also, the iPhone will not show these changes (even if another song is being played). I do not access my iPhone this way at all and just access the music directly on the iPhone, or through the steering wheel and 'folder' knob on the radio to change tracks.
Now the positives:
- Since the system is going through the SAT connection and through the USB Apple Lightning connector, the audio is 'clean' and 'transparent', in my opinion at least as clean as 320KB encoded CDs, but not as good as 5.1 DVD Audio Surround Sound.
- Start up is instant when you start the car/turn the engine on ACC/ON mode. I love how the system automatically plays the song that is queued in the given app, may it be Apple's iTunes, Slacker or my new favorite, Neutron Player.
- Notifications are clear and automatically turns down whatever song I'm playing, i.e. Waze app hazard/police alerts have priority. Email and SMS notifications have priority as well, though.
- I hold the up/down button on the steering wheel up for 2 seconds to track next and down for 2 seconds to track previous. I turn the 'folder' knob on the radio one tactile click right to track next and one tactile click left to track previous. The immediacy of moving from track to track is what's best about this.
- Firmware updates have been abundant (updated every few months), and shows that the company is still supporting the product, which usually means the product actually gets better through time.
For the price I paid at the time for the device ~$70 including tax and shipping, it was a no-brainer to purchase it and see if it was a worthy upgrade. Installation was really simple, took my friend and I about 30 minutes at a relatively slow pace, and the sound output is simply amazing!
