****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I purchased this item to add hands-free calling and AUX music capabilities for my 1996 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera Station Wagon. This car is in excellent shape and I use it to go skiing and wandering up in the Colorado mountains. My car has the GM 1.5 DIN factory AM/FM/CD stereo. I wanted to integrate my iPhone into it for hands-free calling and to play my music. The only other options out there were to replace the stereo with a 1.0 DIN unit or a cassette adapter which wouldn't work for me as I have a CD player instead of a cassette deck.Unfortunately, as anyone who has had a GM car made before 2006 can tell you, the factory stereos are an odd size, somewhere in between the standard din and "double-din" sizes used in most other vehicles. I did not want to lose the "90's look" of the dash by adding a single din stereo. So, after some searching, I came across this item.Installation was simple (I am an electrical engineer). However, anyone who is comfortable installing a car stereo can do this with ease. Few wires needed to be cut. BE ADVISED that you will need a special antenna adapter (both for input and output) to connect this to the antenna leads on any late-model GM car! That is cheap - typically under $10. Do yourself a favor and order it with this unit to save time. The best location for the included hands-free microphone is on the headliner, just above the rear view mirror. Be certain to connect the unit to a good ground, preferably the same one as the stereo.Once installed, setup was fairly simple. There are instructions on where to find the iSimple app in the app store. It paired with my iPhone very easily. Before setting this up, tune your FM radio to 98.1. Use that station if none exists in your area on that frequency. Else, tune up or down until you find a station with only static. It is best not to set this device on a frequency that is used in your area; nor a frequency at the extreme upper or lower band. I live in Denver, CO with many stations - 98.3 FM was vacant. After that, activate the module, pair your phone, and set it for the empty FM frequency you've found.The music quality is good - quite better than I expected. Be aware that the stereo music quality is equal to that of FM radio - NOT CD QUALITY! (Duh - that's how it connects to your stereo - by acting as your small, private FM radio station!) As such, dynamic range is diminished slightly, especially in the bass range. The signal is uncompressed, therefore you will need to play the volume rather high on the radio. Some minor clipping occurs during loud pieces. However, all-in-all, this is a fair trade-off. You should set the headphone volume on your iPhone to maximum for best results; however, if you get distortion, decrease that to about 90% or so until it is gone. 85% works best for me and the music I listen to. Note that you will need to hold the turbo button down to place the iSimple into "passthru mode" if you wish to listen to an AM or FM broadcast. AM does work marginally when it is active; however, NO FM stations will come through unless it is in that mode.The only quibble I had is with the hands-free call quality. It is just slightly below that of a modern factory stereo with hands-free calling. However, Siri appears to struggle to understand some verbal commands due to background noise. Calls do not sound perfect; but, they are completely understandable. Expect callers to hear a little bit of "speakerphone echo" on their end. Par for the course...Finally, there are some nice features on this device. I connected the power lead to the "power antenna lead" on the stereo so the unit only powers on when the stereo is being used. This prevents your iPhone from defaulting to the iSimple during a phone call should you have the stereo off. If it is in "passthru mode" so you can listen to an FM broadcast, it will "wake up" automatically if a call comes through - a nice feature. Just remember to tune to the FM station you have it programmed for once it wakes up. ;) It helps if you set a radio preset button for that frequency.My final word is this: If you are an audiophile who must have absolute CD+ quality audio you would do better replacing the factory stereo and speakers with a better setup. However, if you want to keep the original setup for classic car purposes, this device is absolutely for you! The sound quality is very acceptable and the price is very reasonable for what it does.
