Hello, I am TC, a  newbie from Cheshire to the site which I think is great!

 

I have had a VRS Mk 1 saloon and now on a Mk 11  Estate, 12 reg..

 

The only thing that annoys me is the radio. Medium wave band e.g Talk Sport is very poor at certain times and when you switch to FM it deafens me.

Has anyone converted to DAB , possibly Kenwood's expensive VAG conversion, or found anything else that does a good job.

The Mk 111 has DAB as standard now.

Any suggestions?

TC

I personally use one of these plugged into the aux in :

 

http://www.superfi.co.uk/p-3840-discontinued-pure-highway-in-car-dab-tuner.aspx

 

At about £50 (clearance sale) it has good reception but its hidden in the cubby hole by the drivers right knee so not so good if you like to change stations often. If I could get  an  integrated one easily for less than £300 I'd do it. Theres a new version now so you can pick these older ones up cheap.

Edited 28 February, 201412 yr by paddypaws

Yes, went for the pure unit,

http://www.pure.com/product/highway-300di-vl-61716/

RCD 310 DAB headunit from a golf, pretty straightforward swap.

unlimited data on your phone contract and an app is one solution. I use this as the only time I listen to AM is saturdays for the football so no point spending out on devices like above or a dab box for my headunit/external aerial 

My phone is plugged into my headunit (pioneer p77mp via ipbus cable) or aux with a standard headunit and the radio is played through the speakers. Only down side is when you loose signal

unlimited data on your phone contract and an app is one solution. I use this as the only time I listen to AM is saturdays for the football so no point spending out on devices like above or a dab box for my headunit/external aerial 

My phone is plugged into my headunit (pioneer p77mp via ipbus cable) or aux with a standard headunit and the radio is played through the speakers. Only down side is when you loose signal

Nope it really isn't a viable replacement for DAB. Data coverage outside of large towns is woeful. As you mentioned WHEN you have a signal maybe, but that is rarely in the places I drive in Hampshire, Surrey, Berkshire and just about everywhere outside of a town. All the usual places I go, mobile data fails, DAB is pretty good coverage now. Internet radio in a house with wifi fine, or in view of a GOOD  3G or 4G signal when not moving fine,  when moving in a car the problem is internet radio needs two way communication back from the phone to the network and whilst that is required it will always be utter sh!te, the uk just doesn't have the coverage and the technology isn't up to it.  Tried it on the M4 driving out of London recently  totally useless. 

Edited 28 February, 201412 yr by paddypaws

RCD 310 DAB headunit from a golf, pretty straightforward swap.

Interesting, does this unit display the climate info and parking sensors graphics as a straight swap? 

certainly not a replacement for using dab all the time. If its only on the odd occasion then its a much cheaper alternative.

Interesting, does this unit display the climate info and parking sensors graphics as a straight swap? 

I don't believe it will show either. Apart from the DAB functionality it may actually be a step down from your current h/u, assuming you have a Bolero, though it was a step up for me as I had a basic Stream.

 

Some pics of the headunit and fitting: https://www.flickr.com/photos/51707969@N04/sets/72157632058161464

 

Note, I also had to replace my CAN Gateway to prevent battery drain issues, but you wouldn't need to do that.

 

 

Another OEM alternative would be the Skoda Amundsen+ with DAB, which also has satnav.

I don't believe it will show either. Apart from the DAB functionality it may actually be a step down from your current h/u, assuming you have a Bolero, though it was a step up for me as I had a basic Stream.

 

Some pics of the headunit and fitting: https://www.flickr.com/photos/51707969@N04/sets/72157632058161464

 

Note, I also had to replace my CAN Gateway to prevent battery drain issues, but you wouldn't need to do that.

 

 

Another OEM alternative would be the Skoda Amundsen+ with DAB, which also has satnav.

Thanks I do have a Bolero, would Amundsen+ with DAB need anything else or would it just work? I guess a DAB aerial would be needed. Will it display parking sensors and climate stuff?

I've just gotten an '11 Octavia Elegance with the Bolero, and I'm watching this thread with interest. Just what are the options for adding DAB without losing the parking sensor and climate visuals? If we are into ugly add-on recievers, which is the most useable and visually unoffensive? I'd echo everyone else's experience of using a smartphone, it's an exercise in frustration.

The Alpine Ezi-DAB is a lot more skoda friendly than the Pure 300Di as the display colours are the same (the Pure is orange).

 

Skoda sell a loom for the Ezi-DAB/300Di that makes it very easy to fit.

 

The current Skoda bolt on doesn't have an add-on but I've not heard great things about its performance.

I run a vRS mk11 Fl with the Kenwood dnx521dab nice bit of kit, which looks totally OEM, with very good sound on the standard speakers and full integration to all the other bits (parking visual/climate).

Wangled it as a free upgrade to sort out a mess up at the dealers, not sure I would spend £1k or similar for it but it does work very well and only get drop out of signal in a few places and then only the lesser stations all the BBC stations are bang on

I run a vRS mk11 Fl with the Kenwood dnx521dab nice bit of kit, which looks totally OEM, with very good sound on the standard speakers and full integration to all the other bits (parking visual/climate).

Wangled it as a free upgrade to sort out a mess up at the dealers, not sure I would spend £1k or similar for it but it does work very well and only get drop out of signal in a few places and then only the lesser stations all the BBC stations are bang on

That dnx521dab certainly is nice, but I've bought cheaper cars than that! Mmm I think its a bit too much for me. Is it plug and play ie no coding in needed?

No idea on coding.

I just handed the car over for the day took the latest vRS demonstrator out for a blast as you do and came back to a radio that my phone would now connect to.

I had been originally promised it did this when I bought it but quickly found that the standard bolero had no phone/Bluetooth integration. Hence the free upgrade or they got the keys back

+1 for Ezi Dab from alpine - it works great, looks good because it has a green illumination option, and has a function to pause and rewind radio which is pretty neat - also doubles as an ipod input in the glove box if you don't have MMI.  Brilliant bit of kit...

I have the VW RCD510DAB and it works perfectly, retains reversing sensors, climate info, bluetooth etc. Plugs in to standard wiring and only needs a DAB aerial to function. Regularly come up for sale on the mk5 gti forum and I managed to get a brand new one on the classifieds here for £250, sold the bolero for £150 ish so a pretty cheap upgrade. It also sounds a fair bit better too, especially tracks from the SD card

That sounds like a potential option Freedom - what colour is the backlighting on the VW unit?

Red LED with a colour(ish) LCD screen.

The climate and OPS functions will only work on facelift cars (ie those that had a Bolero fitted).

Try 'dabonwheels'  they offer the Pure and another unit called the Beat400. The write ups on the site seem positive ( and last time I looked offered a money back guarantee ) I might try them for my Fabia this year. I'm used to the controls for my OE swing unit and after reading other postings regarding odd behaviour of aftermarket units I'm loathe to change it. Having this type of add on of course means plug in cables to the 3.5 and the 12v socket. But as I will only use it for longer journeys that for me is not much of a problem.

I have the VW RCD510DAB and it works perfectly, retains reversing sensors, climate info, bluetooth etc. Plugs in to standard wiring and only needs a DAB aerial to function. Regularly come up for sale on the mk5 gti forum and I managed to get a brand new one on the classifieds here for £250, sold the bolero for £150 ish so a pretty cheap upgrade. It also sounds a fair bit better too, especially tracks from the SD card

Thats looks very interesting bf1, does it fit the same shape as the bolero so no need to fit a new surround? Does the aux in work as per the old  bolero?

Nope same size/shape as a Columbus so you need to change the surround. £20 on pre fl cars £55 on fl cars (if both have Climatronic).

Thanks I do have a Bolero, would Amundsen+ with DAB need anything else or would it just work? I guess a DAB aerial would be needed. Will it display parking sensors and climate stuff?

 

Sensors and temp display:

If you have a pre-FL: no   (although apparently a small change in the wiring can fix that)

If you have a FL: probably  (pre's had a different type of parking display controller)

 

The RCD310 is of the same generation as a FL. Yes, just a DAB aerial would be required. I got mine from DABonwheels for £20 including an extension cable. (I mounted mine on the rear screen.)

Sensors and temp display:

If you have a pre-FL: no (although apparently a small change in the wiring can fix that)

As I said above I think you lose the OPS and climate displays with new-gen headunits in pre-fl cars. The climate will display if you go to the effort of changing the wiring AND fitting the FL Climatronic unit. OPS display won't work unless you change the controller. Adding a Polar FIS+ restores the climate display but I don't know about OPS.