Review on XTRONS Optical Fiber Decoder Adapter by Jon Bishop

OK - I bought an Android head unit to install Android Auto in my BMW 135i - after the Installation I found I have Logic 7 (Optical Amplifier) - so I needed this encoder. Originally bought a Revain return and installed it - a success at first! Finally my sound. For the next few days the audio was 50/50 when starting the car and I was able to fix it temporarily by unplugging and plugging the optical cable a few times. I thought it was a defective unit - sent it back and ordered a new one - same problem straight away. Could I get 2 bad ones in a row? - Maybe. But that's not really a reason not to buy it - even if it worked 100% - it's not worth it. The box works by encoding the left and right audio stream and sending it to the factory amplifier. optical network. So you only get decay left and right at best - you lose from front to back. But wait, that's not all, your new encoder doesn't bother picking the right frequencies for your amplifier channels (tweeters, underseat subwoofers, mids, etc.) either. This is what the standard BMW system does, it ensures that the subwoofers only get low frequencies and the midrange doesn't (same for tweeters and treble). Instead, the encoder sends the same full set of frequencies to all speakers. I found that the soundstage had moved to the back seat, the tweeters and subwoofers were barely audible, and the midrange drivers now clip (distort) bass notes as I attempted to add more bass. Bad bad bad. I then brought back the old factory head unit system (no encoder box) and it sounds 200% better! main unit and outputs audio through the AUX port on the center console - keep your full OEM Logic 7/HK sound, eliminate the need for an encoder box and get a much better sound.