Mr12Volt P2000 - Carplay/Android Auto w/M.O.S.T *New Model Update*

Steggl wrote

I am really curious if the sound quality is improved? This is very annoying to me, as someone who loves to listen via the Enhanced Premium Sound System of my M3.

I am still puzzled as to why Wireless Carplay via P2000 CIC sounds worse then OEM BT streaming and of course wired USB connection 🤷🏻*♂️ The manufacturer could not explain to me.

Is there a new SoC or DSP in the P3000?

That is indeed weird, they shouldnt really touch the audio sent from the phone apart from some basic resampling.


It makes sense wireless CarPlay sounds worse as over wifi CarPlay streams apples compressed AAC which is lossy, while over usb it sends CD quality audio.

What they did with the MIC is very weird, I can confirm that if you are in the MOST ring you can simply connect to a microphone device on the E90 and get the mic stream, with no need to splice wires or have a seperate connection.

I have been working on getting a raspberry pi in the e90 with a touchscreen and CarPlay, used the PiMOST HAT to connect to the MOST bus.

Steggl wrote

I am really curious if the sound quality is improved? This is very annoying to me, as someone who loves to listen via the Enhanced Premium Sound System of my M3.

I am still puzzled as to why Wireless Carplay via P2000 CIC sounds worse then OEM BT streaming and of course wired USB connection 🤷🏻*♂️ The manufacturer could not explain to me.

Is there a new SoC or DSP in the P3000?

You must have some other issue going on. I really notice streaming wireless carplay to P2000 sounds much better than bluetooth.

Wireless carplay vs. USB I did not notice much difference, but I did not really test side by side

Super fast shipping from Mr12Volt. Ordered 3/19 and arrived today 3/23. As stated in a few earlier posts, this no longer interfaces with the OE quadlock connector, which made the installation a bit faster.

My few initial comments:

1. Audio quality is exceptional. CarPlay over USB provides much better quality over OEM USB audio.
2. Interface switching is faster than P2000, and CarPlay boots up in under 10 seconds.
3. Call quality is excellent. I tested with a few calls and recipients all stated the quality sounds as good as talking directly on an iPhone.

During my install, I decided to wrap the the MOST cable, LVDS cable, and microphone cable with some TESA tape, along with all connectors to prevent rattling from behind the dash.

My only remaining action is to install a backup camera. I bought a few different units and will test each a few times for quality and reliability, before I complete final cable management of the Mr12Volt box and associated harnesses.

A few photos of the packaging and one installed "success" photo:

Matt@Evolve wrote

Just came here to say that the CIC variant has now been released too!

We have one on the way to ourselves currently so can't wait to get it fitted and see what differences it makes over the existing model.

If there's anything specific people want us to test then let me know!

It is of course also available to order through ourselves, or as a bundle with the Induktiv wireless charger here - https://www.evolveautomotive.co.uk/products/mr-12volt-most-bus-bmw-cic-carplay-aa-interface-with-oem-microphone-support-bmw-e8x-1-series-e9x-3-series-e6x-5-series

I've got something I would love to test.

Is the cable that was supplied with the original P2000 and the DSP model that connects to the idrive controller the same on the P3000?

Basically, I'm wondering if I'm upgrading from the original p2000 or the DSP model if I can re-use the idrive controller harness and just plug it into the new p3000 main harness.

I suspect the answer is likely yes, but confirmation would be great.

Being able to re-use the existing p2000 idrive harness would save some time in the install if upgrading from either of those two versions.

drwankel wrote

I've got something I would love to test.

Is the cable that was supplied with the original P2000 and the DSP model that connects to the idrive controller the same on the P3000?

Basically, I'm wondering if I'm upgrading from the original p2000 or the DSP model if I can re-use the idrive controller harness and just plug it into the new p3000 main harness.

I suspect the answer is likely yes, but confirmation would be great.

Being able to re-use the existing p2000 idrive harness would save some time in the install if upgrading from either of those two versions.

From when the OEM microphone option was first included then this microphone connection lead was part of the new main loom, so your old iDrive controller loom (presumably from the Black box, same as the one I've just replaced) wouldn't have this microphone lead included.

So sounds like a no....darn.

finally normal call quality....that alone could be worth the time spent re-wiring...

I have the light blue box (p2000 w/ DSP)

Anyone on the fence of ordering the new generation unit, should do it. Overall the unit has had many quality of life improvements, making it the best Carplay/Android Auto solution on the market still.

Does anyone know of or have a guide to code what I need in preparation for the MR12Volt box? I have a 2007 model with CIC fully retrofitted.

I need to either add or activate the CD changer but also de activate the voice control.

Without reading 100 pages which may or may not have the information needed, could someone tell me how to do it with NCS Expert?

Thanks

Our NBT EVO P3000 unit has arrived, but as of yet still waiting for the CIC one to do back to back testing, along with our first batch of stock.

Thanks to all of you who've placed orders over the weekend!

ruida_silva wrote

Does anyone know of or have a guide to code what I need in preparation for the MR12Volt box? I have a 2007 model with CIC fully retrofitted.

I need to either add or activate the CD changer but also de activate the voice control.

Without reading 100 pages which may or may not have the information needed, could someone tell me how to do it with NCS Expert?

Thanks

From the Mr12Volt CIC P3000 product page:

Important Installation Notes
• The BMW must have OEM Bluetooth hands-free installed in order to use the factory microphone. Otherwise an external microphone is required (not included).

• If a factory CD changer is fitted, it must be disabled or bypassed during installation.

• BMW E-Series platforms:
If no factory CD changer is fitted, no coding is required.

MR12volt automatically activates the CD/MP3 option after successful installation.

So, if you do not have a factory CD changer, no coding or bypassing is required. If you DO have a factory CD changer, you would need to bypass it with the MOST loop provided in the box, or deactivate it using your preferred coding tool.

GORDON.M3 wrote

Anyone on the fence of ordering the new generation unit, should do it. Overall the unit has had many quality of life improvements, making it the best Carplay/Android Auto solution on the market still.

Couldn't agree more. I personally did not own a P2000 box, but did help with a few local installs. All of them experienced issues with the OEM microphone quality. One user went as far as exchanging the microphone with a brand new unit - no dice. It seemed to be Mr12Volt hardware-related, as most others have speculated.

Did a bit of driving yesterday and the new box performs flawlessly. By the time the iDrive screen powers up, the Mr12Volt interface is already on the screen ready for a CarPlay or Android Auto connection.

_cr0001 wrote

From the Mr12Volt CIC P3000 product page:

Important Installation Notes
• The BMW must have OEM Bluetooth hands-free installed in order to use the factory microphone. Otherwise an external microphone is required (not included).

• If a factory CD changer is fitted, it must be disabled or bypassed during installation.

• BMW E-Series platforms:
If no factory CD changer is fitted, no coding is required.

MR12volt automatically activates the CD/MP3 option after successful installation.

So, if you do not have a factory CD changer, no coding or bypassing is required. If you DO have a factory CD changer, you would need to bypass it with the MOST loop provided in the box, or deactivate it using your preferred coding tool.

Sorry, forgot to clarify, I have the P2000 Grey unit. So it will need coding. I have since found a guide on youtube of someone doing it on a Z4 and looks about right with the instructions

DavesZed wrote

From when the OEM microphone option was first included then this microphone connection lead was part of the new main loom, so your old iDrive controller loom (presumably from the Black box, same as the one I've just replaced) wouldn't have this microphone lead included.

Correct. However, in the older setup the idrive controller harness plugged into the main P2000 harness.

So with this new setup- it could be possible the connector from the idrive harness is the same as the old units, and you could just plug in the old idrive harness into the new main harness that has the OEM mic connection. The main harness would be the only thing different here.

There would be no technical reason I could see why they would have changed it. Its just tapping power and canbus after all as far as I know.

Someone else's pic from the original P2000 to help illustrate what I'm talking about. The cabling was the same from the original p2000, the p2000 lite, and the p2000 DSP.

drwankel wrote

Correct. However, in the older setup the idrive controller harness plugged into the main P2000 harness.

So with this new setup- it could be possible the connector from the idrive harness is the same as the old units, and you could just plug in the old idrive harness into the new main harness that has the OEM mic connection. The main harness would be the only thing different here.

There would be no technical reason I could see why they would have changed it. Its just tapping power and canbus after all as far as I know.

Someone else's pic from the original P2000 to help illustrate what I'm talking about. The cabling was the same from the original p2000, the p2000 lite, and the p2000 DSP.

Yeah sorry you confused me a little there, I thought you were thinking of using the complete old loom. Yes as long as they have used the same connection plug for the iDrive Controller (as shown in the new diagram I posted) then it'll work, as you say it's only power and canbus.

Doesn't sound like I can just direct swap out my P2000 box for the P3000? Or can I?

alee0729 wrote

Doesn't sound like I can just direct swap out my P2000 box for the P3000? Or can I?

Doesn't sound like it, they went back to a similar harness to what the light blue untit had + a dedicated aux input (was added with the grey units).

Its possible that if you have a grey one you could keep the quadlock connector and it will still run - but that's a downside as its huge and bulky and makes everything behind the CIC tight.

DavesZed wrote

Yeah sorry you confused me a little there, I thought you were thinking of using the complete old loom. Yes as long as they have used the same connection plug for the iDrive Controller (as shown in the new diagram I posted) then it'll work, as you say it's only power and canbus.

What I guess I'm specifically trying to figure out is if the connectors are the same, and the pinout is the same.

A detailed picture of each side the of the idrive harness to main harness connector with wires would help confirm this. I've got an extra idrive harness from my P2000 DSP I can compare it to.

If it is the same, (which it probably is) there is some time savings in the upgrade install by keeping the previous p2000 idrive harness in place if you are upgrading from the p2000, p2000 lite, or p2000 dsp, as they all used the same idrive harness.

If anybody could snap a picture from their unit before install- that would be very helpful.

ruida_silva wrote

Does anyone know of or have a guide to code what I need in preparation for the MR12Volt box? I have a 2007 model with CIC fully retrofitted.

I need to either add or activate the CD changer but also de activate the voice control.

Without reading 100 pages which may or may not have the information needed, could someone tell me how to do it with NCS Expert?

Thanks

I believe I’ve cracked it, added $672 but also removed $620 for the voice assistant and also removed $694 as that was causing an issue with the CDC and CDMM

Now I have CDMM_changer_ 3 showing mp3_cdc, I have CDC showing as aktive and the SVS showing as nicht_aktive.

Can anyone clarify if that sounds right and looks correct on my screen? Thanks

Thumbie wrote

You must have some other issue going on. I really notice streaming wireless carplay to P2000 sounds much better than bluetooth.

Wireless carplay vs. USB I did not notice much difference, but I did not really test side by side

You should really listen closely and use a great source at the highest bitrate possible like Tidal or Apple Music.

It does not make sense to me but CarPlay has thin and „metallic“ highs, drums miss definition and low-end bass. Overall it sounds like the audio has been badly resampled and/or compressed again.

OEM BT is a lot better and USB is just phenomenal in comparison. Give it a try!

Steggl wrote

You should really listen closely and use a great source at the highest bitrate possible like Tidal or Apple Music.

It does not make sense to me but CarPlay has thin and „metallic“ highs, drums miss definition and low-end bass. Overall it sounds like the audio has been badly resampled and/or compressed again.

OEM BT is a lot better and USB is just phenomenal in comparison. Give it a try!

Lol how come oem BT better than USB? OEM BT horrible….

ruida_silva wrote

I believe I’ve cracked it, added $672 but also removed $620 for the voice assistant and also removed $694 as that was causing an issue with the CDC and CDMM

Now I have CDMM_changer_ 3 showing mp3_cdc, I have CDC showing as aktive and the SVS showing as nicht_aktive.

Can anyone clarify if that sounds right and looks correct on my screen? Thanks

Yes bud, all sounds correct that, although I've not had success doing the Voice removal before, but then I'm using Android Auto so it has a icon on the screen to flick to and press which CarPlay doesn't.

DavesZed wrote

Yes bud, all sounds correct that, although I've not had success doing the Voice removal before, but then I'm using Android Auto so it has a icon on the screen to flick to and press which CarPlay doesn't.

Yep all works and chuffed with it. You can activate Siri on Carplay by pressing and holding the home button in the bottom corner, at least it was with my touchscreen unit on my previous car.

Don't seem to be able to answer calls unless I use the idrive wheel, so not sure if I've done anything wrong, can hang up with the phone button on the steering wheel no problem though. And another observation...

Audio quality isn't any better than when I previously used AUX. Either my AUX system is that good, or it's not a noticeable difference with base audio. Also transfered a song to my CIC HDD and listened to that while switching between it and the AUX and notices no changes, not sure why everyone complains about AUX quality tbh