Kensington LiquidAUX: Bluetooth Version (Bluetooth music streaming?)

MBHockey · 08-16-2008, 04:59 PM

Hey all,

I'm having some trouble determining if the Kensington Bluetooth Car Kit uses bluetooth to stream music from the iPhone to the charger. When I say charger in this post, i mean the Kensington piece that plugs directly into the cigarette lighter outlet.

I have an aux-in port in my car stereo, and I love having my iPhone 3G hardwired. Currently, it sits in a ProClip swivel mount with a standard 3.5 mm audio cable running from the iPhone's headphone jack and into the aux-in on my stereo...but it's a problem for me when I have to pick up the phone since I have to disconnect the 3.5 mm audio cable and then hit the screen to answer the call (when my music is playing). The handset mic is disabled when the 3.5 mm cord is in the headphone jack (presumably because the iPhone then thinks you have your Apple-supplied earbuds connected which has its own built-in mic) so hands free calling is not possible with my current setup.

So, the Kensington product seems to be a good solution. But I do not want it if the music from my iPhone is first sent via Bluetooth to the Kensington charger and then sent from the 3.5 mm audio cable from the charger to my aux-in port because then it isn't hardwired anymore.

I cannot discern if this is the way the product works, or if it works by just sending the iPhone's music audio out on the standard USB charger cord (that you must supply; it does not come with one) so that it is wired directly into the charger. I really want it to work this way and be a fully hardwired solution.

There's a few things I don't understand here:

1. Does the regular USB dock connector cord allow audio to be sent over it? I'm not sure if this is even possible, or if you might need a different "special" dock connector cord which allows audio to be sent over it.

2. Can the iPhone even send audio via Bluetooth in stereo? If it can't, i guess this would be a definitive answer that the Kensington product must not work via Bluetooth streaming (from iPhone to cigarette charger)...right?

3. And lastly -- the most confusing fact -- Kensington does not supply the USB charger cord with this makes me think it must be able to still work with your iPhone's music without this cord. This would mean it'd HAVE to be sent via Bluetooth from the phone to the charger, and then out the auxiliary cord.

If anyone can help me untangle this web of massive confusion I've weaved myself into over the past two days while trying to find a good charger/aux out all in one unit, it'd be greatly appreciated.

Hawk · 02-23-2009, 09:44 AM

Originally Posted by MBHockey

Hey all,

I'm having some trouble determining if the Kensington Bluetooth Car Kit uses bluetooth to stream music from the iPhone to the charger. When I say charger in this post, i mean the Kensington piece that plugs directly into the cigarette lighter outlet.

I have an aux-in port in my car stereo, and I love having my iPhone 3G hardwired. Currently, it sits in a ProClip swivel mount with a standard 3.5 mm audio cable running from the iPhone's headphone jack and into the aux-in on my stereo...but it's a problem for me when I have to pick up the phone since I have to disconnect the 3.5 mm audio cable and then hit the screen to answer the call (when my music is playing). The handset mic is disabled when the 3.5 mm cord is in the headphone jack (presumably because the iPhone then thinks you have your Apple-supplied earbuds connected which has its own built-in mic) so hands free calling is not possible with my current setup.

So, the Kensington product seems to be a good solution. But I do not want it if the music from my iPhone is first sent via Bluetooth to the Kensington charger and then sent from the 3.5 mm audio cable from the charger to my aux-in port because then it isn't hardwired anymore.

I cannot discern if this is the way the product works, or if it works by just sending the iPhone's music audio out on the standard USB charger cord (that you must supply; it does not come with one) so that it is wired directly into the charger. I really want it to work this way and be a fully hardwired solution.

There's a few things I don't understand here:

1. Does the regular USB dock connector cord allow audio to be sent over it? I'm not sure if this is even possible, or if you might need a different "special" dock connector cord which allows audio to be sent over it.

2. Can the iPhone even send audio via Bluetooth in stereo? If it can't, i guess this would be a definitive answer that the Kensington product must not work via Bluetooth streaming (from iPhone to cigarette charger)...right?

3. And lastly -- the most confusing fact -- Kensington does not supply the USB charger cord with this makes me think it must be able to still work with your iPhone's music without this cord. This would mean it'd HAVE to be sent via Bluetooth from the phone to the charger, and then out the auxiliary cord.

If anyone can help me untangle this web of massive confusion I've weaved myself into over the past two days while trying to find a good charger/aux out all in one unit, it'd be greatly appreciated.

I just found this today ( it's not widely advertised when searching for iPhone care solutions) and I too am very interested in this setup.
The way I read the Kensington site, you pair your phone to the unit via BT, and then from there, you can connect to your stereo with the AUX inline connection. While this is great for Hands free calling, not a great music solution, since the iPhone doesn't support stereo BT.
I was really excited about this until I realized the drawbacks.

sleeks · 03-19-2009, 12:56 AM

I have the regular liquid aux and love it. I am an employee of ACCO Brands (of which Kensington is a part of), but I still had to pay for this thing myself.

Unfortunately, I don't have the BT version.

I have a proclip mount with a pass through dock. The liquid aux connects to the pass through with a dock connector. The dock connector cable goes into the cig. lighter charger. And there is a second cable that comes out of the cig. lighter charger, which plugs into your cars MP3 jack.

I can slide the phone in and out of the proclip holder without having to attach any extra cables (no headphone jack cable) and its charging/ready to play music.

stuykid89 · 05-22-2009, 11:02 PM

hey guys. i have the liquidaux as well, but seem to run into problems when i try to have it stream music from my iphone 3G. Does anyone know how to "activate" this function, so to speak?

Thanks in advance.

lfsnz67 · 06-07-2009, 03:32 PM

Originally Posted by stuykid89

hey guys. i have the liquidaux as well, but seem to run into problems when i try to have it stream music from my iphone 3G. Does anyone know how to "activate" this function, so to speak?

Thanks in advance.

Hopefully this will be solved when 3.0 permits music streaming over bluetooth...

mittenman · 09-24-2009, 10:26 PM

Bumping this thread to see if anyone is using the BT Liquid Aux yet. Looking into one and want to be sure it works like I hope it does.

lfsnz67 · 09-24-2009, 11:29 PM

I have the bluetooth liquid aux but I'm not using it until Apple fixes the music streaming bugs. You can use play/pause but you cannot skip forward or back using a bluetooth device. This is apples problem, not Kensington's...

mittenman · 09-24-2009, 11:33 PM

Originally Posted by lfsnz67

I have the bluetooth liquid aux but I'm not using it until Apple fixes the music streaming bugs. You can use play/pause but you cannot skip forward or back using a bluetooth device. This is apples problem, not Kensington's...

so it streams stereo music fine though? And how does the phone work via Bluetooth? Good call quality, and can people bear you fine?

mittenman · 10-20-2009, 03:35 PM

Still on the fence about this, anyone got any more input?

lfsnz67 · 10-20-2009, 10:19 PM

Hi,

The LiquidAux bluetooth has a few problems. You cannot skip forward or back (due to the iPhone, not the LiquidAux). You cannot adjust the volume, and in my system at least it's way too quiet. This makes the audio very noisy, better than FM, but worse than aux input. These two factors also make the steering wheel remote very useless. All it does is play/pause. Others have said that the phone quality going out is OK.

I would pass...