# iPad Mini 4 and Sony RSX-GS9



## Niebur3 (Jul 11, 2008)

I just posted the update to my build log that shows me installing these both in my 2012 Acura TSX SE

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum...*demo-car*-sq-build-log-dynaudio-sinfoni.html

I thought I'd post more here about my experiences and thoughts with this combo.

Here are the pics installed:



























Overall the setup works really nice together. I am still working on all the settings with the iPad Mini to get it to do everything I'd like. 

With having an iPhone, I was able to get an iPad Mini with only Wifi and use my phone as a hotspot for data. So, Google Maps are available for Navigation (this should be a very handy feature). I also found a few apps that play high resolution files, so I can download them and play them through this app, which mimics iTunes in looks and functionality. I also read that iTune may be making high resolution files available later this year, which would be a huge bonus.

The startup time is super quick and the biggest differences SQ wise I have noticed with the Sony is that the instruments seem better separated and there is more liveliness/energy to the music. I can only relate this to the sound of the liveliness of the Alpine F#1 CDA-7990. I haven't even heard a high resolution file yet and I am giddy with the results (but all head units sound the same, don't they? ). The volume knob screams high quality and the unit is the fastest I have ever used when it comes to changing tracks forward/back or changing radio stations. The Bluetooth sound quality is on par with CD (although the iPad is now connected directly via USB) and it just all seems to work really good.

I have just a few issues that are mainly settings or possibly ones I will have to live with:
1) having to lock the iPad screen after turning off the car 
2) the GS9 loses the Bluetooth connection for the SongPal App when you change the input to USB, meaning I need to use the remote to change any settings like Subwoofer volume instead of the App
3) the center dial is so smooth and high quality, I want to use that instead of the button on my steering wheel 

Okay, that last one isn't really an issue....lol. Overall I am very....no extremely impresses with what Sony put to the market and won't miss for a second hauling around a huge CD case and searching, while driving, for the CD I want.


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## matdotcom2000 (Aug 16, 2005)

7990 hmmmm I would willing to try anything that sounds simular to the 7990...


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

You fell in love with the volume knob as much as I did it seems.


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## Guest (Sep 20, 2016)

Jerry,

Your iPad / GS9 integration looks GREAT !!!

I just realized the GS9 has high-level in capability.... if by chance an OEM unit were wired in high-level to the GS9... would CD / XM Radio / Navi play through the GS9 ???

Thanks


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## #1BigMike (Aug 17, 2014)

Jerry,

Happy to to read you are enjoying the Sony unit. It is pretty damn cool...


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## cmusic (Nov 16, 2006)

Jerry, watch this you tube video of how this guy jail broke his iPad to get it to come on and go off with the vehicle's ignition: https://youtu.be/xAnefHtRr3Y?t=2m48s


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## xxx_busa (May 4, 2009)

Man, I love that h/u, just deciding the best dsp to mate it with !


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## almatias (Nov 16, 2012)

Niebur3 said:


> I have just a few issues that are mainly settings or possibly ones I will have to live with:
> 
> 1) having to lock the iPad screen after turning off the car


Jailbreak -> Activator


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

Planning on an APL1 to go between my Sony & Helix DSP Pro.



xxx_busa said:


> Man, I love that h/u, just deciding the best dsp to mate it with !


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## Elgrosso (Jun 15, 2013)

Niebur3 said:


> I have just a few issues that are mainly settings or possibly ones I will have to live with:
> 1) having to lock the iPad screen after turning off the car
> 2) the GS9 loses the Bluetooth connection for the SongPal App when you change the input to USB, meaning I need to use the remote to change any settings like Subwoofer volume instead of the App
> 3) the center dial is so smooth and high quality, I want to use that instead of the button on my steering wheel


Hum cool... Waiting for mine!
Why is #1 an issue? You want it to instantly go off and not after 2min?


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## gregerst22 (Dec 18, 2012)

Going this route with the sony seems to be the best way to get high res audio in the car right now. I may end up doing this at some point.


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

I would love to add that to my Helix, but I need the dd screen for my reverse camera.


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## gregerst22 (Dec 18, 2012)

How difficult or cumbersome would it be to adjust volume from the ipad app while driving?


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## Niebur3 (Jul 11, 2008)

^^It's pretty easy, although, I just use my steering wheel controls or the volume knob


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## mcintoshi (Feb 22, 2011)

gregerst22 said:


> How difficult or cumbersome would it be to adjust volume from the ipad app while driving?


The volume on the SongPal app is easy to use. It is at the bottom of the screen where the album / song detail is.


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## gregerst22 (Dec 18, 2012)

The volume knob won't be within reach because I'll need put the HU in glove box. How do you link up the steering wheel controls to it.


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## mcintoshi (Feb 22, 2011)

Niebur3 said:


> ^^It's pretty easy, although, I just use my steering wheel controls or the volume knob


The volume knob has such a nice feel to it that I rarely use the app or the remote.


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## Guest (Sep 30, 2016)

I wonder if a USB hub were hooked up to the rear input... would the unit recognize mutiple devices ?

ie. Hub into the rear input... ipad into the hub.... hard drive into the hub.... or for that matter... mutiple hard drives.....

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk


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## speakerman99 (Apr 18, 2016)

SQ_TSX said:


> I wonder if a USB hub were hooked up to the rear input... would the unit recognize mutiple devices ?
> 
> ie. Hub into the rear input... ipad into the hub.... hard drive into the hub.... or for that matter... mutiple hard drives.....
> 
> Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk




I had the same idea, but I'm pretty sure that I read in the manual USB hubs won't work. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Guest (Oct 1, 2016)

Would sure be cool if it did.... I might have to try this out.... Think I have a hub somewhere. ...

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk


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## DLO13 (Oct 24, 2010)

speakerman99 said:


> I had the same idea, but I'm pretty sure that I read in the manual USB hubs won't work.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Typically, devices that allow USB hubs will advertise it.


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## Guest (Oct 1, 2016)

Understood 

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Jerry, that's a slick install!


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## Elgrosso (Jun 15, 2013)

gregerst22 said:


> How difficult or cumbersome would it be to adjust volume from the ipad app while driving?


Diificult and dangerous, clearly not precise. 
So you do have control on the app? I noticed I sometime lost volume control on the phone with certain dac, but kept it with some other.
Always wondered why.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Elgrosso said:


> Diificult and dangerous, clearly not precise.


Agreed entirely. There's no way I'd use the app to control volume. I'd either lean forward to use the headunit or use the remote (or steering wheel controls if connected).


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## Niebur3 (Jul 11, 2008)

Thanks Erin, steering controls work great but it's hard not to use that volume knob. However on the iPad, the controls are much easier to use....much larger. Or you can use the remote if you want. The remote works even with the steering wheels control piece plugged in. I have lots of ways to control volume.....not to add a controller for my processor and I would have yet another way....lol. Is there some award for having so many options for volume???


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## gregerst22 (Dec 18, 2012)

Fortunately I'll have the app running on the iPad which will be within easy reach from my driving position.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

yea. I was talking about control via my iPhone 6s (not plus). 

I tried again this morning with my iPad mini 2 and it's much easier to navigate.


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## gregerst22 (Dec 18, 2012)

Do you have any close up pics of the interface? It looks like the volume buttons are large which is a good thing. I see + and - does it also work by sliding finger across?
Funny thing is I put a Sony MEX-XB100BT in my boat this summer and it uses songPal as well but I only used it to stream audio from my phone and I didn't really pay much attention to anything else. Now that I'm interested in the GS9 I which I had played around with it more but now boats in storage for the winter.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

I've been talking about it over on caraudiojunkies.com. I post mainly over there now... just easier on me than cross posting stuff all over the place. lol

here's a link to that if you're interested. start with post #909 for my latest stuff...
Erin's 2006 Civic Sedan - Page 91


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## gregerst22 (Dec 18, 2012)

Awesome thanks.


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## BMW Alpina (Dec 5, 2012)

Hello Niebur3,

I want to asks some questions:
a. When you connect the iPad to the Sony USB input, do you connect to USB1 or USB2, and does it make a difference in functionality between USB1 and USB2 ?
b. Did the USB connection from the Sony also charge the iPad?
c. Each time you enter your car, did you have to reconnect the WiFi from the iPad to iPhone or it connect automatically?
d. If someone call your iPhone (or you want to making outgoing call from iPhone),
can you do it from the iPad Screen? (meaning you can leave your iPhone inside your pocket all the time)? If yes, how do you do this?
e. if someone text your iPhone (or you want to make outgoing text using siri through your iPhone number) can you do it from the iPad Screen?
f. When you are using Google map or Apple Map or playing music stored on your iPad , can you still accept incoming call from iPhone?

Thanks.


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## Niebur3 (Jul 11, 2008)

See below, although many of your questions are functionality between the iPad and iPhone, nothing to do with the Sony.



BMW Alpina said:


> Hello Niebur3,
> 
> I want to asks some questions:
> a. When you connect the iPad to the Sony USB input, do you connect to USB1 or USB2, and does it make a difference in functionality between USB1 and USB2 ? USB2, no difference I know of
> ...


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## BMW Alpina (Dec 5, 2012)

Niebur3 said:


> See below, although many of your questions are functionality between the iPad and iPhone, nothing to do with the Sony.


Thanks for the answers.

What I want to do is to have an iPad to store my songs and also as large navigation screen and to accept/making phone call. The audio output from the iPad will go into Sony USB input which is perfect since now I know from you that the Sony also charge the iPad.

I heard about the ability to receive/making a phone call that goes to your iPhone number from your iPad, and also to read/sent text message from large iPad screen and it will be shown as it is coming from your iPhone number.

This way, each time I enter my car, I can leave my phone in my pocket,
and any incoming call or outgoing call (or text) will be done from iPad, without touching the iPhone at all.

I just do more research this past hour and I found out this Apple function is called Continuity.
You just have to set both iPhone and iPad on same WiFi network, bluetooth on, login to same iCloud account for both the phone and the facetime.

Problem is, this only work if you have both the iPhone and iPad connected to the same WiFi Network,
but if you are using your iPhone as the hotspot/source for the iPad internet connection, then this don't work at all, since hotspot from iPhone do not count as WiFi Network... (I imagine at least not for the iPhone)...
I just test it, that is how I find out it work if both device connected to my home WiFi, but won't work if the iPad is connected to the iPhone hotspot as source for internet.

so there goes my chance of using the iPad to make/answer phone call that going through my iPhone... unless... 
I buy another device as HotSpot/WiFi router for both iPad and iPhone... in my car...


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## scottrwalters (Jan 3, 2007)

Replying to a thread over two years old . . . 

I've been doing testing integrating an iPad with my Sony for the last couple of months, and I've come to the conclusion to *not* use an iPad for my particular scenario. 

My goals:

1) Steering wheel controls work for activating Siri, volume, and track forward/reverse, album forward/reverse.
2) Voice call integration through the system.
3) Control the Sony with the SongPal App.
4) Play native DSD music into the Micro USB port on the front using the Onkyo player.
5) Spotify
6) Waze w/ turn by turn directions.

Here's a summary of the journey:

1) iPad Pro 9.7 512 with LTE - Get the baddest one they have, right? The 12.9 I know would be too big so went with the Pro. Well, I found it to be be too big as well. I did figure out you can run two iPad apps side by side as part of iOS, pretty awesome. Makes up for the fact the Onkyo app can't do landscape.

2) iPad Mini w/out LTE - Just the little guy without LTE, because I got the iPad to piggy back off my iPhone set as a hot spot. That worked, but as it turns out, the iPad Mini w/out LTE doesn't have true GPS, so you can't do turn by turn directions.

3) iPad Mini w/LTE - Once I figured out the right iPad, I then moved on to all the integration fun.

Things I've learned:

1) This deck is, to quote Josh, "picky."
2) The Sony can't pair with more than one Bluetooth device at once.
3) The front USB1 port can play DSD 2.8 (it converts to PCM from Sony's FAQ). I've tested this with a USB stick and DSD content, it works.
4) The autoconnect feature of the deck to songpal is super annoying but can be disabled via a menu option and firmware 13.
5) The bluetooth connection from the device to the Sony for BT Phone and Audio doesn't mean the connection from the SongPal app and the Sony is there.
4) If you turn off autoconnect, I couldn't get SongPal to see the deck if I launch the app. Not even if I tried the CONNECT feature in the Sony menu. However, if I changed sources from USB1 to USB2, that would "kick the connection in."
5) The on-star integrated kit from axxxess just plain kills power to the HU. Functional but awful. I'd get a call on my iPhone, that would kick in the existing handsfree in the car, and turn off my stereo. 
6) Having a gazillion devices in a car with bluetooth and wifi is a nightmare.
7) When using an iPhone as a hotspot for an iPad to make phone calls it doesn't work. Well, it looks like it works, but the audio is not there. I tested this by getting both my iPhone and iPad on my home network outside my house and then the audio is there. To my chagrin, the call info is not displayed on the iPad when making outbound calls. So I can't mute, nor end the call. My assumption is the Hotspot does use Wifi, but bridged so the devices really aren't on the same WiFi network.
8) Apple car play, while dumbed down, is a FAR superior integrated experience than the SQ "picky" Sony. I had a rental with it and it just plain worked.
9) When plugging into the USB1 or USB2 ports with iPhone or iPad, the deck controls work for all the apps: Spotify, Apple Music, Onkyo Player.
10) Obvious but will state it anyway, when using the iPad or iPhone to the USB DAC, none of the above controls work. 
11) Getting a charge via the USB camera kit seemed finicky for the iPad.
12) I couldn't figure out a way to have my iPad automatically join my iPhone hot spot and had to manually do it every time.
13) When I setup the iPad, it learned all my wireless networks, which in theory is cool, but not when some wifi networks have MAC address filtering on it, so it joins, but doesn't work.
14) The iPads seem to be designed to hold in your hands to use. Jabbing and swiping at it was not pleasant.
15) The screen size of an iPhone is adequate for Waze, Spotify, and texts.
16) Using my iPhone by itself with the Sony is by far the best integrated experience. 

Pros
*Not having to make two Apple devices and the Sony play nice together.
Phone calls work beautifully over BT PHONE, sound comes out of Sony, input mic into Sony. Whatever music playing is paused and when the call ends, the music begins to play again.
*All iPhones have true GPS so Waze gets turn by turn.
*The iPhones have much greater storage capacity (512 now) than the iPad Mini (128 only).
*Much easier install.
*Cheaper
*One less place to keep my music snychronized to.

Cons
*Will be a manual effort to go between USB1 and USB DAC for play back. I have very little DSD music, nor does what I listen to really come out in that format. So I'll listen to my music from Spotify (Extreme), ripped redbook CDs, and HiRes PCM mostly. I'm fine with that, and can break out the DSD for special occasions 
*iPhones, as large as they are, don't have the screen size of an iPad. When I had the iPad Pro, it's like my Caddy became a Tesla.
* I'll have to manually get my phone out of my pocket and plug it in or dock it. I was so fed up with the integration at one point was ready to so say eff this deck, I'll just get a wireless Apple Car Play deck. Then my SQ senses came to me.

The iPads are gorgeous and for just controlling the Sony and doing play back are awesome. It seems my requirement for hands free calling through the Sony forces me to iPhone only with this deck.

I'm OK with this but would love to know if anyone has figured out a better way to make all this gear play nice together.

-Scott


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## SkizeR (Apr 19, 2011)

Glad to see your testing is pretty much done(?). My conclusions on this unit are this.. i will only install it if its for someone who is batshit crazy over SQ. Anyone less can live with something like a kenwood 995s.


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## BMW Alpina (Dec 5, 2012)

scottrwalters said:


> My goals:
> 
> 2) Voice call integration through the system.
> 
> ...



Hello Scott,
I think the key to make you able to accept phone call and make phone call from your iPad is using:
Apple Continuity:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204681


In order to do this, you need a SEPARATE Wi-Fi source where both your iPad and iPhone will connect too that Wi-Fi. I think Cadilac have Wi-Fi module as option, right?
or you can buy Wi-Fi module from Verizon or AT&T.


Here is copy and paste from Apple Support:

*Set up iPhone Cellular Calls*

_Use iPhone Cellular Calls with any Mac, iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch that meets the Continuity system requirements. It works when your devices are near each other and set up as follows:_


_Each device is signed in to iCloud with the same Apple ID._
_Each device is signed in to FaceTime with the same Apple ID._
_Each device has Wi-Fi turned on._
_Each device is connected to the same network using Wi-Fi or Ethernet._
_On iPhone, go to Settings > Phone > Calls on Other Devices, then turn on Allow Calls on Other Devices._
_On iPad or iPod touch, go to Settings > FaceTime, then turn on Calls from iPhone._
_On Mac, open the FaceTime app, then choose FaceTime > Preferences. Click Settings, then select Calls From iPhone._


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## scottrwalters (Jan 3, 2007)

Thanks for the suggestion.

Yes, I have tried this setup because I was considering a MiFi as the way to get around the issues I was seeing. I tested this control: On my home network where both my iPhone and iPad are on the same wireless network, Continuity works beautifully. I can use Siri on the iPad to "Call Apple." Phone interface comes up automatically on the iPad, uses my iPhone for the call, comes out the speaker and uses mic of iPad.

I then move to my car (close enough to where both are on my home wireless). I have my iPad connected to the Sony via Bluetooth and not my iPhone. It intermittently works. Sometimes Siri listens, sometimes not. Sometimes the call goes through, sometimes not. It seems to me that the Sony isn't really expecting an iPad for phone calls/voice commands when connected via Bluetooth. 

I wish it worked more solidly, but the Sony has proven to be consistently "picky" so I am going with fewer moving parts to eliminate places where it can be upset. Perhaps others have a different experience, but without a doubt: I have had the most consistent experience making phone calls, controlling the Sony, and playing back music through my Apple device, when *only using a single Apple device*.

Since the phone call integration is a requirement, that means my single Apple device is the iPhone. 

-Scott


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