There seems to be a general dearth of reviews when it comes to Parrot MK6000, and I decided to remedy the situation somewhat by ordering one and writing a review of my own. Executive summary: It mostly works.
It took the good folks at MobileCityOnline.com less than 24 hours to ship my MK6000, and two days later I was already making calls and listening to music. The most prominent element of the set is a soapbox-sized blue box (it’s actually labeled “blue box”), which apparently contains the computer that runs the entire system. The control panel, microphone array, and the wire harness that connects to the car’s power and speakers all plug neatly into that box. Installation was a snap, since I happen to have ISO-compliant radio connections in my car. Those of you who are not so lucky (mostly, my fellow Americans) will have to buy an “ISO kit” fit for their vehicle.
I turned the ignition key, and a few seconds later (some time needed for the device to boot, I guess) the Parrot MK6000 started speaking to me. “Please, pair device” - it insisted. I complied, and my WIZA100 (Cingular 8125) soon reported “Parrot MK6000v1.00a”. The device offered “Wireless Stereo” and “Hands Free” profiles, and I checked both. Next I hit the green button on the Parrot’s control panel, and was delighted to hear Voice Command’s familiar chime through my car’s speakers. I spoke the name of a contact, and was soon having a conversation with Cingular’s “Voice Connect” service. So, headset functionality – check! It wasn’t until the next day that I discovered a few bugs in the phone interface – like if the Parrot user presses “hang up” (red button), but the remote party manages to hang up meanwhile, the interface locks up and the only way to recover is to reboot. Unfortunately, that requires turning the ignition off. :-( The few people I spoke with reported good voice quality and lack of background noise, up to the point of not believing that I was driving during the test calls.
But I wasn’t just looking for a glorified headset. The real power of the carkit is in being one of the very few products of this type to support A2DP and AVRCP Bluetooth profiles. So, as you can expect, as soon as I hung up my first test call, I hit the green button again and said “START POCKET PLAYER”. I had already verified that PP3’s A2DP and AVRCP support works with my Plantronics Pulsar 590A, and the Parrot performed just as well – the blue PLAY/PAUSE button lit up, and as soon as I hit it, the “NEXT/PREV” buttons also started glowing blue. The music boomed from the vehicle’s speakers. Success!
Or so it seemed. Later I discovered that if a phone call arrives (or is placed) during music playback, after the call is completed the music starts skipping. There is a “pop”, then a second or so of silence, and then the playback continues. Pressing “STOP” (press and hold the PLAY/PAUSE button for 2 seconds) and “PLAY” a few time seems to cure that malady in most cases.
The set automatically downloads Pocket PC’s address book, and then announces the callers by name, using a more or less decent TTS engine. It also allows voice dialing by recording voice tags, but I never bothered with that “feature” – Voice Command works just fine. There are quite a few other features, like dialing DTMF with the rotary knob (turn, listen, if it is the right digit – press), selecting contact with the same knob, etc. I wasn’t particularly interested in those, and I don’t think they would be of great interest to the readers of this forum, either.
Test setup:
Cingular 8125 with Molski.biz 2.26.10.2 ROM (Carrier: AT&T)
Microsoft Voice Command 1.60
Conduits Pocket player 3.01
1998 Mercedes-Benz ML-320 with stock radio
The good:
-Almost all features work (more or less)
-Easy installation
-Allows use of phone-based voice recognition
-Decent voice quality
-Decent power levels (loud enough)
The bad:
-Phone calls screw-up playback (that may be media player’s, or Wizard’s fault, but I tried three different players and the same thing kept happening)
-The “magic words” (permanently-on, Parrot-based voice command set, originally meant to allow users to place and hangup calls without toughing any buttons at all) do not survive the first reboot.
-Easily gets confused about the state of the phone.
-No reset button! (Rebooting, which is needed often is only possible by turning the ignition, and thus the vehicle off)
All-in-all, I’m happy with the device, and I don’t regret spending $180 on it. I hope that the next firmware release will fix most of the bugs and will make the Parrot what it was intended to be in a first place – the ultimate integration between phone, media player, and vehicle. I would recommend this kit to Bluetooth and Pocket PC enthusiasts, the rest would be better off with what their vehicles already have.
Mike.
Hi Mike,
Now that you've been using the MK6000 for almost a month, do you still like it?
I have a 2002 Jeep Liberty Limited with the stock radio with CD changer in the rear. I have an aftermarket box attached to the ISO port on the back of the radio to give me an AUX line in (purchased from Circuit CIty, I cannot remember the exact make/model). I am not sure if this is an amplified audio system, but I've heard the MK6000 has some issues if you are using an amplified system. The two front speakers in my Liberty are right on the left and right sides of the dashboard, so I'm not sure if this will cause echoes.
Right now I use use my Cingular GSM Treo 650 with the Seidio G4100M CAR KIT.
This allows me to run the Tom Tom Navigator software on my Treo for use as a GPS. All of the sound comes out of the car's speakers, or I can turn up the sound on the cradle to get the sound out of the cradle itself.
The annoying thing about the Seidio cradle is that while driving around I occasionally hear a lot of feedback from the cradle itself, even when I am not currently in a call. I suspect its something to do with interference from the phone and the built-in speaker on the Seidio cradle. I sometimes notice the same effect in my office if I have my phone charging on my desk and it is close to the speaker on my desktop phone.
The other issue I have is that a lot of people have complained that they hear an echo of themselves while I am talking to them using the handsfree microphone (which is attached to the driver's side visor).
I'm hoping that the MK6000 would solve the echo issue, and I've been assured by Parrot Tech support that audio streaming DOES work with the Treo 650 if I run a software product called Softick Audio Gateway to get the A2DP.
But before I drop $180 on the MK6000, plus anothe $50 on the ISO harness, I want to make sure this will be better than my current echoey situation.
Unfortunately I can't seem to find any reviews.
Thanks
-Brett
Mike, thanks for the great review! This is exactly the kind of review I was looking for, complete with the important Voice Command functionality (hate to spend $200 only to loose that). A couple of questions:
(1) To clarify the speaker hookup for the MK6000, with the ISO connectors, the stereo's volume does nothing and only the MK6000's dial controls volume, correct? (Assuming you're using ISO instead of line-in.)
(2) Using ISO hookups, can you listen to the radio or CD and have the the MK6000 automatically mute the car stereo when placing/receiving a call?
(3) Does the MK6000 stream ALL audio from the 8125 (e.g., Voice Command's caller ID, GPS voice directions)? Or do you need something like btaudio?
(4) Finally, I know there's a new 1.01b update available. Have you tried it and did it solve the lockup or skipping issues?
Again, thanks for the great review!
--Bennett
hello,
I have installed this parrot to me, have a trinity, and it does not do mas that to give me problems. With the wm sometimes the music is listened skippingly. I have to use another breeding player. And since(as,like) it happens to me to open the tomtom I have to forget the music since itgoes skippingly constant. Has someone some experience or suggestion to on this? Thank you
Well, based on this review that Voice Command worked over the MK6000, I bought a MK6000 and got a wiring harness from www.parrotkits.com for my 2004 Honda Element EX. Altogether cost me $215.
Unfortunately, my experience with the MK6000 has been entirely negative. But before I get into that, let me explain how the Parrot installation actually works, since I could find nothing about this online.
The MK6000 uses connects between your car's power and car radio and then again between the radio's speaker outputs and your speakers. In Europe (where Parrot is located), all cars have standardized ISO connectors, which the MK6000 matches. In America, every manufacturer has different connectors; hence the need for the wiring harness to convert our bastardized American connectors to ISO. Since the MK6000 sits between your radio and the speakers, it doesn't matter what your radio is set to--FM, AM, CD, XM, whatever--the MK6000 can cut in and feed your calls or music through your stereo speakers. Your radio volume has no effect on the MK6000, which controls its volume independently via its dial. If your radio a mute input, the MK6000 can automatically mute your radio. I don't understand why it's needed since the standard MK6000 connection routes the radio's speaker output through the MK6000 and thus the MK6000 could easily mute them internally. Even if you use the alternative line-in connections, there's no need to mute the radio since your radio would have to be set to your line-in input where the MK6000 would be located. I guess maybe to also mute other radio outputs like line-out?
Regardless, Honda Elements (and possibly all Hondas?) do not have a mute and the MK6000 does not mute the speaker inputs internally. Thus, when I receive a call, I have to manually turn down the radio's volume. A minor annoyance, but not really necessary in my case because the MK6000 blares over my speakers even on its lowest volume setting. Apparently, the Honda Element EX models have a downstream amp to which the MK6000 feeds its [already amplified?] output. So unless I'm blasting music from my radio, the MK6000 will easily overpower it.
Not that I could blast music from my radio because after installing the MK6000, my car radio plays at about 1/3 its original volume, which I suppose is mainly because my rear speakers are no longer working. Well, that's not entirely true. They do come on whenever the MK6000 kicks in, but only to spew forth loud annoying static. I disconnected the MK6000 speakers and connected the wiring harness back into itself, and the rear speakers worked and the radio played at regular volume. Thus, I know the radio and wiring harness are working, and the problem is with the MK6000 itself, which apparently doesn't transmit to all 4 speakers. Well, maybe it only transmits to 2 speakers for its prompts and phone conversations but for streaming music it uses all 4 channels? That doesn't make much sense, but I couldn't test that out yet until I resolved the next issue.
Wizards don't stream music via Bluetooth despite official ROMs that add A2DP. Thus, you have to void your phone's warranty by unlocking your phone and upgrading to an unofficial ROM that can actually stream. This has been heavily documented in the Wizard forums (and even the lame Parrot forums) and I was prepared for it. However, I wanted to try it out before I voided my phone warranty, and sure enough it did not work on my Cingular 8125 with the latest ROM. So I spent the night unlocking my phone and upgrading to Xplore 1.1.
I also tried to upgrade the MK6000 firmware from 1.00a to the latest 1.01c to see if that would resolve any issues. You need a Bluetooth laptop to do it (can't use your Bluetooth phone/PDA), and I was unsuccessful all night getting it to upgrade. Kept failing on file 2 of 3 with no explanation why. I finally got it to flash the next day by using the version without Text-to-Speech, which has the added benefit of no longer automatically downloading my phonebook. BTW, the MK6000 upgrade manual from the Parrot website spends the first third of the manual describing how to upgrade the MK6000 via a serial cable, an option available for some other Parrot products but is not available on the MK6000. How bad is it when a company doesn't even know its own product?
In addition to all these problems, I now have an annoying high-pitched whine coming from my speakers that follows my engine RPM. It's present as long the MK6000 has power going to it, even when the speaker connection to the MK6000 is bypassed.
So, as I said, my experience with the MK6000 has been entirely negative:
1. Radio plays at 1/3 original volume.
2. Rear speakers don't work or spew forth static.
3. No radio mute.
4. MK6000 too loud.
5. Engine whine from speakers.
6. Wizard flash to unofficial ROM required.
Currently, I have removed my MK6000 and I'm looking at the alternative MK6000 wiring that uses the line-in wires instead of speaker connections. This should resolve issues 1-4 and possibly 5, but the latter may require a filter on the power leads. I'm hoping to insert the MK6000 between the my Element's built-in Aux port and radio, which requires cutting my factory wires. Ideally, I'm hoping to build a small circuit so that the Aux port will still work (hate to loose functionality) but the MK6000 can override it using its mute cable. However, that's all pipe dreams right now. Currently, I'm out over $200 and have nothing to show for it.
Tom Tom
Can anyone possibly please tell me how to get Tom Tom to work with the Parrott MK6000 and my QTEK 9100. I have tried Btaudio but then it doesn't intergrate with the radio - I only want it to shut the radio off when it wants to give a direction not the whole time.
Any suggestions please!
Parrot MK6000 Review Update (Part 1)
I wanted to give a follow up to my previous post. In addition to the MK6000, I've included some extra info to explain the nuances of A2DP for people who are diving into A2DP for the first time (like I was). After a lengthy and troubled install, I'm happy to finally have the MK6000 installed and working. However, had I known back then what I know now, I never would have bought it.
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PRICE/VALUE
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I had been eyeing the MK6000 for a long time, but couldn't find any reviews until mpd's post. The biggest deterrent to me was the price, which lists at $250, and has street prices around $200. In addition, Americans will need a $50 wiring harness because our car radios don't have the standardized European ISO connectors. In comparison, the iTech R35 has the same functionality as the MK6000 (but connects via 3.5mm headphone jack) and costs only $50 street--the same as the MK6000's wiring harness alone. Another option is to replace your car stereo with an A2DP unit. The Sony MEX-BT2500 is a Bluetooth car stereo with all the capabilities of the MK6000, but also is a full blown car stereo with a radio and MP3/WMA CD player, and it lists for $180 or about $150 street. So, for $200-$250, I expect the MK6000 to work flawlessly.
To put the cost into perspective, consider car buying. If the iTech was a $20,000 Honda Element, comparatively that would make the Sony MEX-BT2500 a $60,000 385HP 155MPH Porsche Cayenne S and would make the MK6000 a $100,000 500HP 171MPH Porsche Cayenne Turbo. Unfortunately, the MK6000 is no Porsche.
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MK6000 INSTALL
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Let me explain some things I learned since my previous post. As I stated, I tried the "normal" installation first. With the normal installation, the radio's speaker output goes through the MK6000, and the MK6000 drives the speakers. When the MK6000 activates, it grounds the mute line, which tells the radio to mute itself. However, if your radio has no mute line (like Hondas), the radio doesn't mute. And despite the fact that the radio feeds through the MK6000 and the MK6000 is telling the radio to mute, the MK6000 only mixes its own audio with the radio input. WTF? Why didn't Parrot mute the incoming audio internally, too? It's trivial electrically...even I did it as described later, and I failed Electrical Engineering three times! This is what my $200 bought me? I have to manually turn down my radio?
Also, the MK6000 feeds phone calls to the front speakers only. I don't understand their thinking with this either. Why not power all the speakers so I can hear the other party better? If you don't want people in the backseat to hear, then don't use a speaker phone! A2DP supposedly plays to all four speakers with the normal installation, but I didn't get A2DP working on my phone before switching to the alternate installation.
Anyone who has a downstream amp (even factory-installed amp for your factory radio, like me), will have to use the "alternate" installation using the MK6000's line-output instead of the ISO speaker connections. The reason is that the MK6000 outputs are "speaker-level" (high-power, high-noise), not "preamp-level" (low-power, low-noise). You can't mix-and-match these; they're incompatible. One way seems extremely loud (e.g., the MK6000's high-power output to an amp's low-power input) and the other extremely quiet (my radio's low-power output to the MK6000's high-power input). Hence why the MK6000 blasted through my speakers but my radio was barely audible.
One positive of the alternate installation (maybe the only positive?) is that calls go to all speakers, not just the front. Weeee.
However, there is a huge problem to consider with the alternate installation. The MK6000 powers on when you turn on your ignition and connects to your phone as a hands-free headset. In the normal installation, whether your radio is on or not is irrelevant because the MK6000 powers the speakers itself. However, with the alternate installation, you have to ensure your radio is on and its source input is set to the MK6000, otherwise you have no way to tell when you're receiving an incoming call except by looking directly at the MK6000 to see if its lights are flashing, but the lights are hard to see in direct light. If you modify the MK6000 wiring so it powers on with the radio instead of the ignition, then at least the MK6000 isn't intercepting calls when the radio is off, but that still doesn't solve the problem of switching the radio to the MK6000 source, so you still won't hear incoming calls automatically.
Fortunately for me, my Honda Element has a "Remote On" power lead and a 3.5mm auxiliary port with a detection circuit. The detection circuit automatically switches my radio to Aux input when something is first plugged in and switches back to the original source when unplugged. Most car radios will have the Remote On, many will have some sort of auxiliary input, but very few will have a way to switch sources like the detection circuit does.
What I did was beyond what most people would attempt (even professional installers), but suffice to say I installed a 4PDT automotive relay triggered by the MK6000's mute that automatically switches my radio to Aux and replaces the aux port audio with the MK6000 line-out. For those interested, I'll post the specifics of my particular installation in the more relevant Element Owner's Club forums after I draw out my final circuit diagrams and get the pictures and write-up together. The relatively minor downside to this method is that there is a delay before the MK6000/relay/radio each complete their part of the switchover, so I miss the first 1-2 seconds when the MK6000 is first activated (e.g., I rarely hear the first Voice Command tones).
Next, I connected the MK6000's ignition (on) wire to my radio's Remote On wire. Thus, the MK6000 should power on/off with my radio. I say "should" because the MK6000 frequently locks up and refuses to power off, particularly after I'd made or received a call. More than once I have received phone calls and had my MK6000 answer it, even though my car was off and back in a parking lot or my garage. I think this might be a "feature" for the normal installation to keep you from dropping your phone call in case you turn off your car. Even so, I tested several cases where the MK6000 stayed on, and even when I turned off my phone's Bluetooth and powered it off via soft-reset so I'm sure there's no connection, the damn MK6000 still wouldn't power off. So this is probably a bug instead. I was able to irregularly power off the locked up MK6000 by randomly pressing buttons, primarily by simultaneously pressing the Talk and End buttons (but don't hold them longer than 3 seconds or else you'll wipe the MK6000's memory).
To remedy the power off problem, I connected the MK6000 constant power to my radio's Remote On. Now I can reset the MK6000 just by turning my radio off/on. Plus this ensures the MK6000 is off when my radio is off and thus can't intercept my calls when there's nowhere to output the sound. Originally, I connected the MK6000's constant power to my ignition, so I was sure the MK6000 is off when I leave the car. However, after a couple of lockups while driving down the highway where I couldn't turn off my ignition, I ultimately changed to the Remote On.
I think mpd is only able to power off his locked up MK6000 because his ignition and constant power lines are switched. Apparently some cars have these ISO leads reversed. According to the manual, if you don't hear the MK6000 say "Goodbye" when you turn off your car, you're supposed to switch these wires. I recommend just the opposite because when the MK6000 locks up, it ignores the on/off wire. Then, the only way to power it off is to either disconnect your battery (have your radio anti-theft codes handy) or dismantle your dash to disconnect the MK6000 power connector directly.
Another problem I had was the obnoxious engine whine through my speakers whenever the MK6000 was active. During phone calls, it was so bad that I often had trouble hearing the other party. Note that I spliced the MK6000 directly into my radio's power connections. Thus, it has the exact same power and ground as my radio, and my radio doesn't have noise problems. Fortunately, I solved this by placing a $4 noise filter on the power line to the MK6000 (Parts Express #265-042). Virtually every car radio has a power filter built-in these days. Again, the MK6000 is no Porsche.
Not to brag, but I think my installation is the best possible installation (albeit one of the most difficult and the result of a lot of dumb luck): my MK6000 comes on automatically like a normal installation, I have calls and audio to all 4 speakers like an alternate installation, and I can reset the locked up MK6000 by simply turning the radio off/on.
Parrot MK6000 Review Update (Part 2)
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WIZARD UPGRADES
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Let me start off by correcting a statement in my previous post. You don't have to unlock your phone and upgrade to an unofficial ROM. After much reading (XDA-developers has SO much information it's like finding a needle in a haystack), I found that you can install a tiny little CAB file and get A2DP--just search for "zoA2DP" or "Tornado_A2DP". Of course, by this time, I had already unlocked and flashed my phone to WM6 (X-Plore 1.1) and I was able to stream to the MK6000. However, with WM6, I was loosing at least 90% of my calls and encountered WiFi issues (both documented Wizard/WM6 problems with various solutions), so I downgraded back to Cingular's latest and installed zoA2DP. Also able to stream. Ultimately, I settled on Faria's WM5 AKU3.3v2. It has great features and seems the most stable of the three I tested.
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A2DP/AVRCP MEDIA PLAYERS
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To my knowledge, there are only five Pocket PC media players that support AVRCP: (1) Windows Media Player, (2) Conduits Pocket Player, (3) PocketMind PocketMusic, (4) MortPlayer, and (5) iPlay. I also read that TCPMP "partially" supports AVRCP, but I never got it to work.
Windows Media Player: It's free and already installed. Supports plugins. Unfortunately, it skips like crazy over A2DP. Plus there's no bookmarking, which I need for audiobooks.
Conduits Pocket Player 3.2: This is the one I'm currently using. Under WM6, AVRCP wouldn't work and DSP slowed it to a crawl. Worked with my standard Cingular ROM, but skipped regularly over A2DP. However, works great with Faria's ROM. Huge plugin library. Bookmarks. Crossfade/gapless. Extensive key mapping (including press for prev/next, hold for rewind/FF mapping--don't understand why all players don't do this). However, you can't map the slider if you have Smartskey running. The menus are difficult to navigate because everything is buried several levels deep. The screen buttons are small, and some are so tiny (like random and repeat) that they're hard to press even with a stylus. Also, by default, Pocket Player reads all the music on your device and starts building its own internal database in its install directory, which rapidly gobbles your device's memory (my DB grows to 28M in a matter of seconds). You can move it or disable auto scanning, but the very first time you launch Pocket Player it's a race to open the options, go to the last tab, scroll down a lengthy list of advanced settings, double-click the database location setting, and move it to your storage card before all your RAM is used up and your phone screeches to a halt. Pocket Player is also the only one I found that doesn't need to have the A2DP connection established before starting the player and can reconnect to A2DP after a lost connection. You can even specify A2DP as the output source (Options... > Advanced tab > Output Wave Device) and Pocket Player will automatically make the A2DP connection. However, if the MK6000 is off, this feature will lockup your phone and you have to soft-reset.
PocketMind PocketMusic 4.3.4: I bought PocketMusic years ago and was surprised to find it currently supports AVRCP since this isn't documented anywhere. No skipping. Good car screen. Bookmarks. Crossfade/gapless. Nice menu structure. Unfortunately, development seems nonexistent. Other than AVRCP support, I don't know of any new features in several years. No plugin support. Key-mapping allows you to specify exactly which buttons can be locked and/or used in the background, which no one else does. However, this doesn't work like its supposed to--some buttons' default actions don't work even if you don't have the button mapped; some work in the background, others don't. Also, if you map the DPad, you can't use the DPad anywhere else in the application (e.g., to navigate menus). I contacted PocketMind about the DPad problem years ago and they said they couldn't do anything about it. As a programmer myself, I know it's possible...they're just lazy.
MortPlayer 3.31RC7: This is my favorite. Plethora of options--I particularly like its ability to set the system volume when it starts/closes. Its interface is by far the easiest to use one-handed or while driving. Best of all, it's free (donations). However, MortPlayer gets confused when I receive a call while playing music. After the call ends, it loses the Bluetooth stream and plays through the phone speakers. One of my favorite MP3s won't play in it (but plays in all the other players). Worst of all, it starts successfully about 1 out 3 times for me; the other times I get the opening screen, but it's frozen. This is a release candidate, so maybe these issues will get resolved by the final release.
iPlay: This reportedly has the lowest CPU usage of ALL players--A2DP/AVRCP or not. However, numerous people report being blocked from the author's site, and if you can get to it, there's no mention a price, a way to buy it, or even a screenshot. Not worth his time to promote on his own site, not worth my time to test. (I have since learned that it costs $30, most people who have tried it love it, and almost everyone dislikes the author.)
Parrot MK6000 Review Update (Part 3)
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FUNCTIONALITY
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After all my installation nightmares, I was positively thrilled to finally have A2DP music streaming. But my elation was quickly replaced by disappointment.
The A2DP connection is so finicky and fragile. I ASS-U-MEd A2DP would simply stream all sound from your phone over Bluetooth. This isn't the case. You have follow specific steps in a specific order to get apps to use A2DP. First of all, the MK6000 initially connects as a hands-free headset only. To get A2DP, you have to press "Play/Pause" on the MK6000. Next, you have to manually start your media app, so you need access to your phone or have voice-recognition software that can launch apps (e.g., Voice Command). Finally, you can start playing via the MK6000 remote or your phone. You have to do it in this order, too, because otherwise the sound comes out the phone's speakers. And if you drop/loose the A2DP connection (e.g., turning off Bluetooth or the MK6000), you HAVE to exit your player and restart it, otherwise sound plays from the phone speakers again. This is so not the impression I got from the Parrot promo videos where a woman hops in her car and streams music and makes phones calls all from her phone that never leaves the inside of her purse.
FYI, after researching the Bluetooth APIs, [I think] I understand what's going on. If I'm wrong about any of this, someone please let me know. When an app needs to output sound, it has to open an audio stream. A2DP is simply another audio stream, and it gets listed as the default stream once A2DP is established. If you start your media app before A2DP is established, your media app opens the audio stream for your speakers. When you drop the A2DP connection and reestablish it, the stream has a different handle. Thus, your media app uses the speaker handle, assuming the app even knows the old handle doesn't work anymore. I thought A2DP was lower in the hardware chain where it was more transparent to applications.
Some apps specifically do not stream via A2DP, like TomTom as sonic mentioned. Based the previous paragraph, that means that TomTom is rejecting the OS default audio stream and specifically opening the speaker output. That's just plain stupid. I don't know what the programmers at TomTom were thinking.
The only way I've found to get it to stream is via BTAudio (as sonica suggested) or VJVolubilis -AGOn. Both of these open the Bluetooth audio gateway data channel and leave the connection open. Hence, all sound goes to the MK6000, including TomTom, which is how I expected A2DP to work in the first place. However, it is mono only and, since the connection is always open, the MK6000 will always mute your radio, as sonica already mentioned. Sorry, sonica.
All system sounds stream via A2DP, which mutes your radio for every menu click, message box, etc.. Now, this is what I expected A2DP to do, but it creates "radio skipping" if you're listening to your radio while navigating your phone. And unlike all the media players, the system never looses track of the A2DP connection and always plays via A2DP if it is available. (<sigh>...if only all the apps worked this way.) This problem is easily solved by muting your phone or turning off Events sounds, but the point is that A2DP already has skipping problems, and now it makes your radio skip, too? Argh! I hate skipping!
A2DP skips, especially with media players that have high CPU usage. Lots of threads indicate this at least partially hardware-related, saying that on the same phone, one A2DP headset skips but a different model doesn't while another user might report the exact opposite. There's also lots of threads with fixes for A2DP skipping, but they all boil down to two solutions: overclock and/or reduce the bitrate (and sound quality) with BitPool and MaxSupportedBitPool found under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Bluetooth\A2DP\Settings.
All the players I tested pause between songs, even with gapless/crossfaded players which baffles me. During the pause, the MK6000 deactivates for a moment, the radio plays a second or two, then the MK6000 resumes playing. It took some tweaking of the file cache, audio buffer, and crossfade settings for each player to get truely gapless playing.
The MK6000 and/or the Wizard does not stream A2DP in "full" stereo. I made a WAV the plays only on the left channel then only on the right. With A2DP, the channel that should completely silent plays the sound, too, albeit at about half volume. And yes I have UseJointStereo=0 (off). However, for the record, if Bluetooth joint stereo is anything like MP3 joint stereo, then it is not mono! Joint stereo means if one channel has more complex audio data, it gets more of the shared bandwidth, but JOINT STEREO IS STILL STEREO!
Phone and music volume levels are drastically different. Calls are at a significantly lower volume. Hence, I have to crank up the volume to hear phone calls. Then, when the phone call is over, my music blasts back.
Voice Command 1.6 has a hard time picking up my commands through the MK6000, and I have to almost shout the commands to be heard. Voice Command 1.6 is supposed to work over Bluetooth, I was hoping Parrot's highly-praised noise reduction and fancy dual-mic would boost Voice Command recognition, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Despite this, callers do report that my normal speaking voice is audible and sounds very clear.
It's too easy to accidentally change your menu prompts to a foreign language. The first press of the MK6000 dial button (I think second if you use the MK6000 phonebook) prompts you to select the language, and if you press it again, you're changing it. And it doesn't start off on your current language--it starts at the first in the list, which I think is Czech? If you do anything other than turning the dial to a language you can speak, then BAM! you've just changed the entire menu to a foreign language. It's a royal pain in the *ss to set it back to your native tongue when you can't understand any of the menu prompts. I've lost count of how many times this has happened to me with accidental presses during the install or when the MK6000 is locked up. Now, seriously, who needs change their menu language so frequently that Parrot has made it the first menu option and can change it with just an accidental double-click? And what's the point in picking a language for the MK6000 ROM download if it's going to install all languages anyway?
If you hold the Talk and End buttons for more than 3 seconds, you wipe the MK6000 memory and have to pair all your phones/devices again, download your phonebook, and re-record your voice tags. You don't even get a confirmation prompt, just a message saying it's wiping out everything. Fortunately, I only have to pair because I use Voice Command instead of the MK6000 phonebook/tags.
The MK6000 requires you to prerecord all your voice tags. Despite the price tag, it can't perform simple voice recognition like the $40 Voice Command.
========================================
FINAL CONCLUSIONS
========================================
There's just too many things wrong with the MK6000 for me to recommend it. Even so, I'll be keeping mine--too much time and money invested in it getting the damn thing installed and functional. If you're still intent on buying one, do some research on your car audio first, specifically:
Do you have an amplifier?
If so, does your car radio have line-in inputs?
Does your car radio have ISO connectors?
Does your radio have a mute line?
Be prepared to accept the consequences of the answers.
Pros:
Callers can hear you clearly.
You can hear callers clearly.
Streams music from your A2DP device.
Cons:
Expensive.
Radios without ISO connectors require additional $50 wiring harness.
Radio mute required because MK6000 doesn't mute the radio output that feeds through it.
"Normal" install sends menu/calls to front speakers only.
"Alternate" install required if you have an amplifier.
"Alternate" install looses automatic switching to MK6000.
Bluetooth laptop required for MK6000 firmware upgrade.
Tenuous firmware upgrades commonly lockup and/or fail.
A2DP upgrade required for Wizard.
Frequent MK6000 lockups.
No way to turn off a locked up MK6000 with "correct" wiring.
Obnoxious engine whine requires noise filter on power leads.
Finicky A2DP connection requires multiple steps in a specific order to stream and must be repeated if connection is dropped.
A2DP requires access to both the MK6000 and phone.
Some apps like TomTom don't stream through A2DP.
Creates "radio skipping" by briefly muting radio for every menu click, message box, etc. on phone.
Pause between songs (even with supposedly gapless playing) unmutes radio briefly.
Does not play in full stereo.
Potential A2DP skipping.
Volume discrepancy between calls and music.
Voice Commander has recognition problems over MK6000.
Too easy to change prompts to a foreign language.
Too easy to reset device and loose all pairing, phonebooks, and voice tags.
Voice recognition requires prerecording voice tags.
Let me make it clear that not all of these problems are directly caused by the MK6000. Even so, that's a lot of negatives for something so expensive. I doubt the Porsche has this many problems.
--Bennett
That is a long review. Thank you Bennett. I have to say that I never installed my MK6000 in my car and got a garage to do it instead. I think they charged me extra to put a mute box thingy (sorry forgot what it was called) in. Once I upgraded my ROM the A2DP worked fine; as soon as I press play on the MK6000 my media player kicks in and the tunes start playing. The only thing that does not work is the Tom Tom. I actually contacted Tom Tom about this and they responded as follows:
"The Navigator software automatically adopts the PDAs audio output settings. So in order for it to work with your Parrott system, first of all the PDA needs to be able to connect to 2 different bluetooth devices at the same time (The GPS receiver as well). It is then solely dependent on the PDA model whether it can transfer its audio via bluetooth to another device. You will have to consult the manual of the PDA or contact Qtek for more information on this.
In theory of you are able to connect the main audio output of the PDA itself, then it should be possible to receive the instructions using the bluetooth system in your car".
That seems to be different to what Bennett is saying but can anyone make sense of it or offer a solution?
Parrot MK6000 Review Update (Part 4)
After using the MK6000 for a few months, there's three other things I'd like to add to my review.
First, the MK6000 automatically sets the system volume when an AVRCP app starts. Note that it doesn't set the volume when the A2DP connection is established, but only after an AVRCP app (i.e., your media app) is active. Nice feature because I keep my PDA at a low volume normally, but at a high volume when playing music/audiobooks. That was one of the main reasons I liked MortPlayer, which set the system volume when it started and ended.
Second, when streaming music and I receive a call, A2DP locks up my PDA for about 1-2 minutes after the phone call ends. Not sure what's going on here, but CPU usage jumps to 100%. Seems to be moderately application specific: if Pocket Player was streaming, the PDA is completely unresponsive for the duration; if PocketMusic was streaming, it resumes playing after a few seconds despite the 100% CPU and the PDA works, albeit very slowly.
Finally, my phone has locked up several times when I receive a call while driving, whether I'm streaming music or not. This has only happened while connected to the MK6000. I'll get a call and try to answer it on both the MK6000 and directly on the phone, but my phone won't respond and just keeps ringing until the call finally goes to voicemail. I ultimately have to soft-reset the phone. It's like this comedy skit I remember (Monty Python maybe?) where a phone rings, someone picks up the phone receiver, and the phone keeps ringing and ringing despite all his attempts to answer it.
So, in continuation of the above list:
Pros (continued):
Automatically sets system volume when AVRCP app active.
Cons (continued):
Phone locks up with 100% CPU usage for 1-2 minutes after call ends if call was received while streaming.
Phone sporadically locks up on incoming calls when connected to MK6000 (whether streaming music or not), continues ringing until call goes to voicemail, and ultimately has to be reset.
--Bennett
TomTom and A2DP
This TomTom discussion really deserves its own thread, but I'll go ahead add to it here since its basis is tied to my review.
First of all, TomTom's response is a big load of crap. Their only argument is that the phone can't connect to more than one device at a time--like we're streaming music with the MK6000 and are just too stupid to notice that the TomTom map isn't moving? Get real. The Wizard absolutely positively connects to multiple Bluetooth devices at a time. I do it all the time with my MK6000 and GPS--I stream audiobooks and Destinator simultaneously overlays its driving directions on A2DP without problem. And clearly TomTom does not "automatically adopt [to?] the PDAs audio output settings" (at least for sonica and me) since it outputs to the speakers only.
Secondly, I stand by what I stated earlier about audio streams. To play sound, an app needs to open an audio output stream. There can be multiple audio streams on a device, but one of them is set as the "preferred" audio output (i.e., default stream). If A2DP is connected, it becomes the default. If the app doesn't specify which stream it wants, it gets the default stream. I'd certainly like to have all this backed up by another programmer who has done some multimedia programming (and more specifically A2DP development) instead of relying on my brief review of the multimedia APIs, but I'm confident I'm correct.
Conduits Pocket Player appears to backup my understanding. On the Options > Advanced tab, there is a setting for Output Wave Device. If you pick "Default", it streams to A2DP if available and otherwise plays via the speakers, which follows exactly what I've said about the preferred output. If you pick "Audio output", it always plays via the PDA speakers even if A2DP is available. And if you pick "Bluetooth Advanced Audio Output", it always plays via A2DP. (Careful! If A2DP isn't available your phone will lock up so badly that it won't even power off--have to hit the reset button.) Hence, Pocket Player shows that the developer can programmatically select the output stream.
Lastly, all my other apps stream via A2DP, including Landware's Shanghai circa 2001 (long before A2DP). Shanghai can stream its sound effects and background music via A2DP, which shows that even apps that know nothing about A2DP still stream via A2DP! Once again, this follows what I've said about preferred output.
So let's put all this together. Even if I'm wrong about how audio streams work, I've shown that (1) the output stream can be set programmatically, and (2) by default, apps stream to A2DP when its available. Thus, the inevitable conclusion is that the only way TomTom could NOT stream audio via A2DP is if some dumbass programmer coded TomTom Navigator to ignore the default output and dump its audio specifically to the speakers.
BTW, I am (was) using TomTom v5.21. I see that v6 is out, but I haven't tested that version--maybe that dumbass programmer got fired and now TomTom just uses the default stream like every other app? If anyone has v6, let us know if it streams via A2DP.
I have Tomtom 6 and it does stream via A2DP.
Well my Tom Tom 6 doesn't so what are you doing that I am not?
And after my last post, I tried Fallen's TomTom 6.020, and it doesn't stream for me either. So I'm with sonica...what are you doing differently? Specifically:
What phone/PDA are you using?
What OS version?
What A2DP patch?
What TomTom 6 version exactly?
Are you streaming via MK6000 or some other A2DP device?
If the mods read this: Is there any way that they can post some of this thread on to a new Tom Tom thread so that we might get a few more responses; please!
TomTom6 and A2DP
Just thought I'd mention that I have TomTom6 running on my HTC Hermes (WM6) and can stream the audio over bluetooth through my car speakers using a bluetooth to stereo adapter (actually my HTC bluetooth headphones) plugged into the front Aux port of my Sony head unit as long as A2DP is set up before you start TomTom - if not then audio comes out of phone speaker, even after you have established the A2DP connection (i.e. there appears to be no audio handoff to the newly established bluetooth stream - which is no surprise really!).
Have been thinking of getting an MK6000 instead of using the front Aux input of my stereo so that I can make and receive calls more easily. So have been very interested in peoples experiences that have been posted here !
BennTech said:
========================================
Cons:
Expensive.
Now about a third of the price at £60, good value IMO.
__
Radios without ISO connectors require additional $50 wiring harness.
True but this isn't a problem with the MK6000, more so with head units.
__
Radio mute required because MK6000 doesn't mute the radio output that feeds through it.
I didn't find this to be the case.
__
"Normal" install sends menu/calls to front speakers only.
This may be true but music comes through all speakers.
__
"Alternate" install required if you have an amplifier.
Is this really a con?
__
"Alternate" install looses automatic switching to MK6000.
OK
__
Bluetooth laptop required for MK6000 firmware upgrade.
True, but if you don't know anyone you can borrow one from, well...
__
Tenuous firmware upgrades commonly lockup and/or fail.
I upgraded from 1.01b to 1.03, first time and flawlessly.
__
A2DP upgrade required for Wizard.
I'm not sure what you mean by this.
__
Frequent MK6000 lockups.
This is not true, my MK6000 has not locked up once.
__
No way to turn off a locked up MK6000 with "correct" wiring.
In my case, this is not true
__
Obnoxious engine whine requires noise filter on power leads.
In my case, this is not true
__
Finicky A2DP connection requires multiple steps in a specific order to stream and must be repeated if connection is dropped.
In my case, this is not true. I get into my car, turn on the ignition, in a few seconds my SE W910i is paired. I press the play button on the MK6000 controller, it fires up the player and gets the music going very quickly.
__
A2DP requires access to both the MK6000 and phone.
I'm not sure what you mean by this.
__
Some apps like TomTom don't stream through A2DP.
This is not applicable to me, I have HP Travel Companion
__
Creates "radio skipping" by briefly muting radio for every menu click, message box, etc. on phone.
This occurs but is not a problem for me.
__
Pause between songs (even with supposedly gapless playing) unmutes radio briefly.
In my case, this is not true.
__
Does not play in full stereo.
I can't confirm or refute this at the moment but I will test.
__
Potential A2DP skipping.
Playback has been flawless for me so far.
__
Volume discrepancy between calls and music.
This is a slight problem but you have to remember that music is mastered; maximized, limited etc....phone calls aren't
__
Voice Commander has recognition problems over MK6000.
This is not applicable to me.
__
Too easy to change prompts to a foreign language.
There is only one language installed on my MK6000. This is impossible.
__
Too easy to reset device and loose all pairing, phonebooks, and voice tags.
This is not the case. You have to hold down 2 buttons for 3 seconds.
__
Voice recognition requires prerecording voice tags.
True but this works well, I've set a few up but not all so I use the text to speech phonebook access, which works a lot better than I thought it would.
Let me make it clear that not all of these problems are directly caused by the MK6000. Even so, that's a lot of negatives for something so expensive. I doubt the Porsche has this many problems.
--Bennett
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
These reviews rank high in google searches, they are out of date and partly misleading. This page almost stopped me from buying an MK6000! I'm glad I had some faith, has turned out to be an excellent buy.
I installed my MK6000 in my Ford Mondeo Mk3. It's wired to the 6000CD head unit with an SoT 092 cable.
I initially had pairing problems with my W910i, this was resolved with a firmware update. Since then, everything has worked very well and I'm very happy with the setup.
I thought I'd clarify a few things on here.
All the best,
Dan
car karaoke
Hey bro
Ok I can buy 2 small speakers and put them in front of my beetle, or maybe near the passenger seat
Then, I buy this product, and I also buy a Bluetooth® Headset With A2DP
Now, I don't want this to pick up phone calls or anything like that, because it's going to be paired with my headset only. I don't think I can pair a phone with this, and also a headset?
I want to sing while driving, and have 2 speakers (good quality to enhance my terrible voice hahaha) that are only for MY VOICE
So when I drive, I can sing, and my beautiful voice will come out of these speakers. The main function for these speakers and this Parrot MK6000 is to be able to drive, and sing, like a karaoke car
Yes I love technology, I even want to put TV and Wi-Fi in my car, just for the heck of it. I want to put lambo doors, I already have DVD, Kenwood in-dash 719-DVD... lots of stuff there, so I can install a bluetooth for my kenwood 719dvd and pick the phone from there, but if this device can do both things then great (I don't want to hear my voice through the speakers anyway)
Please read my full review
Dmak100 said:
These reviews rank high in google searches, they are out of date and partly misleading. This page almost stopped me from buying an MK6000! I'm glad I had some faith, has turned out to be an excellent buy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, Dan, I'm glad you had a good experience. I'm sorry if my review sounds biased against the MK6000, but for the expensive price, I expected the installation and operation to be a lot smoother. However, for the record, I actually like my MK6000 (I just don't think it's a good value). BTW, the price still hasn't dropped here in the U.S. thanks to President Bush's gross mismanagement of our economy, foreign policy, etc., but that's another story.
I think it's unfair to label these reviews as "out of date" and "misleading" when you clearly didn't even bother to read them and just skipped straight to the one sentence summaries in my pros/cons. As A2DP matures, many of the connectivity, lockup, and skipping issues should subside. However, the MK6000 itself is still the same hardware, same connections, and same basic firmware, so these reviews are still apt, especially when it comes to installation.
Contrarily, I could call your comments misleading, such as your comment on #3. If you read my review, you would know that the MK6000 does not mute the radio feed that passes through it and instead relies on the radio to mute itself when signaled to do so by the mute wire. However, many radios don't have this mute wire, and that's an important point that shouldn't be nonchalantly dismissed.
Or #5 and #6? The alternate install requires you to use line-in connectors on your head unit, which, again, many head units don't have. Thus, if you have an amplifier (even an unknown factory-installed one like mine), you also have to have line-in connectors. Plus, you loose the ability to automatically switch to your MK6000 when the phone rings. In fact, you won't even know that your phone is ringing unless your radio is both on and set to your Aux input. So being forced to use alternate install is definitely a con. A HUGE con.
And #23...what if holding Ctrl-Alt on your computer keyboard for 3 seconds completely wiped out your computer without even a confirmation prompt? I think that's too easy. A better way would be the typical reset hole you have to push with a pen tip, paperclip, stylus, etc., but at the very least I would expect a confirmation before wiping out everything.
And your comment on #11 is a flat-out lie. Sorry, but it is. First, right before that, you claim your MK6000 never locks up, then you claim you can turn off a locked up MK6000 even though you never experience this condition? If you read my review, I clearly document why you cannot turn off a locked up MK6000 with the "correct" wiring as specified by Parrot. If you know otherwise, I'd love to read your full review that refutes my wiring knowledge. Sharing of information is what make the Internet so great.
If you are considering buying an MK6000 or MK6100, please read my FULL review instead of relying on the one sentence pro/con summaries. If you're lucky like Dan, you won't have any problems. If you're unlucky like me, you'll have LOTS of problems. Either way, if you read my full review before buying, you'll know what to check for in your car audio system so you'll have a good idea of which category you're likely to fall under.
MK6000 Firmware Clarification
Dan's comment on #22 made me realize that I need to clarify something for everyone. There are 2 vastly different types of MK6000 firmware:
One language with text-to-speech.
All languages pack without text-to-speech.
Text-to-speech (TTS) drives the internal phonebook and voice recognition, the latter of which gets intercepted by the MK6000 if TTS is installed. Thus, if you want to use your phone's internal voice recognition, you must use the "all languages" firmware. Then you're stuck with multiple languages which are too easy to inadvertently change (and a far cry from "impossible"). I pretty sure this is why I had to use that damn multi-language version, but I can't verify that right now because my wife is out-of-town with my Bluetooth laptop and it's not worth the effort for me to find someone I "can borrow one from". If I'm wrong, somebody please post a correction so I'm not promulgating misinformation.