Dension BT pro with audi MFSW

[Alison Clarke]

Just seeking a bit of feedback on using the pro with bluetooth dension with the audi radios and more importantly the MFSW. Basically does it work with all the buttons in the wheel as obviously I know the audi stock bluetooth unit does allow this. General use feedback would also be appreciated as Im considering buying one.

[UVB]

I put one in my A3 back in August not long after they had been launched. The install instructions were pretty weak but the supplying dealer was helpful on the phone for part of it and referred me to the UK distributor for the other aspect that wasn't working properly (just needed a cable plugged in somewhere other than it had been but wasn't documented in the instructions again). Once up and running properly it works mostly as intended (more on that later). I used a USB stick with music on it which seemed to work well with no noticeable (by me) difference in quality. The bluetooth would sometimes have issues pairing but that may have been down to initial installation/setup as it generally seemed to work better as time went on.

The only problem I had with it was you couldn't change the audio volume during a phone call (from any of the possible volume controls) whereas music volume worked fine. After trying an update the verdict came back from Dension (after quite some time) that I should return the unit for a replacement. The dealer said to just send back the "brain" unit rather than pulling all the wiring out. The unit that eventually came back to me at the end of November was far from pristine and was pretty much completely inoperative. The dealer then became a little unresponsive so I eventually decided to take it direct to the distributor and hope they would sort matters out. On the initial phone call, the person I needed to speak to was on another call, but called me back before the end of the day (it was just after 5 when I'd called them) and was very helpful on the phone. He told me they had some issues with the early release cabling harnesses and had replaced them with a modified design; chances are this was why the replacement unit wasn't working. I mentioned the cosmetic condition of the replacement unit and asked if it would be possible under the circumstances to send me a new complete unit off the shelf with the new harness. He agreed to do this and I'm now waiting for that to show up. I put the call in at the end of last week so I'd have hoped it would be here by now and I'm really hoping I haven't been forgotten in some way.

These issues aside, when the original unit was working it did work very well. Using the DIS isn't an ideal way to control it but that's not down to Dension who have made the best of a tricky interface in that respect. With a little practice it soon becomes easy enough to follow and get it to do what you want it to do. Only problem for me is our other car is an A6 with MMI so pretty much anything else was always going to be a poor relation.

For the money (just under £190 from memory) I'll happily keep it once I get a proper working unit. It does work with all the steering wheel buttons (that's how you control it for 99% of the functions) but I have a feeling the Audi unit works with them as well.

Fitting is fairly straightforward once you know what goes where (again hopefully the new unit will have better instructions for others); an experienced person ought to be able to do it in about an hour or less. I cut a hole in the glovebox for the brain unit to make it easier to access the USB stick but there's various potential places you could fit it.

[Alison Clarke]

I was hoping you'd see the thread and reply as I saw you mention having one and didn't have enough posts to pm you. I'd go for the oem setup but the price of it isn't particularly friendly and then there's the ami/mmi cost too and getting it all coded in as well. £190 seems a lot more feasible. Dont fancy the Issues that you've been having though. Nothing I can stand more than poor customer service either.

[UVB]

Which car do you have?

Dension have a bit of a rep for not so great service in the past but the new UK distributor seems to be working hard to change that...I'll keep you posted on how things go but hopefully they will send a new unit with great instructions that works well..

[Alison Clarke]

2008 a3 sportback sline.

[UVB]

I fitted the new unit and harness to the car and sadly still cannot alter the phone audio volume. The good news is the new unit seems to work better than the original with no glitches at all apart from the phone volume and generally seems faster in all menu selections/bluetooth pairing on startup.

I'm waiting to hear back from Dension and it seems like it is either some sort of firmware issue with their unit or some issue on my car. I'm going to run a VCDS scan to check there are no issues showing there but as the volume works on music playback I'm inclined to suspect a firmware problem.

I have decided to keep the unit though as apart from this issue it does everything else well and at a decent price. The volume is fine unless you are on a noisy dual carriageway.