Ottocast Android Auto Wireless Adapter

[Heuer]

I have been researching and experimenting with Android Auto Wireless adapters for the LBX and I alighted upon the Ottocast A2 Air Pro as my chosen device. This costs £79 from amazon although amazon Resale have them for £52.50 as "used - like new" which was what I bought. It was new and never opened, worked perfectly.

This particular device appealed because of its quality construction, small size and rapid connection of the Android Auto app to the car (approx 15 seconds) for either my wife's Pixel 7a or my Pixel 8. The biggest advantage though is it supports Bluetooth aptX HD so I can stream lossless music from phone to car. Basically, for reasons of compatibility, Lexus Bluetooth only supports A2DP for music which means your phone must deprecate the sound quality to about a third of that from a CD all because apple refuse to join the high def sound over Bluetooth revolution and remain steadfastly stuck on the old technology. All modern Android phones support aptX. So if you send music from any apple phone to any other Bluetooth device (speaker, headphones, car etc) you end up with pretty lousy sound (through those Mark Levinson speakers on the LBX!) unless you connect it to the USB-C socket. Both sending and receiving devices must support aptX for it to work.

The Ottocast upgrades the LBX to allow Android Bluetooth high definition sound because it includes the necessary chip and plugs into the car USB-C port. It also has 5Ghz WiFi support. I used the included sticky pad to fix the Ottocast to the roof of the car charger pocket so it is out of the way and does not interfere with the phone. Only downside is I cannot see the beautiful pyramid light up when the phone connects!