I've determined that the primary source of noise is due to the aux input expecting headphone level output from the source. Most smartphones have terrible output level, so this results in cranking the dial past 35, which amplifies the background noise so that it's audible.

I finally solved this by getting this device.


It's a bluetooth audio streamer that has a nice powerful and clean output. It's completely eliminated my buzzing issue by making music listenable at a volume level of 25 or so. It's nice because automatically connects to your phone once paired and automatically goes into pairing mode when not connected, making it trivial to switch phones without physical access to the device. It also works fine with the existing bluetooth hardware on the car, you can simply disable the phone call functionality in your bluetooth settings on the phone to use the Hands Free hardware in the car.

Mine is wired behind my dashboard so it's totally invisible. I just go into aux input and play music.

It took me a long time to figure this out and just thought I'd share.

 

My dude you are a genius 👍

 

Now just use a aux jack to RCA and I'm toasty

 

Did you use some type of 3.5mm to RCA adapter?

 

Thank you!! I almost sold my OEM navi just to get this functionality.


Does that mean I can change the bluetooth settings on my phone to where music is streamed via Kinivo and phone calls are directed to the factory bluetooth system (steering wheel controls)?


Yes, you will need a 3.5mm (female) to RCA (male) splitter/adapter. You can find those at your local Radio Shack or Fry's.

 

If you have an Android phone you can set individual bluetooth devices to handle only calls and only audio. On the iPhone, as long as you answer from the steering wheel controls, it will use the car microphone and phone setup.

I actually have the 1/8" version of the aux input, but I don't see why the RCA unit would be different. I ran the little button behind the dash into the footwell so I can access the controls for pairing if I need to.

 

nice