Alpine halo microphone quality

[osman]

Anyone else with a halo noticed the low quality of audio that this mic provides ?
Most won’t notice as you don’t think about your voice sound in a call . However if you use voice memo app on your iPhone whilst Apple car play is running you will hear how low quality the microphone sound is . I’ve installed mine in the designed by alpine position just under the unit in the facia .
It also picks up the annoying fan noise and just sounds very very low fi .. I’ve tried switching off the NR and EC and it makes no difference it’s just a very low quality sound .
Is there no way to use the built in Bluetooth mics in this van ? Seems it would be superior they are sat there doing nothing !

 

[Giannino]

I don't have Halo, I have a x803 but I installed the Alpine microphone instead of the original Caravelle microphone above the driver's head / sun visor. It works perfectly.

 

[osman]

I don't have Halo, I have a x803 but I installed the Alpine microphone instead of the original Caravelle microphone above the driver's head / sun visor. It works perfectly.

Interesting ! But have you tried recording the sound with an iPhone whilst connected to Apple car play .. for example using the voice memo app .. that’s how I realised how poor the alpine mic was .. in comparison with the phone itself the audio quality is totally low fi ( very poor high frequency response ) and can distort easily .. when the phone is connected by car play the phone switches to the alpine mic and it’s a huge drop in audio quality . Seems surprising that alpine don’t seem to have put any effort into the audio quality of the mic .. the sound of the unit for music playback is undeniably very good ( and should be at the price ) so I’m wondering how come the mic sound is so poor . I’ve tried switching off the mic noise reduction and EC whatever that is . It makes no difference it’s just a very poor sound quality .. the alpine halo comes with a mic mount in the fascia as an option however that’s even worse as it then picks up the appallingly loud cooling fan on the back of the unit and you have low quality audio mixed with the noise of a fan .. it’s quite unpleasant and would be fatiguing for anyone after a short amount of time on a call .
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[GingerDub]

I've installed it externally attached to headlining too - no issues reported from people I speak to but will try and record a memo to test it. I did try and install it as you have but the mic didn't fit in the hole...

 

[osman]

I've installed it externally attached to headlining too - no issues reported from people I speak to but will try and record a memo to test it. I did try and install it as you have but the mic didn't fit in the hole...

Yes please if you can try that .. it would be good to check there isn’t any other issue I’m having . I confess to having stripped the mic down to its basic internal parts to fit it in the hole strangely provided by alpine despite the fact they know it won’t fit ! I tested the mic before and after stripping it down and it sounds no different so I know it’s nothing to do with my modification . It’s possible alpine were aware of the fan noise with the mic in that position and started providing a clip on mic with a super long cable to get the mic away from the unit and closer to the sound source .. there is some kind of skullduggery going on ..I may try an alternative mic .. I would love to be able to utilise the existing vw mics already in the van ! As far as I’m aware there are two of them in the centre console above the rear view mirror .. seems odd they cant be used with an aftermarket head unit .

 

[colinsunbeam]

Put mine in the same place as the original VW one, not that I’ve listened to myself.

 

[irishnutjar]

Put mine in the same place as the original VW one, not that I’ve listened to myself.

How did you do that?

 

[colinsunbeam]

How did you do that?

You have to remove the pillar trim and pop the interior light out and fish it through. On my T6 it was pretty straight forward, I also pull my dash cam power through the same route. Putting the power in on the T6.1 proved a little harder put still easy.

 

[irishnutjar]

You have to remove the pillar trim and pop the interior light out and fish it through. On my T6 it was pretty straight forward, I also pull my dash cam power through the same route. Putting the power in on the T6.1 proved a little harder put still easy.

Thanks colinsunbeam. Did the mic fit in the original mic space or was there a bit of adaption needed there too? Pillar trim as in A pillar I assume?

 

[colinsunbeam]

Thanks colinsunbeam. Did the mic fit in the original mic space or was there a bit of adaption needed there too? Pillar trim as in A pillar I assume?

Yes A pillar, think it’s a little bigger than the VW one, it was a couple of years ago. I also fitted a shark fin aerial at the same time.

 

[Texxaco]

I had the same problem with the mic that came with my Halo. Placed it in the normal VW place and the pickup was awful.

I even put up noise cancelling foam surrounding the original mic location yet still no better.

Placed it next to the rear view mirror and hey presto works a treat.