The Scosche iPBCK Bluetooth adapter — digital wireless for your car.

Blue-who?

Convenience or quality? Quality or convenience? When it comes to connecting an iPod® to your car stereo, there have always been trade-offs: Should you go for a better sounding hard-wired connection, or a wireless option that sacrifices some of that audio performance?

Fortunately, thanks to Bluetooth™, the confusion may finally be over.

Bluetooth wireless technology made its debut in the late 1990s as a way to connect a wide variety of portable devices over a low-cost, small-area wireless network. Since then, it's cropped up in everything from bookshelf speakers to cell phones — anything that can benefit from a digital, static-free, wireless connection — and is even making inroads in the world of car audio. Several automakers (including Acura, BMW, and others) included Bluetooth support as standard factory equipment in 2005, and more are expected to to offer the feature next year.

No matter what you're driving, you can now add the crystal-clear sound and wireless convenience of Bluetooth to any mobile audio system (provided you have a brand-name stereo with a set of RCA inputs or a factory radio with an auxiliary input adapter — call a Sales Advisor for more information) with Scosche's new iPBCK Bluetooth connection adapter. Essentially a wireless auxiliary input, the iPBCK allows you to listen to your iPod through your car stereo, sans wires, without sacrificing anything in the way of sound quality.

Sounds cool, right? It is, but there's more to this wonder of technology than just zeros and ones. CrutchfieldAdvisor recently took the iPBCK Bluetooth adapter out for a spin to see just what wireless digital means for car audio.

Cutting the cord

Setting up the iPBCK is about as involved as installing a wired FM modulator. You'll need to pull out your existing stereo, connect the system to the auxiliary input port (Note: Depending on your stereo, you may need to buy an additional adapter to activate your AUX-IN), and find a place to mount the receiver box.

Before you can start listening, you need to configure the transmitter and receiver to talk to each other. It isn't a complicated process, and it's well explained in the manual, but it does take some patience — after all, you don't want to close up the installation before you're sure everything works. It takes a few minutes to get the connection up and running, but once it's done, it's done. The next time you turn on the transmitter, the system will link up in about four seconds.

As someone who's been listening to a portable MP3 player in the car via AUX-IN for a couple of years, I was particularly impressed with the iPBCK's adjustable level control. It really isn't much more than a knob on the receiver, but it makes the day-to-day listening experience so much better. Rather than worry about big volume changes when switching between sources, this adjustment allows you to set the level of your portable to match the rest of your stereo perfectly.

Be careful though, if you try to send a signal that's too hot (i.e. too loud) through the iPBCK, you'll get some noticeable distortion. I found that setting the volume on my MP3 player to about half of max — and then making up for the volume difference with the iPBCK's level control — worked best.

With set-up done, using the iPBCK is pretty straightforward. When you get in the car, just plug the transmitter into your iPod's headphone jack, hold down the power button (and this is key — it takes about three seconds to activate the unit), and wait a few more seconds for the Bluetooth to initialize. From there, all you have to do is listen. You don't need to worry about the transmitter when you turn the car off, either. It shuts off automatically after about five minutes.

Putting the system to work

So, does it sound good? Yeah, it does; about as good as a wired AUX-IN connection. You don't have to worry about the static pops and weak sound that are common with FM modulators, and the overall sound is fuller than what you'd expect from a wireless connection.

The transmitter itself is pretty cool, too. It's sized to pair up with a standard iPod and includes the mounting accessories you need to finalize the installation. Personally, I just used the transmitter as-is, without mounting it to my player, and didn't have any problems. As long as you aren't trying to move around with the iPod too much, mounting the transmitter isn't really necessary, but it's a cool option.

Smart and sleek; the Bluetooth transmitter is compact enough to fit just about anywhere.

From a performance standpoint, you can get about 30 feet of range out of the transmitter, which is plenty for even the largest of cars. Installing the receiver behind the dash does cut into some of that range, but I had a hard time finding any sort of dead spots in or even around my car, even with the box mounted down under the stereo.

But that's not to say that there aren't trade-offs. For one thing, in order to get the best sound performance you have to keep the transmitter's internal battery fully charged. According to the manual, you can get up to 14 hours of listening time between charges, but I started to notice static after about 12 hours. Not a particularly big deal, but something to consider. Unfortunately, Scosche only includes a cigarette power adapter in the box, so when the transmitter needs a charge you have to wire it up in the car while you're using it. Even then, it takes several hours to reach a full charge. Takes some of the fun out of the whole wireless thing, I think, and all you'd really need to solve that issue is a standard AC adapter.

And, sadly, the Bluetooth connection can only sound as good as the source material that you're sending through it. Sure, it won't color or degrade your signal, but remember that those compressed music files (whether they're MP3, AAC, or whatever) are never going to sound as good as CD, no matter how you connect the player to the stereo.

The iPBCK is great for wireless, but things get a little messy when it's time to recharge the transmitter.

The next obvious question, of course, is "who's the iPBCK intended for?" In this era of built-in iPod® docks and almost universal auxiliary inputs, do we really need a high-end wireless adapter like this? The answer is: it depends.

True, if you're using an iPod, there are plenty of adapters out there for aftermarket (and many factory) stereos that let you do a lot more than just listen to your music. With some, you can even control track selections, choose from playlists, and charge the iPod right from the dash.

But if you're the kind of listener who doesn't need all those bells-and-whistles the iPBCK might be an attractive option for you. It's certainly an elegant connection solution, and one that doesn't clog your dash with wires (unless it's charging). Plus, since the iPod remains fully functional while it's connected to the iPBCK, you can access all of your playlists directly.

The verdict

Overall, the iPBCK is a solid performer that does what it says it will; offering a clear, static-free wireless connection that works great with the iPod. Whether that's enough for you or not is something to consider before you buy.