ANS-810 / ANS-510 (PROPER RNS-510 alternative)

[DkN]

There will be no battery drain.

If the dash is like a mkV Golf, then I can certainly do it for you, but you can always save the money and do it yourself (unless you're a hopeless tinkerer ), it's really not very difficult.

[DkN]

An update...

Audiosources is currently negotiating with suppliers for DAB / DAB+ implementation, it is unclear whether it will be a chip or a plug-in module at this stage, but it's coming.

Also I have some information to clarify a few things, I will modify OP to reflect these.

Currently the BT phone function is not up to OEM standards - it handles phone calls and phone books fine, but it cannot display contact list on the MFD, nor can you control pick up / reject with steering controls. There is an auto answer function that picks up the call after a few rings, but right now it only switches to the BT menu AFTER it picks up the call, so you lose the option to reject. I have spoken to the technician about switching to the BT screen as soon as the call comes in, so you have a few rings to decide whether or not to reject the call, if you do not do anything (which should be 95% of the time) then the call will be picked up automatically so it is truly hands free.

I gave feedback on the MFD phonebook function to the head technician, and he acknowledged that this is programatically more difficult to achieve, but he will definitely look into it.

Also after feedback (some of which are my own and some from requests from other members here), they will be updating the music interface of both the iPod (to include shuffle button) and the SD card menu, and will now work on cover art display. This is all alongside of never-before-seen OBD functionality which is deep in development, this is their number one priority right now, stay tuned for updates...

I would also like to correct one of my statements, sorry if there has been a bit of that - the older half-screen MFD does in fact have a different CANBUS version to newer full MFD cars, generally if you upgrade from RCD300, 500 or RNS500 to the 310 or 510, you could get a battery drain issue. However, my technician assures me that this will not be true for the ANS-810 or ANS-510, it is fully compatible with all CANBUS versions.

Lastly, I would just like to notify everyone that the Audiosources promotion ends in about one week and with it, my introductory offer will also end. I will however give some leeway so prices will be $640 shipped within Australia beginning 16th July, this is still cheaper than direct from Audiosources which, without the promotion, is $670USD shipped. If you want to buy this unit, get the order in before the 16th July, and I will still honour the $570 deal.

[gviddy]

good to see this update and that it is compatible with all canbuses... as yes I have a RCD-300... so was worried upgrading to this unit would cause battery problems... so thanks for clarifying this....

also, am hoping that in the near future he will be able to provide functionality for the telephone steering controls....

[Ryan_R]

Good to see them responding to feedback and working on things.

If only we had the same impact on Continental/VW - would've hoped a firmware upgrade would give my RNS510 better radio text to show song names/weather by now.
At least I've got the Soundhound widget on my phone for quickly identifying song names, plus it saves a history list that I can go through later to acquire the songs.

[whiskywallah]

Yes, I'm glad there are some fw updates coming.
Cover art on SD and more importantly iPhone is VERY useful....what's the point of an 8" colour screen otherwise
How will they be delivered?

If there is a DAB+ update how is that likely to be delivered?
If its a plug in module will it fit my unit?
If its a chip change can I do it or does it have to be returned?

I'm back in Sydney tomorrow and am looking forward to fitting my new ANS-810.
I'll try to take photos etc and post them.
Is there now a dedicated sub-forum you would prefer us to use?

[DkN]

Updates will be sent out via email along with instructions, I record all customer emails for this purpose.

There is a new update available from 29 June but I have not sent it out since no one has installed their units yet. I will do so in a few days, but it is worthwhile to try the firmware that comes with your unit first and compare. This new update focuses on DVD menu improvements and speed improvement when switching between programs (like nav / radio / SD / BT). These improvements are quite noticeable. Currently Audiosources is bringing out updates more than once a month.

As I said, it is unclear right now whether DAB+ will be a chip or plug-in, I will have definite information when Audiosources finalises their solution, but I do not want to make assumptions now and risk misleading. They are however chasing a plug-in module as first preference.

I am happy to answer all questions in this thread as I think it is useful to have all the important information together in one place for the public. I will update OP periodically to reflect new information.

[macdub]

questions keep popping up in my head..on the very first page of the thread, I can see the circular dials "white" on the unit..I think RCD/RNS 510 has red color..will it be matching red on ANS-810 or white as shown in the picture?
thanks again..

[GTD Dubber]

Yeah sorry about that beep, didn't think of it at the time.

If by interface theme you mean the colour, at the moment the unit just comes in red and green (for Skoda). Personally I think red theme matching red buttons makes more sense, but do you mean matching the colour to your trim? I could request more themes if there is a demand.

The buttons are red when the lights are on.

[whiskywallah]

Hi everyone,

Well I've just installed the ANS-810 in my MY12 Tiguan, replacing an RCD-310.



Some more shots are here

First off, I think this is a really good budget upgrade from a RCD-310.
It's given me built in Sat Nav and better audio quality.
I now have the potential to upgrade to reverse cam as well as fitting a subwoofer.

Its not perfect but hopefully FW updates will fix a lot of that.

Out of the box:
Everything I needed was in the box.
You'll need a knife to extract bits of dash and a T20 Torx drive, but apart from that it's near enough a straight swap.
Sorry I didn't take any photos of install but it all happened so fast it was already in beofre I thought to take photos.
I've wired the USB and iPhone adaptor to come out into drivers footwell then tucked it under the trim to come out near the central cup holders.
The USB cable was a tad short but an extender I already had has fixed that.
I've left the GPS antenna coiled up (not sure if thats good) and the magnetically attached it to the top of the radio, so it's effectively just under the plastic dash under the windscreen.

First Boot:
It asks a few questions and, along with the instruction sheet you get, the unit is quickly up and running with the Sat Nav installed.
I guess the best way to think of the unit is as two seperate computers in one box.
On computer runns the audio apps and the other runs the sat nav.
My guess is that the sat nav audio is fed into the main audio.


Normal Operation:
The Unit takes about 20 secs to be fully functional, but closer to a minute if you have the sat nav to auto boot. Not done proper timings but that gives you an idea of speed.
It will auto play whatever was last playing, radio, USB , SD etc
Generally the sound quality is better than with RCD-310, though the factory speakers will definitely need replacing soon.

FM reception is OK in Sydney.
Whilst there are 3 FM bands I'm not clear on how the presets work accross the bands.
The station name gets attached to the presets but I can't make any other RDS info appear.

AM reception is non existent but I knew that.
Hopefully a DAB+ add on will fix that for me.

Browsing for SD and USB works OK, but needs a bit of finesse. You basically play whatever is in a folder (eg album). You can't play a group of folders which means you can't put the device into ALL RANDOM REPEAT, which is a pity.

Browsing for iPod is very poor. You basically only get offered a list of tracks in alphabetical order. This needs a lot more work please!
Sat Nav is very good.

Bluetooth functionality is OK but the address book from an iPhone with over 700 phone numbers is a bit of a mess.
I can't work out what sequence it come in and scrolling is one page at a time.
I've not actually made any calls yet so can't speak to the voice quality.

MFD Integration:
This is verey limited.
You get one line of info at present which is either elapsed time or tuner frequency. I hope this improves or that I've missed something.
Most important when using sat nav so you can see what's playing.

Steering Wheel Buttons:
As far as I can tell these all work as before.

FW Updates:
I've already done one and that was a bit geeky but worked OK.
You are sent a link to a Chinese web site, download a RAR file.
Extract the RAR file using 7zip.
Extract the resultant RAR files and produce a flat file structure on a micro SD card.
Insert this into both SD slots on the machine in sequence and 10 mins later you have an updated machine.

Summary:
So on the whole a good start. We'll wait and see what improvements come in future FW updates.

[gviddy]

Hi everyone,


FM reception is OK in Sydney.
Whilst there are 3 FM bands I'm not clear on how the presets work accross the bands.
The station name gets attached to the presets but I can't make any other RDS info appear.

Summary:
So on the whole a good start. We'll wait and see what improvements come in future FW updates.

Try pressing the MENU button, go into Setup, then Radio and make sure you have RDS turned on.. As mine was off as default, then go back to each of your radio stations and their names will appear... I am in Brisbane and RDS is working fine for me... Reception is good too..

Just finished installing this unit in my VW EOS.. I will do a review and write up soon, but I must say, it looks AWESOME !!

[whiskywallah]

Try pressing the MENU button, go into Setup, then Radio and make sure you have RDS turned on.. As mine was off as default, then go back to each of your radio stations and their names will appear... I am in Brisbane and RDS is working fine for me... Reception is good too.

That's all done but here's the problem.

Preset buttons are slow to show station name after bootup.
It's like they look them up in real time rather than store them.
Sometimes they don't appear at all.
Across the three FM bands you would imagine you have 6 presets per band. But that seems very intermittent. Sometimes they're unique per band, sometimes the same.
If you change a preset it will often keep an old name (You can see this on IMG1192 of the photos)
You can't delete a preset.

RDS has up to 4 different text fields; we only seem to have access to one of them....the station name.
1 of the others is a real time text feed that is updated by each station.
It often tells you what's currently playing or what's coming up.
Often it's an advert.
It would be good to have that as well as the station name displayed (not just on the preset button).

[whiskywallah]

Some more shots are here

Added some might time shots.

[iamthestig]

Added some might time shots.

Thanks for your review. The unit does seem a reasonable RNS510 alternative. You do need to change your signature now though

[gviddy]

That's all done but here's the problem.

RDS has up to 4 different text fields; we only seem to have access to one of them....the station name.

oh that would be cool.. my RCD500, which was what i replaced in the car, it only showed station name just like this new unit does...

but the extra info would be pretty good, but like you, i am not getting it either....

[whiskywallah]

Thanks for your review. The unit does seem a reasonable RNS510 alternative. You do need to change your signature now though

I'm trying not to compare it to an RNS-510 since I've never used one and its 1/4 of the price.
I'm thinking of it as an upgrade to a 310.
I'm sure that the 510 is a much more polished product....as it should be at that price.