Hi guys, am sure this has been asked before many times..

Is the Bluetooth adapter dongle that plugs into the AUX socket the simplest way of adding streaming with the LowLine (2009 GS) stereo system, or is there another way?

Essentially yes. However there are lots of options. I bought a Pure Highway 600 DAB unit which was brilliant. It was a lite unit that sat on the dash, allowing you to receive DAB radio (the difference is phenomenal), take calls, if you don't already have Bluetooth phone prep, and also streams music and can control with pause/play/skip. The amp/DAC it uses was in my opinion very good so made the music from the phone sound very good.

You'd need to run the DAB aerial up the side pillar (dead easy job) and also run the audio and power but all very easy with a few fiddly bits. FL2 TD4 GS 60 reg Facelift - so many issues
2019 DS. Terribly unreliable.
Sold DS for a 2021 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. Fingers crossed....
Sold Outlander for a 2014 SD4 SE Tech because I’m mental
Now greatly regret selling the Outlander. MPG of the FL2 is atrocious and so are the fuel bills. Fun though 😎
Couldn’t afford the fuel bills so back to an older Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. Significantly better than I remembered it to be…

There's no point in paying for DAB, especially if you like audio quality, but listen to commercial stations. Very few commercial DAB stations are transmitting a high enough bit rate for stereo, transmitting in 32 or 64 kbps in mono using an outdated codec(DAB + with HE-AAC). A few more wealthy stations are transmitting in MP2 at up to 196 kbps, but not many, and often the signal is so weak that good reception is impossible anyway, which again reduces quality.
It's impossible to beat a strong FM are far as audio quality in concerned in the UK, as DAB simply doesn't have the available bandwidth.
DAB is concentrating on quantity over quality, which is unfortunate but true.

I listen to FM, as the quality is much better, when compared to DAB, even though all our cars now have DAB as standard. Hyundai Ioniq 5 Ultimate. The family car.
2009 Rimini Red SE TD4. Gone.
2006 Tonga Green i6 HSE. Gone.
Audi A5 convertible, my daily driver.
1972 Hillman Avenger GT, the project.

Last edited by Nodge68 on 16th Mar 2021 11:29 am. Edited 1 time in total

Horses and courses I guess. My experience with DAB in my FL2 compared to FM was night and day on the stations I listened to (all BBC). Regardless of technical specs my ears preferred DAB.

I would still recommend the Highway. FL2 TD4 GS 60 reg Facelift - so many issues
2019 DS. Terribly unreliable.
Sold DS for a 2021 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. Fingers crossed....
Sold Outlander for a 2014 SD4 SE Tech because I’m mental
Now greatly regret selling the Outlander. MPG of the FL2 is atrocious and so are the fuel bills. Fun though 😎
Couldn’t afford the fuel bills so back to an older Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. Significantly better than I remembered it to be…

My FL2 has DAB and FM, as does our Mazda CX5, and the difference between DAB and FM is very noticeable
My FL2 has the Alpine Mid-Line system, the CX5 has the Bose Infotainment system.
Both these audio systems are capable of delivering CD (CD with its 1411 kbps bit rate is still miles ahead of any other audio source) quality music.
FM audio is closer (still well short) to CD quality than DAB.
DAB for the most part is plain horrible, except for a few wealthy (BBC) stations, which transmit in MP2 at 196 kbps. Even the BBC stations transmitting at 196 kbps, are still long way short of CD quality audio. Hyundai Ioniq 5 Ultimate. The family car.
2009 Rimini Red SE TD4. Gone.
2006 Tonga Green i6 HSE. Gone.
Audi A5 convertible, my daily driver.
1972 Hillman Avenger GT, the project.