Poor quality calls on Android head unit

My friends can’t hear me properly on calls.

It is only when you make a call over Bluetooth using your Android headunit that the problem is known. The person you have called can’t hear you properly. The people you call ask you to speak up, and you raise your voice just to be heard.

Go somewhere quieter

Finding a quiet room, cupping your hand over the microphone, or moving the microphone closer to your mouth can help with a phone. But your Android head unit is in a fixed position in the dash, and you are in a fixed position in the driver’s seat. It is not possible to use the usual tricks to improve the microphone call volume that we can do with a phone.

Frustrating

Incoming callers can’t hear you speak clearly and ask you to repeat yourself; people who can understand you fully ask you to speak up. Making calls on your Android headunit can be frustrating.

The reason

The calls are of such poor quality because the key component in the call is of terrible quality. Cheap, if not the cheapest, parts are fitted for the microphone stages of an Android head unit. Cost is a driving factor; cutting even the smallest corners in production costs can help keep the overall product cost down. Unfortunately, the poor call quality won’t be found until it has been fitted.

The solution

The solution to the terrible microphone used in the Android headunit, leading to poor-quality calls, is simple. Still, the possibility depends on one big factor when purchasing.

Fit an external microphone (eBay) to the microphone input on the rear of your Android head unit. Place the other end of the microphone up by the sun visor.

This solution fixes two problems in one go. First, the rubbish microphone fitted to the Android headunit in the factory has been bypassed by one costing just a little bit more, but that is so much better. Second, the solution brings the microphone up higher and closer to the driver’s mouth. The shorter the distance between the person speaking on the phone and the microphone recording that speech, the louder the volume for the listener.

Purchasing factors

There are many factors to consider in the suitability of any Android headunit for purchase. But one of the key factors in considering an Android headunit, if you plan to use it for calls, is the option for external microphone fitting. You will be stuck with poor-quality calls without this option to fit an external microphone.

External microphone input on android headunit
MIC – Microphone input found on the amazing universal 11.62″ UIS7863 6Gb android headunit (here)

Other solutions

If the caller can’t hear you on the integrated microphone, ensure you have removed any protective film from the screen that may be covering the microphone hole on your new Android headunit.

Pie-Man
Pie-Man
Android guy who loves his android head units as much as he loves his cherry pie.

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7 COMMENTS

  1. You can find tons of threads of people reporting even external microphones have very low volume. Which is exactly the situation I am in right now. 🙁

  2. I have the same problem, but I do not know where exactly to connect the external microphone, my radio does not have built-in RCA sockets, only a cube with pins.

  3. I have the same problem, but I do not know where exactly to connect the external microphone, my radio does not have built-in RCA sockets, only a cube with pins.

    • If there is an option for external microphone for your radio, use the lead that attaches to the cube with pins. The lead will have a 3.5mm jack socket to accept the 3.5mm jack plug of the microphone. As a note the external microphone will NOT use the RCA connectors.

  4. I have a roadmaster android headunit
    The mic quality is beyond terrible, the volume is loud (almost too loud)
    The mic gain is not the problem here.
    I have fitted five different external mics. They improve the quality a little bit but the same metallic voice is still there. (I have of course changed the mic settings to external mic)

    The second problem is: sound compensation, when there’s a loud noise in the background such as engine noise or high AC fan speed, the mic volume gets so low and suddenly gets too loud then too low again .. everybody that I call do complain about this.

    I couldn’t find anything useful for this in the settings.

    Any helpful tips?

    • Sounds like you have a faulty headunit. Many of the old ones with obsolete processors are of very poor quality hardware.

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