Help In-Call Volume using a HandsFree BT Receiver in a Car

[stef7]

Does anyone know of anyway to adjust just the in-call volume and boost it when using BT?

I am now using a car other than my '02 Accord with Sony BT3900U car radio... The Sony did an excellent job of connecting via BT, coordinating audio when streaming music from Pandora or TuneIn, getting Google Nav turn-by-turn directions, and generally handling calls: auto-answer, voice dialer, audio quality, etc etc.

The car I'm driving now, it's cost prohibitive to replace the "Symphony" system, so I tried a low-cost compromise to give the system a BT capability... A Kinivo, which requires an AUX in, and a 12V outlet:
http://smile.amazon.com/Kinivo-BTC450-Bluetooth-Hands-Free-Input/dp/B009NLTW60/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1395073718&sr=8-3&keywords=kinivo

It gives me a good deal of the functionality of my Sony BT3900U, but the in-call volume seems low. It's possible my unit is defective - will contact the support team.

The BT audio level when I stream music is very strong, as is the turn-by-turn, and my Sony didn't give me a problem with any audio levels, so this is perplexing.

Wondering if I have an option besides returning and trying another unit.

Thanks.

 

[Rukbat]

There's an in-call volume control in Android - when you're in a call, turn the volume on the phone up all the way (Volume+ button). If that's not loud enough it could be a defective unit (doubtful, because ->) or it could be that they're keeping the volume down so that your caller doesn't hear himself as an echo*. There are a lot of others of that type on Amazon, some that give more in-call volume than others.

*Whether he does or not depends on the speaker volume, the mic placement relative to the speakers and the acoustic properties of the car. A unit made for the car, with the mic in a fixed position and the acoustic properties known, can usually give you greater volume without problems than a general purpose unit.

 

[stef7]

Rukbat, thanks. I read a report by someone else, same complaint. Could be a defective unit.... so many people love this device and report good results.

 

[stef7]

I contacted the product's customer support team and was given the procedure to reset the device. I'll see how that goes and report back, potentially seek a replacement. It does what I expect, other than this behavior.

Customer support indicated that the root cause was the device using different BT profiles for the Phone and Streaming Audio/Music + Google Nav. Conceptually, I get that. I have no idea if the device has some internal gain that is learned or set...

There might not be anything I can do, but a device reset is an easy enough experiment.