Hated not having my main music source, Spotify, in my old Volvo V70. The factory entertainment unit (radio/CD/tape) is a highly proprietary piece of kit, that really doesn't offer much in the way of modern connectivity. Moreover it's seen better days, as with lots of Volvos from my car's era the electronics have become highly suspect when it comes to reliability. While the car remains a workhorse, I'm hesitant to sink much money into the stereo.
Enter the Lihan. I've used FM transmitter interfaces in the past and frankly was never particularly pleased with their performance. But the last of that was in the early 1990s, back when my hearing and audiophile tendencies was much more picky and acute. Nowadays some three decades later…not so much. Aging will do that to you. So will the inevitable loss of frequency range that comes with getting older. So thinking that using a Bluetooth receiver/FM transmitter might be a decent solution, search through the highest rated units on Amazon and decided to give the Lihan a try, especially since it was affordably priced.
The unit has proven itself to be quite usable. Setup wasn't TOO difficult, though I did need to reference the way too small for old eyes user's manual for a bit of initial guidance. Once the unit was paired to my Samsung phone, a pleasant surprise was had in that the Lihan also serves as a fast charger via USB, something I really wasn't expecting even though in small text on Amazon's product page it does clearly state that this feature is supposed to be present. My phone quickly paired with the Lihan and the Lihan was near instantly transmitting signal.
Having said that, the sonic quality of that signal is not something to crow about, even when the listener has over six decades of use on his ears and can provide a bit of latitude on being too judgmental. The main issue is the abundant static that comes with radio transmissions, particularly prevalent with weaker signals. Moreover the USB cable that I used for the fast charging of my phone introduced its own amount of interference noise to the transmission the Lihan was doing. A better shielded cable would help alleviate this, but how often does anyone come across heavily shielded USB mini-cables for the purposes of audio quality? Generally it's mainly about fast charging and data transfers.
The "multi-layered" shielding that that GE-branded USB-A to USB-B cable was of little effectiveness in blocking interference coming off the wiring of the cable itself. I picked it up on the fly from a local store, primarily because I forgot to grab one when I left home to drive around and test how well the Lihan would perform under real-world usage conditions. The Lihan also picked up electrical noise from the car's engine, primarily during engine speed acceleration and deceleration. The Lihan is definitely not what anyone can call "hi-fi".
What it actually IS is a fairly capable and reliable connection alternative. The Spotify streaming in all candor just sounds like a over-air FM radio broadcast. The noise level are quite overflowing, but the effect is truly like listening to a weaker FM radio signal, complete with realistic-sounding station drift. It's certainly not total garbage as long as a listener is willing to temper their expectations. The Lihan just WORKS at getting that streaming music data from my phone into and through the Volvo's old stereo.
For that and this FM transmitter's low price and the sweet fast charging, I'd say that it's worth the fuss. Can't give it 5-stars because of its dodgy broadcasting quality and rather blah noise suppression, but everywhere else it definitely seems like a winner. 4-stars.
Report