Issues with DUDU4 under DUDU OS 3.6 (OTA)

kostazl

Hello dear DUDU users and developers,
My system is DUDU4 9.5” 4+64 running DUDU OS 3.6 (by OTA) and I would like to share some annoying issues I have encountered and cannot resolve without your help.
These are the issues:

The audio settings are total mess and almost useless:
The EQ setting layout has WAY too many slides (consisting of two pages) and cannot be used properly. Also, when I press “Reset Equalizer to default settings” resetting EQ through the Sound menu > Advanced settings > More, it gets back to “User” EQ preset, not to "Standard" as it should be. When the default for “User” EQ is applied, it appears that all the slides goes up few decibels up from zero position, which wrongly rises the sound level?! Pure bug.
In my opinion EQ must be totally redesigned to have proper ergonomic and informative controls, enable/disable toggle, 11 or maximum of 13 slides, ranging from 20-40 Hz to 16-20 kHz, +-8/10 dB correction range and increase/decrease/zero buttons for each slide. “Standard” preset should be default setting, not “User/Custom”. Better name it "Flat".
The audio time alignment setting (in “Surround focus”) is also useless – it has no positioning slider (like balance/fader setting has in “Channel focus”) and the parameters are unclear – do they add or subtract delay? Moreover, the milliseconds are not exact value, and the sliders are REALY difficult to manipulate, mainly because of the scale and lack of +/- button.
In my opinion Time alignment must have enable/disable toggle (instead of reset/turn off button) and positioning slider with additional preset value buttons (driver, passenger, center/all – just like in “Channel focus”), as well as +- buttons for delay value slider. For some reason DUDU7 has some of this, but DUDU4 doesn’t???) There should also be a help note, explaining exactly how TA is implemented and what algorithm it uses.
Subwoofer and all related settings (low/high pass filters etc.) are not user friendly and with quite unfamiliar layout and parameter values. There should be available an initial wizard for speaker setup, that can configure the accessible audio settings accordingly. In any case, Subwoofer settings should be grouped separately and must have proper enable/disable toggle, which affects all related filter settings, including time alignment.
“Loudness” should offer at least 3 different levels to pick from.
“Speaker power regulation” slide should be given in percentage and/or dB scale with 0 (default), plus and minus scale.
there should be a setting to give the ability to apply low pass (min 12 dB slope) filters for front and rear speakers independently (calculated according to their diameter/size) to remove the excessive low frequencies that those speakers are not able to replay anyway but will generate nasty distortions.
Volume control is not functioning properly. There should be immersive/separate volume control function (controlled by main volume controls, but independent from main volume) for build in navigation and Android auto voice and warning notifications, as well as for Bluetooth calls. The second navigation volume slider (I mean what opens with the 3 dots in main volume slide) is simply not working. The additional sound level compensation settings (actually the only sound mixer I have found) are useful in general but cannot fulfill the above-mentioned function.
In my opinion Volume control must have the ability to control (independent from main volume) immersive sound level for main navigation instructions/warnings and voice/sound notifications (while they last) as well as for AA navigation (Waze for example) and Bluetooth call. The 3 dots menu in the main volume slider should be able to open the whole sound mixer, similar to every smartphone.
In other words, in “Audio mix settings” > “Navigation/Audio mix” and “Alert sound mixings” there should be settings allowing to set permanent volume level for selected app, which is not changing by main Volume setting during normal use, but only while the sound notification is played. For me, these settings don’t do anything at all (Edit: Immersive volume control is currently working properly only for BT phone calls, when "Navigation/Audio mix" is off and Bluetooth phone is selected in "Apps for audio mixing").
When resetting all audio settings (EQ, TA, filters and etc.) the interface should simply apply their default parameters and/or switch their toggles to off state, without altering the sound level.
It can also be considered in the future to offer users the ability to choose between Parametric EQ and simple bass/mid/treble control, and to be added adaptive auto sound level control (lossless sound level compressor) to automatic adjust the sound level of each main source (FM Radio, Media player, BT Audio etc.).
Build in microphone is almost useless. People on the other side can barely hear me, even when shouting directly in front of the screen. Couldn’t find any settings to adjust level/sensitivity, echo/noise reduction, actually there are no related settings at all.
I know it is capacitive type and the location in the front panel is not optimal, but common!… The external mic of most OEM HU is same passive type, located above my head near the windscreen and at almost same distance from my mouth, but they work like a charm. This must be fixed!
In the “Startup settings” > “Ignition-Off Head Unit Status” sleep/shutdown delay slider should be in the range from 0 to let’s say 30 seconds (1s resolution) and again it is missing +- buttons. 3-4 seconds are usually quite enough to prevent restarting HU during engine ignition/startup phase. There should be an option to manually choose the car battery voltage level threshold under which the head unit will transition automatically from sleep to shutdown state (to prevent further battery drain). Most android HUs simply have preset for 1, 2 or 3 days wait time to enter turn off state, but this is not always optimal.
Screen scalability is not ok. Android Navigation buttons in the home screen are simply too small, some apps like Spotify look small and do not utilize effectively the screen space.
Autoplay function doesn’t work most of the time, especially with Spotify and similar players (tried all appropriate setting with no success). Apparently, OS does not start/keep player in background.
CarLink 2.0 lacks some important settings every AA emulator should have (such as GPS pass-through toggle).
DUDU OS 3.6 lacks (or I was unable to find it in settings) the ability to manually choose which music app should be selected by pressing repeatedly “Source” button of the car SWC and music player main widget on main screen (minimalistic view). This setting was present in the previous OS version.

If someone found solution for any of these issues, please share it.
Thank you in advance!

Mikescotland

kostazl I use dudu7 and external dsp so can't comment on EQ. However all other issues are also present, UI too small to operate on 9.5 inch, OS losing memory about what application was playing before power toggle (auto start doesn't work) etc... Even if I put Spotify in no kill list on DUDUOs, it doesn't work.

YAOXILONG

Thank you for your detailed feedback regarding DUDU OS 3.6. We sincerely appreciate your patience and constructive suggestions. Here are our responses and planned improvements:

Audio Settings Enhancement
- The EQ interface will be completely redesigned in future updates to simplify controls (e.g., reduced sliders, ± buttons, and preset toggles). Default values will be reset to "Flat" (currently labeled as "Standard").
- Independent volume control for navigation/Bluetooth calls is under optimization to ensure seamless mixing functionality.
Microphone Performance
- While internal microphone sensitivity adjustments are limited by hardware, we’ve added gain options in newer firmware. For optimal call quality, an external microphone is recommended.
UI Adaptations
- A dedicated UI scaling solution for small screens is in development, including larger touch targets and vertical layout support.
Additional Notes
- CarLink issus & Background process retention and SWC "Source" button customization is prioritized for future.

kostazl

YAOXILONG
Thank you for the response!
It's so good to see that DUDU Team listens to costumers - I am genuinely impressed! 🙂
As a matter of fact, yesterday I nave manually updated to DUDU OS 3.6E (USB update) and I already noticed some positive changes:

Now, there is a Microphone Gain Setting (Edit: At level 7 Its noticeably better now, but the voice is still heard somehow muffed).
The setting for manually choose the apps controlled by the “Source” button of the car SWC is back.
Good job!

WoOOOhOOO

YAOXILONG

I do NOT want a simplified EQ setup with less sliders.

I used a calibrated mic and played pink noise to adjust the EQ.

In fact, I would prefer more sliders and individual EQ for each speaker.

But definitely I do NOT want less EQ sliders.

Perhaps there could be a choice of Advanced/Simple mode for EQ.

In general I do agree with the suggestions that @kostazl suggested though.

kostazl

Unfortunately, the update following the first release of 3.6E doesn't fix anything related to above mentioned audio settings issues. I cannot see any difference, at first glance ...
For me, the Audio settings menu is the most important one in any headunit. If it is messed up (like this), no other gimmicks or beautifying can and ever will be able to compensate for the lack of adequate audio setup, in my opinion.
Can't you just copy Pioneer or Kenwood (or even Eonon) in this regard - just as suggestion?