XTRONS® Optical Fiber Head Unit Replacement Decoder for Mercedes-Benz CL/CLS/E/S/SL/SLK

Having to buy this lil fella was an un welcomed surprise; perhaps I didn’t read deep enough in the beginning.. Anyway, $100 for this tiny thing seems a bit much (considering the giant radio it supports is basically a computer and was <$300), but was easy to install and works perfectly.. Even made my steering wheel controls(vol, skip tracks, FF/RWD) work!! This is fantastic and something I had pretty much written off upon ordering head unit. People on theBenz forums say to stay away from these; Glad I’m hard headed bc it has never let me down and has more functions than any other unit I’ve seen. For SIGNIFICANTLY less!!! And was quite literally an exact fit!!! All in for 400 bucks and a Sat. afternoon; I would buy again and do recommend to anyone with an outdated radio/compatible vehicle!! Unless you’re color blind you can do this!

While this product was intended to function with utmost compatibility to the intended OEM fiber optic amplifier on my CLS55, upon installation and test, the sound was mute and it was far better to just wire the amp to the radio directly

Worked perfectly with my 2007 Mercedes E350. One thing that took me a bit to figure out was that the stock connector is actually 2 connectors in one. There were the 2 fiber optic wires, and a 3-pin electrical connector both in one plug. They are actually 2 separate connectors clipped into a larger plastic connector. I had to unclip the fiber connector, and then that plugged right into this box. The other electrical connector supplied power to the stock head unit, so that's what I used to power the aftermarket head unit.

I used this to install an aftermarket head unit with the factory MOST fiber optic setup in my 2005 E55 with Harman Kardon and nav. This XTRONS converter worked flawlessly and is extremely simple to hook up (only have to splice constant power and ground). I was a little skeptical this was what I needed since this particular converter is less than half the price of another brand, but it offers all the benefits of and has the same limitation as the other brand (the limitation being that you lose fade control, though sound comes out of all speakers including center).Despite this being an incredible bargain (not only compared to the other brand's price but compared to the price of having to rewire your entire car to bypass the factory fiber audio), I couldn't give these XTRONS units 5 stars because there's definitely quality control issues with them. Long story short, I bought three of them, and this is what I found:* One's circuit board rattled inside the housing and was completely defective (no audio when hooked up). I literally spent half a day troubleshooting the no audio problem before determining the unit was defective and ordering two more units* Another one's circuit board also rattled inside the housing but the unit worked fine* The third one was perfect (absolutely no rattling and worked)Also, the power wire (yellow in the pics) for the harness that came with one of the working units was completely disconnected. This wasn't a huge deal in and of itself, but just goes to further show the lack of basic quality control.The saving grace for the units I bought though (and the reason I considered giving these 5 stars) was that they were shipped through Amazon, so returning the defective converter was as easy as could be. If these weren't being shipped through Amazon (or even any US seller), I'd imagine the return process wouldn't have been anywhere near as smooth. I purchased another XTRONS product through Amazon, but that was shipped directly from XTRONS and came from China. So if you're reading this at some point in time where these converters are no longer being shipped by Amazon, I think it's definitely something that should really factor into your purchasing decision. XTRONS seems like a great and well-established company, but shipping a defective product back to China and waiting for its replacement is no fun. If I had to order more of these in the future, and they were only being sold and shipped directly by XTRONS in China, I'd definitely order at least two in case one didn't work and just plan to keep both if both worked.

Unfortunately, I ordered this 3 months ago and had it on the shelf until I could get time to install the head unit. The installation of the XTRONS head unit with this decoder was easy, but I was left pulling my hair out trying to figure out why my HK amp was not powering up. As it turns out, this decoder was bad/dead. I bought a different unit from another manufacturer, just installed it 1 hour ago and now everything is working. Very disappointing, but oh well, live and learn. At least I can use the head unit now and it so much nicer than the original unit in my W211.

Simple design and allowed me to use my new radio with the oem speakers!!

First let me first say: After you install this thing, turn the car off for about 10 seconds and then turn it back on. I installed it on my 2003 E500 Benz, using a Kenwood DNX994S Flagship system. It works just like it's suppose to and I'm pleased. Don't waste your time with the 300.00 ones on ebay. This works just fine... It don't control the steering wheel but it works the radio.

I purchased this decoder for my 2006 Mercedes to go with a new head unit, and had it professionally installed. Unfortunately, after just 2 days, the head unit completely lost audio. I brought the car back to the shop, and after keeping it for 3 days to check all wiring and connections, they confirmed the issue was due to this decoder being defective.It ended up being a big waste of both time and money. Very disappointing experience.Pros:• None for me (unit was defective)Cons:• Defective within 2 days• Cost me additional time and labor at the shop• Frustrating overall experience