Facelift Sound quality through iphone cable.

[Goner]

Is it just me or is the sound quality playing downloaded music (through iTunes) really poor?

Not just talking about the lack of bass but also you need to ramp up the volume to around 3/4 to even hear it.

Now i no depending on which radio station is listened to depends on the sound quality as they must all use different EQ settings whilst broadcasting but you would think all the songs downloaded through itunes would be encoded the same would you not? Some stations 1/4 volume is more than loud enough but through the cable it just seems so poor.

System is a B&O and the car is an 18 plate facelift.

Speakers: ALL (not set to front biased)
Bass: 3 notches past the middle
Treble: middle
Sub: 5 notches past the middle
Fader: Left as is, so isn't biased to front or rear

Reason i have just noticed this is because i have just discovered apple music, currently on their 3 month trial so listening to anything from 90's Mariah, Ibiza classics, to today's auto tuned garbage.

 

[Phutters]

Is it just me or is the sound quality playing downloaded music (through iTunes) really poor?

Not just talking about the lack of bass but also you need to ramp up the volume to around 3/4 to even hear it.

Now i no depending on which radio station is listened to depends on the sound quality as they must all use different EQ settings whilst broadcasting but you would think all the songs downloaded through itunes would be encoded the same would you not? Some stations 1/4 volume is more than loud enough but through the cable it just seems so poor.

System is a B&O and the car is an 18 plate facelift.

Speakers: ALL (not set to front biased)
Bass: 3 notches past the middle
Treble: middle
Sub: 5 notches past the middle
Fader: Left as is, so isn't biased to front or rear

Reason i have just noticed this is because i have just discovered apple music, currently on their 3 month trial so listening to anything from 90's Mariah, Ibiza classics, to today's auto tuned garbage.

You might try Deezer instead of iTunes. There's a free trial of the subscription service.

I've had a go with iTunes, Spotify, Tidal and Deezer, and in my humble opinion Deezer has the best audio quality by some margin - both iTunes and Spotify in particular are woolly and indistinct in comparison.

I'm playing it from a cable-connected iPhone via CarPlay and using the equaliser in the Deezer app. This car has the Audi Sound System rather than B&O, and is one of the many afflicted with the infuriating no subwoofer-adjustment syndrome. The Deezer equaliser goes some considerable way to compensating for that.

Deezer does have one irritating quirk at the moment in that you can't select individual tracks from a downloaded playlist and you have to skip to the next track instead, but following howls of protest from Deezer CarPlay users they are changing it on the next update so that you can.

If you do try it I'd be interested to know how you get on with it in your car.

.

 

[Adam14]

Never had this issue playing music through USB C cable for Android Auto and Spotify. Make sure on Spotify that "extreme" quality is enabled for streaming and downloaded music. Helps a lot.

Unfortunately can't help in regards to iTunes, but seeing as I had the same set up and used Spotify instead and had no issue, it might be partly to do with iTunes sound quality.

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[Phutters]

Make sure on Spotify that "extreme" quality is enabled for streaming and downloaded music. Helps a lot.

Indeedy. You have to make sure all the quality settings are WFO on everything you try otherwise any comparison is meaningless.

Mind you, it's a very subjective thing at best, and the inside of a tin box tearing down the motorway isn't really the best place to be making any kind of empirical judgement.

Apart from the wind noise, engine noise, tyre roar and out-of-tune singing, you aren't even sitting in the middle with the speakers equidistant from your lugs.

.

 

[JohnM100]

Not noticed this between tracks purchased/ downloaded from iTunes server but tracks ripped to my iTunes library from a physical CD are a bit flat in comparison.

I don’t use Apple Music but isn’t it supposed to replace tracks in your library with those from the server (and allegedly higher quality)? That’s fine until you decide to cancel your subscription.......


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[Goner]

You might try Deezer instead of iTunes. There's a free trial of the subscription service.

I've had a go with iTunes, Spotify, Tidal and Deezer, and in my humble opinion Deezer has the best audio quality by some margin - both iTunes and Spotify in particular are woolly and indistinct in comparison.

I'm playing it from a cable-connected iPhone via CarPlay and using the equaliser in the Deezer app. This car has the Audi Sound System rather than B&O, and is one of the many afflicted with the infuriating no subwoofer-adjustment syndrome. The Deezer equaliser goes some considerable way to compensating for that.

Deezer does have one irritating quirk at the moment in that you can't select individual tracks from a downloaded playlist and you have to skip to the next track instead, but following howls of protest from Deezer CarPlay users they are changing it on the next update so that you can.

If you do try it I'd be interested to know how you get on with it in your car.

.

Thanks for the reply, I'll give it ago as it's a free trial.

 

[Goner]

Thanks for the replies, so what i've got from this is Apple Music is crap.

 

[Ormesome]

Apple music is fine for me. Cant see a difference in quality from the girlfriends Spotify and my A.M. Could it be soemthing like the speed dependant volume,think it used to be called "gala" or something? Have a play around to see if you can change the quality in iTunes? i think with Spotify you can change it but not entirelly sure on A.M. Also, maybe test between bluetooth and the cable to see if its a cable issue?

 

[Sparks43]

Copying down from a CD into ITunes you can definitely change the bitrate - I think it's default is 128 so as to keep the file size small

In iTunes - Edit, Preferences, General and then import settings - If you change import using ACC encoder to apple lossless then you should get the best rate, but bear in mind it will be a much larger file therefore using up more space -otherwise keep acc encoder and change the rate to 256 or 320 - bit of playing around really

Doesn't apply to items downloaded from iTunes though

There are probably more people on here though who better understand the quality settings etc

Hope that helps

 

[Goner]

Apple music is fine for me. Cant see a difference in quality from the girlfriends Spotify and my A.M. Could it be soemthing like the speed dependant volume,think it used to be called "gala" or something? Have a play around to see if you can change the quality in iTunes? i think with Spotify you can change it but not entirelly sure on A.M. Also, maybe test between bluetooth and the cable to see if its a cable issue?

I have seen there is an EQ setting in the music section of IOS on my phone so i'll play about with that and see how i get on.

 

[Goner]

Copying down from a CD into ITunes you can definitely change the bitrate - I think it's default is 128 so as to keep the file size small

In iTunes - Edit, Preferences, General and then import settings - If you change import using ACC encoder to apple lossless then you should get the best rate, but bear in mind it will be a much larger file therefore using up more space -otherwise keep acc encoder and change the rate to 256 or 320 - bit of playing around really

Doesn't apply to items downloaded from iTunes though

There are probably more people on here though who better understand the quality settings etc

Hope that helps

I understand what you're saying about the CD ripping etc.

It's purely music downloaded through Apple Music to the phone (subscription service).

 

[Bells]

Never had an issue with Apple Music to be honest, only thing I’ve noticed is better quality with a cable compared to over Bluetooth so I just leave my old iPod touch in the car, so don’t have to mess around plugging a cable back in and out every journey.

Don’t know what it is about apple car play but I hate it, used it twice in 2 years

 

[Goner]

Never had an issue with Apple Music to be honest, only thing I’ve noticed is better quality with a cable compared to over Bluetooth so I just leave my old iPod touch in the car, so don’t have to mess around plugging a cable back in and out every journey.

Don’t know what it is about apple car play but I hate it, used it twice in 2 years

I'm not using Apple Car play, i hate that.

I'm just using the MMI.

 

[JimmyMcGee]

Are you streaming the music? If so, go into Settings > Mobile Data and make sure "High Quality Streaming" is active. It's off by default.

 

[Goner]

Are you streaming the music? If so, go into Settings > Mobile Data and make sure "High Quality Streaming" is active. It's off by default.

Downloading over wifi, stored to the phone and playing through the cable which is connected to the car through the MMI.

 

[RS3KEY]

Is it just me or is the sound quality playing downloaded music (through iTunes) really poor?

Not just talking about the lack of bass but also you need to ramp up the volume to around 3/4 to even hear it.

Now i no depending on which radio station is listened to depends on the sound quality as they must all use different EQ settings whilst broadcasting but you would think all the songs downloaded through itunes would be encoded the same would you not? Some stations 1/4 volume is more than loud enough but through the cable it just seems so poor.

System is a B&O and the car is an 18 plate facelift.

Speakers: ALL (not set to front biased)
Bass: 3 notches past the middle
Treble: middle
Sub: 5 notches past the middle
Fader: Left as is, so isn't biased to front or rear

Reason i have just noticed this is because i have just discovered apple music, currently on their 3 month trial so listening to anything from 90's Mariah, Ibiza classics, to today's auto tuned garbage.

Why don’t you just Bluetooth it I’ve not Once used a usb cable to play music through my car?? It literally just connects when you get in the car, and the quality is good not the best as in the old Bose system but it’s still a good audio system!

 

[RS3KEY]

And thats aload of ******** aswell that the quality is better through a cable than Bluetooth ‍ The technology of today and you still got cables running all around your cockpit hahahaa no thank you

 

[Adam14]

And thats aload of ******** aswell that the quality is better through a cable than Bluetooth ‍ The technology of today and you still got cables running all around your cockpit hahahaa no thank you

I'm no sound engineer or whatever they're called, but quality would be better via a cable than BT. Pretty confident Bluetooth has to compress the sound in order to transmit it, which in turn means losing quality, whereas cable allows the full data to be sent.

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[RS3KEY]

I'm no sound engineer or whatever they're called, but quality would be better via a cable than BT. Pretty confident Bluetooth has to compress the sound in order to transmit it, which in turn means losing quality, whereas cable allows the full data to be sent.

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Test it because i have and there’s no difference what so ever from my phones Bluetooth to having it on a wire, were not in the 90s tech has advanced so much only thing I use a cable for in my car is to charge my phone on long journeys!

 

[RS3KEY]

Also it could be your cable maybe it’s got a split init so quality is lost? Maybe it’s a cheapo Poundland special and it’s just that.... cheap but all I’m saying is there is no difference in quality wether your wireless or wired

 

[Adam14]

Test it because i have and there’s no difference what so ever from my phones Bluetooth to having it on a wire, were not in the 90s tech has advanced so much only thing I use a cable for in my car is to charge my phone on long journeys!

I have, maybe take a read of this post and the 100s like it https://www.bimmer-tech.net/blog/it...hats-the-best-way-to-stream-audio-to-your-bmw

 

[Goner]

And thats aload of ******** aswell that the quality is better through a cable than Bluetooth ‍ The technology of today and you still got cables running all around your cockpit hahahaa no thank you

The only reason it's connected via cable is to keep the phone charged as i use it a lot for business, i am aware you can bluetooth it but just assumed the sound would be better hard wired so to speak.

I'm with you on cables though..

 

[Goner]

Also it could be your cable maybe it’s got a split init so quality is lost? Maybe it’s a cheapo Poundland special and it’s just that.... cheap but all I’m saying is there is no difference in quality wether your wireless or wired

The cable has seen better days to be fair, i'll try the one sat on my desk on the way home.

Cables i use are genuine apple and not cheap knock offs.

 

[Phutters]

cheap but all I’m saying is there is no difference in quality wether your wireless or wired

There is.

You only have to Google Bluetooth vs wired for proof.

Thing is, most people (including you, me and Adam) won't be able to hear the difference, especially in a rattly old jalopy.

So you're right in saying that you can't hear the difference, but plumb wrong in saying that there isn't one.

.

 

[RS3KEY]

I have, maybe take a read of this post and the 100s like it https://www.bimmer-tech.net/blog/it...hats-the-best-way-to-stream-audio-to-your-bmw

I don’t need to read anything mate im perfectly happy with the sound of my music from my car haha and I’ve tested then again when I got home and I really can’t hear any difference at all just sounds the same to me.

 

[RS3KEY]

There is.

You only have to Google Bluetooth vs wired for proof.

Thing is, most people (including you, me and Adam) won't be able to hear the difference, especially in a rattly old jalopy.

So you're right in saying that you can't hear the difference, but plumb wrong in saying that there isn't one.

.

Possibly hear the difference wearing headphones (which you cant charge and use them at the same time on iOS to test) but like you say I really can’t hear anything different when I tested it again from getting home!

The cable has seen better days to be fair, i'll try the one sat on my desk on the way home.

Cables i use are genuine apple and not cheap knock offs.

Sorry was just seeing if it was a cheapo as that could of been why possibly, try a newer lead and see if that makes any difference mate.

 

[Adam14]

I don’t need to read anything mate im perfectly happy with the sound of my music from my car haha and I’ve tested then again when I got home and I really can’t hear any difference at all just sounds the same to me.

Didn't say you weren't. Merely pointing out there was a difference, whether you can or can't hear it.

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[JohnM100]

IIRC iPhones doesn’t support aptX codec over Bluetooth so, depending on what the MMI supports, let’s hope they don’t fall back to SBC as that would hit quality (but across the board - not just music from one server source.