Best audio not from usb
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What do you use yourself?
I’ve noticed a sound difference for sure when I use Spotify from the car vs Spotify via Apple CarPlay.
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I use a USB flash drive plugged into one of the lower center console USB-C ports, with uncompressed FLAC audio files. Not an Apple user myself, but reportedly Apple Music sounds better than Spotify although with a lower bitrate. Streaming anything will always be lower quality than uncompressed files on a local drive. Just for commuting background noise I use Sirius XM.
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Hmm. But, would downloaded music on our phone sound better ?
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Depends on the quality of the file(s) you download, but same difference - you phone becomes the "local" drive if you have it plugged in. A wireless connection however will always lose some quality, and I really don't want to clog up my phone's memory or storage with all of my music (coming up on about 600 CD-equivalent).
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Which one was better?
I noticed the same. When using Apple CarPlay it sounds like the Spotify app is using higher compression than when using the iDrive Spotify app. My preference is for the iDrive Spotify app.
Best sound (apart from usb) will be via an app which provides lossless music and connection should be via wifi (And this is carplay). USB option is unfortunately limited with what you have downloaded before. But with lossless music streaming apps, you can reach good quality for all songs.
Data rate via bluetooth connection is very limited for playing lossless music. Even for home solutions, recently best speakers are equiped with wifi connection instead of bluetooth. (of course cable is the best)
My preference is Apple Music and carplay wifi connection. (This can be Tidal or Amazon Music Unlimited as well) Spotify is no good due to this quality issue.
Data rate via bluetooth connection is very limited for playing lossless music. Even for home solutions, recently best speakers are equiped with wifi connection instead of bluetooth. (of course cable is the best)
My preference is Apple Music and carplay wifi connection. (This can be Tidal or Amazon Music Unlimited as well) Spotify is no good due to this quality issue.
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Not sure whether this thread is still active or not, as it’s been a while, but it is puzzling to me that unlike most other manufacturers, BMW does not allow Apple CarPlay via USB (I assume this applies to android auto, as well). This would seem to exclude the use of lossless streaming services (I use Deezer lossless) except via iPhone==>wifi==>CarPlay, as discussed in post #10 from Evrim, resulting in some level of losses. Leaving aside for a moment the question of whether the iPhone==>wifi==>CarPlay or 320bps onboard Spotify paths are good enough or not, is there any workaround to simply output an audio stream from an iPhone to the car’s audio system via USB to eliminate any wireless link?
which is better?
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