Android auto media playback

[JSolo]

When using AA (wired), does media (wav/mp3/flac/ape/etc..) playback get routed over usb or BT in this car. Possibly thinking of dumping my music library to a phone, but if it's over BT, that's a deal breaker. BT == loss of audio quality. Given mp3 is already lossy, that's just more loss.

 

[RedCal]

I'm pretty sure it's USB, I would get a good streaming service and save the copying

 

[JSolo]

It's a tech im not at all familiar with, other than playing around with in the garage. I'd probably use vlc as that supports most formats. Not sure how well it will organize the library. There's probably 2-3K tracks.

 

[RedCal]

Try a free Tidal account. .. it's great to press the mic button and tell it to play a artist / track
Tidal does CD quality (and MP3 if you set it to that) does higher than that but not via AA

https://tidal.com/tiers/hifi-plus?u...-nhVfDoaAvWwEALw_wcB&utm_content=582438821426

 

[bfglitch]

Wired AA definitely goes over USB. Ever since Google Play Music shut down, I moved all my music to my own streaming music server I host on a server from home. The software I use I specifically tell it to download specific playlists to the phone which it then syncs when I'm either home or away and downloads it directly to the phone so I'm not constantly trying to stream music. About 90+ of my music collection is in flac.

 

[JSolo]

^^What server/client software are you using? I just thought it'd be easier to install a 64gb microsd to the phone with the music already on it. The phone is a s9+ with a very limited data plan (1gb), mostly for gv calls when out and about and/or AA map data use. I don't want to have my primary phone plugged in all the time.

 

[bfglitch]

I use a server called Navidrome. I used to use something called Airsonic Advanced. Both use a Subsonic API which allows you to use a handful of different clients on Android. Currently I'm using the client Ultrasonic. Dsub is also popular...both have AA support although the support in Ultrasonic is a bit better, but unfortunately not the version that is on the play store.

My setup isn't for the faint of heart. Basically I have Navidrome set up and it goes through a reverse proxy which is publicly exposed to the internet, which then goes through Cloudflare for added protection. Also my home router does lots of advanced blocking / filtering...to the extent that it's practically enterprise grade.

 

[RedCal]

^^What server/client software are you using? I just thought it'd be easier to install a 64gb microsd to the phone with the music already on it. The phone is a s9+ with a very limited data plan (1gb), mostly for gv calls when out and about and/or AA map data use. I don't want to have my primary phone plugged in all the time.

If you have a limited data plan you can save streaming playlists as "offline content " and store it on the phone to save your data plan

 

[JSolo]

In an ideal world, I'd just plug the usb flash drive into a hub shared by the phone. This infotainment doesn't work with hubs, so content on the flash drive may get dumped to the phone, or way or another. That should take care of the whole data issue.

@bfglitch That does sound complicated. I'm not averse to setting up a reverse proxy (already have that for one server here) and have plenty of upload speed (fiber, gig). Will try the above first.

 

[bfglitch]

In an ideal world, I'd just plug the usb flash drive into a hub shared by the phone. This infotainment doesn't work with hubs, so content on the flash drive may get dumped to the phone, or way or another. That should take care of the whole data issue.

@bfglitch That does sound complicated. I'm not averse to setting up a reverse proxy (already have that for one server here) and have plenty of upload speed (fiber, gig). Will try the above first.

Yup, 1gig fiber here as well. I figured I already hosted my own personal cloud storage and some other stuff for family members, I figured why not a music server as well.

 

[killinghall]

I wouldn't worry too much about loss of quality. There's already road noise, and you'll be concentrating on the road more than the music itself.

Leave the high quality listening at home.

 

[General_Vodka]

I'm not an audiophile so I can't tell the difference between bt and usb. What bandwidth does usb audio use? I have noticed my Android auto crash sometimes when I have maps, Amazon music, highway radar and another app running at the same time.

 

[RedCal]

There is a pretty big difference, as I'm sure the BT isn't APTxHD, or even APTx... but I don't have hard numbers
My AA never crashes, I run Waze, Tidal (in HiFi mode so 1440kbs/s) and often a third app (OnePlus 9Pro - 12GB ram) maybe the Amazon music app is the cause?

 

[G70LEbyAdoom]

Bluetooth and USB have a pretty noticeable difference in our cars. AA and carplays media is wired, the only thing that uses Bluetooth is calls.

 

[Danum Alba]

I've got AAWireless, when the phone connects to the car, you can force playback and this will be over BT, once the car has interrogated the USB and decide Android Auto will kick in, the BT audio stops and AA audio kicks in and the quality difference is massive.
Normally I won't force BT playback, just wait until the car connects to the AAWireless, apparently the USB powers up when the car is unlocked so the AAWireless begins its boot process then so I only get a delay if I get in and drive quickly.

But yes, BT audio is much worse than using AA - wired or wireless (it uses WiFi).

 

[JSolo]

Thanks all for clarifying. Good to know I won't lose any audio quality over usb, at least as far as media playback.

It's curious why calls still use BT when wired provides so much more bw and a completely solid connection.

 

[G70LEbyAdoom]

Thanks all for clarifying. Good to know I won't lose any audio quality over usb, at least as far as media playback.

It's curious why calls still use BT when wired provides so much more bw and a completely solid connection.

Google does it because every car that has AA support also has bluetooth support, so its less effort on their end programming wise, which is a good and a bad thing considering the team that works on AA is pretty small and makes some changes that make me think they are literal monkeys sometimes.

 

[JSolo]

^^Same could be said about most of google.... Very little logic in their decisions.

 

[JSolo]

Poweramp takes the cake for music playback.

I played around with vlc but just could not get it to follow my folder structure.

Dumped all my mp3's to the phone's storage (from the usb flash drive).

Structure is "YYYYMMDD - Folder name".

The date code is when that folder was added to the flash drive. Inside it may contain full albums in subfolders, individual tracks, etc. Stock system just plays everything from the flash drive consecutively. I couldn't get vlc to do this. Played around with power amp for a few days then bought it. One of the more pricier apps on the phone, but whatever...Google surveys paid for it anyway.

It would be great if AA just passed through storage to the built in player.

 

[boosted1g]

^^Same could be said about most of google.... Very little logic in their decisions.

cough...cough.... the redesigned UI in Android 12