No 3.5mm Aux In for Hi-res music?

[Lippy]

Ahead of Apple upgrading its music service to hi-res in June, I'm trying to figure out the best way to play hi-res 24/192 through my iPhone into the truck. I was going to use iPhone > Apogee Lightning cable > Apogee One DAC > 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable > aux in/truck. But I can't find a 3.5mm aux into the truck. Do they not have one? If so, that really sucks. It means we need to rely on the cheap DAC in the Sync 4 head unit.

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[Vulnox]

No, hasn't been a physical AUX hookup easily accessible since, I think, maybe the 2015 MY? When it was still MyFord Touch and not Sync 3. I believe some of the Ford headunits had an AUX hookup on the back of the HU, but you had to tear into the dash to access it then run an extension out. I have no idea if that still exists in this gen though.

In any case, you would need a complete tear out and redo of all the speakers and that to tell the difference with the new services anyway, and if you do that I would find a way to add a line in.

 

[Lippy]

No, hasn't been a physical AUX hookup easily accessible since, I think, maybe the 2015 MY? When it was still MyFord Touch and not Sync 3. I believe some of the Ford headunits had an AUX hookup on the back of the HU, but you had to tear into the dash to access it then run an extension out. I have no idea if that still exists in this gen though.

In any case, you would need a complete tear out and redo of all the speakers and that to tell the difference with the new services anyway, and if you do that I would find a way to add a line in.

Dunno, I think 24/192 analog into the B&O unleashed would sound better and I'd be able to tell the diff. I'm hoping Apple can provide at least a reasonable bit and sampling rate through CarPlay/wireless once they update to hi-res lossless.

 

[Tosh]

I would use a lightning -> USB cable
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Apple-Lightning-to-USB-Cable/340749445
this will bypass the DAC in the iPhone and provide uncompressed digital audio directly to the B&O head unit

all for $5

 

[GolfR]

I would use a lightning -> USB cable
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Apple-Lightning-to-USB-Cable/340749445
this will bypass the DAC in the iPhone and provide uncompressed digital audio directly to the B&O head unit

all for $5

You will have to fiddle with the settings and disable wireless carplay otherwise, this will just charge the phone while it sends the audio over the wifi.

 

[MountianMike]

Tidal has a pretty good carplay app also. About 10% of their library is truly hi-res (better than CD quality), the rest is what they call hifi, which matches CD quality. I think Spotify is releasing a hifi option this fall as well. I have a few portable DACs that I use with my HIFIMAN Sundaras, so i get desire to use a better DAC in the vehicle as well. IMO, Unless you are parked, even the quietest vehicle is too loud to hear the difference made by content that is above CD quality. Your mileage may vary.

 

[Vulnox]

Tidal has a pretty good carplay app also. About 10% of their library is truly hi-res (better than CD quality), the rest is what they call hifi, which matches CD quality. I think Spotify is releasing a hifi option this fall as well. I have a few portable DACs that I use with my HIFIMAN Sundaras, so i get desire to use a better DAC in the vehicle as well. IMO, Unless you are parked, even the quietest vehicle is too loud to hear the difference made by content that is above CD quality. Your mileage may vary.

Yeah, a truck isn't a good soundscape to begin with, and the B&O Unleashed, while a great system, is also not sensitive enough to really highlight the differences. The same issues have been brought up with Tidal, most users except those with the equipment for it, won't benefit. A truck, even with fantastic speakers, isn't it. I will still use it, haha, but I am not expecting anything.

 

[MountianMike]

Yeah, a truck isn't a good soundscape to begin with, and the B&O Unleashed, while a great system, is also not sensitive enough to really highlight the differences. The same issues have been brought up with Tidal, most users except those with the equipment for it, won't benefit. A truck, even with fantastic speakers, isn't it. I will still use it, haha, but I am not expecting anything.

Agreed. I do understand though. If there is better performance to be had, I generally want it, even if it is just a 2-3% improvement. I still think those upgraded streaming services can be worth it, just for the upgrade from lossier MP3 or AAC to CD Quality. Most people can appreciate that difference, even though it may be small. It is when you get above CD quality that I just don't think you will be able to perceive a performance increase in a truck.

 

[Lippy]

Anyone know the max bitrate and sampling rate of CarPlay wireless?

 

[Vulnox]

Anyone know the max bitrate and sampling rate of CarPlay wireless?

Since wireless CarPlay uses Wifi, it's capable of transmitting at the same bitrate as the source, up to the likely max you would see with audio. I couldn't find exact stats on the max, but found a BMW forum where they discussed it and they said CarPlay Wireless sounds as good as wired when using Tidal HiFi, and both are significantly better than Bluetooth.

 

[Lippy]

I searched a bit more and found some posts that say CarPlay is limited to 16/44. Not sure if that is accurate, but it is CD quality. So it seems the only way to play higher bitrate audio in our trucks is to copy higher resolution files to a USB, assuming Sync 4 can play 24- bit. Some people say they've tried FLAC and it works, so I assume the systems can play 24-bit. Once the Apple service is upgraded, I'll try that to do a comparison. It is a bummer, though, that we can't just use an external DAC > audio in. Even if it can do 24-bit, the DAC in the truck is cheap and not great.

 

[chrisp993]

I tried a USB drive with lossless CD rips, organized into folders by artist/album. Unfortunately, Sync4 just seemed to treat this as one long list of music files i.e. ignored my folder structure and didn't use artist/album/song metadata to sort and order files - pretty useless for the 1000s of tracks on the USB drive!

Anyone else tried this or found a way that Sync4 can actually organize the files on a USB drive so that they can be browsed effectively?

 

[billybob]

I have seen in threads that CarPlay is limited to 16/48(or 44) couple different sources and Airplay 2 is at 24/44 other around "CD quality". This is not an audio quality debate but most people on most sound systems can't tell much past this range anyway. I would assume you will get a minor improvement from regular Apple Music(256 AAC) to the "Lossless"(24/48) tier but will not be able to use "Hi Res lossless".

 

[billybob]

I found a presentation dating back to 2016 and wired CarPlay uses LCPM at 16/48 but Wireless CarPlay uses AAC. So in theory using Wired CarPlay will max out your trucks capability.

 

[jcaspar]

I tried a USB drive with lossless CD rips, organized into folders by artist/album. Unfortunately, Sync4 just seemed to treat this as one long list of music files i.e. ignored my folder structure and didn't use artist/album/song metadata to sort and order files - pretty useless for the 1000s of tracks on the USB drive!

Anyone else tried this or found a way that Sync4 can actually organize the files on a USB drive so that they can be browsed effectively?

I thought this at first too. Seemed like just a jumble of songs. Then I read a review on MacRumors that talked about the nice file system. The key is, after selecting your USB source, to click on browse. That brings up this menu:

you can then for example. select Artists and get this:

Click on the Artist and get the list of albums.