Why does CarPlay / uconnect sound like shit?

[Beat Army]

I have a 2021 sport s with the stock sound system which I am happy with…I’ve been listening to Sirius for the free 6 month trial…which is ending soon so I thought I’d start streaming with Spotify premium from my iPhone 13…and I noticed that the sound quality when playing from my phone sucks compared to the radio. First thing…when I connect my phone…the volume goes way down…like by 6 or 8 “increments.” And yes, the volume output on my phone is maxed. When streaming The bass is nonexistent, the treble no longer cuts through the mix, the midrange is weak…wtf…streaming from my phone sounds fine on everything else I’ve used it on….streaming through CarPlay or Bluetooth sounds crappy in the jeep. Is this a settings issue or some kind of scam to keep me subscribed to Sirius?

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[sass JT]

I have a premium system 8.4” system. The Bluetooth sucks azz but when connected through usb to the phone it sounds good.
honestly the base speakers in a jeep aren’t gonna be good compared to aftermarket but everything I learned in 20+ years in 12v industry is that good sound starts with the head unit.
Good luck sir.

 

[Renegade]

Are you connecting with Bluetooth or via USB to the dash port? Bluetooth sucks, but USB should be good. Are you using an iPhone?

 

[ecidiego]

Weird. For me, Sirius sounds like ass. Bluetooth and wired Android Auto sound amazing. Samsung Note 10.

Might be a phone thing.

If I use YT Music on Bluetooth there is 0 difference between that and YT Music wired Android Auto.

 

[ecidiego]

Check this out:

 

[ShadowsPapa]

There's a setting for aux input volume changes....... check your settings in the radio.

 

[Beat Army]

iPhone. iOS 15.4.1

Bluetooth and plugged in both sound equally bad

Sound check setting only applies to downloaded music…this is streaming…and sound check is off anyway.

Spotify app and YouTube both sound bad so it’s not the Spotify app.

I am totally fine with the way the system sounds with Sirius…but when I plug in my phone it’s like low volume, maybe not even stereo, or maybe only playing thru 2 speakers. When a song come on Sirius I can listen to it…the pull up the song on Spotify…play it…there is avery discernible difference…streaming thru my phone quality is awful…I can crank it to as loud as possible and is meh…the. Switch back to Sirius and it blasts my ears off.

 

[Gren71]

I assumed this was just a carplay design feature. Granted im half def but the sound quality of my audiobooka is just fine IMO when played through the carplay app and my premium speakers

 

[Beat Army]

I doubt there’s much to hear on audiobooks other than spoken word…for me it started today…I was doing yard work, rocking out to ac/dc high voltage…and I smoked my 10 year old plug in leaf blower…so I headed to lowes to buy another Chinesium plug in leaf blower and I was like…let’s keep this party going…so I plugged in the phone…pulled up t.n.t….turned up the volume and rolled down the windows to let the wind blow they my bald spot…..and I was like…man this sounds like shit…where’s the low end? I know AC/DC doesn’t thump and bump but this might as well be bluegrass…not that there’s anything wrong with bluegrass…so I switched back to Sirius…I like the outlaw country channel and the garage channel…sounded fine…that’s when I started comparing songs…that’s when I decided something is wrong….fucking CSNY teach your children sounded better on Sirius than Spotify….just fuller and louder.

 

[cafecito]

...streaming...

This is the first thing I would check. If your streaming app of choice is set to auto-adjust the quality of the download based on network availability, or if you're "streaming" low-quality versions of cached songs.

Streaming is always the less optimal way to listen to music.

 

[FLGladiator]

I have a 2021 sport s with the stock sound system which I am happy with…I’ve been listening to Sirius for the free 6 month trial…which is ending soon so I thought I’d start streaming with Spotify premium from my iPhone 13…and I noticed that the sound quality when playing from my phone sucks compared to the radio. First thing…when I connect my phone…the volume goes way down…like by 6 or 8 “increments.” And yes, the volume output on my phone is maxed. When streaming The bass is nonexistent, the treble no longer cuts through the mix, the midrange is weak…wtf…streaming from my phone sounds fine on everything else I’ve used it on….streaming through CarPlay or Bluetooth sounds crappy in the jeep. Is this a settings issue or some kind of scam to keep me subscribed to Sirius?

You have to override the volume max control on the phone. I had the same problem with my android. I canceled the sirius as the streaming has terrible sound and always use USB which is the best sounding imo.

 

[terpsmandan]

I found that out as well with the 8.4 Alpine. I knew that the system should sound better than it was and after installing speakers in the soundbar I switched it to HD radio because I was behind a building and was surprised that HD FM sounded better. It turned out that I was on the standard sound quality on Spotify. I ended up switching to Apple music and stream it lossless and download most playlists.

 

[Beat Army]

Streaming Spotify in my backyard right now thru a JBL extreme 2 Bluetooth speaker….sounds great….I guess I could just charge up the JBL and throw it in the back seat.

 

[sharpsicle]

Streaming Spotify in my backyard right now thru a JBL extreme 2 Bluetooth speaker….sounds great….I guess I could just charge up the JBL and throw it in the back seat.

That could be due to you streaming through WiFi rather than the cell network. Higher bitrate.

Also, Bluetooth is historically bad on uConnect systems. I'd try disabling Bluetooth entirely as a test to make absolutely sure it isn't still using that as the source when you're running CarPlay.

 

[ZoMojave]

Although ancient by today's standards, just load up flash drive sticks and plug them into the USB. Great audio quality that FAR exceeds Sirius, Spotify, Pandora or anything else you can throw at it.

This comes from a JTM owner with Alpine Premium Sound.

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