2009 Audi A4 Avant

[.RJ]

I still use one of these :lol:

[Ken]

I've actually seen the same thing before, where my BT gave better audio quality than my AUX input. I attributed that however to the fact that the AUX cable ran into my dash and god knows how much interference it was picking up in there.

[Mike]

I still use one of these :lol:

Please step away from this thread.

[Senor_Taylor]

I prefer a usb stick in my glove box, but my head unit is only good for playing a usb stick off of random. There's no way to actually pick what song you want to play. That said, Pandora and an aux cable is perfect for me except that my phone is always roaming around Harrisonburg, so my data is throttled way back.

Sent from my SCH-R530U using Tapatalk

[Evan]

VAG went BT 3.0 in 2009. 3MB/s. I don't listen to anything near that quality. Usually 192kbps. So unless you're in an old car with old BT, a lack of bandwidth for audio throughput shouldn't be a thing. Am I missing something?

its 320 kb/s in BT audio, not 3 MB/s, which sounds like it should be just fine for compressed audio, but the problem is that its compressing already compressed audio (using a really really shitty codec since it has to work in headphones etc), and it comes out the other end sounding worse. Maybe you care, maybe you dont, but the point is BT is definitely not as good as a direct aux connection.
(Unless of course the germans fucked up the aux connection with noise and such, which wouldnt surprise me.)

There is a new APT-X lossless compression standard in BT, but the hardware on both sides have to support it and neither ios or android support it yet.

[WRXtranceformed]

I prefer a usb stick in my glove box, but my head unit is only good for playing a usb stick off of random. There's no way to actually pick what song you want to play. That said, Pandora and an aux cable is perfect for me except that my phone is always roaming around Harrisonburg, so my data is throttled way back.

Sent from my SCH-R530U using Tapatalk

That sucks Mine can be controlled through the oem head unit, browsing folders and songs and such. I had to set up the library on the stick to be more segmented into folders because the unit would freeze trying to load that many songs on one root folder (and it would take forever to find what you want) but I should have done that a long time ago anyway. It's crazy to see how far along usb data sticks have come. I still have a few of the old ones in my house that are like 512mb. This one is less than the size of a dime and it holds more than the first hard drives on my old computers had:

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[.RJ]

I still use one of these :lol:

Please step away from this thread.

No interfaces, no cables, shit always works. Mostly listen to podscasts and pandora, so its not like I'm losing out on any audio quality.

[Senor_Taylor]

I prefer a usb stick in my glove box, but my head unit is only good for playing a usb stick off of random. There's no way to actually pick what song you want to play. That said, Pandora and an aux cable is perfect for me except that my phone is always roaming around Harrisonburg, so my data is throttled way back.

Sent from my SCH-R530U using Tapatalk

That sucks Mine can be controlled through the oem head unit, browsing folders and songs and such. I had to set up the library on the stick to be more segmented into folders because the unit would freeze trying to load that many songs on one root folder (and it would take forever to find what you want) but I should have done that a long time ago anyway. It's crazy to see how far along usb data sticks have come. I still have a few of the old ones in my house that are like 512mb. This one is less than the size of a dime and it holds more than the first hard drives on my old computers had:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00812F7O8/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1">http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00812 ... UTF8&psc=1</a><!-- m -->

Well, I can navigate through the files, but it's pointless to try and scroll through 1,500 songs with a crappy resistive touch screen. The scroll bar gets wonky with that many files too. Plus, there is no way to organize the songs by artist or genre as far as I can tell.

I remember paying $50 for a 256 MB sd card for a camera once....

[BLINGMW]

Went through the same thing on our E46, went similar route as you. Cable just for charging, BT for music. Either BT or Aux can be screwed up by crap hardware, FWIW I have had better luck with BT. If the reviews are good, it should be fine.
Advantage #2: you aren't always going to have to plug it in, it'll just work when near the car.
Advantage #3: larger compatability with any BT enabled phone (in case you accidentally buy or find a non-apple product someday)

[Mike]

So I spent some time comparing the audio of BT to the CD player last night (played the songs and switched back and forth). Slight pain in the ass since each input has its own EQ settings and they were all over the place. With matching settings, there is a small difference between the two, but I couldn't tell you which was "better." Regardless, not using the steering wheel controls has always bugged me and is a safety hazard so I'm looking at downloading MP3s of all the stuff I listen to regularly and burning to CD, putting on an old iPod, or using an SD card if the car has a reader (not sure). Spotify is awesome, but it has its limitations :/

[.RJ]

I'm looking at downloading MP3s of all the stuff I listen to regularly and burning to CD, putting on an old iPod, or using an SD card if the car has a reader (not sure)

[Jake]

Spotify is awesome, but it has its limitations :/

I can control Spotify (previous/next track) with my steering wheel buttons over the USB connection, and allegedly that Tune2Air thing will let you do it over Bluetooth as well. Is that not the case?

[Ken]

Spotify is awesome, but it has its limitations :/

I can control Spotify (previous/next track) with my steering wheel buttons over the USB connection, and allegedly that Tune2Air thing will let you do it over Bluetooth as well. Is that not the case?

I was gonna say, my car lets me skip around as well.

[ViPER1313]

+1 for the Ford, Mazda and an aftermarket deck in the Corolla.

[Mike]

Nope, can't skip around Spotify via BT with the GTI either.

[ViPER1313]

If you haven't done it since ios6, clear the BT pairings from your phone and re-pair. All my buttons stopped working after the ios7 update, re-pairing fixed it.

[Mike]

I just got the car.

It is something with Spotify; there is a 44 page thread in their support forum with others having the same problem. Mostly Asian and German cars it looks like.

[Mike]

Based on the oil gauge, car is burning oil faster than 1qt/5k miles. Le sigh. But... warranty. Once I get a good figure, I'll take it into Audi to at least get it documented before the warranty is up.

Lovely vehicle so far... Makes the miles disappear. Took it on a nice road trip over the mountains and to the coast. Sublime driving experience. I'd like a more sporty suspension, but it is probably best that I don't have that with our rutted up roads and driving in the city each morning.

[SlimKlim]

I'd like a more sporty suspension, but it is probably best that I don't have that with our rutted up roads and driving in the city each morning.

This is why I wish I had the 17" factory wheels instead of the big blingy option. Those 40 profile tires don't soak up shit, and NOVA roads have plenty of potholes to go around.

[Mike]

I think we have 18s with 245/45s on them. Far smoother ride than the GTI on 17s.