I notice that even wired apple car play does not sound very good especially with the high end 3D audio. I thought about trying a wireless apple car play adapter but from everything I've researched the audio quality will be even worse with one of those plus freezing up and numerous other issue so not even gonna try going that route. Airplay has good audio characteristics and I think that might solve the issues of Bluetooth, Car Play adapters, etc. Maybe there is a easier way to do it than this, anyone have any experience going in straight through the WIFI network of the car via Airplay on the phone?https://www.google.com/search?client...KB5wKUopLACQ19
Interesting that you find a difference between wired CarPlay and wired normally through the Audio. I will try that.
I use a Carplay2Air adapter in my wife's Chrysler Pacifica and it works great, I notice no reduction in Audio quality through it vs USB input and we have had no issues with it freezing or anything like that. I've considered trying one on the S.
Maybe try the one in the Pacifica in the Benz. I’d be curious what you think as far as sound quality. I’m hesitant to buy one. I think though those do kind of go through the WiFi and not the Bluetooth so much.
From reviews I’ve read does not sound good but a lot the time reviews are wrong. I’d be curious to see how it works in the Benz. From what I’ve heard they are real hard to get right now. All back ordered. There might be a firmware update that needs to be done fir it to work in the Benz.
Yeah I was dubious because of reviews too, but its been perfect in the Pacifica. My wife is not one to put up with workarounds either, if it didnt work she would make me remove it. My business partner has one in his Palisade too and it too has been perfect.
Yeah I was dubious because of reviews too, but its been perfect in the Pacifica. My wife is not one to put up with workarounds either, if it didnt work she would make me remove it. My business partner has one in his Palisade too and it too has been perfect.
Not to hijack this thread, but I drove a 2020 Pacifica Limited the other day and was blown away by the audio system. I thought the sound quality was great.
Not to hijack this thread, but I drove a 2020 Pacifica Limited the other day and was blown away by the audio system. I thought the sound quality was great.
The one you drove had the Harmon Kardon? It ain't bad! Better than the base Burmester in the W222. We've had two Pacifica Limiteds, a 2017 and a 2020, the 2017 had the base audio and the 2020 the Harmon Kardon, I have been very surprised by it.
The one you drove had the Harmon Kardon? It ain't bad! Better than the base Burmester in the W222. We've had two Pacifica Limiteds, a 2017 and a 2020, the 2017 had the base audio and the 2020 the Harmon Kardon, I have been very surprised by it.
Steve did you try out the carplay2air yet in the Benz? I'm curious if that will work in the S class. I don't think it will. Looks like it might only be supported in the C class and the G class. I did figure one thing out today, one reason I've been having issues since I started with the trial of Tidal and Amazon is that both are a lot more data intensive than the Apple music I'd been using for years. I had to upgrade my Verizon Cell service today to a higher speed as I did have unlimited data but it was the cheap plan and it was constantly be throttled back. $25.00 more a month for the faster service, kinda a rip off, I think I may switch wireless companies. Thinking maybe Xfinity might be worth try. But ya, no mare wired apple CarPlay for me, it is a noticeable degradation of sound, with the base system you may not notice it but with the 3D I sure do. The problem is with Tidal and Amazon I cant control the music through the screen, with Apple I still can via the search function but I mostly want to listen to the others as they are better sounding so what I do is put them on streaming radio stations while I'm driving so one song plays after another and it's a mix of music, works out ok. If the carplay2air works I may try that as from my understanding that does go though WiFI as it requires a higher bandwidth than what Bluetooth can provide. Who knows maybe it'll even sound better than the wired Car Play. It sure would be convenient and simplify things a bit.
I havent tried it yet, I want to make sure it will still work in the Pacifica before I adapt it to the Mercedes. Sent them a message.
Yeah the streaming high quality audio uses a LOT of data. I had to upgrade my plan too. You were getting throttled. Make sure your app is set to stream in masters/HD and to only stream in masters/HD or it will downscale for signal.
When you compare Apple CarPlay and say it doesn't sound as good, what are you comparing it to, the other USB input or Bluetooth? I did try those inputs. I noticed no difference between the CarPlay USB port and the other USB port, but oddly enough Bluetooth might sound a little better!
The best possible sound I've found is streaming direct into the port listed iPod. When I go to Car Play I get some sound degradation same as with Bluetooth, I'd say bluetooth is even a little bit worse. Bluetooth is definitely brighter and maybe thats why you think it sounds better on the stock system. I did find when I've had stock systems in these Benz's I had to crank the treble up to at least 4 or 5 for it to sound better and same with bass settings on the EQ. With the 3D everything is fairly flat except I have mid setting at minus 2 otherwise vocals are a little bit too much. Very happy with the 3D audio. Yep I have the settings on masters/hd. Your right they were throttling me back like crazy on Verizon as I was using so much data and thats why I called them yesterday and they stuck me with a plan that is costing $25.00 more per month so now I'm up to nearly $100 per month, I was at $69 for the past couple of years with no real issues which I thought was pretty reasonable, I guess those days are gone with HD streaming now, lol. Although last night I did make a finding. With the in car hot spot WIFI it was showing up on my phone I had signal but it did not seem to be streaming over it for some reason, my music would freeze up. So I generated another password Key and hit that in and it worked like a charm even handling the heavy data intensive Ultra HD on the Amazon HD. I was surprised. If I could count on that working all the time I coulda avoided the extra $25.00 charge to Verizon but the problem is that a lot of the time the car does not connect to the MB server and it does not work. Let me though if you do get the Wireless apple car play working in the Benz, it might be all you need to do is plug it in with no firmware update and it will work, although sounds too good to be true, lol. It could be that sounds even better than the wired apple car play as like I said before it does work off the WIFI sort of like I was talking about in using the apple airplay at the beginning of this thread. WIFI has much less limitations than Bluetooth, from all I've researched Bluetooth is about the worst for Audio quality. With my real accurate 3D audio Tweeters I can really hear those limitations with kinda a more scratchy sound on the upper end of the spectrum. Those Rotating tweeters used in the 3D audio must be real high end tweeters, only comparable Tweeters I've heard is in a pair of speakers I have in my Bedroom up north called Magnat Speakers which are a German speaker, too bad they don't make those anymore. I also have a pair of Martin Logins and a pair of DCM time Windows and they don't compare, both high end speakers.
I'm really debating though trying Xfinity Mobile for my phone, it's $45.00 a month with unlimited Data as long as your a Xfinity customer which I am. That would save me around $50 a month and apparently it streams at 25 Mbps which should be enough, the higher end Verizon is doing 55Mbps. When it was throttling me back though it was down to about 5 Mbps and thats when things were freezing up and buffering.
So I ordered a Carlink 2.0. It is not vehicle specific and they claim it works with 98 percent of cars so looks like I should be all set. With the USB c connection they say it's a little faster than the car2play unit, we shall see. Got it on Amazon so at least if it does not work out I can return it. Found this in the E forums, being that it seems to work with the E class I'd think it would work with the S class. Worth a shot. https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...2017-w213.html
I drive a 2020 S560 with the $6,000.00+ Burmeister 3D sound system. I cannot tell you how much more I would appreciate this system, if it were as simple as the truly magnificent Nakamichi system that was in my 1997 Lexus LS400. That system played my cassettes, it had a CD changer, it had simple knobs to adjust everything and the sound was truly WONDERFUL! The automotive industry has overly complicated so many things, with questionable results. I’m quite sure the current Lexus LS models have similarly overly complicated systems as well. Nuts!
I drive a 2020 S560 with the $6,000.00+ Burmeister 3D sound system. I cannot tell you how much more I would appreciate this system, if it were as simple as the truly magnificent Nakamichi system that was in my 1997 Lexus LS400. That system played my cassettes, it had a CD changer, it had simple knobs to adjust everything and the sound was truly WONDERFUL! The automotive industry has overly complicated so many things, with questionable results. I’m quite sure the current Lexus LS models have similarly overly complicated systems as well. Nuts!
My Dad had a 98 LS400 with Nakamichi, that system was the best system I have ever had in a car. Truly, truly excellent and like you said, so simple, doesnt have 45 speakers, you don't need 45 speakers, you need quality speakers. The ML in my LS460L was the second best, it also was truly excellent and not over the top. The LS500s have more complex systems with speakers in the roof etc also. I hear they also are very good though.
Slideshow: A one-of-one U.S.-spec Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster became even rarer after a factory-backed transformation at McLaren's headquarters.
