jasonbessey

I'll also point out that audiophiles have a very difficult time differentiating between lossless vs a high-quality compressed audio track in blind listening tests on high end home theater systems and headphones. No way there is any discernible difference in a car speaker system, regardless of the quality of the system.

jasonbessey

Audio sent by carplay is still processed by the built in receiver.

I think Atmos is only available through the Apple Music app on MBUX, but to my ear seems more like a gimmick than any true enhancement in audio experience, but that's obviously subjective. For me, I prefer to have the CarPlay interface.

Dima

Atmos is only viable in home setup with proper speaker placement and separation, that's how its algorithm is written. I got 12 speakers at home and I can tell when Atmos is on, not so much in the car
As far as 5g, this has nothing to do with the actual speed that carplay is using. That depends not on internet speed but on wifi connection between your phone and carplay. It is not even near 5g, but it's good enough for high quality music. So the point is, the internet speed is not a factor when evaluating the carplay vs MBUX.

jasonbessey

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jasonbessey

Agree. Atmos is great in my home theater (though I still generally prefer a stereo mix for most music). By gimmick I more meant the marketing of Atmos "spatial audio" in cars and headphones.

Aware, just pointing out that 5G to phone and then to car through 2.4 GHz WiFi should generally be faster than data from the car's 4G modem. Anyway, probably doesn't really matter which connection you use when it comes to audio quality. It's a car system at the end of the day, and compressed audio files are going to sound just as good as lossless. Just choose what interface you prefer.

baltika

To my ear, any music streamed via CarPlay is a highly compressed stream. The sound stage is jumbled up, you cannot tell instruments’ placement, the base lacks the punch and sounds muddy and the vocals are hallow and garbled.
I am no audiophile but the 4D Burmeister played via CarPlay sounds worse than the HK in my wife’s X5. Play Apple Music via MBUX’s online music hot spotted from my iPhone (Verizon) and it all comes to life. You have to be deaf to not to appreciate the difference. If you have enough bandwidth to pull the Atmos recordings, it blows your mind with clarity and the dimensional nuances. Rocket man by Elton comes to you from every angle. It’s in the ceiling speakers and the twitters in the front seats and the front base kicks in separate from the subs in doors and trunk.
I don’t get enough bandwidth here in San Diego when the traffic is heavy on the 5 and definitely at most times for a reliable Atmos experience but when it comes through it is a real treat.

crabman

Yeah, on the rare songs actually recorded in ATMOS they often have sounds moving around in space and I can in any event reliably tell when my DJ has gone from Tidal to XM, blind. The difference in warmth, vibrancy, dynamic range, isn't hard to pick up, and it should be noted that I'm old, and well on the road to hearing loss.

I do give credit to the idea that audio types will often fight over differences they couldn't actually discern blind. I've been through several home theaters, done the blind A/B thing a number of times, and been unable to pick out a good many differences that allegedly exist. The difference here, however, is not small, you should be hearing something.

baltika

Yes Crab, the difference is not small. The number of songs rendered in Atmos on Apple Music is pretty healthy, actually. Too bad they don’t announce it, unless you are already in the song where they show the Atmos sign. Atmos is a hi-res lossless recoding plus spatial sound. Pretty sick, as nowadays kids like to say.

nosnoop

For CarPlay, remember the change the Music App settings for Cellular streaming.
Under Settings, Music, Audio Qualtiy, change it to "High Quality". Default is "High Efficiency".
If you have 5G and large data plan, you can even set it to lossless, though I believe you can't get lossless through CarPlay.

yovenim

My apple music is not working, i click play and it pauses before the song even starts playing.

nosnoop

Try reset MBUX.
Also reset your iPhone.

Mem30306

A reset can fix many things, but before you do a full-blown reset of MBUX, you might try a soft reset first. That way you won't need to reset everything back up and your current settings won't be wiped out. To do a soft reset, press and continue to press the Power button for up to 10 seconds until you see the main screen go black and restart. Release the power button. The system will restart. Try CarPlay again. If that doesn't work, on your iPhone, search for CarPlay and delete the entry for MBUX, then reset up the connection. If that doesn't work, then follow @nosnoop 's recommendation and perform a hard reset of MBUX, then as a last resort, reset your phone. If all that doesn't work, then a trip to your dealer may be in order to see if there is a software update(s) for your car.