SL/R231: Facelift CarPlay
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Facelift CarPlay
My recently acquired 2019 SL550 has integrated CarPlay from the factory as it should. I’ve discovered that when using CarPlay, the EQ or tone controls in the Harmon Kardon media interface unit are bypasses and do not function when using CarPlay.
Can someone please confirm this to be the case with all 2017-2020 facelifted SL’s? If this is true I believe the only way to EQ music is through a third party app or to use Apple Music which has a very simple type of EQ. I currently use YouTube Music and JPlay and would like to know if anyone has discovered a third party EQ app that works by allowing one to choose the streaming service of their choice.
Can someone please confirm this to be the case with all 2017-2020 facelifted SL’s? If this is true I believe the only way to EQ music is through a third party app or to use Apple Music which has a very simple type of EQ. I currently use YouTube Music and JPlay and would like to know if anyone has discovered a third party EQ app that works by allowing one to choose the streaming service of their choice.
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It’s been a long time but if I remember correctly you can simply set the sound settings while using the radio.
CarPlay disables the settings menu but doesn’t reset them. If memory serves it will just use the current settings.
since I only used Apple Music I set the sound output to “Rock” and the sound was good for me.
CarPlay disables the settings menu but doesn’t reset them. If memory serves it will just use the current settings.
since I only used Apple Music I set the sound output to “Rock” and the sound was good for me.
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Joined: Feb 2026
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Thanks for the reply and suggestion. I have tried that but from what I can tell, it has zero effect when going back and listening to music through CarPlay. According to AI, they confirmed my findings that the Harmon Kardon tone controls only affect media played natively through the head unit. Subscribing to Apple Music is my last resort as I currently get YouTube Music as part of YouTube TV and I use JPlay while playing music through my HiFi at home.
