Using iPhone w/ USB Audio Out to play music to 2016 Entune Premium System

[walstylez]

Hello all, I've only had my 4RTE for a couple of months. Because I'm big on music, I always am looking to get the best signal to my car since I drive a lot. I know that Android phones do not support USB audio out, but I have an old iPhone that I can stream music from. However, when I plug it into the USB port, it recognizes a device and charges it, but when I start Pandora, nothing plays. Am I doing something wrong? I'm not a fan of Apple, but since I have a spare phone anyhow, I figured I'd give it a shot, plus it would free up my phone for other stuff. Any experts out there? Thank you!

 

[Storm Runner]

I believe you have to connect your phone with bluetooth and also sign in to Pandora through the entune app for it to work. Then you can start the Pandora app on the radio and it will play using your phones connection. At least, that's what I did on mine to get it to work. Pretty sure to play music from your phone through the USB port you'll need to have music downloaded to your phone and use it like a MP3 player.

 

[walstylez]

Yeah, I can stream music from my Android phone through bluetooth, but I'd prefer the USB audio out since the signal is better. I find it odd that music has to be downloaded to the device in order to use USB audio out...seems like whether or not it's downloaded onto the device or streaming, it shouldn't really matter, right?

 

[Storm Runner]

You could probably get an AUX cord and plug it in to the phone headphone jack and change the source to AUX on the radio.

 

[TRUSTYAXE]

Yeah, I can stream music from my Android phone through bluetooth, but I'd prefer the USB audio out since the signal is better. I find it odd that music has to be downloaded to the device in order to use USB audio out...seems like whether or not it's downloaded onto the device or streaming, it shouldn't really matter, right?

I'm not the expert but IMHU loose the phone and use a thumb drive or hard drive for usb music.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/65621-how-use-usb-hard-drive-music.html

 

[walstylez]

I'm not the expert but IMHU loose the phone and use a thumb drive or hard drive for usb music.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/65621-how-use-usb-hard-drive-music.html

Yeah, I have music on a thumb drive now, it sounds great, I just don't download music and I like to hear more current stuff that's on my Pandora station. Also, I just tried the phone again, and the message I actually get is something more like "You have no compatible files on your iPhone that can be played"...so maybe it does have to do with me trying to use Pandora over music that I already own that's downloaded.

 

[walstylez]

You could probably get an AUX cord and plug it in to the phone headphone jack and change the source to AUX on the radio.

Yes, you can, the AUX cord does work...but from what I read, the USB audio out from a phone has better signal (keeps the signal digital) than an AUX cord. I like to really "hear" my music, I guess.

 

[e60ral]

its not playing through usb, its accessing the files and playing them directly. you would avoid ant BT compression this way but aux in will as well. Using either aux in or USB your audio files bitrate will be the limiting factor for your audio quality.

 

[walstylez]

its not playing through usb, its accessing the files and playing them directly. you would avoid ant BT compression this way but aux in will as well. Using either aux in or USB your audio files bitrate will be the limiting factor for your audio quality.

So the bitrate is what matters if you're talking the difference btw AUX and USB? The two inputs won't make a difference quality wise?

 

[e60ral]

So the bitrate is what matters if you're talking the difference btw AUX and USB? The two inputs won't make a difference quality wise?

in practical purposes for the bitrates for most media on your phone, yes they will be the same. technically using USB for media stored on your phone shouldhave a slight advantage because the headunit is processing it directly

for something like Pandora (which is 192 kbps on high quality, 128 on regular) you probably won't even notice a difference if you just use BT, so if you want to listen to Pandora I would just use the factory app (which BT streams from the phone, just with a pretty UI)

 

[walstylez]

in practical purposes for the bitrates for most media on your phone, yes they will be the same. technically using USB for media stored on your phone shouldhave a slight advantage because the headunit is processing it directly

for something like Pandora (which is 192 kbps on high quality, 128 on regular) you probably won't even notice a difference if you just use BT, so if you want to listen to Pandora I would just use the factory app (which BT streams from the phone, just with a pretty UI)

Ok, well I know for a fact the songs on my thumb drive come through a lot clearer than when I stream the Pandora app through my Entune system...

 

[e60ral]

Ok, well I know for a fact the songs on my thumb drive come through a lot clearer than when I stream the Pandora app through my Entune system...

your downloaded file on the thumb drive is probably at least 256 kbps, its supposed to sound better than Pandora but BT streaming isn't the reason why for that case.

Here is the simple answer: If you want Pandora Aux input is your best option (this makes assumptions about the DAC on your phone and the amp on the stereo that i don't have an exact answer for), BT should be pretty close perhaps close enough that you won't notice a difference for Pandora quality.

If you want high quality music you'll need to do something other than Pandora

 

[SporCj]

I also used to have this problem a few months ago. It was too hard to use a USB all the time, though. I'm currently using an app to transfer all the music and photos from my laptop to my phone. Afterward, I used Bluetooth to connect my phone to my car. It's much easier this way since it's completely wireless, which I love. If you were wondering what app I'm using, well, it's called Gemini Photos. You can find the downloading link on How to transfer photos from your PC to your iPhone. I can assure you that it's a total life changer and I highly recommend it.