Music quality is very bad and quiet when I play through phone or USB (not lexicon), SXM is crispy clear and loud, is this normal?

[Mikey91]

I've been trying to dig around and see if I'm missing something or that the music is misconfigured, the SXM has amazing quality and is super loud, the bass is great (not the best but it's definitely not bad), I usually keep the volume around 10-15 and it has a great volume and quality.

All that goes away as soon as I use any other source of music, I tried playing Spotify using Bluetooth, I have premium and I set it to only only the maximum quality, the music is very quiet, I need to crank up the volume to at least 20-25 for it to be just a bit loud and banging, and the quality is very bad, it's almost like all the songs are very flat and all the instruments are all jumbled together, I could barely get the bass loud enough, all the songs sound like they had been recorded with a phone rather than them being mp3.

I thought maybe that's because I'm using Bluetooth, I started only playing music connecting my phone directly through USB, using Apple carplay, same issue and no difference at all. I made sure to go through the settings on my phone to ensure it's not messing up the quality, I ensured that Carplay uses the USB connection and not Bluetooth.

My last attempt, I have tried playing music directly from A USB stick. Absolutely the same result, I know this isn't a premium sound system, and I'm not trying to be picky but something just doesn't seem right. Especially that I know how the sound system sounds through SXM, I can never hear music that matches that quality, even my older 2009 Honda Civic (base everything) had better sound quality when I played music using the AUX cord.

Is there something wrong here?

 

[5.0KDM]

did you try it with another phone?

 

[Kram]

Something definitely sounds off. I don't stream, but play songs that are on my phone plugged in through Apple CarPlay, and it sounds kick ass (even better than SXM). Sorry, don't have a solution for you - but I'd say something is surely wrong.

 

[Mikey91]

did you try it with another phone?

I have not, I will try that and see.

 

[Jetaway Dave]

I've been trying to dig around and see if I'm missing something or that the music is misconfigured, the SXM has amazing quality and is super loud, the bass is great (not the best but it's definitely not bad), I usually keep the volume around 10-15 and it has a great volume and quality.

All that goes away as soon as I use any other source of music, I tried playing Spotify using Bluetooth, I have premium and I set it to only only the maximum quality, the music is very quiet, I need to crank up the volume to at least 20-25 for it to be just a bit loud and banging, and the quality is very bad, it's almost like all the songs are very flat and all the instruments are all jumbled together, I could barely get the bass loud enough, all the songs sound like they had been recorded with a phone rather than them being mp3.

I thought maybe that's because I'm using Bluetooth, I started only playing music connecting my phone directly through USB, using Apple carplay, same issue and no difference at all. I made sure to go through the settings on my phone to ensure it's not messing up the quality, I ensured that Carplay uses the USB connection and not Bluetooth.

My last attempt, I have tried playing music directly from A USB stick. Absolutely the same result, I know this isn't a premium sound system, and I'm not trying to be picky but something just doesn't seem right. Especially that I know how the sound system sounds through SXM, I can never hear music that matches that quality, even my older 2009 Honda Civic (base everything) had better sound quality when I played music using the AUX cord.

Is there something wrong here?

At least you have CarPlay, albeit useless. I lost mine with a recent iPhone update. I can play songs through iTunes after hooking up through Bluetooth. The problem is the only car-based control is pause, last song, next song. On the positive side, I have full iTunes control from the phone.

You didn't mention a radio station. SXM runs through the car while I'm assuming you are using Spotify through the iPhone and into the car via Bluetooth. If a terrestrial radio station sounds crappy, then it is likely a problem in the car.

Jetaway

 

[Scott A]

First thing to do, is Max out the Volume on your Phone. Using USB or Bluetooth, the signal is digital and volume is controlled by removing bits from the stream. This reduces the volume by reducing the information being transmitted. Which means it sounds bad. Note, you have Ring Tone Volume, In Call Volume and Media Volume. You have to be playing media to adjust the Media Volume on most phones. Adjust the car system volume for your liking. In fact, turn down the car volume before you max the phone volume....

Second, if there is a setting to compress your music from digital sources turn that off. It was on the older Genesis, but newer one does not have that. If there is a setting to expand or make music "sound better" like the Stage Setting or Audience Setting, try turning those off and on (off sounds best to me)

But I think the Volume control is the way to fix this.

This video talks about a unit that is not supposed to remove the information, and still, the volume control makes it sound worse.

 

[pulsar]

Bluetooth playing I’ve noticed is not that great with my G70 as far as frequency response goes. Using apple car play when my phone is plugged in hard-lined USB sounds great. Good bass and frequently response. SXM sounds ok, but bass is not a good as CarPlay is with my phone connected. I sometimes use my iPod plugged in and it sounds pretty much the same as CarPlay does with my phone plugged in with good bass and frequency response.