For you audiophiles, how does the sound quality of Amazon's Ultra HD compare to lossless audio on USB? Are we able to benefit from the hi-res when listening over bluetooth, or is it lost over bluetooth? Amazon is making a lot of noise regarding Dolby Atmos immersive music as well, and am wondering if its worth the extra cost.
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Audiophiles - Amazon Music Ultra HD?
- Thread starter is95aus
- Start date
Just upgraded to Amazon's new HD music service and tried it with my Model 3 LR AWD (which includes premium audio), and it sounds fantastic, with noticeable quality improvements from before. A few things are needed to get great sound from a mobile device to the Tesla Model 3 going wireless. First a device that can output audio at a high bitrate using a lossless codec (am using an iPhone XR w/ 24-bit, 48Khz capability, and most recent iPhones can stream at this same high/HD-level quality), Then you need a streaming service that will stream at a lossless/high quality - in this case, Amazon's new HD streaming rates are now "HD" at 24-bit, 44Khz in a lossless format on tens of millions of songs, or even higher with their UltraHD format on "millions" of songs which can go up to 24-bit, 192 Khz. Third, the Tesla needs to support a high-quality bluetooth connection, which it now does with V10, with Tesla stating " Bluetooth media supports 48 KHz sampling rate for better audio quality."
Not sure what it was before but it did not sound as good without the upgrade to Amazon HD and V10 in the Model 3. With those three things in place, there is now a lossless high quality/HD music experience and it sounds fantastic. Could it be even better technically - yes, as but it is a significant upgrade and I'm guessing the difference between this setup and something better is much more marginal and tougher to discern.
Not sure how it compares to the USB experience with USB lossless songs.
Not sure what it was before but it did not sound as good without the upgrade to Amazon HD and V10 in the Model 3. With those three things in place, there is now a lossless high quality/HD music experience and it sounds fantastic. Could it be even better technically - yes, as but it is a significant upgrade and I'm guessing the difference between this setup and something better is much more marginal and tougher to discern.
Not sure how it compares to the USB experience with USB lossless songs.
I'm a bit skeptical about this. Bluetooth codecs in use today (SBC, AAC, AptX) are all lossy, so I'm not sure about the reference to "lossless codec". I've streamed FLAC (lossless) files via Bluetooth and USB to the car, and USB is clearly better (though the differences are subtle, and would almost certainly not significant when listening on the road).
It would be about the same approximately 64kbps. Bit rate is device selected (car in this case) and since Tesla is paying for data they keep it low. I wish Tesla would offer an option to pay for a higher data rate.
Or at least let us have maximum available bit rate when on WiFi - I could use my phone as a WiFi Hotspot and relieve Tesla of the data charges.
On the more general topic of quality audio, what Tesla needs is (for iPhone users, at least) an iPod style interface via USB. This would cut out the bluetooth codec issues entirely and allow us all to choose music format (MP3, FLAC, ALAC etc), streaming rates etc etc and get the best out of the car audio possible.
I've never quite understood the logic of a premium audio system that provides only one way (USB flash drive) to get lossless HD audio to play.
I've never quite understood the logic of a premium audio system that provides only one way (USB flash drive) to get lossless HD audio to play.
lnsh
Member
newb (Model Y ordered) question: if the phone is connected via USB doesn’t the audio stream travel over USB? sounds like the head unit can receive truly lossless audio from a thumb drive, so shouldn’t a phone be able to deliver the stream that way, too? avoiding any limitations of the bluetooth layer. or is the head unit only capable of pulling from a thumb drive while any phone streams are pushed at the head unit via bluetooth?
no, it currently doesnt. Your second statement is correct. Unless the phone is seen as a "USB device" audio is pushed over bluetooth only. So your choice for "hard wired" music is a usb storage device.
Leeclanual
Member
just to clarify... you are just streaming the Amazon HD music App from your iPhone XR through the Bluetooth connection to the model 3?
Yes I was wondering that .. that BT connection on iPhone is NOT lossless the last time I looked. To get anything near potential of sound system you need to have lossless files (e.g. FLAC) read direct from USB drive (car doesnt support ALAC).
Need some audiophiles now that Apple has released both lossless audio and Dolby Atmos Spatial Audio. Question: Would either of these features even benefit me in my MCU 2 Model S?
Lossless: From my research, I’m guessing no. Bluetooth seems to not have the capacity to carry that much information, hence NONE of Apple branded headphones even work with lossless. Maybe I can plug the iPhone in directly via USB? Would that even work?
Spatial Audio: If the files are downloaded on my iPhone with spatial audio, will my Tesla be able to upgrade that over stereo?
Based on my limited knowledge of the subject, it seems to me neither of these features would provide me any benefit whatsoever when streaming downloaded files via Bluetooth. But I’d love to hear from the experts.
Thanks!
Lossless: From my research, I’m guessing no. Bluetooth seems to not have the capacity to carry that much information, hence NONE of Apple branded headphones even work with lossless. Maybe I can plug the iPhone in directly via USB? Would that even work?
Spatial Audio: If the files are downloaded on my iPhone with spatial audio, will my Tesla be able to upgrade that over stereo?
Based on my limited knowledge of the subject, it seems to me neither of these features would provide me any benefit whatsoever when streaming downloaded files via Bluetooth. But I’d love to hear from the experts.
Thanks!
sduck
Mr. Duck
Yes, streaming those files via bluetooth will lose the details you want. The best way to preserve most of the audio quality would be by downloading the files and putting them on a USB storage device of some sort and playing from that. You'll lose the flexibility of picking what you want on the spur of the moment, but gain audio quality.
Basically, you can't get lossless audio from your device to the car unless you have a device that can impersonate a USB drive (or, of course, an actual USB drive). iPhone cannot do that (well, it doesnt, though it could with the right software from Apple, but dont hold your breath).
As you note, Bluetooth is going to do lossy compression of some sort (not sure if the car supports AptX or ACC), so that's no good.
OTOH, while the car has a pretty good sound system, I wonder how much difference lossy vs lossless makes, given the noisy environment. Perhaps, when parked, you might hear a difference, but I doubt anyone could really pick up much difference when you are on the move. Of course, others might (and probably will) disagree.
Agreed. Even in the right environment, studies show the average ear would not be able to discern the difference between true lossless and compressed.
That being said, Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos is a true game changer IMO. Listening to music on compatible headphones is like experiencing HD TV for the first time, but for music. So I’d be curious over time if/when cars start supporting this. Given cars have generally a 4.1 setup, it seems like something definitely achievable.
I’m going to force a Dolby Atmos track from my iPhone to my car LATER and see how it sounds. I tried it on my 5.1 soundbar home theatre system last night and it sounded terrible. But we’ll see if the car is any different.
sduck
Mr. Duck
Dolby atmos requires a 5.1.2 speaker system. While there are enough speakers present to pull that off in these cars, I don't think there are enough amps, or the necessary decoding software (yet). Still, I'd love to hear about what you get from trying!
Perhaps .. I listened to some of the sample Atmos/Spatial tracks today, and wasn't very impressed. Mostly I heard the same kind of artificial "widening" effect that has been tried over the years, though it was somewhat better done (thanks to the much better tech available now). And the classical music examples were particularly uninspiring.
(Oh, and your post is a direct quote from Eddy Cue .. have you listened to Atmos, or are you just quoting Apple PR?)
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