Spotify Sound Quality

[Robert A]

I have a Model 3, LR-AWD with upgraded audio. Spotify music sounds a little tinny, nasal and compressed. I don't see a bitrate or sound quality adjustment, as I do on my iPhone app. I've played with EQ settings to no avail.

Is there any way to get better sound out of the system?

 

[JulienW]

There is no bitrate adjustment since Tesla directly pays for the download service the bitrate is limited for all audio services.

 

[Kevy Baby]

Is there any way to get better sound out of the system?

Out of Spotify (or any other streaming audio)? No

The way to get the best sound quality is FLAC or WAV files on a USB drive.

 

[ultramoo]

I found that when you connect tesla to a wifi (eg my phone hotspot) the auto quality of Spotify improves. But for this to work I have to keep activating the Wifi on Tesla every time I put the car on drive. Not something I am willing to do, so for now I just play Youtube music from my phone's bluetooth. You can set the quality of YouTube music to always download at highest quality and its good enough.

 

[Zacster]

I use a service called Qobuz and it streams in hi-res, up to 24/192. When I'm parked I can use the browser to stream it and it sounds really good. But when I'm driving I have to use my phone to get it and then the Bluetooth crapifies it. It is still better than anything I get directly streamed to the car's audio when moving. FLAC on a USB drive would be best but then you are limited to what you have.

 

[Aphelion]

Disappointing. FLAC files sound amazing on the 2021 LR but really let down by poor Bluetooth and app streaming quality, and no option for USB-C audio passthrough or any audio input apart from the mangled Bluetooth connection (sounds like SBC).

 

[Zacster]

It really is pretty bad. I played some music from the browser again yesterday and it sounds so much better than the BT.

And I still can't understand WHY they've made it impossible to get better sound input when the car is capable of reproducing it.

I have DLNA/UPnP on every device at home, why doesn't the car have it? Why won't it act as a slave USB DAC? Why doesn't it have an AUX in? Why does it block audio codecs while moving from the browser? Why are all the built in apps such poor quality? It just feels like it was purposeful disabling of ALL of these functions, but WHY???

 

[DMan918]

There is no bitrate adjustment since Tesla directly pays for the download service the bitrate is limited for all audio services.

In the US, don't we have to pay for our own premium service in order to have it work in the Tesla?

 

[Aphelion]

Or allow a higher bitrate when using own WiFi hotspot, or at least support half decent Bluetooth codecs.

USB-C audio would fix all this though

 

[Zacster]

In the US, don't we have to pay for our own premium service in order to have it work in the Tesla?

And this again is why I don't understand what Tesla has done. WE PAY for our services, not Tesla. Why can't we use them to the full extent possible? Why are we blocked every which way?

I remember the first time I tried internet radio. It sounded so crappy that I turned it off immediately. That's what the Tesla built in audio apps sound like to me. BT is only a small notch better.

I've been meaning to try putting my DIY speakers into the car with the small SMSL amp and iFi DAC that I use into the car just to try it. I'm sure it would blow away the Tesla system. The only problem is the amp uses 120vac for power converted to 19-24vdc. I could try an auto amp that uses 12vdc directly.

 

[Aphelion]

Yeah the 2021 M3 L3 sounds fantastic with FLAC files but pretty poor / mangled with anything else. It's an odd decision for Tesla to take.

Well back to the past then with a big hard drive and tonnes of FLAC files, with directories for albums and playlists because the controls are so basic.