How best to play CD music in a 4S (Bose)?

CroquetMan

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Would be grateful for advice on how to get the best audio reproduction via a 4S Bose from music currently on CD discs.
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Tambrose

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I ripped all of my CDs to FLAC for my home system. That is a compressed, but lossless format.

For the car, I put the FLAC files on a usb stick. The Bose system plays them just fine. It previously worked in my 2014 BMW with the HK stereo and my 2016 Audi with Bose.
 

Ambroos

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If you want to do a deep dive into how audio works in the Taycan, this document from Audi is pretty interesting: https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2021/MC-10189329-0001.pdf

The Taycan uses the same infotainment system base. Instead of two levels of B&O it's Bose and Burmester in the Taycan, but the systems work in the same way.

A chunk of speakers is directly connected to the MIB module (PCM). Typically these are the treble to mid-range speakers, since they need the least raw power. The MIB module is responsible for decoding the audio format, processing it for multiple channels, running effects etc.

With Bose and Burmester, the MIB module sends audio streams (likely some form of almost-lossless compression or PCM) for the remaining speakers to the amplifier in a digital format over an A2B connection. These are usually the bass/door/subwoofer speakers. The amplifier does just that (amplify) and sends the sound to those speakers.

Basically, the audio system is pretty complex. In the end regardless of what system you have, the bulk of the processing and a good chunk of the amplifying is handled by the PCM. The best you can do is supply it FLAC files, but there's no knowing what the internal DAC and processing do to your audio before it reaches the actual speakers.
 

tfurbay

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Would be grateful for advice on how to get the best audio reproduction via a 4S Bose from music currently on CD discs.
You won’t want to hear this, but the best advice is to leave your CDs at home and subscribe to Apple Music or another streaming service. You’ll enjoy your music collection much more this way, and likely won’t be able to hear a difference is audio quality in the car. This is coming from a guy who burned 100s of CDs on his computer for playback on iPods 20 years ago. Streaming is the way to go.
 


Austin_yeahbaby

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Can someone confirm that you are able to get Apple Lossless in the Taycan by connecting via USB? I.e. it plays music stored on the phone, rather than streaming it?
"Can I listen to lossless audio using CarPlay?
You can listen to lossless audio with CarPlay using a USB connection. Streaming lossless audio in a car over a mobile network will consume significantly more data."

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT212183
 


Austin_yeahbaby

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f1eng

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Would be grateful for advice on how to get the best audio reproduction via a 4S Bose from music currently on CD discs.
Personally I prefer using a USB stick with my own music on to streaming, particularly in terms of navigating the music while driving.
 

Roppe

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Personally I prefer using a USB stick with my own music on to streaming, particularly in terms of navigating the music while driving.
I have a few thousand FLAC files on an SSD with USB-C. Curious to hear the difference vs Apple lossless (as I assume CarPlay will not support more than 48kHz over USB?) as well as understanding the navigation of files (folders, favorites etc). Car arrives next Friday :)
 

tigerbalm

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(as I assume CarPlay will not support more than 48kHz over USB?)
Correct. That is a characteristic of CarPlay.

But also the PCM has the same limitation so it won't play beyond 48 kHZ either - even when reading files directly from USB-C.

From manual on Good To Know app:

Porsche Taycan How best to play CD music in a 4S (Bose)? IMG_7339.PNG
 

Roppe

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Correct. That is a characteristic of CarPlay.

But also the PCM has the same limitation so it won't play beyond 48 kHZ either - even when reading files directly from USB-C.

From manual on Good To Know app:

IMG_7339.PNG
Thanks! No need to bother with the SSD I guess...
 

f1eng

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I have a few thousand FLAC files on an SSD with USB-C. Curious to hear the difference vs Apple lossless (as I assume CarPlay will not support more than 48kHz over USB?) as well as understanding the navigation of files (folders, favorites etc). Car arrives next Friday :)
48kHz sampling rate gives a frequency response that is is flat to 24kHz.
I can hear to 14kHz so 48kHz is plenty as a sampling rate for me, even at home on my stereo that is more expensive than the Taycan, never mind in a car!

As an bored engineer I did extensive controlled tests on this about 15 years ago.

There is a lot of bollox talked and written about the possibility of higher resolution than that being audible IME. All marketing to separate the technically illiterate from their money IMO.
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