Using Apple Car play for non Apple music streaming (Qobuz) or playing from a USB stick

[f1eng]

I started using file based music when the original iPod came out because I am a music lover but was abroad somewhere every week.

As a mainly classical music listener I found the file structure inconvenient, with tracks called "songs" when 95% of what I listen to not being songs, but lived with it using playlists of classical works.

I got a free subscription to Apple music last year when I bought a new iPad but found it pretty well useless for finding anything I want to listen to the search is totally rubbish for non-pop genre music.

Anyway I have a Qobuz subscription, which isn't much better for searching really but has a wider choice of music I like and also a huge legacy iTunes library (now lumped into Apple music).

Generally I have found all file based players are useless for classical music so at home I have gone back to CDs and the odd LP but cars don't have CD players any more

I have absolutely zero interest in re-starting the Apple music subscription so will not be using that feature of the Taycan ICE offering.

Has anybody used Apple car play to successfully run music apps into the car system?
If so did it work OK?

Does the standard, Bose or Burmester system have the capability to sort out the files logically and play from a USB stick?

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[Pozuelo]

The Burmester does have the capability and I believe so do the other two. It will play hi-res files.

 

[satchurator]

I started using file based music when the original iPod came out because I am a music lover but was abroad somewhere every week.

As a mainly classical music listener I found the file structure inconvenient, with tracks called "songs" when 95% of what I listen to not being songs, but lived with it using playlists of classical works.

I got a free subscription to Apple music last year when I bought a new iPad but found it pretty well useless for finding anything I want to listen to the search is totally rubbish for non-pop genre music.

Anyway I have a Qobuz subscription, which isn't much better for searching really but has a wider choice of music I like and also a huge legacy iTunes library (now lumped into Apple music).

Generally I have found all file based players are useless for classical music so at home I have gone back to CDs and the odd LP but cars don't have CD players any more

I have absolutely zero interest in re-starting the Apple music subscription so will not be using that feature of the Taycan ICE offering.

Has anybody used Apple car play to successfully run music apps into the car system?
If so did it work OK?

Does the standard, Bose or Burmester system have the capability to sort out the files logically and play from a USB stick?

I did this with the Bose system in my Cayenne, plus a USB stick a few years back. IIRC it was able to read playlist files too.

@f1eng You will be interested to know that Apple is working on better support for Classical - they acquired Primephonic last summer and will launch a dedicated app next year. That should work well with CarPlay, I imagine.

Never mind Porsche Sport Sound, you should map the diamond button on your steering wheel to play Ride of the Valkyries!

 

[tigerbalm]

Does the standard, Bose or Burmester system have the capability to sort out the files logically and play from a USB stick?

The PCM is quite capable and good at this imo. While I'm happy with Apple Music – and was a subscriber anyways – putting the files on a USB-C memory stick and leaving that plugged into one of the two PCM-based USB-C ports in the central console, will work very well for you.

That way you can use the PCM to select tunes or build playlists – without having to leave it and go over to the CarPlay interface – which I find jarring.

 

[tigerbalm]

FWIW, you can also put MP4 video files on a USB-C stick and play them back on the PCM (and passenger display) with audio over the car's speakers.

I sometimes put old classic series on a USB-C stick and watch something while charging. It can be quite a relaxing "cinematic" experience and again the PCM is a capable video player.

It only plays when the car is in park.

 

[W1NGE]

I started using file based music when the original iPod came out because I am a music lover but was abroad somewhere every week.

As a mainly classical music listener I found the file structure inconvenient, with tracks called "songs" when 95% of what I listen to not being songs, but lived with it using playlists of classical works.

I got a free subscription to Apple music last year when I bought a new iPad but found it pretty well useless for finding anything I want to listen to the search is totally rubbish for non-pop genre music.

Anyway I have a Qobuz subscription, which isn't much better for searching really but has a wider choice of music I like and also a huge legacy iTunes library (now lumped into Apple music).

Generally I have found all file based players are useless for classical music so at home I have gone back to CDs and the odd LP but cars don't have CD players any more

I have absolutely zero interest in re-starting the Apple music subscription so will not be using that feature of the Taycan ICE offering.

Has anybody used Apple car play to successfully run music apps into the car system?
If so did it work OK?

Does the standard, Bose or Burmester system have the capability to sort out the files logically and play from a USB stick?

You can attach a USB c drive as a device and manage in the device manager. Have a browse through the Porsche Good To Know App (download it if you haven't already) for media and supported types. This way you'd use the PCM as the head unit to control.

Partial screen grab below

 

[f1eng]

You can attach a USB c drive as a device and manage in the device manager. Have a browse through the Porsche Good To Know App (download it if you haven't already) for media and supported types. This way you'd use the PCM as the head unit to control.

Partial screen grab below

Looks like it won't work with my ALAC files then unless their FLAC decoder can do it.
Ah well.

Trying to listen to music in a car since they stopped fitting CD players has been a monumental PITA IME unless one is into one of the pop music genres.

 

[W1NGE]

Looks like it won't work with my ALAC files then unless their FLAC decoder can do it.
Ah well.

Trying to listen to music in a car since they stopped fitting CD players has been a monumental PITA IME unless one is into one of the pop music genres.

No, flac is supported - it is on the RHS and clipped from my screenshot. This is the clipped part

 

[f1eng]

No, flac is supported - it is on the RHS and clipped from my screenshot. This is the clipped part

Yes, I saw FLAC is supported but ALAC isn't on the list and all my files are ALAC, so unless the similar FLAC decoder works on my ALAC files that will be a no go.

I have currently got the Bose selected but I may stick with the standard system and save a grand!
I don't listen to classical music in the car usually but I though the Taycan may be quiet enough to not ruin the sound, but not being safely able to select what i want to listen to without stopping means maybe not, and I can save another grand by not bothering with the double glazing.

Decisions, decisions.

 

[tigerbalm]

@f1eng If you want to DM me over one of your ALAC audio files, I'll put it on a USB-C stick and test it out on my car. Mine is Burmester, but I don't think it matters what audio option you have – its the same PCM regardless.

 

[f1eng]

@f1eng If you want to DM me over one of your ALAC audio files, I'll put it on a USB-C stick and test it out on my car. Mine is Burmester, but I don't think it matters what audio option you have – its the same PCM regardless.

Thanks, I'll get one, probably tomorrow since my current USB stick is in my car and its cold out...

Much appreciate the offer.

 

[f1eng]

@f1eng If you want to DM me over one of your ALAC audio files, I'll put it on a USB-C stick and test it out on my car. Mine is Burmester, but I don't think it matters what audio option you have – its the same PCM regardless.

Further investigation shows me to be an idiot.

The ALAC files are stored with the m4p suffix so are playable from that compatibility list.


Thanks anyway!

 

[tigerbalm]

Further investigation shows me to be an idiot.

The ALAC files are stored with the m4p suffix so are playable from that compatibility list.


Thanks anyway!

I can confirm that I use Apple Lossless files in a m4a container with no issues. I generated these files from using iTunes "rip CD" function – like it was the 90s again.

 

[f1eng]

I can confirm that I plan Apple Lossless files in a m4a container with no issues. I generated these files from using iTunes "rip CD" function – like it was the 90s again.

I have gone back to mainly buying CDs and ripping them like that after almost 20 years of file based music (which I also started ripping into iTunes when it and the iPod came out in 2001 not the '90s).
I have tried loads of file based players, Sooloos, Roon, Audirvana, Amarra, Fidelia and JRiver but was unimpressed and went back to CD

 

[PorscheCH]

Not sure it was you (?) but another thread here (I can't find it) started to criticise Burm vs other options and was at some point discussing PCM indexing from a usb stick.

While it appeared that even large storage sticks were supported if they had some specific file systems, I think that even below 1000 files, indexing was ok but not so fast and if one turned the car off, it would then restart from scratch and not from the track the user last listened to.

Also, while Burm is clearly better than Bose (I have Bose on Taycan and Burm on a Merc G and find Bose is ok for the purpose), it was not fully clear what the specs of DAC are and if they would be up to your demands.

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