Audio Bluetooth Connection

[TheBro72]

Had the car a couple of years and there's a couple of issues I've noticed with the Bluetooth on the car, its terrible! My Iphone does auto connect on startup, and it will play music from it (Spotify). However the display unit (screen) in the car shows the song currently being played but doesn't update when the next song comes on. The only time it will update is if I switch the car off and on again, but simply reverts back to not updating when the next song is playing. I've also have regular instances where music is playing and none of the display audio control buttons in the car respond (that's including the ones on the steering wheel) meaning you can't skip songs, pause etc. What I end up doing is waiting until I stop at traffic lights, put the car in Park, switching off the car, switching back on again to reset it and then it will work, Its so annoying. FYI This is all Bluetooth connection only - I have no problems with the display or controls when using the USB port, Id say CD's would be fine too, but hey who has CD's these days? 🤣 The phone is usually positioned in that little gap in front of the shift lever so it should have a perfect connection.
It doesn't stop with the audio either, I even have issues with the hands-free phone. Sometimes it wont connect on startup, sometime it connects (I get the importing contacts display), however when I get a call and press answer, it either doesn't respond (it just shows the callers number on the screen) or even though it says it connected it hasn't and the voice is coming from the Iphone as opposed to the car. I then have to pick up my phone (illegal - i know) turn off the Bluetooth, turn back on again and it will connect, which by that point the caller has gone.  It's really strange and so annoying. I wanted to share you with guys to see if you had similar experiences and if so how did you fix???

Cheers 👍

[Las Palmas]

Funny!

The CT has no such issue. Bluetooth show tune played with picture of cover and change to next tune immediately. I do not use Spotify, have all the music on Micro SD card in phone. Same if having 32Gb USB stick in. Only thing that annoy me is that the great audio from ML will have to live with only MP3 files of max 320 mbps as lossless files are not identified in the car. Same with a DVD also MP3 files are accepted. On the other hand Bluetooth in the cars as old as the ones we have was only able to transfer low quality audio anyway. To really enjoy the ML in Lexus cars we need line-in where lossless files give super sound.

[TheBro72]

25 minutes ago, Las Palmas said:

Funny!

The CT has no such issue. Bluetooth show tune played with picture of cover and change to next tune immediately. I do not use Spotify, have all the music on Micro SD card in phone. Same if having 32Gb USB stick in. Only thing that annoy me is that the great audio from ML will have to live with only MP3 files of max 320 mbps as lossless files are not identified in the car. Same with a DVD also MP3 files are accepted. On the other hand Bluetooth in the cars as old as the ones we have was only able to transfer low quality audio anyway. To really enjoy the ML in Lexus cars we need line-in where lossless files give super sound.

Strange how yours work and mine doesnt. Granted your files are local on your phone but Bluetooth nevertheless. I've never tried this before but I connected the Iphone via a USB lead and played Spotify that way. Like yours the tunes played flawlessly with picture of cover, changed to the next tune and everything updated. I then unplugged the lead and reconnected back to the car wirelessly and it reverted back to normal, no picture of cover and wouldn't update. Not sure why its doing this - in both instances none of the music files are stored locally on the Iphone, both are being streamed??

[DavidCM]

2 hours ago, Las Palmas said:

nly thing that annoy me is that the great audio from ML will have to live with only MP3 files of max 320 mbps as lossless files are not identified in the car. 

John,I'm by no means an expert on the workings of hi fi or music or indeed any technology but the very vast majority of music on my phone is 808 kbps 16 bit flac (and one album at 24 bit) and it all works well on my ML.

I play it on Android Auto through an AAWireless dongle.It connects to the phone as soon as I start the car.

The 24 bit album seems to be about 10 times the number of GB as a 16 bit flac...I couldn't burn it onto a CDR..I guess because there are too many GB.

[Mortalomena]

I had similar issues, Lexus dealer was able to update it and its better now. Also the annoying 2 second lag changing songs disappeared. I find that having Bluetooth already on when starting car makes it connect better. Sometimes the audio control buttons still dont work but they usually come back working with just disconnecting and reconnecting Bluetooth. 

[Las Palmas]

16bit flac is what CDs are recorded in and that is good. Latest version of Bluetooth (which is not what is in our cars) can transfer 24 bit, but we can have all if use line-in instead of Bluetooth.

[DavidCM]

Understood.

Thinking about it,the AAWireless dongle works over wi fi,so my comments are irrelevant anyway.

Does that mean that 24 bit is only used electronically,rather than on a physical medium like a cd?

[TheBro72]

On 1/12/2023 at 5:50 PM, Mortalomena said:

I had similar issues, Lexus dealer was able to update it and its better now. Also the annoying 2 second lag changing songs disappeared. I find that having bluetooth already on when starting car makes it connect better. Sometimes the audio control buttons still dont work but they usually come back working with just disconnecting and reconnecting Bluetooth. 

Yes I also get the 2 second delay too! I might call the dealers to see whether they have updated the software. As mentioned above, unless I plug the phone directly into car via USB, I don't get album covers or even the timer/counters in the head display. Just the name of the track on startup, but then that does not update to the next track.

Since the software update, has this resolved all that for you?

[Mr Vlad]

Hi Dean. Try using an android phone and see if you experience the same. When I had my is300h I had no Bluetooth issues where music streaming was concerned. 

The only issue I had was with phone call recognition. The cure was to go through my contacts and replace the zero with +44. After that the name and nu.ber of the caller would show.

Another point about your Iphone. There Bluetooth is different to android Bluetooth so that is where the problem may appear. 

Search the forum as I'm sure this has come up before but a few years back.

[MattDH]

I have a similar issue to you. On my 2014 IS250 with ML I stream music via Spotify to OEM Bluetooth and the song will play with no artwork. When the next song changes it will still show the previous songs info. The only time it will show the current songs information is if I manually skip the track. Very odd indeed. Not sure if a dealership update will fix that, if there even is an update available to the headunit?

Also sometimes the Bluetooth audio will just stop working, but it stays connected. Sometimes a mixture of skipping tracks might get the sound back or disconnecting and reconnecting Bluetooth does the job.

I've only tried connecting my phone via USB port in thr armrest once and couldn't see the option come up to play via USB. Didn't see why that could be, so always gone through Bluetooth for now.

[TheBro72]

On 1/14/2023 at 12:32 PM, MattDH said:

I have a similar issue to you. On my 2014 IS250 with ML I stream music via Spotify to OEM Bluetooth and the song will play with no artwork. When the next song changes it will still show the previous songs info. The only time it will show the current songs information is if I manually skip the track. Very odd indeed. Not sure if a dealership update will fix that, if there even is an update available to the headunit?

Also sometimes the Bluetooth audio will just stop working, but it stays connected. Sometimes a mixture of skipping tracks might get the sound back or disconnecting and reconnecting Bluetooth does the job.

I've only tried connecting my phone via USB port in thr armrest once and couldn't see the option come up to play via USB. Didn't see why that could be, so always gone through Bluetooth for now.

I actually had another look last night whilst out and the timer/counter does appear, but concur to everything else you mentioned above!
When you tried connecting via USB, was you using a genuine apple cable? Mine was and as mentioned in an earlier post it worked absolutely fine so that's one option. However I prefer the phone to be connected wirelessly - don't like the wire clutter with USB lead. I could put the phone out of sight in the armrest so there's no clutter because I'd forget it every time I got out of the car!

[TheBro72]

On 1/14/2023 at 12:30 PM, Mr Vlad said:

Hi Dean. Try using an android phone and see if you experience the same. When I had my is300h I had no Bluetooth issues where music streaming was concerned. 

The only issue I had was with phone call recognition. The cure was to go through my contacts and replace the zero with +44. After that the name and nu.ber of the caller would show.

Another point about your iPhone. There Bluetooth is different to android Bluetooth so that is where the problem may appear. 

Search the forum as I'm sure this has come up before but a few years back.

Hey Mr V  - many thanks for that suggestion. I'll search the forum (via google 🤣) to see if I can find it. The missus has an Android phone so I'll get her to download Spotify on it and I'll try that to see if I encounter the same issues. 

[MattDH]

3 minutes ago, TheBro72 said:

I actually had another look last night whilst out and the timer/counter does appear, but concur to everything else you mentioned above!
When you tried connecting via USB, was you using a genuine apple cable? Mine was and as mentioned in an earlier post it worked absolutely fine so that's one option. However I prefer the phone to be connected wirelessly - don't like the wire clutter with USB lead. I could put the phone out of sight in the armrest so there's no clutter because I'd forget it every time I got out of the car!

Well I'm using a Android phone (Samsung Fold 4) with a non OEM cable. I could try OEM but we'll see.

What year is your IS? I'm the opposite, I'd prefer wired connection for as long as steering wheel controls still work to skip track. Plus wireless connections are always going to be less reliable than a wired connection 

[TheBro72]

1 minute ago, MattDH said:

Well I'm using a Android phone (Samsung Fold 4) with a non OEM cable. I could try OEM but we'll see.

What year is your IS? I'm the opposite, I'd prefer wired connection for as long as steering wheel controls still work to skip track. Plus wireless connections are always going to be less reliable than a wired connection 

So sorry - just assumed your phone was Iphone! Car is a 63 plate so 2013/2104.
Agree - wireless connections on anything are never going to be as good a wired, but given the fact that the Bluetooth range is typically a lot further in distance than a phone which is situated in the car, technically it shouldn't be an issue.  Several times I've been chatting on the phone to a friend in the house when the missus has gone out in the car and when she pulls up on the drive the phone connects to the car!

[Las Palmas]

On 1/12/2023 at 6:09 PM, DavidCM said:

Understood.

Thinking about it,the AAWireless dongle works over wi fi,so my comments are irrelevant anyway.

Does that mean that 24 bit is only used electronically,rather than on a physical medium like a cd?

CD is limited to 16 bit.

DVD and Bluray disc can have higher quality lossless. Unfortunately the CT we have cannot read DVD with anything higher than MP3 320 kbps, which is far from lossless. DSD, .flac and other lossless can only play in the very great ML audio Lexus have in their cars if using line-in.

[MattDH]

42 minutes ago, TheBro72 said:

So sorry - just assumed your phone was Iphone! Car is a 63 plate so 2013/2104.
Agree - wireless connections on anything are never going to be as good a wired, but given the fact that the bluetooth range is typically a lot further in distance than a phone which is situated in the car, technically it shouldn't be an issue.  Several times I've been chatting on the phone to a friend in the house when the missus has gone out in the car and when she pulls up on the drive the phone connects to the car!

Are you able to take a picture and show me what the option looks like on your headunit screen when plugging your phone via USB? 

Maybe it is the cable that is causing it not to be picked up, but it'll be good for me to see what you can when it works.

Yeah Bluetooth has come along way, theoretically Bluetooth 5.0 has a maximum distance of 240 meters. But still, cable is king 😁

[Las Palmas]

51 minutes ago, MattDH said:

Well I'm using a Android phone (Samsung Fold 4) with a non OEM cable. I could try OEM but we'll see.

What year is your IS? I'm the opposite, I'd prefer wired connection for as long as steering wheel controls still work to skip track. Plus wireless connections are always going to be less reliable than a wired connection 

I believe that if you have a converter on the phone that can send a line-out signal you can have all the lossless and super high-quality recordings played in your car.

Bluetooth system in our old cars  very old and will probably not transfer anything higher quality than MP3 can deliver.

[TheBro72]

9 minutes ago, MattDH said:

Are you able to take a picture and show me what the option looks like on your headunit screen when plugging your phone via USB? 

Maybe it is the cable that is causing it not to be picked up, but it'll be good for me to see what you can when it works.

Yeah Bluetooth has come along way, theoretically Bluetooth 5.0 has a maximum distance of 240 meters. But still, cable is king 😁

Yeah sure. In the audio menu (dependant on which USB port you plug your lead into) you should see your phone listed in the audio sources.
My phone is connected to USB1 so where it would normally have a USB Icon (like USB 2 shows), this is replaced with 'Deans iPhone'
As you can see with it being plugged in directly the audio works perfectly.
Btw.. The unit shows a red line through the phone but that's only because I took the photos immediately after switching the car on so the phone contacts etc had not loaded/connected yet.

Hope that helps 👍

[MattDH]

1 hour ago, TheBro72 said:

Yeah sure. In the audio menu (dependant on which USB port you plug your lead into) you should see your phone listed in the audio sources.
My phone is connected to USB1 so where it would normally have a USB Icon (like USB 2 shows), this is replaced with 'Deans iPhone'
As you can see with it being plugged in directly the audio works perfectly.
Btw.. The unit shows a red line through the phone but that's only because I took the photos immediately after switching the car on so the phone contacts etc had not loaded/connected yet.

Hope that helps 👍

Tried it with a slightly older OEM cable and another high quality one and still doesn't recognise it as a USB source. Oh well, I guess Bluetooth shall have to suffice. 

I've purchased a 10.25" screen to replace the OEM so I guess that'll make up for the limitations of Bluetooth for now 😁

[DavidCM]

2 hours ago, Las Palmas said:

CD is limited to 16 bit.

DVD and Bluray disc can have higher quality lossless. Unfortunately the CT we have cannot read DVD with anything higher than MP3 320 kbps, which is far from lossless. DSD, .flac and other lossless can only play in the very great ML audio Lexus have in their cars if using line-in.

Thanks John... knowledgeable as ever.

[Las Palmas]

10 minutes ago, DavidCM said:

Thanks John... knowledgeable as ever.

Have made a DVD and USB with 7 different audio file systems. Only 4 I consider really lossless and at least CD quality (meaning that you can copy from them without losing quality), apple lossless and WAV plus 2 superior qualities, .flac 24-bit 192kHz and DSD same bitrate. Will try them tomorrow.

Do not believe Lexus software is made with converters for high quality which is completely not understandable when they have put ML audio in the car.

[Las Palmas]

Tried the different audio file formats and only MP3 and m4a lossy are accepted on DVD, but only MP3 files could be read in USB in car.

Best quality file format DVD could play was m4a FDK (AAC) in 512kbps. Still lossy, but better than highest possible in MP3 format.

Somebody with influence could ask Lexus why they have great audio in the cars and their software is not able to read high quality audio files.

 

Want to know about file formats, Cambridge Audio is a good place to go:

   

[Las Palmas]

Forgot to mention that the USB drive is 64Gb formatted in exFat. No problems reading that.