Is it possible to play music from android phone via USB? (2019)

kp93 · Jan 29, 2020

When an Iphone is plugged in, the music sounds much much better in apple car play vs bluetooth. I'm wondering if the same is possible with my android phone to just play music (I realize I do not have android auto). I mainly want to stream spotify via phone USB and improve music quality.

I have an AUX cord too but the music quality is similar to bluetooth

WillRav4Tacos · Jan 29, 2020

I do not believe so, at least not easily. You would need to set your phone to "File Transfer Mode" (Entune 3.0 app can't be installed on your phone or it will hijack things) The head unit will then occasionally detect the phone as a USB drive but you would need to ensure you have the MP3s on your phone's internal storage. Similar to how plugging in a USB drive with MP3s behave. This would not work with media streaming services however, only music physically on your phone's local storage.

It's really sloppy and generally lame so it would probably not be an enjoyable experience at all, since you would be performing this ritual each time you start your car and plug in.

Hope this helps!

kp93 · Jan 29, 2020

Thanks! That sounds like too much of a hassle and I don't really keep music on my phone. I just stream it. Is the only other solution upgrading the sound system?

sygyzy · Jan 29, 2020

When you plug your iPhone into the head unit, what are you using to play music? it's unclear if you are saying playing Spotify, through Carplay connected to the car sounds better than playing Spotify through Bluetooth? If you are and are trying to get a "direct drive" setup, you can simply load up a USB flash drive full of music and plug it in. Since you don't have Android Auto anyways, you are not missing out on any benefits of connecting your car to front USB port. If you are concerned about charging, you can use one of the two ports in the center arm rest. If you are worried about carrying around a redundant (storage) device, well, you can just leave the flash drive in the car.

kp93 · Jan 29, 2020

sygyzy said:
When you plug your iPhone into the head unit, what are you using to play music?

It's my girlfriend's IPhone and when she plays music, it is through apple car play using the spotify app.

WillRav4Tacos said:
I'd be curious to know if OP uses Bluetooth Spotify on their iPhone if it sounds the same as Bluetooth Spotify on the Android device.

The spotify via apple car play clearly sounds the best however spotify via bluetooth on both android and apple device sounds similar and is of inferior quality compared to playing spotify via carplay (in my opinion). There is a night and day difference playing music via carplay and bluetooth.

sygyzy said:
There are also many settings that are impossible for us to verify but the OP can check, between the two devices.

Both apple/android devices run spotify on "automatic quality" so it can fluctuate depending on data speed and we haven't really messed with any other settings.

WillRav4Tacos · Jan 29, 2020

I think I read OPs post as you stated, in ACP Spotify for example sounds better than the Bluetooth Spotify on his Android device (w/o Android Auto).

One thing I forgot to mention is that each audio source on the head unit maintains its own Bass/Treble etc settings.

Also Apple phones in general seem to have tweaked internal equalizer settings compared to many Android phones out of the box.

I'd be curious to know if OP uses Bluetooth Spotify on their iPhone if it sounds the same as Bluetooth Spotify on the Android device.

sygyzy · Jan 29, 2020

You bring up good points but thing to also consider is music "quality" is extremely subjective. For example, many people prefer V (high treble and bass) EQ settings, which is not necessarily my preference. There are also many settings that are impossible for us to verify but the OP can check, between the two devices. For example, does the iPhone have Spotify to stream high quality? Does Android have Spotify set to save bandwidth? Is one operating in offline mode using just downloaded tracks? We can go on and on.

JFox562 · Jan 29, 2020

I have plugged in an old iPod into the USB port and it came up as a new source to select and the head unit controlled the iPod. I wonder if you plug in either an iPhone and not go into CarPlay if the head unit will control the music like the iPod. I haven't tried this with my iPhone yet. I'll try it tonight. Android may do the same as a iPod. Plug one in and check to see if a new source selection is available.

sygyzy · Jan 29, 2020

The iPod functionality is specifically supported. I don't have an iPhone but it might be possible with an Android phone if you make sure to set it as a storage device. Make sure to disable Apple Car Play and Android Auto in the MID.

sygyzy · Jan 29, 2020

I just re-read your original question - you are not even asking if you can play music off your Android phone (mp3's on a storage device). You asked if you could "stream" Spotify via USB from your Android phone. The answer is: no.

kp93 · Jan 29, 2020

Thanks for the insight. Is improving the sound system the best option in this situation?

JFox562 · Jan 29, 2020

I posted this somewhere else on this forum that each input (source) has there own sound settings which also includes the last volume setting. So if you adjusted one input, and switch to another input, this could result in a sound difference.

JFox562 · Jan 29, 2020

Here's an interesting topic I found in the gas version of my 2019 manual:

This would make sense since Bluetooth connection is not available once a USB connection is established.

I'l try this out tonight since trying to keep a USB device sync'd with iTunes is not a simple task and whenever I want to make a change, the USB device is in the car but my iPhone is usually in arms reach. Hmm, how would interaction with the phone in the car work then? Definitely test is required.

Is it possible to play music from android phone via USB? (2019)

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