Non-streaming Music Sources?

[CrazyOne]

STRONG disagreement, from me. Spotify is a massive disappointment. It sounds terrible. Apple Music streamed over bluetooth beats it by a country mile. And that really drives home how disappointing Spotify is, to me, because Bluetooth shouldn't beat a native stream... But Spotify is THAT bad.

Are you using EQ in Apple Music? Do you have a lossless plan or the basic?Beyond 320 kbps, it's very hard to tell the differences between different sources. Usually the differences are down to the processing/problems with encoding. I haven't tried Apple Music, but between Spotify and Amazon music, there is very little difference. Lossless can possibly make a difference in ultra high end systems. Meridian system is an above average system, but isn't the best I have heard in cars.c

Sponsored

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

Are you using EQ in Apple Music? Do you have a lossless plan or the basic?Beyond 320 kbps, it's very hard to tell the differences between different sources. Usually the differences are down to the processing/problems with encoding. I haven't tried Apple Music, but between Spotify and Amazon music, there is very little difference. Lossless can possibly make a difference in ultra high end systems. Meridian system is an above average system, but isn't the best I have heard in cars.c

No eq set on the phone. I do have lossless.

if you can’t hear a difference then I guess that’s better for you — you can save money and not worry about it. But I am not alone in thinking Spotify sounds terrible. I‘ve seen many people agree with my position that other streaming sources sound better — both in and out of a Rivian vehicle. Amazon music streamed through Alexa, for example, runs circles around Spotify in the R1T, too.

I do agree that Meridian and the Rivian audio, in general, isn’t great. It’s one of the larger disappointments I have with my R1T.

 

[CrazyOne]

No eq set on the phone. I do have lossless.

if you can’t hear a difference then I guess that’s better for you — you can save money and not worry about it. But I am not alone in thinking Spotify sounds terrible. I‘ve seen many people agree with my position that other streaming sources sound better — both in and out of a Rivian vehicle. Amazon music streamed through Alexa, for example, runs circles around Spotify in the R1T, too.

I do agree that Meridian and the Rivian audio, in general, isn’t great. It’s one of the larger disappointments I have with my R1T.

If you can hear the difference, get Tidal. Only option and will be way better than Apple Music over Bluetooth .

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

If you can hear the difference, get Tidal. Only option and will be way better than Apple Music over Bluetooth .

I do have a Tidal Master subscription and primarily use it in my R1T. The frustrating part about Tidal (in Rivian) is the implementation is poor. The UI is limited and buggy. “Recently played” doesn’t update. And there is ZERO Alexa integration. I can’t request songs/albums/artists via Alexa and even the “next track“ voice command does not work with Tidal. So changing what’s playing is extremely unsafe while driving. Heck, there isn’t even a “clear” button on the keyboard search field!

 

[opnwide]

Thanks to @godfodder0901 ’s recommendation, I have the Amazon Music paid Ultra HD plan and in my limited two weeks with the R1S, I’ve been pretty pleased with using “Alexa, play so-and-so artist” or “Alexa play so-and-so artist station”. Although not a native UI “button”, artwork shows on screen with forward reverse buttons. I’m pleased with the sound quality. The software bug I have is the last radio station played is overlayed on the album art…

 

[godfodder0901]

Thanks to @godfodder0901 ’s recommendation, I have the Amazon Music paid Ultra HD plan and in my limited two weeks with the R1S, I’ve been pretty pleased with using “Alexa, play so-and-so artist” or “Alexa play so-and-so artist station”. Although not a native UI “button”, artwork shows on screen with forward reverse buttons. I’m pleased with the sound quality. The software bug I have is the last radio station played is overlayed on the album art…

I've never seen that happen! The album art has always been buggy for sure, especially when changing back and forth between sources, but this is new to me!

 

[Ed Hartouni]

I tried to use AirFly Pro plugged into my iPod Classic 2.5mm jack, it failed to link with the Rivian Bluetooth. Haven't tried it with the Camp Speaker but I suspect it will work there.

However, another possible way which I am exploring shows promise but is rather convoluted.

I purchased a Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter dongle which plugs into my iPhone, and allows separate power from the Rivian.

This dongle allows USB storage to plug into the iPhone, showing up in Files. I transferred the content of an old iTunes Music folder to a folder on a 256GB USB drive (140 GB worth). These folders are organized as Artist folders with Album folders underneath containing the music tracks.

I also loaded the nPlayer Plus app onto my iPhone.

You can point this app to the local folder on your USB drive attached to the iPhone and play the music which the iPhone pipes it over Bluetooth to the Rivian.

This total cost is probably something like $50.

I haven't organized the music in nPlayer to have a play list... it might be easier to have a single folder on the USB drive in which the individual tracks are located, that will require some renaming, etc... which will make it relatively easy to play music (right now I'm selecting files... but I am not experienced with nPlayer yet).

I do find it odd that an "adventure vehicle" needs to be connected to the internet to get music. On my drive from the Bay Area to Yosemite Valley there are significant sections with no internet connection, and so no music. It isn't that much of an adventure compared to some places I've been and want to go with the Rivian where there is no internet. I suppose satellite links are mostly possible, but there are even some places I'd like to go which are at higher latitudes than most low Earth orbits... though it is not likely those places will have Rivian Adventure Network chargers anytime soon.

 

[Mofo]

I ripped all my CDs to FLAC (300+ GB) and then uploaded them to DropBox. I use CloudBeats to stream from DropBox with my phone. I haven’t tried with my R1S but it works well in my eGolf (although easier with CarPlay).

 

[joelster]

Tidal?

 

[electruck]

Any music app with an "offline mode" that will store music on your phone will work when their is no cellular connection. You have to have the app installed on your phone and download your music in advance when you do have an internet connection (wifi or cellular). Playback requires a BT connection with the vehicle.

Spotify, Tidal, Amazon Music, and TuneIn... all of these streaming music sources supported by Rivian also support offline playback. Personally, I've got a bunch of Tidal music downloaded on my phone as a backup option even though I primarily stream Amazon Music.

 

[Deleted member 7086]

No AUX in jack and the USB-c connections will not provide inputs either. I was successful in installing SXM through the FM connection method but finding a decent FM frequency was tedious. During that process I tried the SXM Bluetooth cradle and a third party BT transmitter but the Rivian infotainment system did not recognize them let alone pair with them. Interestingly the camp speaker did. It appears Rivian has pretty much limited BT connectivity to that available through a cell phone.

 

[electruck]

Have an Apple Music subscription and listen to music in my car.
By the way, to enjoy Apple Music anytime and even offline, I found the tool DRmare Apple Music Converter to make it. This tool can help convert Apple Music files to common audio files and then I can move them to a USB drive or my phone for streaming anywhere. It is worth trying.

7 posts and 7 mentions of DRmare, that's not a little suspicious. Too bad Rivian doesn't support playing music from USB drives. Plus, you don't need such a product to play music from your phone as all the major streaming apps on your phone already have a download/offline-playback mode.

Sponsored