Is it Bose or CarPlay?

[noob0804]

I think the topic of this forum is the closest to my comment.
We recently bought my wife an SUV with a "premium" Bose sound system. It also has Apple CarPlay, but only through a dedicated usb port (it has 2 ports). I've noticed that when I don't use CarPlay the sound is much better (using the other usb port). With CarPlay the sound is muddy, the bass is bloated and boomy, the highs are not very high... I just don't like it. But CarPlay is very convenient, and it makes for a better driving experience (and the wife doesn't notice the difference in sound quality). Anybody has experienced something similar?
On the other hand, my hatchback has a Harman/Kardon speaker system and I really like the sound, even through bluetooth. It doesn't have CarPlay, btw.

 

[lovinthehd]

What are you connecting to the car play port? When comparing to the other usb port it's the same source?

Looking at this it seems mostly about using features on an iphone hands free....

Could be different to your car's sound system, and your system in your car might simply be better sounding to you, but using the same sound system doesn't make a lot of sense that the two usb ports would sound different....maybe something to do with default settings would be more likely.

 

[noob0804]

Thanks for the reply, lovinthehd -

The source in both cases is my iPhone streaming Amazon Music HD. When connected to usb port A, the car switches to the CarPlay interface after a few seconds, and the sound gets worse (sometimes it starts playing for a few seconds before CarPlay kicks in and it's very noticeable). When connected to usb port B, it plays through the default Mazda infotainment interface. I've tried tweaking the sound settings to make it sound more natural, with no luck. My phone is not paired to the car via bluetooth, so that's not a variable. The only variable I can think of is CarPlay.

I'm not particularly bothered by this, I just thought it was curious, and that some in this community might want to comment.

 

[j_garcia]

What is your stream quality set to in the Amazon Music app? Data saver or Standard? I use standard and the quality is pretty good.

 

[lovinthehd]

Thanks for the reply, lovinthehd -

The source in both cases is my iPhone streaming Amazon Music HD. When connected to usb port A, the car switches to the CarPlay interface after a few seconds, and the sound gets worse (sometimes it starts playing for a few seconds before CarPlay kicks in and it's very noticeable). When connected to usb port B, it plays through the default Mazda infotainment interface. I've tried tweaking the sound settings to make it sound more natural, with no luck. My phone is not paired to the car via bluetooth, so that's not a variable. The only variable I can think of is CarPlay.

I'm not particularly bothered by this, I just thought it was curious, and that some in this community might want to comment.

Just curious mostly. Am not familiar with apple stuff, tho. Is there a CarPlay menu on the car's system that may have some default settings that need attending to?

 

[crazyfingers]

If whatever app is being used on the iPhone to play music to carplay to the car has a built in equalizer you might check if the equalization is not all weirded out.

I mention this because the stereo in my car is naturally way too high on the treble and way to low on the bass. I can fix that with the equalizer in the app that I use to play music via Android Auto to the car.

 

[TLS Guy]

I think the topic of this forum is the closest to my comment.
We recently bought my wife an SUV with a "premium" Bose sound system. It also has Apple CarPlay, but only through a dedicated usb port (it has 2 ports). I've noticed that when I don't use CarPlay the sound is much better (using the other usb port). With CarPlay the sound is muddy, the bass is bloated and boomy, the highs are not very high... I just don't like it. But CarPlay is very convenient, and it makes for a better driving experience (and the wife doesn't notice the difference in sound quality). Anybody has experienced something similar?
On the other hand, my hatchback has a Harman/Kardon speaker system and I really like the sound, even through bluetooth. It doesn't have CarPlay, btw.

Why on Earth did you pay a premium for something with a Bose label? Bose is synonymous with bottom of the pack, or worse. There should have been a price reduction for Bose.

 

[noob0804]

Geez! a big Bose hater... I don't like Bose either, it's just a mediocre speaker company with excellent marketing, but I don't feel strongly enough to bash them just because. I simply don't buy their products. I have a Bose iPod dock that I got as a birthday present years ago when I asked for a Yamaha... I still use it for one of my TVs, and it is definitely better than the speakers inside the TV. Those are bottom of the pack.
We didn't pay a premium for the Bose system. We paid a premium for a trim level that came with many other features (moonroof, leather, cameras, seat warmers, et al). The Bose system comes by default with that trim level since it's considered premium by most Americans, hence why I wrote the word "premium" between quotation marks in the original post. It would be ridiculously naïve to ask for a discount for a speaker system I don't like. Besides, it has retail value for reasons stated above.
Also, how can something be worse than the bottom of the pack?
Happy Thanksgiving!!

 

[lovinthehd]

Geez! a big Bose hater... I don't like Bose either, it's just a mediocre speaker company with excellent marketing, but I don't feel strongly enough to bash them just because. I simply don't buy their products. I have a Bose iPod dock that I got as a birthday present years ago when I asked for a Yamaha... I still use it for one of my TVs, and it is definitely better than the speakers inside the TV. Those are bottom of the pack.
We didn't pay a premium for the Bose system. We paid a premium for a trim level that came with many other features (moonroof, leather, cameras, seat warmers, et al). The Bose system comes by default with that trim level since it's considered premium by most Americans, hence why I wrote the word "premium" between quotation marks in the original post. It would be ridiculously naïve to ask for a discount for a speaker system I don't like. Besides, it has retail value for reasons stated above.
Also, how can something be worse than the bottom of the pack?
Happy Thanksgiving!!

Many of us aren't exactly fond of Bose for current home audio systems. I did experience some 901s back in the day and well set up thought they were awesome party speakers. Both my Mercedes simply came with Bose systems and they were okay (but also just part of the package). I also wonder about worse than the bottom of the pack. Gobble gobble....

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Geez! a big Bose hater... I don't like Bose either, it's just a mediocre speaker company with excellent marketing, but I don't feel strongly enough to bash them just because. I simply don't buy their products. I have a Bose iPod dock that I got as a birthday present years ago when I asked for a Yamaha... I still use it for one of my TVs, and it is definitely better than the speakers inside the TV. Those are bottom of the pack.
We didn't pay a premium for the Bose system. We paid a premium for a trim level that came with many other features (moonroof, leather, cameras, seat warmers, et al). The Bose system comes by default with that trim level since it's considered premium by most Americans, hence why I wrote the word "premium" between quotation marks in the original post. It would be ridiculously naïve to ask for a discount for a speaker system I don't like. Besides, it has retail value for reasons stated above.
Also, how can something be worse than the bottom of the pack?
Happy Thanksgiving!!

Believe it or not, I actively avoid buying/leasing cars with Bose audio systems. In the past, I had Outback with an upgrade option of the Harman audio system - the sound was fine, but the software was junk. Now we have two Hondas, which have an Android-based center. It does both carplay and Android auto. I also know that top trims in some Honda models include an "upgraded" Bose system, but these are easy to avoid with a step-down trip, which also saves me tons of money.

As to your specific question, just to clarify - on one case (USB only) - you have Amazon Audio streaming music and playing it using a USB port to your car audio, and in another, the same Amazon Music app, but running on CarPlay playing the same song?
Interesting test, I may need to test the same and see how it goes in my cars.

 

[crazyfingers]

I've never had Bose speakers. I do think that their noise cancelling headphones are great for air travel.

Back in college when I had ( and still have) my Allison Three speakers I had a listening competition with a guy with Bose 901s. The 901s got really LOUD. But The Allisons sounded a hell of a lot better.

 

[noob0804]

I really appreciate all these replies.
I understand not buying Bose anything, but in this case it's my wife's car. We like Mazda, there are certain niceties she really wants, and she really was due for a new car since she drove her previous one to the ground. We didn't ask for the trim with the Bose speakers, we went for the trim with the other things she wanted and it only comes with Bose for marketing reasons. My wife doesn't care nor can she hear a difference, and I barely drive her car. I'm just curious if anyone else has noticed the same difference in sound with and without CarPlay.
Having said all that, it is the same song, using an iPhone 14 with Amazon music HD, played with and without CarPlay, connected with a USB cable, and let's say that with CarPlay it sounds Bose-y (bloated, boomy bass, bad treble). For some reason without CarPlay it sounds much better, more natural. I can tweak bass and treble when it's not playing through CarPlay, but I haven't found a way to adjust the sound while playing with it. I otherwise like CarPlay much better than the Mazda infotainment interface.
After all these questions and answers, it's clear to me that it's a CarPlay issue, not a Bose issue since it's the same speakers playing differently. I should have left Bose out of the equation altogether.
I know that people used to good speakers have a bad opinion of the Bose signature coloration and other issues, me included, but I wasn't expecting a backlash for owning a Bose product, especially when I didn't ask for it. I bought a product that only came with Bose speakers. It was not an active choice. Finally, I barely drive the car so it doesn't bother me much. It's much more important that my wife likes her ride. After 25+ years together I gave up trying to educate her in sound quality. She just doesn't get it. I suspect that's the case for many enthusiasts with their spouses.

 

[TLS Guy]

I really appreciate all these replies.
I understand not buying Bose anything, but in this case it's my wife's car. We like Mazda, there are certain niceties she really wants, and she really was due for a new car since she drove her previous one to the ground. We didn't ask for the trim with the Bose speakers, we went for the trim with the other things she wanted and it only comes with Bose for marketing reasons. My wife doesn't care nor can she hear a difference, and I barely drive her car. I'm just curious if anyone else has noticed the same difference in sound with and without CarPlay.
Having said all that, it is the same song, using an iPhone 14 with Amazon music HD, played with and without CarPlay, connected with a USB cable, and let's say that with CarPlay it sounds Bose-y (bloated, boomy bass, bad treble). For some reason without CarPlay it sounds much better, more natural. I can tweak bass and treble when it's not playing through CarPlay, but I haven't found a way to adjust the sound while playing with it. I otherwise like CarPlay much better than the Mazda infotainment interface.
After all these questions and answers, it's clear to me that it's a CarPlay issue, not a Bose issue since it's the same speakers playing differently. I should have left Bose out of the equation altogether.
I know that people used to good speakers have a bad opinion of the Bose signature coloration and other issues, me included, but I wasn't expecting a backlash for owning a Bose product, especially when I didn't ask for it. I bought a product that only came with Bose speakers. It was not an active choice. Finally, I barely drive the car so it doesn't bother me much. It's much more important that my wife likes her ride. After 25+ years together I gave up trying to educate her in sound quality. She just doesn't get it. I suspect that's the case for many enthusiasts with their spouses.

All I can tell is that CarPlay sounds just fine. I would bet that the system is equalized to disguise the lousy speakers. So unfortunately you can't use CarPlay in that vehicle. So again there is a forcing of Bose, which is typical of those Charlatans.

 

[noob0804]

@TLS Guy, I just clicked the link to your system gallery, and I can say 2 things: 1. WOW!!! and 2: F*ck Yeah!!! I assume you do this professionally? If not, it takes commitment to put together what you have.

 

[crazyfingers]

Having said all that, it is the same song, using an iPhone 14 with Amazon music HD, played with and without CarPlay, connected with a USB cable, and let's say that with CarPlay it sounds Bose-y (bloated, boomy bass, bad treble). For some reason without CarPlay it sounds much better, more natural. I can tweak bass and treble when it's not playing through CarPlay, but I haven't found a way to adjust the sound while playing with it. I otherwise like CarPlay much better than the Mazda infotainment interface.

I still wonder if it's different equalization. I know that my 2017 Outback allows for different equalization by source. When you are playing from the phone without CarPlay, is the car using one equalization setting and when its using car play is it using a different equalization setting? I don't have Carplay. I have android. Does car play have an equalization setting?

 

[crazyfingers]

All I can tell is that CarPlay sounds just fine. I would bet that the system is equalized to disguise the lousy speakers. So unfortunately you can't use CarPlay in that vehicle. So again there is a forcing of Bose, which is typical of those Charlatans.

I believe that the Amazon music app has a 5 band equalizer built in.(At least the Android version of Amazon music does) It might be used to compensate.

 

[lovinthehd]

I still wonder if it's different equalization. I know that my 2017 Outback allows for different equalization by source. When you are playing from the phone without CarPlay, is the car using one equalization setting and when its using car play is it using a different equalization setting? I don't have Carplay. I have android. Does car play have an equalization setting?

Yeah that's why I was asking about settings earlier, just sounds like some default setting getting in the way somewhere (or enhancing the other)

 

[noob0804]

Thanks again, everyone! I couldn't find an equalizer in the IOS version of Amazon Music, but I found a setting in the car sound settings that can be adjusted while in CarPlay. Something called Bose Centerpoint that was turned on by default. Just by turning it off the sound improved dramatically. Now I'm intrigued as to why it only affected CarPlay and not the default infotainment player...
I guess it was Bose to blame after all. Those bastards!!
If you're curious, this is what I found online about Bose Centerpoint:
"Centerpoint. Enjoy a Bose surround sound experience from existing CDs, MP3s and satellite radio. Specifically engineered to meet the unique demands of surround sound within a vehicle, Centerpoint converts stereo signals to multiple channels, allowing greater precision in reproducing sound."

 

[Trebdp83]

Basically, a proprietary up mixer that doesn't really improve the audio experience with two channel material.

 

[lovinthehd]

Thanks again, everyone! I couldn't find an equalizer in the IOS version of Amazon Music, but I found a setting in the car sound settings that can be adjusted while in CarPlay. Something called Bose Centerpoint that was turned on by default. Just by turning it off the sound improved dramatically. Now I'm intrigued as to why it only affected CarPlay and not the default infotainment player...
I guess it was Bose to blame after all. Those bastards!!
If you're curious, this is what I found online about Bose Centerpoint:
"Centerpoint. Enjoy a Bose surround sound experience from existing CDs, MP3s and satellite radio. Specifically engineered to meet the unique demands of surround sound within a vehicle, Centerpoint converts stereo signals to multiple channels, allowing greater precision in reproducing sound."

Interesting, wonder if the system can be tweaked for better surround sound....it may not have been setup?