Darkside4x4

Just to add, I've just tried a new SanDisk Extreme Pro SDXC UHS-I 256GB card out of the box formatted as exFAT loaded up with 8,393 files in 967 folders with a size of 232GB.


Therefore the issue with the NTFS formatted SSD in the USB case doesn't seem to an issue with the size, more the amount of files or folders.


It would be nice is Audi provided clear up to date information on what is and isn't supported as it starts to get expensive keep buying SD cards just to try. At least I can use the 2 x 64GB cards in my camera.

Redd

Darkside-
Audi-US seem fairly clueless about the "rules" for music players in general. In theory, yes, any music player should be as smart as any smartphone or computer OS, and be able to read a whole "device".
In practice there will be limits including these:
1-Number of FOLDERS in the top level, may be as low as 256.
2-Number of files in each folder, or subfolders in each folder. Again may be as low as 256.
3-Total number of files, often under 10,000. To me this indicates someone wrote a cheap file buffering/indexing routine that has a low limit.
4-Length of the "full" name of any file, may be limited to 256 characters including the initial drive letter and colon. So if a file has a long name and is four levels down, it may not be accessible.

All of this is nonsense of course, poorly done cheap obsoleted programming. At a certain point it becomes easier to just play everything from a BT cell phone, even a $100 phone can run better music players with more functions on them. But with 600+GB of FLAC files...(G)...congratulations, it is nice to know someone who carries around twice as much music as I do. On the plain AMI system with road noise in the background, fortunately my aging ears can't hear the quality loss at MP3 VBR-2, so I can squeeze it down a bit.

I think you'd have to find out who really built the MMI system and give them a phone call, do a little social engineering and they'll know exactly what the limits and rules are. Someone needs to explain to Audi (Germany) that if they want to sell cars to techies, they're going to have to do better than "Uh, it plays music?"

ex-quattro PETE

Same here. Heck, even VBR4 works for me. If you're using LAME encoder, VBR4 has a low pass filter at 17.5 KHz. VBR2 has a low pass filter at 18.5 KHz. At my age, I cannot hear anything above 17 KHz anyway.

Darkside4x4

Redd-
It does seem a little strange that Audi charge so much for the tech upgrades and they fall short on delivery. Even Apple changed and included a sort by "Album Artist" metatag.


I do have copies in MP3 format on a constant 320kbps (thank God for dBpoweramp's batch converter), so the next test is to try all 23,879 files in 2,532 folders on the 256Gb SDXC card (228GB). Then I will see if I get the same results as the USB SSD where by it only indexed up to 9,886 files in 1110 folders. This would then show the limit of the MMI reading a media device is purely the amount of files and folders and not the device size.


Following that, I will test multiple devices with under 10,000 files on each to work out if the total files across all devices is under 10,000.


One thing I can say for sure is that the current MMI fitted to the 2015 A6 Allroad with the BOSE and Tech Pack Advanced supports:


- 256GB SDXC cards formatted as exFAT
- 256GB USB SSD formatted as NTFS
- FLAC files

spijun

Audi A6 -C7 has a newer generation MMI from 2011

A4 / A5 / Q5 MMI from 2008

ex-quattro PETE

That's right. Given the recent advances in technology and what other makers are offering, the MMI in our Q5 feels like using ZX Spectrum. But hey, it was fun back in the day.

And the MMI in the Q5 seems to have gotten some mild updates over the years since the 32GB card size is no longer the limit that it used to be in prior years.

spijun

Audi, BMW and Mercedes never implanted a new technology in old models

So the new A3 first in the world with 4G system

ex-quattro PETE

Yes, and that's understandable. But when you're stretching the same platform/design for 8-9 years, technology obsolescence really begins to show. But I'm not complaining... for our needs, the Q5 MMI does what we want it to do for the most part. Back when I was younger, I may have appreciated a lossless audio format support, but now, as the years have piled on, I am no longer as discriminatory. In any case, it's often hard to appreciate quality audio with a screaming kid in the back seat.

Mrclopec

Acutally this is untrue. The MMI 3G system existed for a couple years before wireless integration was introduced which turned it into the 3G+. When they added the new wireless/google integration I would consider that implanting new technology.

spijun

Depends on the market MMI exists in versions with 3G DVD, 3G + HDD 40GB and 3GP with HDD 60GB and SIM
It's just a a small addition, as is FL model
The North American market has never been a model of GPS with DVD

In Europe even today there are two models of navigation