RickObe

There are three ways to play music from your phone to the Q7:
1) Audi Smartphone Interface (Apple CarPlay)
2) Bluetooth Audio
3) iPhone Cable (connected in the armrest compartment)

Option 1, AppleCar Play is a non-starter for me because the interface is much more primitive and it precludes using the car's telephone bluetooth interface.

Option 2, bluetooth, works pretty well. But if you connect the lightning cable (to keep your phone charged), bluetooth audio is disabled:



(I realize a charge-only cable could prevent that)

But option 3, lighting cable, is a bit better in terms of the list display. It's list display shows artist/album info, while bluetooth only shows song name. Having more info is handy when you're scanning down the list to find the net song to play. Plus with the lightning cable connection, you have a Change Playing Position option and Gracenote database. Comparison:

Bluetooth:


Lighting Cable:


BUT HERE'S THE PROBLEM... While there is an audio level control for bluetooth, there is no such option when using the cable connection. Here are the right-drawer option menus for bluetooth vs cable:

Bluetooth:


Cable:


Note that the "input level" option is missing when using the cable. The effect of this is that the iPhone music via cable is relatively quiet so when you switch back to radio, you kind of get blasted out.

I thought maybe adjusting the volume on the iPhone would help, but the volume adjustment slider (and volume side buttons) are disabled when connected by cable, as seen in this comparison of the iPhone control panel for when connected by bluetooth vs cable:

Bluetooth:


Cable:


Sorry for the long post, but....


BOTTOM LINE... does anyone know a way to increase the input level when playing music from the iPhone when connected via the cable in the armrest compartment?

mwoc

Couldn't you just use the power port in the tray in front of the gear shift? Not as clean obviously as the usb port in the armrest.

RickObe

Yes, sure. Or I could use a no-data lightning cable. Or I could hard wire power from somewhere else.

But for the reasons I pointed out, I would much rather use the cable connection, if only I could increase the input level a bit.

saunderscc

There is an option that I think is far better than any you mentioned, the MMI hard drive. I took the opportunity to clean up my itunes, deleting all dupes that have accumulated over the years, then burned an mp3 DVD. Now I have around 800 songs that I actually listen to on the hard drive complete with all album art, etc. I set the "juke box" to shuffle and there's almost always something I want to hear within one or two skips.

In the event I need a playlist, bluetooth is always there.

By chance, do you have Sound Check turned on for Music in iOS options? That may be an issue with the data out feed.

Also, consider looking at iVolume in app store to better match song volumes.

PROEDGEBIKER.COM

I like to stream Sirius or Amazon Music from my iPhone so Lightning Cable is my way too.
Too bad there is no input Volume Control... Sure as hell would hate to blast out my kids...

saunderscc

Sirius, iHeartRadio, etc. will stream over bluetooth. Don't use Amazon Music, so don't know there. Essentially, if it will play through bluetooth speakers, it will stream through MMI bluetooth.

PROEDGEBIKER.COM

But doesn't BT get disabled once you hook up to lightning?

RickObe

Yes it does. But you could provide charging power to the iPhone by either (1) using a USB adapter in the 12V socket, or (2) getting a power-only USB cable that would not provide power but no data connection when plugged into the car's USB port.

RickObe

Thanks for the suggestion, but my music collection is too fluid and I use playlists too much for the MMI hard drive to be workable. I'm always adding music and I have over 5000 tracks / 22GB in my collection.

I did try turning off Sound Check the other day, and I think that actually made it a bit worse.

I will take a look at iVolume.

saunderscc

Correct. But I believe they should stream over lightning, too.