Pandora sound quality?

Maybe its just because its friday and my communication is shot.
I didn't say you can't use usb. I just said I use BT. Sometimes I do plug it in since my phone cradle is powered via the usb. Either way, the phone must be connected with the entune app running on the phone. That's what I was saying. And again, I control pandora through the entune app on the car and it sounds great.

 

Sorry Dennis, I thought you were saying it only worked through BT, which I did note ven know it would. I thought it only worked thru USB.

 

No problem. Actually, if you call Toyota, they will suggest not using usb (forgot why, something about confusing the system with what audio source to use) and definitely don't have your wifi turned on.
I couldn't get pandora to work at all even 50% of the time when I had my wifi on. Ever since they told me to turn off wifi on my phone, pandora works great. And I'll still plug my phone in sometimes and it seems to work fine.

 

Yeah the WiFi is the big thing. Now I'll try BT.

Btw, one more thing the salesman had wrong.

 

Actually, the cable is not required if you are on a "tethering" plan or jailbroken to allow tethering. I have a tethering plan, all Entune features all work without the use of the cable. (I have a classic iPod connected to the cable at all times for my music collection)
The "internet" is streamed over bluetooth to the car to allow the entune apps to get data. Works great, except the Pandora app. (at least for me) When I listen to pandora using BTSA sounds great, when I listen to Pandora with the built in Entune app, sounds low quality. (all the settings on the car & phone are setup for high quality)
I feel like the internet bandwidth over bluetooth is limited at least for Pandora.....(just my opinion)

....let me add, I just tested the quality using Entune Pandora App with and without the USB cable and in both cases, the sound quality isn't great....it is pretty good using BTSA.

 

What is BTSA?
And what/why are you tethering?

 

BTSA is Bluetooth Streaming Audio. (It's what you get when you select "Bluetooth" as an Audio source)
Say you have an iPad playing a movie or music, so long as you've paired the iPad with the car you can send the Audio to the headunit over Bluetooth. Same goes with any audio (ie pandora) from any iOS device as long as it's paired. No need to run the Entune App
I'm "tethering" so that the phone can stay in my pocket, I can search Bing etc using the BT internet connection of the phone rather than using the USB cable that is in use by my iPod. Again, no need to ever run the Entune App. (hope this makes sense)
I believe the most important reason for the Entune App on the phone is to create a portal for the car to get internet. If the car is getting internet over BT, (like in my case) then the app is not needed. Except when adding saved destinations to the car.

 

Ok, why do I feel you are over complicating this? Am I missing something?
My phone stays in my pocket. I just have standard BT enabled and synced with the car.
Everything is controlled via the entune app on the nav screen. Works and sounds great, almost cd quality.
I don't have a "tethering plan".
The car still needs the entune app to be one of the open apps on the phone, afaik.

 

If you do not have a tehering plan, then you are simply listening to Pandora via BTSA. You are not running pandora from the "pandora" button on the Entune App screen I'd imagine.
Either way, it's not worth trying to "over complicate" it more. I'm happy you are content with your CD quality sound. I am one of those who isn't and I'm just looking for a way to get it to work well. That's all. Thanks

 

Well maybe someone else will chime in and clear up things up for you.
If yours sounds worse than satellite, there is definitely something wrong because it should be the opposite.

I would still like to know what you are tethering and why.
Have you tried just turning BT on, on your phone? And then pairing with the car?
That's all I had to do. Now my phone automatically connects with the car every time I get in it.
And like I said previously, the phone stays in my pocket and all I have to do is hit the Apps button on the car stereo, choose pandora and it starts playing. All control of pandora is done on the car's audio/nav screen. The pandora app is not open or playing on my phone.

 

I am on AT&T with an iPhone 4S, and have my phone paired with the car as well. All features work. When the car connects, to say "traffic" on the Head Unit, the phone shows a blue bar indicating that a tethered connection has occurred. (the phone is sharing internet to the car)
It might be that you have a different carrier that has tethering enabled by default. Who knows.
The fact is, both of us have our iPhones connected in the same manner, but I feel that the sound quality is poor, even with SAT. (that's a whole other topic....I cannot believe people actually pay for the crap they call satellite radio....sounds like 64kbps mp3.....horrible!)
I do have pretty particular ears, and I have also upgraded the speakers and amp on my car, so when I play ready CD quality music, it really shows as opposed to the stock speakers and amp that "hide" the real sounds of the music.

 

Ya satellite sounds pretty much like fm radio.
But id pay for that multiple times over to not have to listen terrestrial radio.
It's still the radio so I dont expect much better.

Do you have a thread detailing your sound upgrade? I have the jbl green speakers (or whatever they are) but want to upgrade the sound without changing the head unit. Sound like this is what you've done.

 

...although it might have a bunch of info you don't need. Here's my thread regarding my JBL Green system

Also have these on my front doors:
Polk Audio DXi525

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