Bluetooth clipping on 18 Subaru head unit

[Hawkbaitfpv]

I've had my LG v30 for 3 days now and I have just about everything setup but i took a 2 hour drive today with the Bluetooth audio connected to my 2018 Subaru WRX with 7 inch starlink headunit.

I got about 10 minutes into the drive before I had to shut off the sound because the quality was so poor.

It sounds tinny and metallic almost as though my music was recorded on a cheap microphone from 10 feet away.

I've had the car a month and the Bluetooth audio quality was fine for my ears on my old samsung note 4, I was hoping that the audio quality would be better with my new device but it has made a marked decrease. I tested the same track from my old samsung when I got home and the issue definitely follows the v30

I also tested the Bluetooth audio with my Plantronics legend and my Anker Bluetooth speakers as well as the aux Jack and they all sound great on the v30.

I'm trying to sort out why it might sound poor on a brand new car stereo and if there's anything I can do on the phone to increase audio quality. This far I've read that it uses a new Bluetooth codec but I can't find any way to change the default codec to match my car. (Or settings in the car to match the new phone )

At this point I'm considering carrying an auxiliary cable for the car but it kind of bothers me to have cables coming out of the top and bottom of the phone just to listen to my Google play music in the car.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Make sure any equalizer setting is turned off on the phone -- I've found that this can adversely affect the sound quality through other Bluetooth devices.

 

[jasonb]

I had the same issue with the V30 and my 2017 Subaru BRZ. I ended up returning the V30. It was the same with the stock music app, blackplayer, and with tidal. My LG V10 works fine with the same car, and the Galaxy S8 I had prior worked fine with the same car.

 

[Hawkbaitfpv]

I have disable all the equalizers and I am listening to the head unit in flat and Google play music with the highest settings. I also tested the phone with YouTube videos and had the same results. I'm hoping I don't need to return the phone over something silly like Bluetooth but if it sounds terrible that's kind of a deal breaker.

I'll give it a few more days but at the moment it's a buzzkill having a new 700 dollar device that doesn't play nice with my car.

 

[B. Diddy]

Check with Subaru if there's any firmware update available for the car stereo system.

 

[xplod566]

I would definately carry a Aux cable.U have a Subaru and an excellent overall music system,and it deserves the best sq ever.
Once u connect through AUX it will either activate 2 DACs (external mode) or quad dac(High impedance).Imagine the sq u will get from your subaru.

The Bluetooth doesn't activate theDACby any means.
The magic lies in the 3.5mm headphone jack

 

[jasonb]

I have disable all the equalizers and I am listening to the head unit in flat and Google play music with the highest settings. I also tested the phone with YouTube videos and had the same results. I'm hoping I don't need to return the phone over something silly like Bluetooth but if it sounds terrible that's kind of a deal breaker.

I'll give it a few more days but at the moment it's a buzzkill having a new 700 dollar device that doesn't play nice with my car.

I tried everything I could including a factory reset and nothing fixed it with my 2017 BRZ. The same car works fine with the S8 and V10. It's a shame because the couple hours I played with it, it seemed like an otherwise good device.

 

[jdurso88]

I'm having the same problem with my brand new LG V30 phone (VS996) in my 2017 Subaru Impreza 5-door. I connect the phone to the Starlink bluetooth and any audio comes out in really low quality. I play the same songs on other bluetooth devices (speaker, headset) normally with no audio issues. I tried re-pairing the phone, resetting the bluetooth cache, but still hasn't improved. My previous phone was an LG G4 and did not have this issue. This problem is seriously making me consider returning the phone.

 

[jasonb]

Just switched from verizon to mobile and got a V30 and am having the same issue with this one. Same terrible audio quality on my 2017 brz. Any ideas. I have 14 days to return it.

 

[xweb10]

Maybe return the Subaru's? I kid, I kid...

 

[jasonb]

I just really wonder if it's a hardware issue with the phone, or a software issue with the phone, or if it's a software issue with the car. I'll have to make sure my cars head unit is on the latest available firmware. And I'll have to contact LG and see what they say. I can use the V30 with a 3.5mm aux cable, but Bluetooth is so much more convenient and easy and let's me skip tracks with my steering wheel controls.

 

[jasonb]

Well, Subaru America customer service was no help, told me to call a dealer. So I called my dealer asking if there have been any updates to the factory radio since my car left the factory, and was told no, and that they see compatability issues with LG comes quite often. So next I call LG and explained that I tried everything I could possibly try including factory reseting the phone, trying a second V30, and factory reseting the cars head unit itself. All they could tell me, in an accent I could barely understand, was that I could send the phone in for repair, return the device to tmobile, or wait for a software update.

The phone obviously doesn't need a repair, it's a software compatability issue that may or may not ever get fixed. So I could keep the phone and hope an update fixes it and possibly end up being stuck with a phone that may never work right with my car, or return it and be stuck with a different phone that I really don't want.

I'd really prefer something with expandable storage, and excellent audio. That really limits choices. I almost feel like switching to an iphone since they always just work, but I honestly hate apple. I guess I have 13 days to decide. This really sucks because it's an otherwise awesome phone.

 

[B. Diddy]

When you connect to the car via Bluetooth, go to Settings>Bluetooth, tap the gear icon next to the car, and see if there's an option for Use High Quality Audio (which I think is related to APT-X). Try toggling it, so that if it was originally checked on, uncheck it, and vice-versa.

 

[monkeypunch35]

I am having the same problem in my 2016 WRX. The Subaru stereo is garbage. I'm guessing it is the problem. I have not read of any other vehicles having issues. I have a 30 day return on my Verizon V30. And with the Pixel 2 XL having screen issues, I really don't want to have to return the V30.

 

[Dan Monteiro1]

Try clear data/cache on Bluetooth app settings.

 

[jasonb]

I tried everything that there was to try. I decided to go to the dark side and brought the V30 back and got an iPhone 8 plus which so far works flawlessly just like it should. Having unlimited data on T-Mobile is pretty sweet so I settled for the 64gb size but since I have unlimited data I can just play or download my music library an album at a time through the cloud with google play music. The lightning to 3.5mm dongle isn’t that bad, I’ll just have to get an extra one or two.

 

[Jheebs]

I tried everything that there was to try. I decided to go to the dark side and brought the V30 back and got an iPhone 8 plus which so far works flawlessly just like it should. Having unlimited data on T-Mobile is pretty sweet so I settled for the 64gb size but since I have unlimited data I can just play or download my music library an album at a time through the cloud with google play music. The lightning to 3.5mm dongle isn’t that bad, I’ll just have to get an extra one or two.

You are now officially a "Fruit Cake"... Lol
Sorry to hear that...

 

[shaimere]

You are now officially a "Fruit Cake"... Lol
Sorry to hear that...