Bluetooth Stereo Volume

[CCalvinN]

I don't believe the core of this issue is with the FFH's audio system, but hoped that a group of people with similar equipment may help find a solution.

 

About half of my drive time is spent listening to pod casts on my android phone. On my previous car and phone (2012 Ford Focus Titanium and Samsung Galaxy S4), this worked flawlessly. I could switch between the radio (mostly NPR), the iPod (a vast array of music ranging from classical to rock to country to jazz), and the blue tooth phone and not have to change any volume or equalizer settings.

 

About two weeks ago I replaced the S4 with a Nexus 6. Two issues quickly arose. First, the volume coming out of the speakers was incredibly low. I had to max out the volume to hear anything while driving at highway speeds. Second, the bass was completely overpowering. To be able to discern Neil deGrasse Tyson's bass heavy voice (I'm currently working through the archives of StarTalk Radio) I had to change the bass setting on the equalizer. Normal listening was with the bass upped by three bars. On the new phone I had to lower the bass to negative three bars. I was hoping that this may have been a quirk of the Focus and hadn't taken any time to work through it (other than changing the equalizer every time I went in and out of bluetooth stero mode). Sadly this issue followed over to the new FFH.

 

I could probably fiddle with the phone's equalizer settings, but I use the phone to listen to music far more outside of the vehicle than inside it and it sounds beautiful in every other situation.

 

Have any of you come across either problem of low bluetooth volume or heavy bluetooth bass? Any help or insights would be much appreciated.

 

CC

 

[acdii]

Usually the phones volume setting is what needs to be adjusted. With my iphone when I first started using Sync, calls were very low until I figured out raising the phone volume did the trick. Once that was done, everything corrected itself. Try raising the phones volume and see if that helps.

[CCalvinN]

The bluetooth volume is already maxed out. The phone's master and alert volumes are always at roughly 90%. When I go to sleep I use the phone for music and have to turn it down each night. It's been a long standing habit to ensure the phone volume is turned up when I leave the house. So that's not it.

 

Sorry, I should have said that in the original message.

 

CC

[hybridbear]

Does the phone volume & audio quality improve if you connect it through USB and listen that way?

[CCalvinN]

I haven't tried it via USB yet. I'll give that a shot as I have to go out and do some running around. I'll report back with an answer!

 

CC

 

*****

 

4:54 PM

Quick update. I couldn't get the phone to connect via USB. There was an error screen saying something along the lines of 'Invalid USB Device'. I'll try again later tonight.

 

*****

 

5:16 PM

I was using the wrong cable before. It was good enough to charge the phone, but evidently not good enough to establish a data connection.

 

Anyway, yes, it plays just fine through the USB connection. As a very last resort, that would work but I'd far rather be able to enjoyably listen to this over bluetooth. That way I can get into the car, not make any connection between the phone and car, and motor (or EV) on listening to the phone.

 

Something I didn't try... if I DID end up connecting the phone via a USB cable all the time, how does MyFord handle two USB devices at once? I'd still want to keep my iPod connected at all times for music selections.

 

CC

Edited February 9, 2015 by CCalvinN

[hybridbear]

I haven't tried it via USB yet. I'll give that a shot as I have to go out and do some running around. I'll report back with an answer!

 

CC

 

*****

 

4:54 PM

Quick update. I couldn't get the phone to connect via USB. There was an error screen saying something along the lines of 'Invalid USB Device'. I'll try again later tonight.

 

*****

 

5:16 PM

I was using the wrong cable before. It was good enough to charge the phone, but evidently not good enough to establish a data connection.

 

Anyway, yes, it plays just fine through the USB connection. As a very last resort, that would work but I'd far rather be able to enjoyably listen to this over bluetooth. That way I can get into the car, not make any connection between the phone and car, and motor (or EV) on listening to the phone.

 

Something I didn't try... if I DID end up connecting the phone via a USB cable all the time, how does MyFord handle two USB devices at once? I'd still want to keep my iPod connected at all times for music selections.

 

CC

MFT will show them as USB 1 & USB 2 on the right dash screen when selecting a device. On the main MFT screen the name of each device will show up to select.

 

It's quite normal for BT audio to be less loud than USB audio. It seems like your new phone is working as designed. It's just an inferior design compared to your previous phone. I'd take up the issue with your cell carrier.

Edited February 10, 2015 by hybridbear

[acdii]

Depending on how smart the phone is, MFT will show the USB connection as the phone. Iphones are like this, but the Samsung I had, didn't. In fact it would not send pandora up USB.

[CCalvinN]

Something odd... the bluetooth audio issues seem to be centered on Google Play Music. I finally got a dedicated podcast app (Pocket Casts) and when playing that through the bluetooth audio it comes out just fine.

 

Weird.