Audio input jack

The aux jack is next to the USB port and 12V outlet in front of the center console. It works great for iPod Shuffles.

 

Are we sure that this is the best way to get the best audio quality? The headphone jack is an analog signal vs. digital signal via Bluetooth.

I could be misunderstood, but I feel like this is something I've read.

 

I'm pretty sure bluetooth audio is the worst. I think the aux jack is second best and the USB gives the best overall experience (because of album art, showing playlists etc.).

 

Get the best sound out of your portable music player in the car

 

that makes it sound like usb, aux and bt are all about the same.

 

Bluetooth, MP3, WMA, HD radio and XM are all compressed to varying degrees.

If you have an ultra high fidelity digital player -- capable of something like 24-bit, 96kHz sampling -- then the analog aux port is your only full bandwidth input. The head unit may re-digitize using 16bit/44.1kHz or maybe it keeps an analog path to the amplifier (I don't know) but there's nothing you can do about it assuming everything is stock. Analog isn't evil over short distances; you MAY pick up induced noise but hopefully the Prius HV alternating current is sufficiently isolated/filtered from the 12vDC subsystem. I expect there to be less noise on the 12v lines in a Prius compared to any vehicle with an alternator. The biggest downside to the analog connection is no steering wheel track controls or on-screen metadata.

Your next best quality source is "old school" standard audio CDs, at 16-bit 44.1 kHz uncompressed stereo PCM. But you max out at about 70 minutes per disc and a CD changer hasn't been a factory option since (EDIT 2011.

Bluetooth is the sweet spot for most, though I haven't found the Prius's technical limitations listed anywhere. The current standard is the A2DP profile which optionally supports "MPEG-1,2 Audio, MPEG-2,4 AAC and ATRAC." I list BT here because of the potential of AAC, *if* the car and device both support it. Cheap devices (think "disposable" phones) may only support the minimum spec and include support for few or none of these better codecs. I would not be surprised if the car only supported MPEG-1, which if true would make BT a tie with...

USB and data CDs. I said above that we don't have CD changers, because we have the option of using CD data discs with either MP3 or WMA file formats. The max quality specs are in the manual, but AFAIK WMA is still a "lossy" codec and MP3 definitely is. You can burn a disc, but it will be most convenient to use a USB stick -- same specs as the data CD but with higher limits on total number of folders/files/capacity. In this day and age it's a crime that Toyota doesn't support FLAC on either CD or USB. (The 'F' is for free, the 'L' is for lossless.)

After that you get FM-HD (I know little about DAB in Europe) followed by XM. These use heavy, "perception-based" compression and I hear compression artifacts on both that range from distracting to gawdawful. Most of the over-processed pop music sounds normal. The compression isn't always bad; it does well enough most of the time. I've been impressed by the bass range in some cases.

I'm not going to get into the non-HD broadcast sources. If you have Entune installed, Pandora is also compressed, of course, and (with the higher quality setting turned ON) seems to me to be of higher average quality than XM and my local FM-HD products. I have not used any other Entune audio apps, but basically expect these to perform no better than their native apps over Bluetooth since the car still uses A2DP for the audio content (at least as far as Entune Pandora is concerned).

All in all, I've made a big deal about lossy compression, but honestly the general consumer can't usually tell a difference. With road noise in a moving car, they may only notice the most egregious examples. Discerning listeners, and those fans of genres that aren't heavily processed, will notice more.

 

Pre-facelift Gen III (2010-11) with nav is a 4-CD changer.

-Chap

 

Thought the bass was too loud in the AUX.

 

I almost wonder if it's a little different for any setup. I have an aftermarket deck, so for me the bluetooth sounds MUCH better than AUX or USB.

Weird

 

We're all using digital copies these days. Unless you are picky and rip your CD's with lossless compression, you'll lose some signal in that conversion. Add to that the road and wind noise we all share, I'd say just go with what works best for you. These cars have pretty good stereos... but even with the JBL, I find the music isn't a true representation. I do get better response from Apple Airplay with my home system. So, yeah. It's a car. The primary purpose is to get us from here to there. Entertainment along the way is a big plus. I'm still wanting to sort my music by playlist, genre, artist, album, etc. from a bluetooth connection to my Android device. Has anyone done this? It works with an Apple iPod connected with USB.

 

When you adjust things on the "sound" screen (bass, mid, treble, balance, fader), I notice it remembers your settings separately per source (at least, I see this on the 2010 Denso). So you should be able to take the bass down a bit just for the aux input, if that's your preference.

-Chap

 

It's all analog when it hits the air. That's the nature of sound waves.

 

Yeah, but what happens before then does matter. (Just less so when surrounded by road and wind noise.) So says Nyquist, so say we all.