Pixel USB Audio in Car

[MrDrProf]

I've done a bit of research on this, with less-than-appealing results. I figured I would consult the best forum on the web  regarding this topic in hope for a solution found nowhere else, or at least to have discussion on here about it.

As far as I can tell, Pixel devices do not play well with car USB audio at all, while iOS devices do without issue. At first glance this seems to be an iOS-Android issue, which is unfortunate, but not a huge deal since bluetooth works as well as it does these days. But from my limited experience messing with some devices laying around, Samsung devices seem to work perfectly fine. This confuses me, and I haven't seen discussion on this topic anywhere. Has anyone else dealt with this and/or have a good explanation of why this would be the case?

 

I would imagine Samsung has something they have setup that allows for seamless output acting like a usb mass storage device, as older android phones more commonly did, that is just a guess though.

 

Like I said, not a big deal for me since I have bluetooth and it works well, but I just wondered why this was the case and if there is any workaround to make Pixel devices "compatible" with car head units.

[PorkishPig]

1 hour ago, MrDrProf said:

I've done a bit of research on this, with less-than-appealing results. I figured I would consult the best forum on the web  regarding this topic in hope for a solution found nowhere else, or at least to have discussion on here about it.

As far as I can tell, Pixel devices do not play well with car USB audio at all, while iOS devices do without issue. At first glance this seems to be an iOS-Android issue, which is unfortunate, but not a huge deal since bluetooth works as well as it does these days. But from my limited experience messing with some devices laying around, Samsung devices seem to work perfectly fine. This confuses me, and I haven't seen discussion on this topic anywhere. Has anyone else dealt with this and/or have a good explanation of why this would be the case?

 

I would imagine Samsung has something they have setup that allows for seamless output acting like a usb mass storage device, as older android phones more commonly did, that is just a guess though.

 

Like I said, not a big deal for me since I have bluetooth and it works well, but I just wondered why this was the case and if there is any workaround to make Pixel devices "compatible" with car head units.

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Most older head units are geared towards support for iPods, iPhones, older Android devices, and USB flash drives. Therefore, you'll need something like a Wirelinq protocol translation cable, which will make it look like you're playing music from a compatible iDevice.

 

As for why some Samsung devices are functioning with your head unit, it depends. Older versions of Android may work fine, or you may be using a MicroSD card to store music on the device. If the latter is true, your unit is merely reading the MicroSD of your device similar to the way it would a USB flash drive.

[MrDrProf]

On 8/18/2018 at 2:06 AM, Homeless Pineapple said:

Most older head units are geared towards support for iPods, iPhones, older Android devices, and USB flash drives. Therefore, you'll need something like a Wirelinq protocol translation cable, which will make it look like you're playing music from a compatible iDevice.

 

As for why some Samsung devices are functioning with your head unit, it depends. Older versions of Android may work fine, or you may be using a MicroSD card to store music on the device. If the latter is true, your unit is merely reading the MicroSD of your device similar to the way it would a USB flash drive.

I'm surprised I hadn't come across the Wireling cable or something like it. Very interesting though.

 

Also hadn't thought of it just reading the MicroSD card, I guess running only iPhones and Pixels ass personal devices makes me forget that MicroSD cards in phones is a thing .  It wasn't my device, so I am not sure if that was the case or not, but I'll have to try it out.

 

Thanks for the insight!