Music disappointment

[jwanderson88]

I've had my Rivian for a week or two. Possibly my only disappointment is the lack of a port for connecting a USB memory stick for playing music. Every other car I know of can do this. Am I missing something? The bluetooth seems to only work with a phone. It seems that you are limited to broadcast radio-type music sources like Tidal and Spotify and Pandora. I'd love to be able to use my music library. This seems totally nuts.

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[tonys]

How is the quality of the audio system? I went on a test drive yesterday but the test car had the meridian. I hope the new sound system is good. My Tesla has a great sound system, was hoping the Rivian would be comparable.

 

[ironpig]

A simple USB drive would be nice - there are a lot of threads with people requesting this and someone made a petition - https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/threads/usb-audio-source-petition.15597/

 

[jwanderson88]

There are several USB-C ports. This isn't a big problem, since you can get adapters. They seem to be only for charging. Can Rivian turn one or all of these into music stick readers by software only? Or is it a hardware thing?

 

[azbill]

Sattelite radio would be nice, I am going out on some back roads today and will likely have not FM or streaming available.

 

[Bruins06]

How is the quality of the audio system? I went on a test drive yesterday but the test car had the meridian. I hope the new sound system is good. My Tesla has a great sound system, was hoping the Rivian would be comparable.

I have an R1T with Meridian and now a R1S with Rivian in-house speakers. I'm no audiophile, but the new Rivian in-house speakers sound pretty comparable to me.

 

[brancky3]

Sattelite radio would be nice, I am going out on some back roads today and will likely have not FM or streaming available.

I agree, for when I'm driving through the mountains. Not a big fan of planning ahead and downloading music locally, I like more of a variety.

 

[RayzorBEV]

How is the quality of the audio system? I went on a test drive yesterday but the test car had the meridian. I hope the new sound system is good. My Tesla has a great sound system, was hoping the Rivian would be comparable.

I have a 2023 MIT Model Y withe the premium sound and a 2023 R1S with the Rivian Elevation system. I also had a 2022 R1T with the Meridian system. First off, the Meridian system is good but the Rivian Elevation sounded just as good. The Tesla system is more immersive than the Rivian but unless you go back and forth between the two, a few minutes in the Elevation system and I was really happy with the sound.

 

[Eeyore]

I've had my Rivian for a week or two. Possibly my only disappointment is the lack of a port for connecting a USB memory stick for playing music. Every other car I know of can do this. Am I missing something? The bluetooth seems to only work with a phone. It seems that you are limited to broadcast radio-type music sources like Tidal and Spotify and Pandora. I'd love to be able to use my music library. This seems totally nuts.

You can access your phone's music library via bluetooth, but I agree with you. I would rather be able to use a USB connected device and control the access from the main screen like I can in my 2009 Honda Civic. That a 14 year newer, "state of the art" UI can't do it is just F'd up.

 

[Prime]

I have a 2023 MIT Model Y withe the premium sound and a 2023 R1S with the Rivian Elevation system. I also had a 2022 R1T with the Meridian system. First off, the Meridian system is good but the Rivian Elevation sounded just as good. The Tesla system is more immersive than the Rivian but unless you go back and forth between the two, a few minutes in the Elevation system and I was really happy with the sound.

Agree with this (model y and Rivian comparison) I have the meridian system and feel like the model y is more immersive with cleaner bass. I prefer the model y audio system, but the Rivian is plenty good.

 

[electruck]

I agree, for when I'm driving through the mountains. Not a big fan of planning ahead and downloading music locally, I like more of a variety.

I'm the same, don't really care to manage my music. That said, I have one massive playlist of about 2500 songs that I can put on shuffle play and have plenty of variety. I typically stream from either Amazon Music or Tidal but I've got enough music stored on my phone that I can listen to Tidal offline for 6 days without hearing the same song twice. Tidal offline via Bluetooth is my backup music when streaming isn't an option.

 

[NineElectrics]

How is the quality of the audio system? I went on a test drive yesterday but the test car had the meridian. I hope the new sound system is good. My Tesla has a great sound system, was hoping the Rivian would be comparable.

Even the Meridian is not as good as Tesla. Part of that is the speaker quality, and the other half is Tesla’s spatial processing, which resembles that of desktop iTunes and is quite good.

That said, I have sensitive ears and am quite picky. For normals they might be hard to distinguish.

 

[Ingo B]

100% with the OP on this. I did ask Rivian's CS about this. Their "not in the near future, but we do offer a full suite of streaming applications..." won't cut it for me. Streaming blows. This is the biggest black eye, IMO.

 

[indy360]

How is the quality of the audio system? I went on a test drive yesterday but the test car had the meridian. I hope the new sound system is good. My Tesla has a great sound system, was hoping the Rivian would be comparable.

Everyone's ears are different. I consider myself somewhat of an audiophile and to me the Rivian Elevation sounds better than my Model X. Cleaner sound, better soundstage, more natural midrange, less boomy lows. In the end, it just depends on how you like your music and what you listen to, like all sound systems.

 

[COdogman]

I can’t find the thread where someone posted pics confirming this, but the Rivian Elevation system still uses all Meridian hardware. It’s likely that Rivian wanted to do it’s own tuning or just wanted to save money and removed the Meridian branding from the system.

I took delivery in late June of a T with the Meridian system and I think it sounds pretty amazing after spending some time in the settings.

I do believe Rivian will eventually allow direct USB connection for audio. Who the heck knows when though??‍

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