HiRes Audio and Sources

[catman]

@mgc0216 -- There is no true answer to this question as perception is by definition subjective. But can one pick up some of the microphonics that enhances the experience of music? I would imagine so, provided a) that the source is good (hence the need for hi-res files) and b) the reproducing system is well eq'd. To take a concrete example, one can, in many instances, easily tell the difference between an FM broadcast on a car and a high quality FLAC or ALAC file of the same song in the same car.

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[C.R. Rivian]

Real question: Do you think you can fully experience hi res audio in the cabin of a truck rolling down the freeway? The R1 is a quiet vehicle (relatively speaking), but there is still road and wind noise.

Kinda depends on the music, the noise, and your ears...I used to have an Acura that had DVD-Audio ( DVD-Audio - Wikipedia) surround sound. Did it sound better in my quiet living room with my 7.1 Denon setup? Yep. Did it sound better in the Acura than a CD or XM? Oh, yeah...So, No and Yes...

 

[Deleted member 7086]

As an aside I live in Northern Arizona and all four ATT towers went down yesterday. So much for any streaming services. The FM radio is the worst of any car I have ever owned probably due to the Rivian being all electric but you do wonder if Rivian could add filters to get rid of most of the static. Come on Rivian at least give us an AUX in connection so we can decide what we want to use.

 

[mkg3]

@svet-am -- interesting. What puzzles me is the following. The marketing of the R1s is all about adventure. Being outdoors and such.

Surely then, one could well be stuck in a place beyond cell phone reach and therefore, be unable to stream. Also, one might wish to bring one’s own music, downloaded to a flash drive or cell phone.

Under either scenario, why be stuck with low-res sources on an hi-spec sound system?

Something here does not add up. I wonder if it is just a case of priorities, given the bigger issue, of cranking the units out to customers.

The underlying assumption is that Rivian is an automobile; hence, its moving most of the time when there are occupants. As such, road noise alone will negate any advantage hi-rez audio would provide. BT wireless transmission is probably as good as USB hi-rez file playback perceptionally (clearly it is not technically) when vehicle is moving.

As an adventure vehicle, it takes you to places where you can enjoy outdoors. Rivian provides removable BT speaker that can play music from your smart device that may contain your music - high rez or otherwise. It is a portable speaker, mind you.

Just to be clear, I fully appreciate hi-rez audio. So much so that I own electrostatic speakers (Martin Logan) with separate sub for 2.1 audio playback and 5.1.4 for home theater (w/Atomos). My point is not to defend Rivian, but consider the use case and perhaps you're chasing a very small marginal improvement.

I do fully agree that USB should be used fully for file transfer and that includes music files to be played back, if one desires.

 

[catman]

@mkg3 -- You might well be right. The team that built the hardware would no doubt have known about the decision to restrict sources to lossless BT, if indeed such a decision had been made, and rigged the system to ensure an optimal result given the constraints. And yet, I can't help wonder why Rivian did not simply include a USB input and give the choice to the customer. Surely, it could not have cost them very much. It isn't exactly rocket science.

PS. I too have two different systems, a 2.1 for stereo and Dolby surround for movies. And I too have Martin Logans. I have treated my listening room, measured it and optimized with REW. Yet, there is the reality of the physical room, with all the background sounds. Physical rooms in normal household situations are not perfect acoustically regardless of what one does, and one could argue that vehicles in comparison present a contrast only in degree. I would wager that the source does matter. It certainly does in my CX-9, where the USB input from my cell definitely sounds vastly better than BT.

And then again, Rivian no doubt have good answers, and I look forward to learning when I visit their Venice center in two weeks time.

 

[catman]

A quick update after chatting with a Rivian rep. Here is what they said:

For your questions - the USB connection port cannot be used to stream music/video. You can connect your phone or device via Bluetooth. We're working on adding additional apps but, for now, Spotify, TuneIn and Alexa-powered Amazon Music + Audible are what's available

Is the USB option possible in the future. Also, what other apps are you considering please?

Our teams are always working on new products and updates, so it's possible the USB port is utilized later. For now, it's not. At this moment we don't have a list to share, unfortunately

 

[rraj2k81]

Their software lead has said on Rivian that they didn't plan to do audio over USB, but because of people asking they've added it to their roadmap. They're also working on additional services.

This decision from Rivian really baffles me. They put a lot of effort into getting a Meridian Audio system and didn't think people would want to play their own lossless/HQ audio and instead would settle for Spotify streaming, makes me think they didn't' have any real audiophile working for Rivian. Getting Meridian onboard was more of a Branding/Marketing move than a functional decision.

And even more baffling is that they never thought that there would be parts of the world where there would not be any cell coverage or radio signal coverage.

I'm not sure about others, but this is a deal breaker functionality for me.

 

[C.R. Rivian]

This decision from Rivian really baffles me. They put a lot of effort into getting a Meridian Audio system and didn't think people would want to play their own lossless/HQ audio and instead would settle for Spotify streaming, makes me think they didn't' have any real audiophile working for Rivian. Getting Meridian onboard was more of a Branding/Marketing move than a functional decision.

And even more baffling is that they never thought that there would be parts of the world where there would not be any cell coverage or radio signal coverage.

I'm not sure about others, but this is a deal breaker functionality for me.

In the interim, there is music via Bluetooth...if it's on the roadmap, I can wait...disclosure, mostly I listen to audio books these days anyway...

 

[svet-am]

I honestly think they thought they would get away with trading on the Meridian Audio name without having people want to really push it and use it

 

[moosehead]

Imma just gonna say it.

This is a screw up. Self-inflicted error.

Just like the dysfunctional fob/phone key PAAK execution when both older and new generation systems work really nicely at all cost levels.

 

[pc500]

A high quality Bluetooth codec like APTX or LDAC would help. In either case even wired Android auto uses Bluetooth for the audio channel so it wouldn't help with quality even if it had it.

 

[MNLightning]

Their software lead has said.

Funny as I took this as Oxymoronic.

 

[MNLightning]

Real question: Do you think you can fully experience hi res audio in the cabin of a truck rolling down the freeway? The R1 is a quiet vehicle (relatively speaking), but there is still road and wind noise.

Not really the question is it? Better SQ should be better with or without background noise, right? Perhaps making SQ even more important.

 

[JGard18]

It’ll be fine. I’m sure they’ll introduce more options for high quality streaming or usb flac before too long

 

[COdogman]

Interesting article on upcoming changes to BT and codecs that might improve BT audio quality for everyone. It focuses on Apple products but obviously this would be available to all.

https://www.macworld.com/article/797884/bluetooth-le-audio-lc3-codec-airpods.html

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