Music from USB drive in R2

[mr2]

Can you listen to music in R2 from the USB memory stick? Is it USB-C or older USB-A ?

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[Mos Eisley]

Nope.

 

[BigSkies]

This has been on my minor gripes/complaints/grievances about the R1 since forever.

I'm not looking for USB specifically, but some better way to access the music I already own. USB is one of the better paths.

Please put in a request for it using the "Share Feedback" area of the app. This seems to be entirely off Rivian's radar, so the more people that ask for it, the more likely we are to get it.

 

[Frisbee]

The likelihood of this happening is pretty remote. Restricting USB access is part of Rivian’s walling off the infotainment center and “urging” owners to subscribe to Connect +.

 

[Millbarge]

Just going to need to suck it up and put your music on your phone.....

 

[scissormetimberz]

Just going to need to suck it up and put your music on your phone.....

My problem with this is apple reduces the quality of your audio unless you are using apple music and their ear buds. I was pretty shocked to learn it is true. This is why I was hoping for native Rivian Plexamp integration so i can stream from my home library because apple screws it up. This is the most unpleasant surprise coming from 2 decades of android just last year to iphone 17 pro.


Yes, your audio will be strictly limited to roughly 256 kbps during the wireless transmission. [1, 2, 3]
Even though you are playing a massive, pristine FLAC file from Plex (which easily exceeds 900–1,411 kbps) or using Spotify's lossless streaming tier, the iPhone must aggressively compress that file on the fly into a lossy 256 kbps AAC format just to send it over Bluetooth to your car. Your car never actually receives the original FLAC data

 

[mkg3]

Can you listen to music in R2 from the USB memory stick? Is it USB-C or older USB-A ?

Since Rivian does not support the direct, I suppose you can plug the USB flash drive with music to your phone and stream BT from your phone.

I realize the music quality drop. That said, you are playing back inside the moving vehicle with all the road and wind noise as well as the limit of the built in speaker quality limit.

 

[Mos Eisley]

My problem with this is apple reduces the quality of your audio unless you are using apple music and their ear buds. I was pretty shocked to learn it is true. This is why I was hoping for native Rivian Plexamp integration so i can stream from my home library because apple screws it up. This is the most unpleasant surprise coming from 2 decades of android just last year to iphone 17 pro.


Yes, your audio will be strictly limited to roughly 256 kbps during the wireless transmission. [1, 2, 3]
Even though you are playing a massive, pristine FLAC file from Plex (which easily exceeds 900–1,411 kbps) or using Spotify's lossless streaming tier, the iPhone must aggressively compress that file on the fly into a lossy 256 kbps AAC format just to send it over Bluetooth to your car. Your car never actually receives the original FLAC data

That's a technical limit in Bluetooth, not Apple (as your third citation says) inasmuch as Apple has chosen to stick with a more stable BT implementation Sure, Apple could have pursued full LDAC but the playback end would still need to support LDAC which I have yet to see a car audio system that does. Plenty of cars let you use USB, only to run them through a poor head end with a crap DAC.

No idea how Rivian is implementing/limiting bandwidth if at all in the R2 but I can tell you that listening to downloaded Dolby Atmos files despite being over BT still sound excellent and well beyond most people's ability to hear the difference.

I certainly do understand having one's own music library independent of streaming services... but the last nail in that coffin is just about fully driven.

I'll take the over on another 26 pages of is it really lossless discussion.

 

[CharonPDX]

All vehicle ports are USB-C, but at present you cannot play music off a USB-connected device. In R2, it's internet streaming or Bluetooth only.

 

[RomanMF]

I was hoping you could save music for offline listening using the apps, since there's no CarPlay, but alas that seems to not be the case. Unfortunate considering the brand is so centered on adventuring which tends to leave you in remote areas without cell service. I don't know if any company has a way around this that isn't just use CarPlay or Android Auto.

 

[slillie]

I was hoping you could save music for offline listening using the apps, since there's no CarPlay, but alas that seems to not be the case. Unfortunate considering the brand is so centered on adventuring which tends to leave you in remote areas without cell service. I don't know if any company has a way around this that isn't just use CarPlay or Android Auto.

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[a9967]

A Navidrome client would be perfect. Audio Bookshelf too, while we are wishing.

I switched away from most streaming services a while ago. As it stands right now, my R2 will just be a big ol' bluetooth speaker for my phone.

 

[VandalSibs]

A Navidrome client would be perfect. Audio Bookshelf too, while we are wishing.

I switched away from most streaming services a while ago. As it stands right now, my R2 will just be a big ol' bluetooth speaker for my phone.

That's how I am in my R1. Granted, my music library is small enough to fit on my phone - about 163gb, so I'm not missing anything so I don't have to use any audio streaming services...

 

[CrazyOne]

Also, Rivian chose not to implement any of the better Bluetooth codecs. So, the audio quality over Bluetooth will be mediocre. And the limitations are because of software, not hardware.

It's unlikely they will as they want everyone to subscribe to Connect+ and restricting music streaming is the biggest way to do that.

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