Mark Levinson on ES 2023 Audio is better with Bluetooth
 

Hi everyone, ever since I got my es350 2023, I've been experimenting with its audio system.
I have compared the wireless CarPlay audio with the bluetooth Bang & Olufsen audio on my Audi Q5 and I honestly think that the Q5's audio fidelity is much better.
On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd rate the ML Lexus at 7.5 compared to the B&O Audi at 10.

However, today I disconnected the CarPlay from the Lexus and used Bluetooth instead. In that setup, the audio fidelity improved significantly, almost to the level of the B&O audio with the Audi.

The only drawback is that you cannot use Bluetooth and CarPlay simultaneously. Have any of you had a similar experience where bluetooth music fidelity is higher than carplay? I haven't tested the wired connection yet.

I am extremly happy with my ML when listening to flac music.

I use Carlinkit 4.0 and I think the connection goes through BT and not WIFI.

Bluetooth is used only to pair the Carlinkit device with the phone and to configure and establish a private WiFi network between the Carlinkit device and the phone. Once the private WiFi network is established subsequent data is transmitted over the private WiFi network.

Taken from Apple's WWDC 2017 Developing Wireless CarPlay Systems Presentation Slides [pdf] slides 41 and 42:

While that presentation is from the perspective of Wireless Carplay between a car's head unit and an iPhone, the communication details are pretty much the same with Carlinkit and similar devices except the Carlinkit device is acting as a displayless intermediary providing Bluetooth and and Wi-Fi communication services between the Carplay software running on the head unit and the iPhone.

Bluetooth is better than the wifi that is used for carplay.
When on carplay the bluetooth is disconnected with the car and I believe the connection goes through wifi

My daughter has a Q5 and that audio system is noticeably superior to the ML.

I stream all my music from my phone, even SiriusXM. My phone has a 3D surround sound mode so all the music plays in surround sound and I can actually hear the rear speakers. If i listen to SiriusXM via the car interface it really sounds crappy.

Pretty cool - which phone is that if you don't mind me asking?

It is a motorola one 5G ace

Which is understandable -- the car costs more.

Hmm I don't think so. Her 2018 Q5 MSRP was less than my 2019 FSport.

I am curious, but ignorant, about flac files. If I put flac files on a USB, will the ML audio be able to play them? I ripped some files from a CD and they are ogg files. Are they the same as flac?

They are not the same.

FLAC are lossless, meaning it will sound exact like what was on the CD. They are optimized to take less space then a CD.

Ogg is like mp3- they are not lossless, so it might not sound as good as the original - how good they sound depends upon the encoding bitrate. If you have encoded 256 KB/sec or higher, they would be very good quality and you might not be able to hear any meaningful difference.

My experience with MP3 files is they sound horrible on the ML system. The same flash drive sounds great in my wife's RX with the base system.

It will play FLAC, plug and play.
OGG and FLAC are not the same.

Not necessarily. If you opt for the highest ES350 Platinum here in the UAE, it costs about 270k AED where as the Audi SQ5 will cost you at about 285 AED including 5 years of service and 1 year of free car insurance. It also has the bang and olufsen audio system.
Although Audi seems like a better deal to start with, I can safely confirm that the audi will cost you an arm and a leg once you are over the warranty period. I don't intend changing my cars that often.