While looking over the US and Canadian versions of the 2023 LEXUS 2023 ES250, ES300H, ES350 XXX MULTIMEDIA OWNER'S MANUAL I saw a change in the audio system support that audiophiles will like.

Audio playback with 2019-2022 model year systems, WAV (LPCM), FLAC, ALAC. and Ogg Vorbis [really just bit rate down conversion] with "Sound source of 48kHz or more is down-converted to 48kHz/24bit." With the 2023 model year system that has changed to "Audio sources higher than 96kHz/24 bit are down-converted to 96kHz/24bit."

With the 2023 audio system, sampling frequency down converting really is only applicable to the WAV (LPCM) and FLAC formats since those are the only ones where sampling frequencies higher than 96kHz are supported for input files.

 

Thanks for the info. I expect the audio CODECs would apply to music on a USB drive. From what I've read, Android Auto and Apple Carplay have their own limitations, which are 48/24 or 44.1/16 (CD quality).

Another potentially nice thing I noticed in the 2023 multimedia manual is that it supports the LDAC Bluetooth protocol, which supports much higher quality than the other supported CODECs (SBC or AAC), but that's only if your phone supports it and you're using Bluetooth5.0+ audio with a strong signal.

 

Your input and knowledge is greatly appreciated. However, I would guess that about 90% of our members have no idea what you're post means... myself included. When I went for the ML audio system in my Ultra Lux ES, all I wanted was exceptional sound when I turned on the radio... Seems that Toyota has listened to complaints regarding their sound systems and made improvements which is good for everyone... Too late for the earlier buyers though...

 

Yes, that's audio formats/CODECs the 2022 and prior years manuals specifies for USB devices as auto format language is phrased BUT in non-CarPlay mode iPods and iPhones are also audio file input USB devices. I (and I suppose most others) missed that fine point for some time.

The 2023 version of the manual tries to separate out the "...specifications of the music data that can be used..." from a specific input source; however, with the exception of USB memory/flash drives and BlueTooth audio sources, the 2023 manual is clear as mud as to what audio formats are really supported for wired USB or wireless Wi-Fi connections in non-Apple CarPlay or non-Android Auto scenarios, Integrated Streaming with Apple Music or Amazon Music, or various streaming sources operating in the Apple CarPlay or Android Auto ecosystem.

I don't know about Android Auto but that isn't correct for Apple CarPlay. Those sampling frequency and quantization bit specs apply only when the internal iPod/iPhone/iPad DACs are used to covert digital audio data into analog audio output. It doesn't apply when the device is sending digital audio data out for an external hardware DAC (e.g., Lexus ES multimedia system hardware) to do the digital to analog conversion.

From the Apple support article About lossless audio in Apple Music :
FYI, in the same support article, "...the entire Apple Music catalog is now also encoded using ALAC [Apple's lossless CODEC] in resolutions ranging from 16-bit/44.1 kHz (CD Quality) up to 24-bit/192 kHz."

So, in general a CarPlay system doesn't have the limitations you're citing.

Also, some time ago I ran across a discussion in which an Apple CarPlay third party audio app developer stated in general the output audio quality achievable through CarPlay is constrained/limited to what the vehicle's audio system supports.

Apple does have some CarPlay minimum vehicle system requirements. I'm not sure what the present day audio [subsystem] requirements are, but the publicly available data Apple presented during the Apple WWDC 2016 "Developing CarPlay Systems, Part 1" presentation (from Presentation Slides (PDF) slides 56 and 57 showing "Key Vehicle Requirements"):

It is also a "nice thing" that the manual states explicitly what Bluetooth audio CODECs are supported. Prior model year versions didn't.

 

Probably not so much responding to end customer complaints. More likely competitive pressures from other vehicle manufacturers as well as advances in audio system electronic components and manufacturing becoming economical enough to include in mass produced vehicles.

 

Let's put this in perspective. 48kHz/24bit is pretty amazing sounding. I doubt anyone here could tell the difference between 48kHz/24bit and 96kHz/24bit playing through their ML audio.