Does anybody know why the apps volume is louder than BT Audio volume? This is on on Mark Levinson stereo in a 13 GS

 

Make sure that you max out the volume on your phone while listening to Bluetooth. I'm guessing you have it turned down a bit.

 

Guessing wrong though. Volume input should not matter here because the output is whats different between the source selection.
What I'm getting at is let's say I have the input volume at 100% on my phone or other device. BT Audio output volume is probably 5-10db quieter then Apps without changing anything. So a volume of 25 in BT is equivalent to say 40 in Apps.

 

You can control the Bluetooth volume with your phone. I believe it's called Media volume on Android phones. It's just easier to adjust it while listening to Bluetooth than going through your settings to find it. The apps are not controlled the same way.

 

I have noticed that when I play Pandora via bluetooth the volume is ok, but when I play music from shazam it is much louder with more trebble and bass! Why is that?! I tried to change things but its prob an app issue.

 

It can be an app setting - a good example on the iphone is the map apps. Google and apple maps have 3 different volume levels for navigation guidance coming over bluetooth, which explains why one app might sound louder than another over the same BT connection.

 

This isn't the issue. It's not the devices input volume, it's the output of the stereo.

 

They go hand in hand, but suit yourself and don't even try it.

Good luck!

 

My phone doesn't have independent volume control for bluetooth over any other media volume. In my android, which is new and this was the same with all my previous ones, its just media for anything that isn't the alarm or ringer. What I don't think your getting is the input isn't changing at all in anyway, the phone is connected to the car via blue tooth on both BT Audio and Apps. But how the volume level comes out is much different. So if I made any change to the blue tooth volume it should and does effect how I hear it. But overall volume is much lower on BT Audio.
If you think of this in terms of home theater, its similar to when you change from stereo, to tv, or dvd mode or whatever in a home stereo. The audio input from your TV is exactly the same, but how the source your using outputs it is different because of settings pre-programmed in the background. Or in terms of car audio, if you change settings from rock, to rap, or country your input volume hasn't changed at all but the settings in the radio will increase and decrease volume levels along with treble/bass just a lot less then what I'm experiencing.

 

So, you're saying if you're streaming via Bluetooth, not the built in apps, you can't adjust the volume in your car via the phone volume? If that's the case, the issue is with your phone.

 

That is not what I'm saying at all and not sure how to make this any more clear. If I connect the phone to the car using blue tooth (my input), you have 2 options to then listen to that audio in (the cars outputs). BT Audio mode or Apps mode are those 2 outputs. You do not need to use or select any app in Apps mode, you can just select it and it will play your phones audio including phone calls. In fact I don't even have any apps at all since I never activated it, the screen literally says call Lexus to active your apps all the time. So, not using any built in app in the car, literally just selecting the Apps mode will be louder then BT Audio mode for the same exact input from my phone and the same exact volume displayed number on the screen. I can control if volume goes up and down on my phone the same as turning the **** on the radio, but thats not what we are talking about here. I'm not touching the volume on my phone or the radio but the output volume is physically different.
I put a song on and am connected to the Apps menu, have the volume on my phone at 100%, at lets say 35 on the display, then switch to BT Audio, the same song at the same volume from my phone will register 35 on the display still but will SOUND more like if you turned it down to 25. The easiest way I can describe this is the BT Audio menu is literally not as loud, by a good margin, as the Apps menu.
Think of having a ear drum that's not popped on one side. You put your phone to one side of your head with it popped and the volume, without changing any of the input from the phone, will be louder then the side that isn't popped. What you hear is 2 different audio levels even though the volume from your phone has not changed at all. That's equivalent to the same thing that these 2 modes have.

What I'm guessing is its in the design of the audio output on the back end and was hoping there were settings I was missing in the car.

 

You are making sense, my '15 just has the one input, BT Audio, so when you asked about apps volume I know I thought you meant your phone apps vs other BT audio. The '15 does have the Lexus Enform Apps but I never installed the companion phone app and at least on the '15 there are no nag screens to call Lexus and activate them. This all sounds like a question for those with '13 or '14 model year multimedia systems who might be able to help you.

 

The way you're using it is not the way it was intended. If you're streaming via Bluetooth, select the "Bluetooth" tab. The "Apps" tab is a shortcut for playing Slacker, Pandora built-in apps. Mine won't even make a sound if I select that tab without being signed in to Enform. I just see the message that I need to be signed in on my phone. Once I do, it works as expected. I'm actually kind of confused as to how you get sound connected that way.

 

try connecting blue tooth and playing audio through your phone next time and then switch to the apps menu and see if it will play the audio

 

It does not on mine. Even if it did, I'm not sure why I would want to. That's not the intention of the "Apps" source. I'm curious, why do you want to use it that way, knowing that you have a "Bluetooth" source that functions as designed?