Hey all:

I'm relatively new to the forum, and to the Lexus brand. I just bought a used 2018 IS 300F in Ultra Whiteabout three months ago. I have been waiting to get it until the pandemic calmed down, and I love my car. I honestly stole it from the dealership, 20,000 miles on it for $29 grand. One weird thing I'm noticing though, when I plug my iPhone (12pro) into the USB and try to play music from Apple Music through the USB connection, it almost sounds like its skipping. I don't have this problem when it is connected via bluetooth and I even went old school and plugged in the converter piece to my phone so I could plug in a headphone jack wire, which did not yield any skipping. I don't know what the issue is, if the files are too high quality and the car is having problems reconciling it maybe, I'm wondering if its worth a trip to the dealer, since the car is still under the factory warranty and my local dealership is super close to my office, I just hate dealing with them for anything.

Has anyone experienced this issue themselves and how did you solve it? TIA!

 

I doubt it's anything to do with the audio quality, as the iPhone would simply be sending a signal through USB that the audio system would ultimately play. However, USB audio does work quite differently to using the headphone jack. With USB, you are sending data in much the same way as with streaming over the internet - packets get created and encoded, then decoded when received. So, it is entirely possible the audio quality is to blame, but I wonder how Bluetooth doesn't also have this issue unless it's really down to codec differences. I suppose it's possible the bitrate negotiation between your car's system and the phone could be jacked up, but that's most likely a firmware issue on one of the two involved. Maybe there's a newer version of the OS on your phone or the Lexus infotainment system?

Other thoughts:
* Have you tried playing music through USB on any other speakers/devices?
* Have you tried using a different USB cable?

 

My phone is completely up to date, and has had a couple of OS updates since I got the car (minor ones) which did not fix the issue. I don't have an issue with USB audio to any other device, and I've tried two other wires, one of which was a brand new apple wire. Same result. the OS on the infotainment system needing an update could be to blame, I'll research that now.

 

Also, I just checked, there is no available update for my infortainment system.

 

What about from another iPhone or other music player in your Lexus?

If you have the same issue with another device, it's probably something with the audio system in your car. Just thought that might help narrow down the possible culprits.

 

When my husband gets in the car tomorrow night I’ll have him plug his phone in and see if we get the same results.

 

Lexus audio system never works with my iPhone either when I plugged in with usb cable. I always use Bluetooth zero issue but once I plugged in Lexus thinks I have iPod and can never play music correctly, it’s an outdated system really quite a shame. Unless you have latest IS with CarPlay I suggest you stick to Bluetooth. If you need to charge your phone buy a cigarette adapter let it charge through 12v don’t use armrest USB port.

 

Doesn't your CarPlay charge your phone when you plug in to your unit's wired USB?

 

Yes it does. What I meant was with OEM system if you plugged in to USB port in armrest it will think you have iPod, it will charge the phone but now you cannot play music. It doesn't work well for streaming music but our aftermarket Carplay system we use a separate usb port.

 

I don’t understand. You can’t play music at all?
I always (well almost always) plug my iPhone into the USB port in the armrest to charge and play music that is stored on the phone, never a problem. Not into streaming (why pay to listen to random crap?), so is that what causes your issue?

 

If you store music it’s fine but streaming is how you get new music why you assumed random crap? I don’t even buy music anymore everything is streaming.

 

OK let's not get into a debate about the method of enjoying music... At the end of the day we are all doing the same thing in blasting some tunes while in the car. If we are going to discuss that, it should be in relation to OP's present skipping issues.

 

Ok, back to the skipping. Does this happen while the car is not moving, i.e. just parked and listening to it? How is your signal strength at the time that it skips?

 

I had a similar issue. On Bluetooth everything worked, but when plugged into USB, I would get some popping/static. After a lot of troubleshooting, it turned out something was corrupted on my phone. Apple support recommended completely resetting my phone and not restoring with a backup, as the corrupt codec/driver (or whatever) would be reintroduced.

I was annoyed to go through the process… but it fixed it!

If other devices aren’t replicating the issue, then it is likely your phone. This might be worth exploring.

 

Try turning the album artwork off. On mine the audio is fine, but there are delays when skipping 4 songs in a row - it says something along the lines of retrieving data