Audio quality from Carplay

I ended up removing the Kenwood deck and reverting to the stock head unit, largely because of this. I don't blame Apple, however, the problem is the head units. My wife's 2016 Sonata with CarPlay sounds fantastic with a phone connected to CarPlay.

I do blame Apple. Why is it that my brand new MK7 GTI, your Kenwood, and OP's Hyundai all have the same problem? It's not like they are all using the same tech. In all these instances Appple CarPlay is the only common denominator, therefore, Apple needs to fix it.

I'm in the process of installing a DDX6902S in my car now. (still working on some issues with the steering wheel controls and backup camera so it's not in yet).

I have noticed somewhat lower volume from the direct connection than I get via bluetooth, though I don't think I'd say it's lower quality. I believe it's just the difference between having a line level input and the (boosted) A2DP streaming via bluetooth. Not enough of a problem for me to be concerned, just have to turn it up a bit more.

I recently purchased a 2016 Veloster Turbo with CarPlay. It comes with a small subwoofer. I was using CarPlay since the day one but I was about to replace the speakers and the subwoofer as it had hardly any bass or richness to the sound. My friend connected his iPhone using bluetooth as I had mine charging. He happened to play music and low and behold it sounded amazing. Not just a small difference but quite remarkable. I tried my iPhone connected via bluetooth and Apple Music sounds amazing. So disappointed because I specifically bought my car knowing it had Apple CarPlay and I love the system itself but the music playback quality is unbearable. For me it's not a question of volume, but a question of richness and bass.

Dude, I have the same exact problem. I was so excited to use Pandora through my car with CarPlay. I actually bought a subwoofer the other day (still hasn't arrived) to mitigate the bass problem, but I noticed that the high frequencies are also crappy. The overall sound just ***** ***. Then when I turned on the Satellite radio, huge difference. Almost don't need that sub anymore. This is very surprising since, like you, I thought that audio that goes directly from the phone (no conversion) into the head unit would yield the best audio quality, but no.

This really ****** me off because it makes absolutely no sense, and again, renders the CarPlay useless. I literally stopped listening to music in my brand new car because the sound was so ******. Now who the crap do I call for support? And they probably won't know what I'm talking about. SMH.

I just got my new VW GOLF GT with the extra sound system dynaudio installed in it. And I wanted to add comments on the experienced with difference in quality between Bluetooth and Carplay. Carplay is definitely worse sounding than Bluetooth... would be interesting to know if there are any settings that can be tweaked via VCDS or elsewhere to solve this?

Adding to the list of disappointed customers. Just installed a Pioneer SPH-DA120 AppRadio 4 and the audio quality over the lightning cable with Carplay is horrendous, even with my rather elaborate sound system (external 5-channel amp, 8" sub, aftermarket components). I feel bad because I first blamed the installer, figuring he must have screwed something up or pinched a cable or something. Connected to BT and the sound was superb.

I could give up the carplay and connect via BT but problem is, the head unit I got doesn't have its own stand-alone GPS. I didn't think this would have been a problem because I figured I'd use carplay for GPS...what another royal screw up by Apple for this to be an issue.

For me, it's not just lower volume...it's overall quality. Horrible levels all over. Definitely a bug with carplay.