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Carplay podcast audio quickly cuts out, sporadically

Discussion in 'Gen 5 Prius Audio, Electronics and Infotainment' started by tmorrowus, Mar 21, 2024.

  1. tmorrowus

    tmorrowus Member

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    2023 Prius Prime SE. Wired iphone carplay connection to 11 Pro Max. I get sporadic cutouts of the audio while carplaying spotify (usually podcasts). The audio will cut out multiple times in quick succession, a fraction of a second each time. This happens perhaps 2% of the time I am listening; most of the time the audio is clear.

    It reminds me of old school FM interference where the sound would quickly cut out when say going through an underpass, but it's clearly digital in nature because there's no static.

    At first I assumed it was related to buffering or network connection, but it seems to happen at any time. If I rewind the podcast to where the cutouts happened, they don't happen again.

    Another concern is perhaps the wireless carplay or phone bluetooth is interfering with the wired carplay connection. But I think I turned wireless carplay off since it doesn't come up on the screen until I connect the phone cord. Is it possible that something wireless is still interfering since the bluetooth indicator does show up on the car screen despite the wired connection?

    I did swap USBC/lightning cables.
     
  2. Approximate Pseudonym

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    Rule out other CarPlay audio sources first? Test against Apple Music and Podcasts.

    Also test against non-CarPlay audio.

    It could be on Spotify’s end, so it’s good to rule that out before looking at CarPlay or the audio system itself as the cause. Unreliable caching/streaming integration or audio processing in the Spotify CarPlay app are what I would start with as hypotheses if I had this issue.
     
  3. rjparker

    rjparker Tu Humilde Sirviente

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    If you have a nav app like Waze running in the background you can get a situation where it is alerting to speed but you just hear a blank on your other audio source. Been there seen that.
     
    Approximate Pseudonym likes this.
  4. Approximate Pseudonym

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    Now that I think about this, I have a possible answer:

    Is this occurring when entering a highway, or when switching lanes, or other situations that could cause a lane switch or traffic alert? The audio will temporarily duck if the car needs to alert you about a safety issue. I have found that the system will start to cut out before a notification comes in, but then it appears to happen for “no reason” because the notification never has time to trigger. The lane is clear before the alert even triggers. I will be switching lanes with a car two lanes over – in the blindspot of the lane I am entering – and the car is warning me about a car in “the lane that I am entering” which is actually a lane and a half away. The audio system pauses for a half a second, and then the audio immediately resumes since the notification wasn’t necessary.
     
  5. tmorrowus

    tmorrowus Member

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    OP here. Good suggestions. I am out of town without car so it will be weeks before I can try the experiments suggested.

    The cutouts are so short, like maybe .05 seconds, and come in rapid fire. It doesn’t sound at all like the longer single cutouts I get from car notifications.