Do any car stereos take audio through USB?

[desura]

I'm new to car stereos.

Basically, I"m wondering if there's like a car stereo out there that will take audio through an iphone 5 by way of the usb connection. So basically, it would have a usb port on the face of it, you plug in a lightning cable to the front and to the iPhone, then it plays music.

On the old 30 pin connector, there was an audio pin, but it's gone in the new lightning. Lightning will support audio playback via data transmitted over USB.

 

[Zivic]

almost any aftermarket deck will take usb input. some via a dongle, some directly into the face. I usually run alpine decks and they usually use a dongle. Better yet, most will take audio via bluetooth. no wires needed

 

[JulesMaximus]

almost any aftermarket deck will take usb input. some via a dongle, some directly into the face. I usually run alpine decks and they usually use a dongle. Better yet, most will take audio via bluetooth. no wires needed

:thumbsup: My factory system in my new Camry has a USB input and will connect via bluetooth allowing me to make phone calls or play music from my phone.

 

[DaTT]

Yes.

 

[hans007]

A lot of cars do but many relied on the audio through analog on the 30 pin as the iPhone USB doesn't show up as a standard drive like say most androids

So there actually are a lot or fairly new cars that don't support the iPhone 5 because they don't have analog over lightning port.

 

[Raduque]

Most car stereos support audio through USB via a file system. A USB drive or Android phone in Mass Storage mode will work, but I'd put money on an iPhone5 not working.

I'd use bluetooth or an AUX cable instead if you have one.

 

[desura]

So I've looked into what it takes to do car stereo surgery and...eh, I'm not too eager to jump in. Looks like a lot could go wrong, and me having to wield a soldering gun in the car is just not something I want to have to do.

So I'm thinking like get a pair of cheap bluetooth speakers like this

http://www.amazon.com/iHome-iDM12BC-...cr_dp_asin_lnk

and hooking it up to a solar panel mounted in the car, probably on the dash but also possibly in the sun roof area since I don't use it that much.

Have the solar panel always be charging the speakers.

can this work?

 

[JulesMaximus]

So I've looked into what it takes to do car stereo surgery and...eh, I'm not too eager to jump in. Looks like a lot could go wrong, and me having to wield a soldering gun in the car is just not something I want to have to do.

So I'm thinking like get a pair of cheap bluetooth speakers like this

http://www.amazon.com/iHome-iDM12BC-...cr_dp_asin_lnk

and hooking it up to a solar panel mounted in the car, probably on the dash but also possibly in the sun roof area since I don't use it that much.

Have the solar panel always be charging the speakers.

can this work?

Buy the stereo and the wiring harness for your vehicle and take it to a local installer and pay them to install it. Shouldn't cost more than $80. Trust me, that will be the best solution for music listening in your car.

 

[nerp]

Yes, many new cars do. The UConnect system in Chryslers sure does. It's how I prefer to listen to music because it gives me album art and song information that it doesn't over bluetooth. Plus it charges the phone.

 

[vshah]

the fiat 500 i rented in france played music from my nexus 4 via the USB connection. this was NOT usb-storage or MTP, it was USB AUDIO (whatever was playing on the phone, notifications, music, whatever) equivalent of a 3.5mm cable but with charging. I believe this is what the OP was asking about, not whether the head unit can access mp3 files on a phone over usb.

 

[Throckmorton]

almost any aftermarket deck will take usb input. some via a dongle, some directly into the face. I usually run alpine decks and they usually use a dongle. Better yet, most will take audio via bluetooth. no wires needed

Bluetooth is compressed audio. So you're most likely taking an mp3, decompressing it, then recompressing it to send over BT to the stereo

 

[Throckmorton]

So I've looked into what it takes to do car stereo surgery and...eh, I'm not too eager to jump in. Looks like a lot could go wrong, and me having to wield a soldering gun in the car is just not something I want to have to do.

So I'm thinking like get a pair of cheap bluetooth speakers like this

http://www.amazon.com/iHome-iDM12BC-...cr_dp_asin_lnk

and hooking it up to a solar panel mounted in the car, probably on the dash but also possibly in the sun roof area since I don't use it that much.

Have the solar panel always be charging the speakers.

can this work?

No... you'll have extremely low quality sound and it probably won't be loud enough for the car.

 

[Raduque]

So I've looked into what it takes to do car stereo surgery and...eh, I'm not too eager to jump in. Looks like a lot could go wrong, and me having to wield a soldering gun in the car is just not something I want to have to do.

No.

You get a wiring harness adapter, which you connect to the wiring harness coming off the back of the new aftermarket stereo. You can make these connections however you feel most comfortable.

Then you remove the current stereo, plug the wiring harness into the factory connector in the dash and install the aftermarket stereo using a vehicle-specific adapter plate kit. It's literally plug-n-play at that point.