[novice]

Anyone know how to switch between AndroidAuto and Carplay? The HU in my Kodiaq randomly chooses either one as the active device and the other remains connected over Bluetooth. Sometimes it does give me an option to choose one of the technologies at startup but only rarely. I haven't figured out if there is a way to switch between AAuto and Carplay.

Anyone tried this with Octavia's HU? Thanks.

[mah45]

Originally Posted by novice

Anyone know how to switch between AndroidAuto and Carplay?I haven't figured out if there is a way to switch between AAuto and Carplay.

Anyone tried this with Octavia's HU? Thanks.

If you have already connected both devices to the car, you can goto Phone -Settings Icon - Select mobile phone
My Android phone was disconnected for last 2 days, and I could reconnect using this option.
In this Menu, you can also switch between Android Auto and Carplay if I am not wrong

[rsk]

Originally Posted by sidhgoyal

Hi there
Every time you enter the car, don’t start the engine immediately. After sitting down, push the start stop button without pushing the brake and the car will go into accessory electrical mode with the speedo, rev dials and the cluster lights lit up.
Wait for the lights to go out (mainly I wait for the yellow exclamation mark) and this does a full electrical boot up.
Then push the brake and push the button to start engine and drive off.

Coming to think of it, this is what I did too without starting the car and that solved it. It's sad to see that this is a common problem globally and still no solution from VAG.

[StoryRules]

Originally Posted by rarit26

Thought I'd get my first post out of the way answering these! I think I bought the last discounted 2021MY Style from the Bengaluru dealer. Got a great discount as well.
...

Thanks - very useful inputs Rarit. I am also considering the Style, but am unsure about whether we should go for the L&K given its extra features. But the 3.5L price saving is a key factor going for the Style!

I wanted to know if you miss the following in the Style:

- TPMS (it's only there in L&K, though the SA told me that the Style also has it in a simpler setup - it only tells you that pressure is low, but not which tire! Not sure if he knew what he's talking about)

- 11-speaker Canton System: Reading the reports that newer L&K variants may not have this system after all! (When I asked the SA, he was like - we don't know and we can't tell. And no price reduction!)
How is the experience with the Style's 8-speaker system?

- Side airbags - I was thinking that with seatbelts and curtain airbags, this may be ok to not have...

The other extra features on the L&K are something that we think we can live without. Would be great to hear from folks who have recently bought the Style (or for that matter even L&K!)

Finally, anyone who's recently bought the Style and gotten any discounts?

[sidhgoyal]

Hi everyone
I’ve been avidly listening to a lot of music and audio in my Octavia. I have the L&K which has the Canton sound system.
There has been something I’ve been noticing for quite a while now and I did do significant research online about the same, after many months of investigation I’ve come to a milestone discovery, which I’d like to share with you all.

I somehow started to feel that playing audio via Spotify (apple CarPlay) felt dull and not as energetic and involving as I had expected. I always used Spotify and for many months, with drives that consisted of constant modulation of audio equaliser and fader settings, I eventually felt that maybe it’s the canton sound system that is overhyped, because in complete, brutal and shameful honestly, the 6 speaker baseline setup in my dads X1 sounded much better and energetic.
However I did not give up on the Canton sound system because I knew Škoda won’t cheat us with quality on the Octavia. And a 600W 11 speaker setup can’t let me down so easily now can it.
One day I happened to play music via Apple Music, and the contrast was STARK. (I had never played audio in the car by any other means than Spotify before this)
Bass was sharper, the highs not as shrill and the music felt significantly more involving and had more ‘layers’ to it. This lead me to believe -
1. Octavia’s canton sound system is actually very very good (phew, I really was tensed up)
2. Something is wrong with Spotify

I did significant research on it and found that playing music via SPOTIFY, in APPLE CARPLAY makes music muffled and dull. This is an issue with apple CarPlay and affects a lot of cars internationally
Some forums said that Spotify keeps its voice assistant on all the time so we need to turn it off so that the microphone is shut off, but Indian Spotify has no such feature so it was a dead end.
I did turn off hey Siri,(just in case) didn’t help either.

There has been significant evidence that playing music via Spotify via regular BLUETOOTH solves the problem, but that in my opinion does take way from the whole convenience and ease of apple CarPlay.
I may be an evangelistic automobile audiophile, but I do value the ease of CarPlay and so haven’t tried out Bluetooth Audio yet.
Plus I’ve read that playing music over Bluetooth will not provide same streaming quality as Wi-Fi based or wired apple CarPlay, so seems like a gamble ?

Has anyone else observed these things ? If so any solution to this issue ?
Sorry for the long post, but it really is a convoluted situation.

[mah45]

Originally Posted by sidhgoyal

Hi everyone
I’ve been avidly listening to a lot of music and audio in my Octavia. I have the L&K which has the Canton sound system.

I somehow started to feel that playing audio via Spotify (apple CarPlay) felt dull and not as energetic and involving as I had expected. I always used Spotify and for many months, with drives that consisted of c
2. Something is wrong with Spotify

on.

Although I haven't done significant research on this, my observations even with my previous Nexon was that Spotify was very dull.
I have an Android phone, and when I play the same song on Spotify Vs YT I used to find it much livelier on YT.
This I have observed even when connected on Bluetooth in Nexon.

With Android Auto in the Octavia, somehow it recognises only YT music, and I still find YT Music to be better than Spotify.
Only problem is the hundreds of Ads that annoy your music experience.

[adi_petrolhead]

Originally Posted by sidhgoyal

One day I happened to play music via Apple Music, and the contrast was STARK. (I had never played audio in the car by any other means than Spotify before this)
Bass was sharper, the highs not as shrill and the music felt significantly more involving and had more ‘layers’ to it.

This was observed long time back in my Octy. Previously I was using downloaded music on my iPhone and played it via bluetooth. Tried streaming with Amazon Music, Spotify and was not happy. Then my friends suggested using better quality songs, and tried Apple Music, streamed via bluetooth, my Octy doesn't have CarPlay. The difference was huge. It was almost at par with a few FLAC files I had stored on my phone played through VLC. Someone told me if you use a service such as Tidal, it will be even better. Things have further improved since then after Apple introduced Lossless audio. The best results can be achieved by wired CarPlay and playing Apple Lossless music, next is with bluetooth, and third comes wireless CarPlay.

[asterix]

Originally Posted by adi_petrolhead

Things have further improved since then after Apple introduced Lossless audio. The best results can be achieved by wired CarPlay and playing Apple Lossless music, next is with bluetooth, and third comes wireless CarPlay.

In my X5, I found apple lossless via wireless carplay to be better than blue tooth. And Apple Music >>Spotify; actually Spotify sucks in audio quality.

In my Mini Cooper and the Octavia L&K (I don't have the canton system), I found Bluetooth to be a tad better than wireless carplay

I guess it got to do with the amp and speaker chain as well as the car O/S and the listeners ears :-)

[vaibhavyagnik]

Originally Posted by mah45

Although I haven't done significant research on this, my observations even with my previous Nexon was that Spotify was very dull.
I have an Android phone, and when I play the same song on Spotify Vs YT I used to find it much livelier on YT.
This I have observed even when connected on Bluetooth in Nexon.

With Android Auto in the Octavia, somehow it recognises only YT music, and I still find YT Music to be better than Spotify.
Only problem is the hundreds of Ads that annoy your music experience.

Gaana, Prime music and Jiosaavn also work with Android auto

[akshay_b]

Originally Posted by sidhgoyal

I somehow started to feel that playing audio via Spotify (apple CarPlay) felt dull and not as energetic and involving as I had expected.

Originally Posted by mah45

Although I haven't done significant research on this, my observations even with my previous Nexon was that Spotify was very dull.

Originally Posted by asterix

In my X5, I found apple lossless via wireless carplay to be better than blue tooth. And Apple Music >>Spotify; actually Spotify sucks in audio quality.

Have you folks have tried tweaking the audio quality settings in the Spotify app? I noticed a huge difference when I increased the audio quality on the cellular network. This feature may not be available in the free version though.

[sandeepmukunda]

I booked L&K variant in Lava Blue on September 1st.

What's the usual time they take to get the car alloted at the factory. If the delivery goes beyond 3 months should i wait and take MY'23 model.

Is there any insider information for changes expected for MY'23 or it's true this range of engine & gearbox will only be sold till April 23.

Despite that, i still would pick this car over anything i drove. The sheer ease of driving and how that engine drives trumps any bells and whistles of other similar valued cars. I have a pre booking for 22 Tucson for petrol (i know bummer of an engine).

But Octavia drive was enough to obliterate any affinity i had for Crossovers/SUVs.

Frankly with all overpriced cars, Octavia feels more VFM right now than when it was launched in 2021

[vijaykr]

Originally Posted by sandeepmukunda

I booked L&K variant in Lava Blue on September 1st.

Congratulations on your booking

When I'd asked about delivery timelines, I was told that it'll take 3 months and they will try to expedite of color preference is not rigid etc.

Were you able to negotiate any price reduction at all? Are they willing to match outside insurance if that's cheaper than their price?

[sandeepmukunda]

Originally Posted by vijaykr

Were you able to negotiate any price reduction at all? Are they willing to match outside insurance if that's cheaper than their price?

I only got corporate discount and for insurance they're okay if I pick one from outside.

Beyond that I got a Skoda accessories kit as freebie. That's all.

[GoBlue]

Originally Posted by sidhgoyal

Has anyone else observed these things ? If so any solution to this issue ?
Sorry for the long post, but it really is a convoluted situation.

Thanks for bringing up this topic. In-car audio is indeed a murky wasteland of subjectivity.

Sharing observations arrived at based on usage of a custom audio setup in my Polo GT TSI.

The head-unit has both wireless CarPlay and wireless Android Auto. Abbreviated to CP/AA going forward. There’s no difference observed between wired/wireless, shall thus report observations considering wireless connectivity was used as medium between phone and headunit. Wireless = WiFi.

ANY App sounds mediocre via AA. Even Apple Music sounds pathetic. I don’t use Spotify as Apple Music has lossless. Don’t see the need to subscribe to multiple paid music apps. When the need arises for variety, tend to use YouTube Music.

When AA is used to play lossless audio via Apple Music, the base lacks depth. Sounds shallow. Mids lack clarity and the highs sound rubbish.

For reference, the phone is a Samsung M52 with a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset running Android 12. Cattle class, mediocre Samsung garbage. This could either be the phone throttling bitrate, or AA itself throttling bitrate. The only way to know for sure is to test using a flagship Samsung. For which the first step would be to identify a friend adventurous enough to invest in one.

Now to the juicy bit. In comes CP to the rescue (enabled by an iPhone 12 Pro Max). Apple Music + CP is a combination for audio heaven. Base sounds rich, mids sound divinely clear and the highs sound riveting (and not shrill, which is very very essential to the way I like to hear music).

I listen to a lot of Indian instrumental/vocal music and a jugalbandi between Pt. Shivkumar Sharma and Ustaad Zakir Hussain is the perfect concoction to hear the base/highs together. Veena/violin sounds like it’s being played in a concert. Vocals sound thrilling to a point where listening to music on any other source (besides the car) feels pointless.

Do note that the said audio setup is capable of playing lossless tracks. The name of the game is frequency response, not wattage. While number of speakers or wattage is a spec-sheet feel good parameter on paper, it’s frequency response of various components that actually has a tangible impact on what one hears and whether one enjoys it (or not).

To sum it up, good audio is not just a function of the audio hardware itself (speakers/amp etc) but also a function of the source environment and how the head-unit processes streamed tracks. Stock head units in VAG cars are not as capable (not to mention annoyingly laggy). They are designed to serve a specific purpose of usability, the intent is not to produce thrilling audio. Cars would cost much higher if OEMs gave great sound systems from the factory. Mid-range Volvo’s come to mind.

[GoBlue]

Another interesting bit to digest is that Canton supplies only the speakers/tweeters/sub to Skoda.

The amplifier is sourced from another supplier. As is the head unit.

In essence, the entire setup is not from Canton.

It would be nice if OEMs shared detailed specs of all audio components (for audiophiles to assess what they are getting). However this data is not available. In the below image, the frequency response/material of the speakers is not mentioned.



Source: https://www.canton.de/en/skoda-en