Swing/Blues radio update?

[luna]

Hi everyone!

 

I have a Citigo 2016 model with the updated radio that has an SD card slot

 

I've noticed it only plays MP3's and not WAV files through the SD card which I was surprised about

 

Does anyone know if the radio can be updated to read WAV files?

 

Thanks

[freemansteve]

No - it can't be updated in terms of firmware - it's  a 'closed system'.

 

It only plays MP3's or playlists like M3U's  containing MP3's..... :(   If you have to play WAVs, you'll need a whole new stereo installed.

 

It is however, entirely impossible to tell a WAV file from a 256 or 320 kb/s MP3 when played on a fairly low-end system as fitted to cars though, so why not have 4 or 5 times the number of MP3's on the SD card? WAV files are huge by comparison.  And if you are over 30, it's unlikely that you can hear a difference between a well-ripped 320kb/s MP3 and a full-CD quality WAV file on a decent stereo....

 

N.B. the "Swing" stereo cannot play FLAC or AAC files either, but making MP3's from WAV or FLAC or AAC  - even if you only ever want them for the car - is trivial; the work of seconds. There are hundreds of free tools available. I tend to use this out of habit - https://www.freac.org/  as it also rips from CDs.

 

And you probably know that tagging the MP3's is very useful - this is the best tool for that: https://www.mp3tag.de/en/   - but, while tagging WAVs is possible, it's not always the case that the tags can be be read by every media player - while MP3tag can tag WAVs, as far as I know VLC (far and away the best media player, IMHO) won't read the tags from a WAV.

 

 

 

Edited 17 March, 2021 by freemansteve

[luna]

10 hours ago, freemansteve said:

No - it can't be updated in terms of firmware - it's  a 'closed system'.

 

It only plays MP3's or playlists like M3U's  containing MP3's..... :(   If you have to play WAVs, you'll need a whole new stereo installed.

 

It is however, entirely impossible to tell a WAV file from a 256 or 320 kb/s MP3 when played on a fairly low-end system as fitted to cars though, so why not have 4 or 5 times the number of MP3's on the SD card? WAV files are huge by comparison.  And if you are over 30, it's unlikely that you can hear a difference between a well-ripped 320kb/s MP3 and a full-CD quality WAV file on a decent stereo....

 

N.B. the "Swing" stereo cannot play FLAC or AAC files either, but making MP3's from WAV or FLAC or AAC  - even if you only ever want them for the car - is trivial; the work of seconds. There are hundreds of free tools available. I tend to use this out of habit - https://www.freac.org/  as it also rips from CDs.

 

And you probably know that tagging the MP3's is very useful - this is the best tool for that: https://www.mp3tag.de/en/   - but, while tagging WAVs is possible, it's not always the case that the tags can be be read by every media player - while MP3tag can tag WAVs, as far as I know VLC (far and away the best media player, IMHO) won't read the tags from a WAV.

 

 

 

 

[luna]

10 hours ago, freemansteve said:

No - it can't be updated in terms of firmware - it's  a 'closed system'.

ok thanks

10 hours ago, freemansteve said:

 

It is however, entirely impossible to tell a WAV file from a 256 or 320 kb/s MP3 when played on a fairly low-end system as fitted to cars though, so why not have 4 or 5 times the number of MP3's on the SD card? WAV files are huge by comparison.  And if you are over 30, it's unlikely that you can hear a difference between a well-ripped 320kb/s MP3 and a full-CD quality WAV file on a decent stereo....

I'm a pro musician and producer with over 30yrs of experience. Although there may not be much noticeable difference on the Citigo system there is a huge difference between MP3 and WAV quality. I work in WAV when recording and producing so don't want the hassle of having to convert to MP3 when listening to music in the car.

  

[freemansteve]

Sure, but I guarantee that in a car you will not be able to tell them apart. It's no real hassle to convert, especially compared with changing to a new radio !

 

 

[luna]

6 minutes ago, freemansteve said:

Sure, but I guarantee that in a car you will not be able to tell them apart. It's no real hassle to convert, especially compared with changing to a new radio !

 

 

You can't guarantee me anything.

 

It's a good sound system for a basic car and although it's unlikely to make much difference in sound quality there will be a difference, even if it is very slight

 

The main advantage would be that I don't need to convert my WAVs to MP3

 

I noticed some other vehicle manufacturers allow reading of any audio format through SD or USB devices in newer vehicles so it's a disappointment that Skoda couldn't allow any audio format to be read. 

[thebrighton]

With the amount of road noise you get from a Citigo, especially over 40mph I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between an LP playing or the actual artist playing live in the back seats. If I was that worried about sound quality in a car I wouldn't have bought a budget car

Budget car is the deal breaker here. It does have a decent stereo but it is a budget car. You get what you pay for so am wondering if your production equipment is top end or budget? If the stereo not being able to play WAV files is a deal breaker perhaps you bought the wrong car. To be honest I would imagine the vast majority of Citigo owners, myself included, have never even heard of WAV and many probably never even use the SD slot and just listen to the radio.

As freemansteve said it's hardly a chore or time consuming converting the files to MP3.

I was surprised my new phone only had a 6mp camera..... my mistake, it was a £100 Moto phone not a £1k iPhone.....

 

Apologies if this comes across as harsh but your post reads like "I am only prepared to pay for a 3rd class seat but expect 1st class service".

[freemansteve]

I was trying to be helpful, getting around a problem, but as "theBrighton" says, there are plenty of luxury cars with stereos that will probably not only play all the file formats, but also, some are quiet enough to hear the music with some detail!   I too am very happy with my Citigo and its radio for the price, and with a 128G SD card, filled with playlists of MP3s, it holds about one quarter of every album I have (all stored digitally on a NAS/RAID unit).

 

I didn't want to mention it, but also I use WAV regularly for recording my own live playing onto a PC, and to make collaborative tracks with friends playing other instruments - a great lockdown activity!

 

My strict "HiFi" mates suggested we should record our source material at 24-bit, and 96kHz or even 192kHz, instead of using "olde worlde" 16-bit, 44.1kHz (CD quality and the usual WAV-file quality).  I don't want to shell out however, for a more expensive ADC than I already have for my guitar & crunchy valve amp....   And interestingly, in the blind tests we've done, not a single one of my HiFi friends was able to identify which quality level was which, and one friend, consistently thought the MP3 version sounded best (albeit, in fairness, with very well ripped 320kb/s tracks). And this on HiFis that cost  more than a new Up! GTi....

 

 

 

[greenstripe]

Do you have Bluetooth and are you able to stream from your mobile phone, or use headphone out/aux in?

 

If you're really not prepaired to settle, swapping out the stereo for an aftermarket unit isn't too diifcult.

 

 

Edited 22 March, 2021 by greenstripe
spelling

[freemansteve]

Note that phone implementations of Bluetooth all (AFAIK) compress the data for transmission, and it's expanded on receipt in the radio.

This kiboshes the use of WAV or other high quality formats for a purist.

 

And we haven't even got into the quality of the DACs in most radio sets, or what the 70-odd dB of car background noise does to one's perception of dynamic range or signal to noise!

 

[greenstripe]

Well aware of A2DP, aptX etc. 

 

The OP didn't want the hassle of conversion. Was offering up possible workarounds using current set up.

 

Personally I'm not sold on super high bit rates and 'High Res Audio' - they are absolutely no guarantee of sound quality, that said compression algorithms can colour the sound and alter the focus of music (typically enhancing the bass with MP3), If OP is doing 'homework' for production / mastering in the car then this might be important.

 

I've never found listening to music in any car to be what I would consider to be an audiophile experience.