Qourthonbathory

Hi,

I just got my new 2013 A4 with Audi Sound System and AMI. The problem is that I cannot play WAV files. Neither from SD-card or USB memory stick connected to AMI and it really pisses me off. I have a friend with 1,5 year old A6 and it works from at least SD-card. I tried in Audi shop my USB memory stick on new A1 AMI and it worked as well.
I haven`t tried FLAC format since WAV is more common and I don`t want any Apple-only format.

Is there any way to update software or something? A4 should have better sound system than A1 in my opinion.

jfo

For use in the car I would just convert to a high bit rate MP3. Much less space and you really won't hear a difference.

Moviela

Audi cars in the UK unlike the US don't treat owners like children. They include information on how to change a light bulb, and the specifications for MMI media. The information is also contained in the car and can be accessed via the MMI. Here is the text from the screen:

Audi MMI MMI controls and displays Media drives


MMI media



-1- Eject button
-2- CD/DVD slot
-3- OPEN button
-4- Memory card readers
-5- SIM card reader*

The MMI media drives are located in the center console and are started and controlled via the MMI Link. The cover of the card readers can be opened with the OPEN button -3- Fig. 1, giving you access to the two memory card readers and the SIM card reader* Link.

The following audio file specifications are supported by the CD/DVD drive, the jukebox, the memory card reader and the connection for the USB mass storage device:






MP3 files


WMA files


AAC files


Format
MPEG-1 Layer 3
MPEG-2 Layer 3
Version 7, 8 and 9
MPEG-4

Profiles


LC - Low Complexity

File
extension
.mp3
.wma
.aac and .m4a

File
system
Memory card and USB mass storage device: FAT or FAT32 process, only one partition
CD/DVD drive: Joliet (single session and multisession)

Standard
ISO 9660 Level 1 and 2

Bit rates
32 to 320 kbits/s and variable bit rates in sampling frequencies of 8 to 48 kHz

Playlist
formats
M3U and PLS

No. of files
CD/DVD drive: max. 1000 files per medium and directory
Jukebox: max. 3000 files in total
USB mass storage device and memory card: max. 4000 files in total and max. 1000 files per directory

Supported media
Memory card reader: Memory cards with a capacity of up to 32 GB
CD/DVD drive: audio CDs, MP3/WMA/AAC CDs with a capacity of up to 700 MB
MP3/WMA/AAC DVDs in the format DVD-5, -9, -10, -14 and -18,
standard DVD-V and DVD-V-compatible DVD-A
Audi music interface: iPod Link,
USB mass storage device Link

Meta data
ID3 tag
up to 50 characters
WMA tag
up to 50 characters
Support of metadata



WARNING!

For safety reasons the card reader cover must always be closed while driving - risk of injury!


Note

The jukebox does not support playlists.
The more files, directories or playlists are stored on a medium, the longer it will take to load the audio files. We recommend using a storage device which contains only audio files.
If you want to reduce the time it takes to load the audio files you can create subfolders (e.g. for an artist or album).
We recommend using SD cards with performance category 4 or higher to access the audio files as quickly as possible.
We recommend a bit rate of at least 160 kbit/s for compressing MP3 files.
In the case of MP3 files with variable bit rate, the display of elapsed playing time may deviate from the actual figure.
The MMI media drives do not support DRM-protected files.
In view of the variety of CDs/DVDs and the difference in memory capacities, the functionality may be restricted in the case of some memory devices.
Under certain circumstances, audio CDs/video DVDs that are copy-protected or CDs/DVDs that do not comply with the standard audio format cannot be played at all, or the functionality may be limited. CDs that comply with the standard audio format have the label "Compact Disc Digital Audio".
Under certain circumstances, multisession CDs/DVDs cannot be played, or the functionality may be limited. We recommend always finalizing the burning process when creating multisession CDs/DVDs.
For an optimized display of the different character sets (e.g. for ID3 tag information), the system uses corresponding code pages (e.g. Windows 1251) depending on the system language. However, it cannot be ensured that the system will always detect and display all characters correctly.
Never store important data on the memory cards, the jukebox, CDs/DVDs or portable players. Audi shall not accept any liability whatsoever for the loss of files or data.
Please note that audio files are copyright-protected.

Kal Rubinson

Try WMA.

Qourthonbathory

WMA is not lossless. But if everything is correct as Moviela paisted here, how to explain that in Audi A1 WAV(same year model) does work just fine?

Kal Rubinson

It can be but I am skeptical that lossless is relevant in the automobile environment.

Dunno. It has been years since I played around with audio files on my car.

snagitseven

The most noticeable sound improvement I've experienced comes from playing digital files on an SDHC card or imported from a card to the Jukebox. All quality formats including AAC, WMA or MP3 will sound excellent in the car. With road, tire and traffic noise, I am hard pressed to hear any difference between them while driving and the advantage of lossless files would overkill IMO, not to mention the greater file size which would limit the song capacity.

Qourthonbathory

Thanks for answers, but space is not issue, since I have USB-stick with 128Gb and SD-card with 32Gb. And I do have MP3 on them in best quality 320 kb/s. But still I would like to have an option to play lossless and A1 have that option, but not A4. A6 has that option as well.

Cyncris

My guess is that the MMI in the A1 and the A6 was designed more recently than the A4. I am sure if you wait for the B9 A4 to come out, it will support the lossless files too.

newmoon

The A6 does not play WAV or any lossless format either. You could burn them to Audio CDs or put them in AVI files, and I think you'll also need a blank video too. Honestly I don't think it is worth it because it is far too noisy in the car to hear the difference between lossless and compressed music.