I just stream via Bluetooth. Seems to work very well. I'm on Android, not sure if it's an iOS issue or not.

 

Use fast USB sticks (with high read speeds), limit number of files and folders.

Bluetooth has its own issues, namely also being a lossy format.

 

Use fast USB sticks (with high read speeds), limit number of files and folders.

Folder structure matters a LOT. Some systems prefer everything being in the root directory, others can't handle that many files in one directory easily. Avoid more than one folder deep nesting, if you use folders at all. Lastly, if you don't let the head unit finish indexing the files, it may be having to start over every time, from scratch.

 

Re: ipod lockups- there are other threads about that on this board, somebody found a fix relating to album art. Apparently the head unit is extremely sensitive about the jpeg files that make up the album art. Deleting and/or replacing the artwork seems to fix that.

 

Have had great luck with the latest iPod Touch (except for displaying the contents of a playlist quickly but I can live with that). Was tired of the USB "indexing time" fiascos and all the extra work needed to simulate a playlist with them.

 

I have a high speed 32gb stick set up artist/album/song and it takes a solid 5 minutes to fully index. On restart it only remembers the song being played. It then indexes first to last added to the stick. I'm getting really tired of the first song indexed. Also if I use another input on start-up it won't start indexing until I access it. WTF?!!! I set up a second USB with a no folder 150 MP3 playlist and it takes a minute or so to index. I still can't get any WMA or WAV files to play. This is a MAJOR fail.

This is a regression from my 2013. It would always stay fully indexed and remember last song for USB and CD input. It would play virtually any file but Flac. Truly plug and play. How this new indexing metric ever made it to prime time is a mystery.

 

I have been pretty happy with my second gen FIIO X3. Uses microSD card (up to 128 GB) for storage. Does take some time to index, and it needs to reindex every startup. I have about 60GB on the card at present and my library is always growing. Within a minute or so, even while indexing, you can do a sort of page down between albums.

I chose against iPod touch because I already have an iPhone and getting one with enough storage to contain my library was more costly than I thought was reasonable. $299 for new 64 GB. Not sure about refurb as right now they only have 32 GB. $400 for a new 128 GB for $399? To play music through a marginally ok HU? No way. The FIIO can be had for at most $170 (without SD card). Add the 128 GB microSD card and you are looking at 128 GB of storage for $210 or so and the sound quality is amazing.

 

So are you playing this through the HK HU? What interface are you using? USB? AUX jack? You say the sound is "amazing". Is that better or the same sound from an iPod. I had an iPod laying around that I have not used since getting into the iPhones and just loaded that up with the music I want and leave it in the car. It seems to be ready to use moments after starting the car.

 

I've had good luck with these cheap USB sticks from Patriot:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DT49FKY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1

They only take 2-3 minutes to re-index the music at engine startup, and I have the sticks filled to about 12gb of music with over 90 folders sorted by artist.

 

I am connecting the FIIO via USB . I DID have an iPod classic that was faster in spite of the fact that it had a platter drive rather than ssd/microSD. Lost it. I was not able to find a reasonably priced new classic (120 GB) so went for the FIIO. I do think it sounds better than my iPod, either the lost classic or the shuffle that I still have. But these are my ears and I think my statements about the quality should be taken as subjective.

 

Takes around 2 mins or so from my SanDisk USB 3.0 with appx 2000 mp3 files.

 

Welcome aboard. Any folders or just files?

 

Thank you!


8 folders and mp3 files inside it. I don't have recursive folder structure.


I think head unit doesn't use USB 3.0 but even in USB 2.0 some drives are dead slow. I tend to use SanDisk Extreme USB drives.

 

Ipod touch is the way to go. The Ipod classic is the one having the issues. Virtually instant "ready" and track navigation.

 

Once I removed album art I had no issues with my iPod classic. Until I lost it.

 

I use this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CMKS2DI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 , its a SD card reader with usb port. I put different categories of music onto different high speed sd cards (32gb Sandisk extreme). It still indexes, but not as long as 1 huge 128gb memory stick. Its not instant quick, but quicker. I hope this helps.

 

Title fixed

 

I stream from my iPhone 6s via Bluetooth. Works well. I can be listening to a song leave the car. Come back later and hit play and it will resume where it left off. No wires no fuss. Works well!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Same here from our iPad3, which lives in the console.