I recently decided to switch from the paid Sirius app to the paid premium Spotify app on my iPhone5S. It's run through my Lightning adapter to the 30 pin Y cable. I have a 2010 R57S with the base radio.

I want to switch from Sirius because it's app is very buggy and hard to start with the MINI, although the sound is fine once it starts working. Previously, Pandora worked fine.

The Sirius app sounds fine, but the Spotify app is terrible, with high distortion. The Spotify sound is fine on headphones, so I think it's some interaction with the MINI. Per Spotify's suggestion, I have reinstalled the app and cleared the Safari cache. Spotify suggested I update the MINI firmware, but I don't think the base radio has an update. Is that correct?

Has anyone else experienced this or do they have suggestions?

Anyone use a different streaming app where the app is easy to use when you're driving?

Thanks in advance.

 

how are you able to use Spotify through the Y-cable? I was under the impression that the Y-cable on the base stereo only allows a pass through to the hard drive of the phone for media access? I always use the AUX in from headphone jack on my iPhone 6, and use Spotify almost exclusively, with good sound quality (I never get good sound quality from the Y-cable and an iPod and I have a USB drive plugged in with most of my music loaded on it, but its a major pain to scroll through with only 2 lines of text on the base radio)

 

I have no problem getting apps to work through my Y cable. Pandora and Sirius have both worked fine. It's just Spotify that doesn't work. Maybe there's some incompatibility, but it's not worth it for me to use the aux input. To much functionality is lost. I'm going to try iTunes Radio and see if that works.

 

I may have figured it out. I tried connecting with an Aux cable and realized that I had the volume on the phone very high, causing distortion. I turned down the phone volume and turned up the radio volume and it sounded fine. That got me thinking, and I reconnected the y cable, and turned down the "level" on the radio from 5 to 3. The sound is much improved. For some reason, Spotify does not like the level setting high.

This was all in my garage and I haven't road tested it. We'll see how it works on the road this weekend.

 

What is this level you are speaking of on the radio? I know that on my lg g3 that i don't put the bt volume all the way up, but rather 3-4 clicks down and turn up the volume in the car and i'm fine. This is via aux port though.

 

With the "Y Cable, when you're connected with an iPhone/iPod, there is a "level" setting on the radio accessed by pushing one of the right hand side station buttons. You can then set the input level. This allows you to have you iPhone input to be a similar level to the radio or CD, rather than blasting the volume when you switch between the two. I can't remember if the AUX screen has the same setting and I don't have the car with me to check, but your radio manual should have directions.

Good luck

 

I'm still confused. How are you controlling Spotify through the Y-cable with a base stereo? Are you still using the phone to navigate Spotify? What mode do you set the stereo in when connected?

 

You still use the phone to control Spotify, picking whether you're listening to their radio, playlist etc. and starting to play. The nice thing is you can skip tracks with the steering wheel controls, and usually (but not always) you can see track info on the MINI radio display. You set the stereo in iPod mode (thirs button from left in

Per your earlier question, here's a link to an image of the AUX screen with the Volume Level button shown:

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/erXfoRkrRGQ/maxresdefault.jpg

Press the button third from right and you can change the AUX input volume.

 

weird, I never knew this. looks like I might have a use for the expensive lightning cable adapter I bought after all. for whatever reason I thought you could only use the phone as an "iPod" when connected through the Y-cable. although I never got the Y-cable to pass through good sound either, to be honest...

 

Which lightning adapter are you using, Larri? I've not been able to get anything to work with my OEM y-cable.

 

I'm using the apple with a pigtail about 4" long.

 

What if you try a regular lightning cable from your phone to the USB port instead of using the y-cable at all
Or use Bluetooth if you have it

 

Bluetooth doesn't work for music in the R5X with base radio, only the phone. The USB outlet does not work without the y cable plugged into the Aux.

 

My usb works just fine without the y. But I have to remove my old iPhone from the armrest cradle. Apparently, the armrest has priority over the usb when you have smartphone prep.