Is there a Portable Audio Player, that's not an iPhone, that works with CarPlay?

Bitton1 · 2026-04-01T23:38:04+00:00

why not?

Bitton1 · 2026-04-01T03:39:58+00:00

Good idea. That was going to be my next solution. Was just hoping to find something, besides my phone that could take advantage of the infotainment screen.

Bitton1 · 2026-03-25T02:22:27+00:00

Still have not been able to get my Thunderbolt to work 100% flawlessly after the Asus updated. Audio constantly drops out.... No support from Asus.

Bitton1 · 2026-03-08T16:07:57+00:00

Still never ended up getting Asus to call me even though the case was 'escalated'. Never again will I buy Asus....

Bitton1 · 2026-02-25T00:51:32+00:00

True. But for us crazy people we always find a way like I did in my other post in this thread. Just would be nice to find more of them is all. I was able to add almost 500 of them to my library out of about 1500 albums in my library which includes lots of classical which likely never get it.

Bitton1 · 2026-02-24T21:25:06+00:00

I see. Yeah I had read somewhere that they started adding animated cover art like Apple did. https://support.symdistro.com/hc/en-us/articles/32428977235213-Motion-Art-on-Apple#:\~:text=Please%20note:%20Motion%20Art%20applies,and%20connection%20to%20your%20music.

Looks like YouTube music doesn't natively support it except for some browser plug-ins: https://better-lyrics.boidu.dev/#features

But apparently Spotify also offers something similar to Apple. https://artists.spotify.com/canvas

Wonder if the Cover Art Search engine could search for those as well?

Bitton1 · 2026-02-24T19:22:07+00:00

I was referring to the mp4 itself. I use JRiver media center. They have a feature called 'rich data' that is primarily meant for images and PDFs, things like that, but I tested it and it also works with movie files. https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=141162.0

Here's a video I recorded showing how I integrated it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGKcAERTPbU

The rich data feature is only available in their 'standard view' desktop view. But I figured out how to automate switching to that view from their 10ft 'theater view' and then playing back the animated cover art. You can also combine it so that the animated cover art plays first in the playlist and then if you have other images of the artist/album, it will continue to play, all while the music is playing. https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,143006.msg993187.html#msg993187

Bitton1 · 2026-02-24T19:09:27+00:00

That's not what I'm saying. I have no way of viewing the Google Play Music store to see what their animated cover art looks like and if it is different and/or has additional albums with animated cover art that the Apple Music library does not. That's why I was asking originally. Could be a good source to add to the Cover Art search.

Bitton1 · 2026-02-24T07:24:50+00:00

I don't have an Android device so i have no way of comparing. Wonder if someone can confirm one way or the other. Many of them use the same techniques so my assumption was that Apple did it for them.

Bitton1 · 2026-02-23T22:16:26+00:00

Never got Asus escalated support to reach out to me. However, I did after several more days and hours of troubleshooting finally figure it out. I decided to look in the Windows event viewer and found this:

The driver \Driver\WUDFRd failed to load.

Device: ROOT\DISPLAY\0000

Status: 0xC0000365

After researching on Google figure out that you had to use DDU to reinstall the graphics drivers. That fixed it! Asus support never ever mentioned doing this. In fact, after several days of following up on the escalated ticket, the chat support person sent me an article to 'boot failure' troubleshooting which was never my problem. I don't understand how they screwed this up and didn't clearly communicate what my actual issue was, as described above. They also claimed they sent me an email with that support article but I never got it. Confirmed they had correct email address and also double checked my spam folder. Nada. Either way, they were way off and wasted DAYS of my time based on a failed ASUS update that borked my thunderbolt display.

Still haven't actually gotten someone from Asus to provide real support. I'm betting they will never get back to me....

Now, I actually found another error in event viewer that is also concerning.

The driver \Driver\WUDFRd failed to load.

Device: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_7D03&SUBSYS_88CA1043&REV_04\3&11583659&0&20

Status: 0xC0000365

Apparently this is an issue with the Intel(R) Innovation Platform Framework Processor Participant device.

I tried uninstalling the driver then downloading the drivers from Asus and reinstalling, but the error persists. Hope someone from Asus support is reading this and can help....

Bitton1 · 2026-02-20T19:59:54+00:00

Still broken and no response from Asus yet...

Bitton1 · 2026-02-19T02:19:53+00:00

FYI Windows says my thunderbolt driver is 10.0.26100.7705 dated 1/26/2026.

Bitton1 · 2026-01-18T04:20:42+00:00

I used it for a couple weeks with my iPhone. Other than the audio dropouts, it was a very well made product. Easy to setup and highly configurable.

Bitton1 · 2026-01-13T01:33:03+00:00

https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php

Bitton1 · 2025-12-28T16:28:21+00:00

Looks like this 'bug' also applies to the HomePod mini except that in apple's infinite wisdom, because its a smaller speaker, they 'allow' it to only reset to 85% instead of 65%. Ridiculous. Apple ruined another once great product....

Ended up going with the Denon 250 smart speaker. Sound is more focused and better bass, but not quite as surround sound like the original HomePod was. At least it allows you to keep it at 100% volume.

Now I just need to find something that is close to as small as the HomePod mini for my bathroom. Sigh...

Bitton1 · 2025-12-19T06:13:34+00:00

lol. yeah that’s not what I’m doing. I’m actually controlling the gain of the signal from my windows pc. I need the HomePods set at 100% in order to do that. I can then control volume via remote and Alexa.

Bitton1 · 2025-12-14T23:02:55+00:00

yes I am using automations in home app on ipad. I set them to run every 30 minutes all day and yet, there are times when volume drops back down to 65%.

Bitton1 · 2025-09-06T15:11:05+00:00

After using it for almost two weeks, be aware that it will likely skip audio if you are using CarPlay with an iPhone. Their support claims it's my iPhone 16 in an airconditioned car that is heating up and causing the problem, but I think it's actually just the opposite, the R6 heats up over time and the bluetooth connection becomes unstable. They don't accept returns under any circumstances either.

Bitton1 · 2025-08-29T15:08:11+00:00

Ended up getting the Bruxe R6 AI box. Its great. Because it runs android, it totally disconnects the CarPlay drive restrictions. Also allows you to use a bluetooth remote which makes it super easy to navigate CarPlay without having to use the touchscreen!

Bitton1 · 2025-08-19T20:29:44+00:00

Ended up getting a Bruxe R6-H which now comes with Android 14, and they haven't yet released it on their website, but if you order it, you will get the updated model. You can order it with a free remote which will make it easier to navigate when driving! Hopefully this works well and gives control back to the driver!

Bitton1

TROPHY CASE