# iPhone Music: Only Plays "Clean" as Car Aux? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 13, 2016, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-music-only-plays-clean-as-car-aux/759777 "2016-07-13T03:09:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-music-only-plays-clean-as-car-aux/759777/1 "2016-07-13T03:09:14Z")
I am trying to listen to music on my iPhone. My iPhone works fine in the car when connected via USB to the car radio as an auxiliary MP3 Player. Yet, when I try to play music straight from my iPhone, the music is all choppy…roughly equivalent to an image pixelating. Why would this be? What’s going on and how can i fix it? Is there some setting I can adjust? ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-music-only-plays-clean-as-car-aux/759777/2 "2016-07-13T03:15:09Z")
What do you mean by “straight from your iPhone”? Are you using an audio cable connected to an input on your car radio? Or are you using Bluetooth? Bluetooth is susceptible to interference and can be choppy, or have occasional dropouts. Personally, I don’t consider a Bluetooth connection as being “straight from your phone”. That honor goes to the two different cable connections (USB or audio cable). ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-music-only-plays-clean-as-car-aux/759777/3 "2016-07-13T03:42:40Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > What do you mean by “straight from your iPhone”? Are you using an audio cable connected to an input on your car radio? Or are you using Bluetooth? > > Bluetooth is susceptible to interference and can be choppy, or have occasional dropouts. Personally, I don’t consider a Bluetooth connection as being “straight from your phone”. That honor goes to the two different cable connections (USB or audio cable). To clarify, when I say “playing straight from the phone”, I mean using the music app (I guess it’s an app, although I am sure it comes standard on every iPhone) and playing to “open air” using the speaker built into the iPhone. No bluetooth or anything else. Does that help? In other words, you could say I am using the iPhone as an MP3 player simply playing to have music in the room I am in. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-music-only-plays-clean-as-car-aux/759777/4 "2016-07-13T03:45:27Z")
Did you get your phone wet? Sounds like bad speakers or amp in the iPhone. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-music-only-plays-clean-as-car-aux/759777/5 "2016-07-13T04:01:06Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Did you get your phone wet? > Sounds like bad speakers or amp in the iPhone. No, but that makes me think… I have heard some say dust in the speaker can do this. Ye, the telephone feature works normal (on speaker, or not). Hmm… ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-music-only-plays-clean-as-car-aux/759777/6 "2016-07-13T04:08:01Z")
Other than the USB cable and the speaker in the phone, there are a couple of other ways to listen to music from the phone. You might want to give them a try to see if it is simply the speaker in your phone that is bad or if there is a problem with the audio electronics in the phone: 1. Headphones or earbuds plugged into the 3.5 mm headphone jack of the phone. 2. Playing on a Bluetooth speaker paired to the phone. Go to a place that has them on display like Best Buy and you should be able to pair your phone to a speaker and see if it plays properly. If the Bluetooth works, I’d suggest buying a Bluetooth speaker (even the cheaper ones will sound better than the phone’s speaker). They can be handy to have. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-music-only-plays-clean-as-car-aux/759777/7 "2016-07-15T02:11:26Z")
Thanks, all, for your thoughts and suggestions. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-music-only-plays-clean-as-car-aux/759777/8 "2016-07-16T17:47:52Z")
If your car radio has a USB port for music then buy something like [this](http://www.sxjde.com/productinfo.asp?id=1428) and just leave it in. You’re done. No playing with your phone or syncing anything up. ---
**Author:** ![Me\_Billy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Me\_Billy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Me_Billy)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-music-only-plays-clean-as-car-aux/759777/9 "2016-07-17T01:31:52Z")
I had problems with my Android phone being choppy. I then deleted a bunch of apps which were constantly running, then it played just fine! I think they were hogging all the cell phone CPU power and making the player stop periodically. Another problem is called a “ground loop”. Try removing the charger and just using the cord to connect to Aux. If that fixes the problem, then you can get a car Aux ground loop isolator. Here is one… > **[Amazon.com: PAC SNI-1/3.5 3.5-mm Ground Loop Noise Isolator Works with...](https://www.amazon.com/PAC-SNI-1-3-5-3-5-mm-Isolator/dp/B001EAQTRI)** > > Buy PAC SNI-1/3.5 3.5-mm Ground Loop Noise Isolator Works with iPod/Zune/iRiver and Others , Black: Vehicle Electronics Accessories - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-music-only-plays-clean-as-car-aux/759777/10 "2016-07-17T03:48:14Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > If your car radio has a USB port for music then buy something like [this](http://www.sxjde.com/productinfo.asp?id=1428) and just leave it in. You’re done. No playing with your phone or syncing anything up. **Jinx** does have a USB port in his car stereo and says his iPhone does play fine in the car. He’s looking for a solution to listen to it around the house. > [@Jinx](#): > > I am trying to listen to music on my iPhone. **My iPhone works fine in the car when connected via USB to the car radio as an auxiliary MP3 Player**. Yet, when I try to play music straight from my iPhone, the music is all choppy…roughly equivalent to an image pixelating. Why would this be? What’s going on and how can i fix it? Is there some setting I can adjust? > [@Jinx](#): > > To clarify, when I say “playing straight from the phone”, I mean using the music app (I guess it’s an app, although I am sure it comes standard on every iPhone) and playing to “open air” using the speaker built into the iPhone. No bluetooth or anything else. Does that help? > **In other words, you could say I am using the iPhone as an MP3 player simply playing to have music in the room I am in.** ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-music-only-plays-clean-as-car-aux/759777/11 "2016-07-18T21:29:59Z")
Do you have any other device with which you could record the choppy results you describe? Different problems have different sounds to them, so that might also be helpful.