USB-C is going to be your best audio quality. If you use Apple Music, you can enable Lossless audio (not Hi-Res Lossless, you need a powered DAC for that) and that will enable a higher quality audio fidelity over wired. Bluetooth/wireless CarPlay will degrade the quality of your audio due to how wireless codecs work. Some wireless feeds can do lossless audio, but it's picky and CarPlay is not rated for it.

Now, is that to say you will be able to discern a difference in quality? That is up to your ears. I personally don't think so - I have tried Bluetooth and wired/wireless CarPlay in my Sport (yes I know the speakers are different) and notice 0 difference. The only time I have "heard" lossless audio with a (albeit small but) noticeable difference is wiring up my Beats Studio Pros with USB-C while listening to downloaded lossless files.

For a car, just use whatever connection you like. I love wireless CarPlay for the convenience, but if you desire to have the utmost audio quality, go for wired CarPlay with Apple Music lossless/Spotify turned to highest quality/locally synced lossless files (ALAC/AIFF/FLAC) and ensure your songs are downloaded to the device. Do not stream - mega bandwidth, and likely compression from cellular.

Hope that helps!

 

I use Tidal (downloaded directly to the infotainment system) set to maximum audio quality. This eliminates Bluetooth and sounds about the same as my USB connected thumb drive with CD quality music. The advantage is the millions of song options available from Tidal. The disadvantage is having to pay a monthly subscription for Tidal in order to get lossless audio as an option.

 

Have been curious to try Tidal. How do you download directly onto the infotainment?

 

Don't overload your system too early. It takes time for it to break in (mostly the speakers) The breaking in period is usually 20-40 of gradually increasing the volume (can 100 depending on the speakers).

 

2023 sport touring owner, wish I had USB-C. That should be your best quality audio input. For my sound settings I use Bose center point, +2 treble and +2 Bass. I also sometimes use Boom audio app, that gives me more flexibility with sounds settings but you have to pay for the app and also have to download/purchase songs to add to it’s library rather than stream it.

I personally never go above like 20-22 on volume. I don’t see a need to go higher, and feel like running close to 30 regularly with high bass might damage the cone over time

 

I drive a '23 Si which has the Bose system. If I remember correctly, I have my treble and bass boosted +1 or +2. My ears are used to the "smiley face" eq curve where the mids are cut a bit. I usually listen around 12 to 15 though I will crank it if a worthy tune comes up.

I use wireless Android Auto for the convenience. My phone is loaded with mp3s. At home I'm all about lossless (FLAC) but in the car, I can't tell the difference and mp3 files are more convenient. I put in an aftermarket wireless charger which works great and is as good as factory.

I wish the music through USB with files on a thumbdrive was usable. My wife used that in her '14 Highlander before we traded it in for her '24 Sport Touring Hatch. The interface on the Highlander was very user friendly and you could easily browse music via genre and/or artist. Pretty sad that a car 10 years later goes backwards in this regard.

Other than that, I am happy with the sound system in the civics. It's a lot better than what is in the 10th gen civics.

 

with USB, you have to format/arrange the files in a certain to way to make it usable. I forget exactly what you need to do, but it's in the owner's manual, i think.

 

Not sure how significant are the changes in 2025 besides Google Built-In, but I have a 2023 Sport Touring. I connect to Carplay wirelessly and haven't had any issues or noticed much of a difference in quality compared to connecting wired. I listen to music using Spotify with a flat equalizer and have audio quality set at very high for cellular streaming.

I have the treble maxed and the bass at +5 and my volume level is usually between 12 to 15.

 

so you can't turn the volume all the way up without damaging the speakers? why would they let you do that?

 

Yes, that literally can happen with any speaker setup, home or car, even professional setups in studios and stadiums. That's why speakers have sensitivity ratings and max power ratings. Max volume can cause the speaker coils to overheat and you can damage the surround material on the speaker. I've seen the material on speakers shred and tweeters melt because people maxed out their volume for extended periods.

 

Thanks everyone for this great discussion. I feel a bit shameful having cranked some music to 35 volume for a little bit yesterday but the sound system is really nice for a Honda.

I’ve been floating between 20-30 typically while driving. I have Bass +1 and the surround sound on for now,

Maybe at some point I’ll look into a mod to get direct USB C to the sound system. Shame it doesn’t seem to work with my phone.

 

USB C to the sound system works just fine. I use a 64GB thumb drive.

 

would a DAC be beneficial at all when using USB-C? i'm not very knowledgeable on audio setups

 

A DAC, by definition, converts digital to analog, so you would need to have an analog input to your amp.

 

I have the Bose system in my '25 Si. I've had better and worse speakers in my cars. It's nice having a decent sounding system. Some people love Bose, some hate it. For me, it's fine, but a worse sounding system would have been a black mark against buying this car.

My settings:

• I have the balance and fader centered.
• Treble is turned up 2-3 notches.
• Midrange is turned up 1-2 notches.
• Bass is turned up 3-4 notches.

I generally use Apple CarPlay. If my phone is plugged in, I'm using the charger jack, not the wired connection jack. Maybe the wired one would improve the sound, but honestly, this is kind of a loud car due to road noise. I don't think I'd notice a very slight improvement in sound quality.

Also -- and this is going to sound odd -- I'm a musician and I care more about the content of the music rather than the quality of its sound. That probably doesn't make sense to most people, but it's who I am.

My speaker volume probably averages level 15-16. It's 12-15 on local roads and city streets, and 15-20 on the highway. I don't know how loud is considered unsafe for your speaker system, but I'd probably keep it under 30 most of the time, partially just to save your hearing.

 

The Bose system sound ok to me but asking about sound settings isn't likely to help you much because different genres of music generally lend themselves to different sound profiles and even when the same/similar different people have their own individual preferences.

As for best sound quality - it's always going to be wired over a wireless solution as the bandwidth and potential interference is lower with a physical connection.

BUT it probably makes no discernable difference in an environment like a vehicle where you have so much noise intrusion.

Even at home with a good quality headphones or IEMs I generally have a hard time or cannot tell the difference between lossless and a good vbr encode at say 320kbs.

So to me- run what settings sound best to you and connect via whatever is most convenient.

 

I think the best quality is going to be via USB flash drive

 

2024 Sport Touring 1.5L mt hatchback. I could never get a USB drive to work (50% of my songs were missing, playlists didn't work, no sorting by title, artist, album, genre). The Honda manual claims it works but it never did after many months of trying things. So I use an old iPod Touch 4th gen (https://www.civic11forum.com/posts/75782/) which the manual also says is supported. I don't need a phone, internet, cell service, or subscription to anything. And when I start the car, the music resumes exactly where it last left off (in a playlist or entire collection) without pressing any buttons (just like old CD players did). Love it! Of course I'm an old guy.

 

bose CenterPoint should be off if you want it to sound how the producers and sound engineers intended it it to sound. with bose centerpoint ON, there is no difference between L R or front and back, they are all the same.



wireless vs connected audio, unless your using high quality source files it won't make any difference, and even if you are, the difference likely won't be noticeable, and lets not forgetthe car cabin is not an acoustically isolated environment. as a broader point, bluetooth audio quality can be very good, the worlds greatest producers and musicians use custom made bluetooth IEMs in the studio and on stage.

 

Bose centerpoint increases the difference between left and right in my car.

 

Anyone just change out 2025 stock tweeter's to bose tweeter's on the A pillar?