Note 10+ on Android 10

[Disturbd1]

Hi, I use my phone heavily with Android Auto. For some reason, the audio output is inconsistent with Poweramp. Mind you, this is not over Bluetooth, but over USB. My phone does connect via Bluetooth for contacts, etc, but audio is specifically disabled over Bluetooth for media whenever connected via USB for Android Auto.

What I'm noticing is that Poweramp is routing audio through what it thinks is Bluetooth, and thereby using the SBC codec, resulting in a variation of issues, ranging from extremely low output volume (I have to crank the radio volume knob over halfway to get it to a nominal level) to inferior sound quality.

To confuse things further, this doesn't happen every time I connect the USB cable for AA. Sometimes, upon initiating AA, the volume and clarity are noticably superior, and yet when I check the output path for audio in Poweramp it remains the same. Truly perplexing.

Attached are screenshots of my talking points here. How can I force Poweramp to route media playback via USB and achieve hi-res audio?

[maxmp]

First, something is wrong with your text colors, is this some 3rd party skin?

Poweramp works ok on Samsung version of Android 10, but as always, after the major update, Restore Defaults is recommended for Poweramp settings / Audio / Output page and Direct Volume Control (DVC) page. Otherwise some Android 9 specific settings may be carried over.

Sbc label there is just for informational purposes. Poweramp just displays what is used by Android bluetooth subsystem.

In your case most probably Absolute volume control is in effect, making DVC and equalization non effective (see Poweramp settings / Audio / Direct Volume Control for the details).

[Disturbd1]

11 minutes ago, maxmp said:

First, something is wrong with your text colors, is this some 3rd party skin?

Poweramp works ok on Samsung version of Android 10, but as always, after the major update, Restore Defaults is recommended for Poweramp settings / Audio / Output page and Direct Volume Control (DVC) page. Otherwise some Android 9 specific settings may be carried over.

Sbc label there is just for informational purposes. Poweramp just displays what is used by Android bluetooth subsystem.

In your case most probably Absolute volume control is in effect, making DVC and equalization non effective (see Poweramp settings / Audio / Direct Volume Control for the details).

Yes, I'm using a third party skin called Aurora.
I will try resetting the audio output and DVC. I have absolute volume disabled, and just disabled DVC altogether today (I haven't hooked it up in my car since doing this).

[Disturbd1]

And to clarify again: the audio isn't being routed via Bluetooth - or shouldn't be able to be - because Bluetooth audio is disabled with AA connected, per my first screenshot. Am I seeing my Bluetooth device shown as the output device erroneously?

[Disturbd1]

So the problem persists even after resetting audio and Bluetooth output/settings to default. 

I'm convinced this is more of an Android Auto+"Bluetooth" issue than a Poweramp issue, because both my previous Note 9 and my current Note 10+ exhibited the issue. One in every handful or dozen of freshly-connected sessions in AA will result in vividly superior output in terms of both volume and clarity.

This is driving me insane, because I love Poweramp more than words can say, and I also rely on AA rather heavily as well.

 

Side question, going back to my OP: even if the output I'm seeing designated as BT (SBC) is inaccurate, wouldn't the audio profile/codec still be hi-res? If so, why does this only seem to be accomplished sporadically?